exposed to two languages throughout early childhood, he or she will acquire them both.
Some people worry that learning more than one language is bad for a child, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there are a lot of
advantages to knowing more than one language. First, many linguists feel knowing a second language actually benefits a childs cognitive development.
Second, if the children come from a family that has recently immigrated to the U.S., the family may speak a language other than English at home and still
have strong ties to their ethnic roots. In this case, being able to speak the language of the familys ethnic heritage may be important for the childs sense
of cultural identity. To be unable to speak the familys language could make a child feel like an outsider within his or her own family; speaking the familys
language gives the child a sense of identity and belonging. Third, in an increasingly global marketplace, its an advantage for anyone to know more
than one language — regardless of whether ones family is new to the U.S. And finally, for people of any age or profession, knowing a second language
encourages cross-cultural awareness and understanding.
B. Language Learning and Language Teaching
Everybody knows that second language learning is not a set of easy step that can be programmed in a quick do-it-yourself kit. No one can tell you
“how to learn a foreign language without really trying”. Therefore, it is necessary for us to know what language is, what learning is, and what
teaching is.
1. Language
Language is a means of communication, either written or spoken. By mastering the language, language skills, people can communicate ideas
with others easily. Inevitably, language becomes main function for people to make transaction or communication among the people all over the
world. 10
The following can make us have better understand of the language definition:
a. Language is a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all
people in a given culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or to interact Finocchiaro, 1964: 8.
b. Language is a system of communication by sound, operating through
the organs of speech and hearing, among members of a given community, and using vocal symbols possessing arbitrary conventional
meaning Pei, 1966: 141. c.
Language is any set or system of linguistic symbols as used in a more or less uniform fashion by a number of people who are thus enabled to
communicate intelligibly with one another
Random House Dictionary of the English Language
, 1966: 806. d.
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication Wardaugh, 1972: 3.
e. Language is any means, vocal or other, of expressing or
communicating feeling or thought ... a system of conventionalized signs, especially words, or gesture having fixed meaning
Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language
, 1934: 1390. f.
Language is a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having
understood meanings
Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language
, 1934: 1390.
Brown 1993: 5 emphasizes that language has the following characteristics:
a. Language is systematic and generative.
b. Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.
c. Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also be visual.
d. The symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer.
e. Language is used for communication.
f. Language operates in a speech community or culture.
g. Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to
human. h.
Language is acquired by all people in much the same way – language teaching and language learning both have universal characteristics.
2. Learning
