Language Acquisition Autobiography

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Principles of Language
Grace D. Etchegoyen
Los Angeles Pacific University
ENGL 420 Principles of Language
Professor P. Smarr
November 12th, 2023

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My earliest memories of language were of my closest relatives talking to me and listening
and signing to my favorite television shows. My earliest days consisted of living with my mother
and my grandfather, my mother was in school at the time to be a social worker and relied on my
grandfather to watch me while she took class. I loved to watch Barney and Sesame Street was I
was a baby and feel like I learned a lot of my first words from these shows. My Mom read to me
as well and knew how important speaking to me was since she was taking child development
classes at the time. I can’t recall what my first word was but I do remember going to preschool at
an early age and being exposed to learning language there. I think being in a social setting helped
my ability to learn words and talk expressively. My sister was exposed to the Spanish language
as a baby which I was always envious of. She unfortunately is not a fluent Spanish speaker today
but I always thought it was great that her nanny only spoke Spanish to her, it was the most
influential way to teach her.
My current feelings towards English language acquisition are positive, I enjoy continuing
to learn new words, use grammar correctly and educate myself. I have a daily calendar that
teaches me a new word, it explains its origin, definition, pronunciation and how to use it in a
sentence. Although I don’t frequently use these words in my daily life I like knowing that I am
being exposed to them. I was fortunate to have my family and caregivers make the effort to help
me acquire new words. Our text, The Study of Language, explains how, “caregiver speech is
characterized by simple sentence structures and a lot of repetition and paraphrasing, with
reference largely restricted to the here and now (Yule, 2023). The acquisition schedule that is
outlined in the text explains that most children develop language at the same time. There is so
much that is occurring during the first year, in the first three months babies have a positive
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reaction to a speaking face and start to create distinctions by different voices. My Mom taught
English to Spanish speakers when she started teaching elementary school - she needed the extra
money at the time. She would always tell me how hard it was for anyone who didn’t speak
English to learn English. I didn’t quite understand why at the time but she told me that English is
not as intuitive as Spanish - conjugating verbs in Spanish is very easy to do once you know the
pattern. I now know that English is difficult to learn because of complex grammar rules,
pronunciation variations, and vast vocabulary. My Mom is now a principal of an elementary
school as has quite a few students who are English learners, I know when she started off teaching
there was a dual immersion program but I am not sure if that still exists today. If I was a student
who was listening and learning subjects that were not in my native language I would feel
confused and embarrassed.
Early language exposure is extremely important to humans and students. There are
several stages that children go through in language acquisition. It is described that, “when
children are acquiring language, they do not speak a degenerate form of adult language, rather
they speak a version of the language that conforms to the set of grammatical rules they have
developed at that stage” (Szczegielniak, n.d.). I can reflect on the stage of acquisition that
includes babbling after watching videos of myself as a baby. I have read that babbling begins at
about six months of age and is the earliest stage of language acquisition. I believe that if you had
a positive, easy experience learning your first language you have the same feelings about it later
in life. Also, when you have children you approach the way you teach them language in the same
manner that you were taught. I know that reading a variety of books and consistently talking to
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my future daughter is only going to benefit the amount of words she learns and how easily
learning comes to her.
References:
Szczegielniak, A. (n.d.). Introduction to Linguistic Theory. Harvard. Retrieved November 12,

2023, from https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/adam/files/language_acquisition.ppt.pdf
Yule, G. (2023). The Study of Language (Eighth Edition). Cambridge University Press.

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Los Angeles Pacific University

ENGL 420 Principles of Language

November 12th, 2023

My earliest memories of language were of my closest relatives talking to me and listening

influential way to teach her.

pronunciation variations, and vast vocabulary. My Mom is now a principal of an elementary

confused and embarrassed.

learning comes to her.

Szczegielniak, A. (n.d.). Introduction to Linguistic Theory. Harvard. Retrieved November 12,

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