Teacher Talk Tuesday: Second Language Acquisition

Recent events in my department that I won't bore you with here have caused me to examine my philosophy of learning/acquiring a second language. I did a bit of study in and love the field of language acquisition/language development. I understand that acquiring one's first or native language is different than acquiring subsequent languages, especially if the environment is "unnatural" (like a classroom). I do believe, however, that when learning a second language, that certain similarities from language acquisition of L1 exist. For example, receptive language develops earlier than expressive language. Over-generalization of grammar rules can lead to apparent regression with regard to speaking correctly (kids learn to say "ran", then subconsciously over-think it and then say "runned" before they get it all sorted out). I also believe that anyone learning a language should be ENcouraged and not DIScouraged by nitpicking. I am a stickler for detail, but I think it's a natural tendency to shut down if all you are met with is criticism, so I try and keep it at bay. Children learn to speak well from adults who model good pronunciation, good grammar, broad vocabulary and expressive speech. They learn from being read to. I think that transfers to the acquisition of a second language as well.