Teach English in GAoqiao Zhen - Chongqing

A Brief Comparison between First (Native) and Second (Non-Native) Language AcquisitionLanguage is considered one of the most utilized (and universal) defining features of human cultures worldwide. The term ?language? refers to a system of mutually understood arbitrary symbols used to communicate between users (generally referred to as ?speakers? or ?signers?). The use of different languages can indicate many different things, and it is well beyond the scope of a short summary like this to discuss them. I will be discussing, instead, two means of language acquisition, native and non-native. I will use the English language as my main model and referent for language acquisition because of my experience as a monolingual native english speaker and because I am working on my tesol (Teaching English as a Spoken other language) certification. Native language acquisition can be grossly over-summarized as a mode of language acquisition from an early age by intuitive and non-systemic means that leads to an innate mastery of the language. Native language acquisition is considered to be an incredibly important part of child development with tremendous benefits to a person?s learning and social capabilities. Non-native language acquisition is defined more by its lack of the native modes of language acquisition (as seen by the name) than by any particular means of learning. A non-native language speaker is someone who has gained proficiency in a language they did not learn natively at a young age. They could have studied in any number of ways. As a case example, I am a native english speaker. I was born to native english speakers in the united states and spent the first few years of my life in relatively monolingual environments before gaining some Spanish in relatively more multilingual environments from ages 5 ? 8 before losing any Spanish proficiency I had and needing to regain it as a young adult through classroom study. This comes into contrast to my friend Maria, a native bilingual speaker of Spanish and English who was born to a bilingual mother and an English-speaking father. She has not needed to pursue further Spanish study to communicate, but has pursued proficiency in chinese and French languages. Both Maria and I have studied for non-native language acquisition to some degree (for me, quite little) in, say, chinese, but our relationship with Spanish is where we can see the large difference between native and non-native language acquisition. My Spanish is faltering and requires cultural translation in order for me to be understood in a Spanish-speaking context. I am unable to read past an elementary level in Spanish without extensive effort. Maria, meanwhile, is culturally comfortable in Spanish-speaking communities and is able to read advanced Spanish texts with little effort. I have spent hundreds of hours in Spanish class study, but Maria has next to no systematized Spanish education beyond personal study. In short, the easiest impression to take away is that non-native language acquisition is tremendously more difficult than native language acquisition. This is a point that?s difficult to elaborate on in such a short space beyond the idea that we have had since birth possibly to develop our native language skills. Non-native language learning will always be late to the game, so to speak. All of this isn?t to suggest that non-native speakers are necessarily inferior, though ? we all gain language proficiency due to a desire to communicate and our background should have no bias there. ?Language emerges from human minds interacting with one another?, says Steven Pinker. Non-native speakers provide a rich and creative infusion to a language. English is a world language (the legacy of colonialism and imperialism is hard to shake) and people are recognizing a personal need for it more and more. As a native english speaker, I can present and teach my own intuitive understanding of the language to those born in other language communities. We all share a desire to communicate, and I am excited to work toward that goal for English language learners around the world.