Chapter3

One of discussion questions for today’s class was “how is learning a second language like learning a first language? How is it different?” My group examined and discussed about similarities and differences between the first and second language acquisitions. We found that both the first and second language acquirers tend to over-generalize the rules such as past-tense forms of verbs, and they have similar patterns of vocabulary usages and gestures. The major differences are that: 1) the first language learners basically ‘acquire’ the language rather than ‘learn’ while the second language learners ‘learn’ the target language; 2) the first language learner is confident in his or her language since it’s learner’s mother tongue while the second language learner may create avoidance towards the target language; and 3) the first language learner learns the language and the concept at the same time while the second language learner just learns the new word for existing concept. I really enjoyed learn through today's activity.