The functional approach--especially the aspect of creativity--relates to my first language acquisition experience. Interaction with language, not just exposure to it, occurred in my house. Both of my parents were teachers during my early life. They involved us in conversation, reading, singing, and play. I have a twin sister. In accordance with Piaget and Vygotsky, social and physical interaction during imaginary play were key elements of my language acquisition.
My father is from India. Therefore, I am familiar with families and languages from India. While I am familiar with other languages, I am most familiar with Malayalam. However, I do not speak it. I feel that the child-parent interaction of the non-English-speaking population is quite similar to that of the English-speaking population during first language acquisition.
2 comments:
Suzanne,
That's interesting that your experience was so similar to that of children from this culture. Is this parent-child interaction the same across socio-economic groups, too (in your father's region of India)? I wonder if it's not also like the U.S. in that regard (where different groups have different cultures within the larger, national culture).
Joleen, perhaps I misunderstood the Reflection #2 question. I took it to mean non-English-speaking populations in the United States, which affects my answer. It is a complicated answer too. I didn't feel I could adequately explain in this format. Certainly, culture plays a part in language acquisition. My direct experience with first language acquisition in India was with family members, and this interaction was similar to what I experienced as a child. I think my parents, being teachers, were much less behaviorist than other parents in general, though, regardless of culture.
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