I think it will be helpful to understand the first language acquisition when we learn a second language.
I initially studied English as a second language in the public school almost 10 years ago. Up to the present, I am still taking some English tutorial lessons because I didn’t learn much from a course which I took recently through GTM. The said course was given three times a week only, with each session lasting for 50 minutes. I guess that much longer time is needed in order for me to learn well.
In South Korea, we can’t use English which we learned in the classroom in a daily life. So, in order to improve their English skills, lots of people in our country go to America where they can speak the language as long as they want. I, myself, recently went to the USA to further sharpen my English speaking and writing skills. The TEFL class that I attended there has reminded me of my past experience as a teacher at an academy. Same experience actually had encouraged me to attend the said course. The TEFL uses the same principle being used in the academy where I taught, which was based on the acquisition of first language.
There are certain stages that a person passes through to learn a language. As small babies, children babble, coo and cry, as well as vocally or non-vocally send an odd number of messages, and in return receive same countless messages. As they reach the end of their first year, children make specific attempts to imitate words and speech sounds they hear around them; about this time also they utter their first “words.” At about 18 months of age, their learned words have multiplied considerably and are beginning to appear in two-word and three-word “sentences” - commonly referred to as “telegraphic” utterances. By two years of age, children begin to comprehend more sophisticated language and their production repertoire is mushrooming, even in forming questions and negatives. By about age 3, children can comprehend an amazing quantity of...