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The process by which we acquire, understand and reproduce language varies between individuals; many factors such as age and learning environment can promote or hinder their progress. The way that we acquire our native language and any following languages is quite different. As a child we are able to absorb information much easier; which allows us to learn a language in a shorter time than as adults. Children are also able to learn a secondary language easier than adults due to this ability. Previously, I have not thought so much on the differences regarding how we acquire language; I would like to use my mother tongue and my first learned language as examples of this difference. I believe that this understanding will allow me to better relate to students who are struggling with learning English. I don’t remember “learning” to use English, as far as I can remember it was merely some skill that I possessed. I didn’t need to spend hours studying verb conjugations, various tenses and grammatical structures. All of these language points have been exposed to me almost continuously since birth and I simply acquired the correct usage of them through repeated exposure without understanding the rules and forms behind them. I was raised in an English only speaking household, but I imagine if my parents were bilingual that I would have learned the other language in the same manner; assuming I was exposed to it regularly. English was simply natural for me; I don’t recall learning about the various tenses and how they are formed as I had simply absorbed it from my environment. In school, English classes simply promoted reading ability, minor grammar, punctuation and most often writing; skills that were already possessed but may have required finessing. At university, I began to learn German. Unlike English, I had to learn the cases, vocabulary, tenses, grammatical rules etc. I found it frustrating at first, attempting to understand and apply these rules of a foreign language that often seemed ridiculous to me. After 3.5 years of learning German, I feel that I am able to look back at what initially provided the most difficult challenges for me as a learner and seek to apply them to learners of English. English learners often feel confused about the tenses, modal verbs etc. much as I felt learning German. Before a month or so ago, I wouldn’t be able to tell you the form and structures of the various English tenses and other such language points. But after having worked through my TEFL course I feel that I have gained a better understanding of how and why these various language points are used. I found it interesting to consider the differences in how we acquire language from birth in contrast to how we must study to become proficient in a second language. Also, being able to view these differences in the context of my own language learning experiences has helped to solidify these views. I hope that I may be able to use my own experience to encourage others who are struggling to learn English.
