Second language acquisition or simultaneous language acquisition is key to a society’s capacity to absorb and assimilate immigrants, emigrants, and visitors from abroad. All humans (without exceptional physical or mental disabilities) have an innate capability to acquire language. Language learning, whether first language acquisition (FLA) or second language acquisition (SLA) shares many parallels and divergences. 1, ‘The quest for LAD [language acquisition device]’ (1–12), a brief history of early perspectives on second language acquisition brings to the foreground basic questions and concepts, including the conceptual differences between first language (L1), second language (L2), and bilingual (2L1) acquisition. If we ever want to achieve fluency or near fluency in a second language, it requires years of studying and likely a long stay in another country. Much of his recent research has involved the study of non-English and bilingual language acquisition. Stephen Krashen (University of Southern California) is an expert in the field of linguistics, specializing in theories of language acquisition and development. second language acquisition. The history of language learning theories can be considered as a great pendulum cycled from … 1. Speech Emergence – At this stage, learners know thousands of words and can communicate using simple questions and phrases. This language might be vocalized as with speech or manual as in sign. Discover our research - We study first language acquisition, bilingual acquisition (in children and adults) and second language acquisition (in children and adults). By age 6, children have usually mastered most of the basic vocabulary and grammar of their first language. They just pick up the language, the same way they learn how to roll over, crawl and walk. Immediate Fluency – Learners have an advanced vocabulary and can use more complicated sentence structures. To make use of the natural language abilities of children, language acquisition and learning should begin as early as possible. This is the main difference between first language and second language acquisition. Conscious vs. Babies learn rules while listening to the people around them. While first language acquisition is a subconscious process, second language acquisition occurs actively and consciously. Moreover, according to the linguist Stephen Krashen, second language acquisition occurs in five stages: preproduction (silent phase), early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. First language acquisition actually refers to infants’ acquisition of their native language. Hasa has a BA degree in English, French and Translation studies. Introduction Language acquisition is one of the most impressive aspects of human development. In Ch. Tests have shown that first language acquisition mostly activates the left half of the brain while second language learning activates the whole brain.