ASSIGNMENT LANGUAGE AND PSYCHOLOGY

A Case Study Of A Child Acquiring/Learning A Second Language

Submitted To
MS Gul Feroz

Submitted By:
Rameesha Harris
Bahjat Tauqeer
Hira Saleem Khan
Fiza Minhas
Durr-e-Ajam

A Glance
Name: Omar Tanveer
Age: 12
School: Crescent Model School
Class: 5th
Address: Shadman Lahore
Profession of parents: Doctor
Mother Language: Punjabi
Languages Learnt/ Acquired: English, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabian,
Indonesian

A one week observation of a child acquiring/learning a second language

Language development in children is a natural but complex phenomenon because

it is strongly connected to the strings of genetics, cognition, observations, experiences
and the role of society around them. In second language (SL) learning, the matter
becomes more complicated because the child is exposed to an entirely new language,
how he manages to cope with this new challenge is a marvel of nature. In this research,
different aspects of SL learning and strategies adopted by the learner in the process are
explored through case study of a child learning English as a second language.
Omar Tanveer is a twelve years old child. He is studying at Crescent Model
School in fifth standard. He lives with his parents and two siblings. He has recently come
from Saudi Arabia and was born there.
The subject is a multilingual child who knows Urdu, English, Punjabi and Arabic.
His parents have been living in Saudi Arabia for many years as Doctors and are well
versed in English language. The parents/children interaction is very strong in the family
and most of the time they speak English with their children, sometimes in the form of
long sentences and sometimes code switching. They both belong to Punjab, Pakistan.
They also know Punjabi and Urdu language. They speak Punjabi language with each
other but do not use it with their children. As they speak Punjabi at home with each other,
Omar also has acquired some words of Punjabi.
In school, both behaviorist and cognitive approaches are adopted by the teachers.
He is learning language through repetition and drills as well as from cognitive activities.
His teacher gives a grammatical rule and structure and he learns it. In class, the teacher

also starts some activities in which the thinking process is triggered and facilitates where
required. Creative writing activities are done in class and he enjoys the activity because
he likes English language. Generally he uses simple structure and simple vocabulary
while writing. Whenever he finds any trouble while writing, he takes help from his
teacher. Extrinsic motivation and guidance are very crucial in this case as the learners
personality requires it for learning. When his teacher praises him then he feels more
enthused to learn the second language.
It was observed that interactionist approach was seldom applied in the class room.
Student communication and problem solving tasks were not usually part of the session. It
causes an obstruction in the natural capacity of the subject to attain fluency through real
life based tasks.
In his learning process, the subject uses some strategies to learn English. He uses
cognitive strategies in which he practices the language, repeating the words and
sentences. Sometimes he translates the second language into his first language as a base
for understanding or producing the second language. He also learns from imagery in
which he makes a visual concept in his mind to learn a new concept. He uses the real life
objects, for instance, he has remembered the word briefcase after seeing and touching
the real object in reality.
When he finds any difficulty in learning, he also uses social strategies. He asks his
teacher for help to clarify the answers e.g. to repeat or explain the points that are not
understood by him. When he was asked about his approach to learn the concepts of SL,
he responded that he silently says to himself that he can do this. He feels confident by this
self-talk that he can do the difficult task.

Another strategy he uses is the communicative strategy. When he feels that he has
lack of knowledge about the topic regarding second language, he is always motivated to
fill this gap. He asks for help from his teacher or from his parents. He also shares his
language learning problems with his friends or peers to sort out the solution. If they are
not present then he consults dictionary. If he has the choice, he avoids those words which
are difficult to learn and prefer those which are easy to memorize.
In external factors that enhance his learning of second language, the role of media
is very important. He watches Cartoon Network, Ben 10 and Thunder Cats are his
favorites. He also watches movies which include Batman, Death Race and some animated
movies like Ice age, Smurfs etc. He adopts many English words from these movies. He
also reads story books and learns many words from these books. These two mediums help
him not only to learn English but to unconsciously acquire words and structures with
concepts.
When his peers or cousins speak in English, the subject also tries to converse in
the same language. Mostly, he learns from his school environment. Urdu is not allowed in
class. As English language is promoted in Pakistan, every private school encourages the
students to learn and speak English .Thus he is encouraged to speak in English from both,
his parents and teachers.
An interesting fact revealed by his mother was that he had an Indonesian nanny in
Saudi Arabia for 3 years and developed some competence in Indonesian. He could
communicate with her in short sentences and words. Not only it highlights the fact that
the company of native speaker(s) boost up language acquisition but also confirms the
Critical Period Hypothesis which states that under an age limit, human brain has an

innate capacity to acquire many languages. In this case, the subject has acquired / learnt
five different Languages. Although his competence level is different in each, he has a
developed schema for all that will certainly increase with time. Thus to make learners
proficient in English as a second language (ESL), it is important to stimulate the innate
ability of a child to acquire language and the teaching of ESL should be closer to a native
environment so that the learning can be molded into acquisition.