Language Acquisition Autobiography

Language Acquisition Autobiography

Wes Salisbury

LAPU
Language Acquisition Autobiography

Language is something that I have been quite comfortable with in my life. I have always

felt that I have a firm grasp and comfort with the English language. From my earliest memories,

I have always seemed to hear words and repeat them in my head over and over until they have

been added to my vocabulary. One thing that is constantly occurring in my mind when listening

and speaking is that I see the words written out in my mind. I’m not sure why this occurs but I

can’t help it. This has been very helpful for me with spelling and grammar. I think it is also a

detriment to learning new words that I have never seen written down. I am an avid reader which

has also helped my acquisition of the English Language. I can remember my parents speaking to

me like a person as opposed to baby talk. I think this was also very important to my ELA. I speak

to my young children the same way. As stated by Roy in a TED talk, “… caregivers would speak

in more complex terms, then realize the baby was picking up on a word, speak more

simplistically so the baby would understand, and then go back to more complex speech (Roy,

2011). I think this is very impactful on helping with ELA and I know it was for myself.

Language is the advantage that humans have over all other living things.

Encycolpedia.com sums it perfectly as “language is not simple at all; in fact, it is the most

complex skill that a human being will ever master. That nearly all people succeed in learning this

complex skill demonstrates how well language has adapted to human nature. In a very real sense,

language is the complete expression of what it means to be human.” The impact of that statement

is huge. It sums up the fact that language acquisition is probably the most important thing we can

learn as humans.

I think that my current feeling about ELA is all rooting in watching my daughters grow.

It is truly amazing to see how much they learn each day through language acquisition. They are

almost exactly one year apart in age. It is crazy to see how much of a difference one year makes.
Language Acquisition Autobiography

My three-and-a-half-year-old, Elli, is so far ahead of my two-and-a-half-year-old Olivia. Olivia

is very bright and has a very big vocabulary for her age but the one-year difference is

astonishing. Elli is more like a kid than a baby. Olivia is still in that baby range. Seeing my

daughters learn and grow and acquire language is a great glimpse into what teaching will be like.

Getting to see that gratification first hand is one of the huge rewards of pursuing a career as a

teacher.

I think that the earlier a person is exposed to language acquisition the better they will

do. There is a direct correlation between having a comfortability with language and having

success with it later on. It is not far-fetched to say that someone who has a terrible experience

with language acquisition as a young kid would have resentment for honing those skills as they

got older. I think it is the same principle as any other subject like math, science, or history.

People tend to use past experiences to make judgments about things in the future and language

acquisition is no different. With that being said, I think it is very important to make sure that the

early experiences with language acquisition be pleasant and successful. By doing so, we can

create positive feelings towards it in the future. It works in the same way that negative

experiences do. As future teachers, we have to make those positive connections with anything we

teach, whether it be language or any other subject.

Overall, the theories that I have learned in the course thus far are quite relatable. I have

been lucky enough to have positive experiences with language acquisition. I believe my parents

did a fine job in exposing me to language that helped me be successful in my future endeavors of

language acquisition. I don’t have any negative experiences with language to dwell on. This has

cleared many potential obstacles that I may have had to face before they ever became an issue. I

understand that countless people have not been as lucky. The only thing I can do as someone
Language Acquisition Autobiography

who has chosen to pursue a career in education is to make as many pleasant and positive

connections to learning for my future students as possible. It is also my responsibility to create

that same atmosphere for my daughters as they continue to grow and acquire more and more

language going forward.

This week’s unit served as a great reminder of how complex language acquisition is and

can be. Language is so complex in all its forms, including written and spoken and acts as the

basis for all forms of learning. We have to be able to communicate. That cannot be done without

the ability to acquire language. As it has been so elegantly stated by Dr. Henna Lemetyinen,

“Language is a cognition that truly makes us human. Whereas other species do communicate

with an innate ability to produce a limited number of meaningful vocalizations (e.g. bonobos), or

even with partially learned systems (e.g. bird songs), there is no other species known to date that

can express infinite ideas (sentences) with a limited set of symbols (speech sounds and words).

This ability is remarkable in itself. What makes it even more remarkable is that researchers are

finding evidence for mastery of this complex skill in increasingly younger children.” (simply

psychology)2012. This statement truly captures just who unique or species is and who powerful

the use of language can be. As future teachers, we have to be able to take advantage of the

opportunity we have to reach the students we receive.

Language Acquisition Autobiography
Language Acquisition Autobiography

References

Roy, D. (2011). The birth of a word. Retrieved from: 

https://www.ted.com/talks/deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word#t-17169

Lemetyinen, H (2012) Language Acquisition

https://www.simplypsychology.org/language.html

Encycolpedia (2020) Language acquisition

https://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/language-linguistics-and-literary-

terms/language-and-linguistics/language-acquisition