¶ … Language Acquisition" by J. Crawford, covers how people acquire a second language, and some "persistent problems" with how we teach a second language in America today. The author briefly covers a history of language acquisition, and how early Romans used "conversational dialogues" to help teach children many other languages, and how that method gradually altered throughout history, to the "grammar-translation approach" we tend to lean toward today. He also mentions some other less common methods that seem to show good results, such as the "direct" method, and the "audiolingual" method. The author also brings up many differing theories of language acquisition, and asks many questions about how students learn and teachers teach a second language. In fact, the author also raises questions about some techniques, and maintains they may be actually preventing children from learning another language, no matter how well thought of or well-executed they are. Clearly, while there are many theories in language development and acquisition, the author shows these theories do not always agree, and they form a diversity as dissimilar as the students today who need to acquire English skills in the classroom to successfully continue their education.
This article shows there are so many different theories and methods of language acquisition, and this shows how difficult it is for educators to decide on a method, and then implement it. Clearly, language acquisition depends on many different learning and teaching technologies, and it does not look like the experts still really understand just what at least some of those technologies are. In addition, it is clear from this article that even the most highly skilled professionals do not agree on what entails successful language teaching, and how different students acquire languages. Each person is unique, and while there are commonalities in learning styles, this article makes it clear we have a long way to go in the study and dissemination of language, and that we need to continue studies and experiments until we find the optimum way of teaching a second language in our nations' schools.
References
Crawford, J. "Basic Research on Language Acquisition."
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