If you want to learn a foreign language, you need to have good command of your mother tongue. There is no doubt that babies and toddlers learn a language in a different way than do adults. Until the late 1950's, behavioral researchers were of the opinion that babies are born without any linguistic disposition. As a result of further examinations, it became clear that acquiring a language as well as acquiring human behavior is based on stimulus-response mechanisms. If the child frequently gets in touch with these stimuli and is encouraged, he will learn to repeat the sounds that have triggered a positive reaction in a similar situation. Does this mean,through the eyes of the behavioral researchers, that second language acquisition concentrates on learning certain language patterns by heart?
One of the most convincing arguments against this theory of children's language acquisition is: If children could only learn a language by imitating sounds, they were only able to use words and sentences that they have heard before. However, babies and toddlers use real words and structures to create new words. As a result of this, researchers came to the conclusion that babies have the ability to acquire language from birth on. The researcher Chomsky has shown that each human being has a disposition to develop language. By seeing how language is used, children finally learn to use it themselves
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