Learning and acquring language. What is the diffference?
Learned or acquired language, which way did you get language? Language learners around the world have this uncertainty and have a misunderstanding for these words. Here we have valuable information that will help you clarify these two terms.
Do You Learn or Acquire the Language?
“18% of Americans report speaking a language other than English” (Skorton and Altschuler, 2012). Many learners around the world speak their native language plus an extra one. The ways students are exposed differ between them. Learners either acquire or learn a language based on the situation the students are going through. Learning or acquiring a language has some differences as well as similarities; therefore, the time of exposure to the target language, the age of the pupil on that process, and the stages which learners go through when getting the new language will define what kind of learning it is.
The role that time of exposure plays when getting an extra language defines the learning process that the student has. The former factor becomes an issue depending on the type of means that the learners have. A students need to have an approximate of 700-800 hours of exposure to the L2 in order to obtain an advanced level of English (C1) (Desveaux, 2013). The lapse of 700-800 hours does not sound a great number, but to achieve that amount of language immersion, the students spent much more time depending whether the learner lives in an English speaking country or not. In guided learning, in Mexico, the time of exposure for beginners tend not to be a huge one. It varies from five to six hours per week in a public school or in a public university, so it takes some more years for the learner to succeed in obtaining that language level assuming that the teachers only employ English in the classroom. On the other hand, when acquiring another language, learners tend to be uncover to the L2 mainly since the students are in English speaking country; thus, this fact plunges learners into the language itself. The interval of process lasts much more when learning a language in which the target language is hardly spoken than when someone is learning a language in view of that acquisition consists having 24/7 English situations. But that is not the only thing to take into account; the age of the learner that is getting the new language is equally important.
The age of the pupil affects the students’ development of the language. Language acquisition is easier for kids because they have an ability to learn a language, but they forget language easily (Harmer, 2007). Moreover, it becomes more difficult for them to get a new language when they move towards puberty and youth. For learning a second language, students may struggle less if they are under six years old. So they acquire or learn language easily; however, that does not happen when those schoolboys are older because learners already have a first language established. Depending on the students' necessities, students need to have more exposition to the L2 using the process when the learner acquires the language being in a deep language situation than having guided classes. As shown, age is a factor that affects learning but always kids learn faster than adults, either when learning with guided classes or when acquiring language. Some other things happen when learning or acquiring a language, those are the stages which pupils go through in this process.
Learning processes for language learning lasts more or less depending on the way you obtain the target language. When pupils start having access to new features of language in both forms learning and acquisition of language, apprentices have to go through certain stages. The process of leaning a language consists on four stages that pupils face when picking up language, those four stages are recognition, making sense, how to use new knowledge in context, and automatic production (Hedge, 2000). Pupils who are learning language similar to pupils who are acquiring language have to pass through these four stages following the same patterns in both situations, and having the same objective which is perfect language. A learner cannot omit any of these stages, unavoidably students have to experience these phases for them to be able to get more and new language knowledge. Learners do not tend to notice this steps, but they do them though.
In conclusion, acquiring and learning language tend to have some similar and distinct sides that may affect learning processes in the students. Having an efficient usage of an extra language is not only based on the willing a student may have for that language but also the age, exposition to it, and the processes students must pass through to get that practical knowledge. Even when acquiring or learning a language, these factor formerly mentioned will play their role on the students making them perfect the L2. Teachers have to try to catch the students' attention in order to engage them to the language and to simplify their learning phases. Thus, at the end of the road, the goal is to transmit language as well as receive it and use it properly.
References
Desveaux, S (2016). Cambridge English language assessment: Guided learning hours. Retrieved from https://support.cambridgeenglish.org/hc/en-gb/articles/202838506-Guided-learning-hours
Harmer, J (2007). How to teach English. Oxford, UK: Ocelot publishing. Retrieved from http://vk.com/doc10095699_163571302?hash=d2ddb709722a73e956&dl=28aabb49a7217e1962
Hedge, T (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. UK: Oxford University Press.
Skorton, D & Altschuler, G (2012). Forbes: America's foreign language deficit Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/collegeprose/2012/08/27/americas-foreign-language-deficit/#372e8301382f