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The Humber TESOL program is a post-graduate teacher training program. Participants will use Blogger to reflect on their experiences and professional growth during the program.
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17 comments:
It was a pure hardluck story, which I felt very bad about. What was most appalling and deplorable was the fact that she had to keep "drifting" from one foster family to another without settling in one caring family or hospital. Who could make up for her early life deprived of all the socialization, which made all the difference?
(Am I too emotional? I can't help it. I cannot be logical at this point.) Anyway, the Genie's case failed to prove the hopeful view-against Chomsky's-that "the sky is the limit" in acquiring a language, meaning a win by (a weak version of) CAH.
A language is a tool to know oneself, creatures, the world, the universe and Creator. Without a language, human beings cannot be human beings. God gave human beings an ability to communicate. But the ability can have a power and prosper through a right interaction. The right interaction in season for commnication ability should be necessary and important for a happy life.
I agree to CPH in some ways. Victor and Genie were raised in an isolated environment without any people who communicated with them. They didn't hear and sound any human language until they were found. Even though they were educated to speak a language, they couldn't sound properly but just like animals' growling. I think there are some important period to acquire a language. If a child fails to acquire L1, it's not easy to learn L2, either.
After watching a video about the wild child, I agreed with CPH to acquire a language. I think that before becoming mature, a brain of a human being should have and establish a basic system for learning language. After CP, people cannot acquire a language systemically and logically. They can just mimic and memorize some words and expressions. Also, They can convey a simple meaning by making a sound or using gestures.
I can't help admitting that CPH can be true of learning a language. I felt so sorry for Genie and Victor because they had lost their chances to aquire their languages. It was too late for them to learn how to communicate in a normal language. Judging by their development in their behaviors, I could figure out they are quite smart. If they had learned their languages earlier, they could have lived better lives. How regrettable... I decided to give much input to my child and students when they are still very young. One thing I am wondering is what has been happening to Genie since the video was made.
I totally agree with what Sokyon said. After watching the video, I had sympathy for Genie. When she was found, too many cooks were there for her to experiment. She had to be exposed to too much information all of a sudden. This could have adversely affected her intellectual and emotional development later. Needless to say, moving from one foster house to another could have been a stressful and insecure experience as well.
As for CPH, it is likely to be true of acquiring a language, esp. a L1. Unlike her, a child is not overwhelmed when learning his/her L1.
Through this, I learned how important it is a person should be in a right environment at each stage to grow properly in every respects.
There’s no rule that does not have any exception. Just like so many experts have supported the CPH, actually it is quite true that, for those who are over a certain age--usually their puberty,-- it’s very difficult to acquire another language. However, it only means that those cases are just “common” to people, “NOT absolute.” There are still people to succeed in getting a new language after they went through the period.
At this point, I’ve got a little bit confused. Are theories or hypotheses established to be applied to “all” cases, as an absolute rule? Or, for “most” cases? If they are just for explaining frequently occurred phenomena, I will agree with the CPH because I’m also one of those who prove the theory. But, as I mentioned before, I definitely think it’s not an unbreakable rule.
I totally agree to the CPH. According to my experience let alone Genie and Vitor's cases, I can't help but admit that the earlier chidren learn languages, the better. While watching the video about Genie and Victor, I could see how smart they were. Nevertheless, they could not acquire thier own languages because they were deprived of chances to learn languages. If they had learned their languages earlier, they could have mastered their own languages and their lives would have been changed.
After watching the Vedio: Secret of the Wild Child, I got ot know how important the Critical Period is especially, for learning a language. I hoped that Genie could learn and master her language somewhat even she missed the chance at first. However, nurture is also important as much as nature for learning language even though we human beings were born with LAD as Chomsky said. Even if, Genie learned some vocabularies, her language competence was limited(intricate things such as grammar order were difficult for her. Through these experiments, we conclude that successful language learning needs comprehensible input, obvious interaction with people in proper way. The critical period hypothesis has been verified absolutly and we language teachers(specially second or foreign language) should try to give acceptable inputs to our students consistently.
The specific assignment or lateralization of brain functions is believed to be complete and set sometime during or just after puberty. According to this, the pre-pubescent brain is like a "sponge" - - all learning, knowledge, and experiences are merely "absorbed." This "absorption" of aspects of language to non-specific locations in the brain supposedly makes the learning of language, first or second language, easier for children than adults or older adolescents. This is the reason why Geine was never able to fully acquire the syntax and morphology of children who do receive input from a very age although she began to acquire some language later.
CPH theory and Genie's case study shows us that post-pubescent learners are not going to be likely to acquire a native-like pronunciation and possibly not be able to fully acquire the syntax and morphology of the second language.
I think that this can be a good evidence of critical period hypothesis.
According to the fact that children produce grammatical sentences but never heard, it leads us to believe that babies have innate ability to learn language. Moreover, we cannot agree more that children are born with the innate ability to acquire the language based on the fact that they are developing their language all the same order or patterns.
However, the stories of Genie and Victor lead us to believe that this language acquisition device must be activated during critical period. The reason why I think is that Genie was not exposed to a language for 13 years and was able to learn some vocabulary, which means that language learning didn't start from birth until puberty and the LAD wasn’t activated in the critical period. Some people think that may be there would be a cognitive immaturity in intelligence but, it doesn't matter at all as we can think of the fact that all children master L1 at the generally same rate.
jiyoung said...
I patially agree to CPH. Victor and Genie were abandoned by parents or people who can communicate or interact with them. They could be taught a few words or a few grammatical structures later by people even though they missed out the critical period for language acquisiton.However,the wild children suffered from
emotional or phsical trauma which would affect their learning ability. So, I think that humans may lose much of their innate ability to learn a language naturally or socially unless they are exposed to language in the early years of life.
While watching a video, I hoped that Genie would be recovered, acquire the language like normal children did, but that seemed to be hard. After being rescued, she could have much vocabulary, though she was still very silent. Genie’s vocabulary grew rapidly, but she was still not able to string words together into meaningful sentences. She seemed to be stuck at the first stage. I think that if she had not been experimented by inconsistent treatment but , she could have acquired language to some extent. I cannot but admi the CPH. I agree to the CPH, but I believe even people who go through the CP can acquire a second language. The CP is quite important time for children to acquire sound more native like in English. However, it doesn’t matter we must have native like abilities in a second language. There are too many variables in determining how individual will become in the second language, English.
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