Differences between L1 and L2 learning - Unit 12

This unit helped us to notice the several differences between L1 and L2 language. The aspects taking into account to establish some differences are the following: the learners age, and the context and the ways of learning. When acquiring L1 the learning start when the individual is a baby rather than the L2 learning that start in primary school and secondary school. It is said that babies learn at the same time as their cognitive skills are being developed in the learning language process. 

 Another important aspect has to do with the exposure and Even if some L2 learners may receive as much input as L1 learners, the quality is very different, given that it does not directly address the learner’s communicative goals and intentions. 

Hatch (1978), for example, compares interactions between L1 learners and adults with interactions between L2 learners and adults, and finds that in the second type of interaction exchanges are initiated overwhelmingly by the native speaker adult, and thus challenge the L2 learner with identification of the topic. Knowing some of the different between L1 and L2 learning we can conclude that a target language can be seen as hard target to achieve because of the complex aspects that those ones involve.





References:

Cook, V.J., Long, J., & McDonough, S. (1979), ‘First and second language learning’, in G.E. Perren (ed.) The Mother Tongue and Other Languages in Education, CILTR, 7-22