How do children learn their mother tongue

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

INTRODUCTION

English is the most important language of communication in the world. It is the most widely spoken language, cutting accross geographical barriers. Although Mandarin Chinese and Hindi is spoken by millions, it is essentially confined to select places, thus not compelling people from other nations to learn these languages. Although, many countries have tried a policy of systematic phasing out of english, by promoting their own language for their day to day official communication, the significance of english, as a language of interaction remains. Very few international business agreements take place without the use of english. With the advancement of science and technology, and with the exchange of more and more culture between nations, knowledge of english has become indispensible. It has managed to bring people of different culture, race and ethnic group closer. In some regions, knowledge of english is a matter of status and dignity in society. People conversing in english are considered sophisticated and advanced.

In english, there are many ways to say anything. Some ways are easy and some ways are difficult and confusing. According to a research conducted, it was revealed, that people by and large, prefered to speak and write english in simple and lucid style, rather that using technical or complicated vocabulary, which no one understood. When complicated words are used, especially in spoken form, the purpose is defeated, because the speaker fails to convey his thoughts and ideas to the listener effectively. The listener may not be as qualified as the speaker to understand the meaning of certain words. So the communication fails to produce the desired result. So the essence in gaining fluency in english or for that matter any language is to keep it simple.