Language Acquisition v/s Language Learning

Why is it easy to acquire a first language and difficult to learn a second language? Second language acquisition, second language learning or L2 (second language acquisition) is the process by which people learn second language. Although the field of second language acquisition is a sub discipline of applied linguistic, it also receives attention in other disciplines, such as psychology and education. There has been much debate about exactly how language is learnt and many issues are still unresolved. There are many theories on second language acquisition, but none is accepted as a complete explanation by all the researchers. Hynes has divided the process of second language acquisition into five stages: preproduction stage of silent learning, early production when the learner is able to speak short phrases, stage of speech emergence this stage is associated with learning vocabularies and they can communicate using simple questions and phrases. The stage four is the stage of intermediate fluency in which learner starts framing more complex sentences and may make frequent errors. The final stage is the stage of advance fluency which is reached within 5 -10 years of learning a language. As a child, most of us do not even remember how we learned our first language. That sounds like a big aspect to consider “learning” may be we just acquired our first language as our innate ability something easy and in our capacity to get. And now the question comes how is different to learn language as adult learner. Listening to our surroundings and grasping few words of the second language is easy but learning language to its max is difficult target to achieve. One of the basic difference between first language acquisition and second language learning is that the process of second language acquisition is influenced by languages that the learner already knows. Language acquisition and learning distinction helps findings in all areas in second language acquisition. Adults who learn a second language differ from children learning their first language in three ways, children are still developing their brains whereas adults have conscious minds, with first language that orients their thinking and speaking. But when the learners speech plateaus, if is known as fossilization. Some errors that second language learners make in their speech originates in their first language. Also when people learn a second language the way they speak their first language also changes. These changes can be way of pronunciation and syntax to gesture the learner makes. As my mom says, by the time l was five year old, l could clearly express my ideas and almost perfectly from the point of view of language and grammar. This suggest it is through exposure to the language and meaning full conversation that the first language is acquired without the need for systematic study of any kind. In the same way, an Indian who was born and brought up in the USA learns the mother tongue and English with relative ease and success. Although parents never sit with their children to explain to them the working of the language, their utterances show a superb command of intricate rules and patterns that would drive adults crazy if they try to memorize them. This suggest it is through exposure to the language and meaningful communication that the first language is acquired without the need of systematic study of any kind. Similarly, if in learning a second language as adults, we focus more on conversational aspects, learning will be faster and lasting instead of concentrating on the rules. But when it comes to adult learners, the methodology used is to teach rules and less communication. In almost all the cases, courses revolve around grammar, pattern, repetition drilling like the whole class telling their names in the Korean language as told by the professor in class. It is just like a drill without any meaningful gains of learning. The courses grammar lessons focusing on form without giving learners a chance to converse throughout the course. In certain courses the idea of teaching a second language just revolves around teaching grammar and testing knowledge of grammar on the basis of multiple choice questions which actually do not help adults to learn. So many people fail to learn a second language because of this unnatural way of teaching. Second language learning in many cases is done under formal situations and by making the learner conscious of what she is being taught, which actually hampers learning. They are taught to pass standardized tests rather than acquire proficiency in speaking.