The difference between learning a foreign language and mastering a first language

51Due教员组今天给各位留学生带来一篇纯原创代写语言学范文，本文将从以下几个方面来阐述在课堂环境中学习外语与获得第一语言的不同之处：教育背景、年龄因素、输入、克服第一语言禁忌的必要性、，错误和反馈以及动机。希望这篇可以帮助到各位留学生，同时需要代写也可以直接联系我们51Due客服vx（vx：Jenny_dynh）进行咨询。 

The difference between learning a foreign language and mastering a first language

Introduction

It is known to us that learning a foreign language is quite common in recent years due to the development of globalization and the increasing communication among people from different countries nowadays. However, people only have a rough idea that there must be some differences between learning a foreign language in a classroom environment from acquiring one’s first language while they are not sure about the detailed differences between them. Therefore this paper would like to explain in what ways learning a foreign language in a classroom environment is different from acquiring one’s first language, which will be elaborated on mainly from the following several aspects: the educational context, the age factor, the input, the necessity to overcome the first language taboo, errors and feedback as well as motivation. It is hoped that such explanation can give some insightful suggestions as for how people can better pick up a foreign language.

Firstly, the educational context is different between learning a foreign language in a classroom environment and acquiring one’s first language (Mara Salmona Madrinan. 2014). To put it more specifically, acquiring one’s first language tends to happen in the social group where the children are born into and are supposed to fully integrate into. At the same time, children tend to be taught by native speakers when they acquire the first language, which can be regarded as a purely natural environment where the learners can interact, communicate and receive information in the target language with people around. While learning a foreign language in a classroom environment, students are instructed in a more formal way and they are usually taught by non-native speakers. Apart from the difference in the speakers of these two educational contexts, the difference as well lies in the teaching behavior between native and non-native speakers concerning the lecturing of the balance of content and communicative competence (Mara Salmona Madrinan.2014). It can be understood in this way that some aspects of learning are given larger focus than others so that the balance of content tends to vary more or less from the perspectives of native and non-native speakers. As a result, such difference will cause the difference in the learners’ level and quality of involvement into the language so as to further lead to the difference in their proficiency of the language in the end.

Secondly, the difference between learning a foreign language in a classroom environment and acquiring one’s first language is the age factor (Dominic Castello. 2015). On the one hand, the process of acquiring one’s first language usually occurs when one is quite young so that one is able to develop native-like accents. On the other hand, learning a foreign language in a classroom happens when one gets a little older and they receive formal education in the school. Or maybe it can be put in another way that acquiring one’s first language usually comes before one’s process of learning a foreign language in a classroom environment. And it is added that childhood is the golden period to nurture simultaneous bilingual children out of the virginity and plasticity of children’s brain to make for outstanding ability in mastering the early sets or units of language (Dominic Castello. 2015), which can clearly show that childhood is really a critical period for one to learn a language. Nevertheless, such ability gradually loses after puberty, which can just be used to account for why it is difficult for the adults to cultivate a native-like accent when they learn a foreign language no matter how hard they learn it or what way they use to learn it (Dominic Castello. 2015). The same as Dominic Castello, Fawzi Al Ghazali as well points out that children acquire the language right the same as how language is formed and produced by others while the adults tend to figure out how a construction is built before they use it in communicating with others (Fawzi Al Ghazali. 2016). According to this, it can be readily detected that the age factor will really exert an impact on learning a foreign language.

Besides, input is also an aspect that can be used to explain the difference between learning a foreign language in a classroom and acquiring one’s first language. Detailed speaking, the focus and nature of the learning environment will exert an impact on the quantity and type of the language input (Fawzi Al Ghazali. 2016). Children’s acquiring their first language from their parents at home appear to be constant, unlimited and variable concerning quantity and quality in that they have contacted with chatty, colloquial, formal and semi-formal kinds of language at the same time. But for learning a foreign language in a classroom, the input type is somewhat limited due to the restriction of the classroom materials. And it turns out that the means of input for them are confined to only course books and teachers’ talk, which is much less than the ways children acquire first language.

Also, learning a foreign language in a classroom environment needs to overcome the first language taboo while there is no such obstacle while acquiring one’s first language. The role of the mother tongue has always been one of the most controversial issues in foreign language teaching and learning over years (Mark Kelleher. 2013), which is right why most educators have tried their best to eliminate first language from learning a foreign language. Based on this, it can be readily detected that it is necessary to overcome the first language taboo before learning a foreign language. In the opposite, acquiring one’s first language tends to happen without the influence of any other language so that there is no need to worry about such obstacle.

Another difference between learning a foreign language in a classroom environment and acquiring one’s first language is errors and feedback (Dominic Castello. 2015). The more detailed condition is that small children are encouraged to use their first language to express themselves even if the language they use is inaccurate in phonological or syntactic terms. On most occasions, small children’s wrong use of their first language is not corrected right the moment when the errors occur. And it is in the later phase of language development that corrective feedback is given to them and it may take place several years later (Dominic Castello. 2015). However, the case is different for learning a foreign language in a classroom environment because a series of error correction strategies will be implemented to students by the teachers even at the beginning of students’ learning a foreign language in a classroom. And it seems that feedback will be given over and over again if there is still something wrong with students’ picking up the foreign language. In this sense, a fair knowledge can be obtained that learning a foreign language in a classroom seems to offer a more controlled and form-focused learning atmosphere when compared with acquiring one’s first language because it creates more remote and stilted classroom interactions.

Last but not the least, motivation for learning a foreign language in a classroom and acquiring one’s first language is different. Gardner and Lambert (1972) has divided the driving forces behind learners’ efforts into instrumental motivations and integrative motivations and it is as well stated that motivation actually plays a significant role in contributing to better learning a foreign language in a classroom. For one part, instrumental motivations tend to be utilitarian and they are obvious in typical classroom environments. For instance, factors like high school English test, overseas employment, etc. will all determine a part in the availability to further education. For another, integrative motivations are motivated by affective elements, including the desire to master the culture of the target language, to integrate themselves into the users of the foreign language and to integrate to the speech community of the foreign language. But as for acquiring one’s first language, motivation is not an aspect that will matter much. What matters more for acquiring one’s first language is that children have the impetus to contact the family, the immediate world and social group. However, learners have to find the same motivations in order to achieve the same goal in the classroom, which is not required during the process of acquiring one’s first language.

Conclusion

To sum up, a reasonable conclusion can be drawn that learning a foreign language in a classroom environment is really different from acquiring one’s first language as long as we take the below few aspects into consideration: the educational context, the age factor, the input, the necessity to overcome the first language taboo, errors and feedback together with motivation. There is no doubt that there are a lot of other ways as for how learning a foreign language in a classroom is different from acquiring one’s first language that have not been mentioned in the above, which calls for further discoveries in the future.

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