LANGUAGE FOCUS – SIMPLE TO COMPLEX

By Elaine-Kirn Rubin and Arthur Rubin

Infants produce language at its most elementary - crying sounds like “neeeh,” “owhh,” “hhhe-e-e-h,” “eairrr” and “waaaaa!”  Little by little, they learn to understand the sounds made by others, then the sounds combined into actual words and finally, can grasp the meanings of phrases and sentences in their native language; by their very nature, human beings begin with the basics, gradually rising to levels of ever greater complexity.  

Language education usually follows this pattern. Subject to the limitations and/or requirements of its overriding philosophy or approach, a language course or curriculum designed for beginners is likely to begin with aural/oral lessons regarding sounds - phonemic awareness and pronunciation of commonly used words.  Vocabulary acquisition begins early and continues throughout the language-learning process. Progressing from basic through intermediate to advanced levels of fluency requires attention to grammatical forms, patterns, and rules, as learners come to comprehend and produce connected discourse in conversations, discussions, presentations and other forms of oral communication.

Instruction in written English can start with the English alphabet, usually with the names and order of the 26 letters. The next step would be phonics, (the correlations between the printed letters and the 40 or more sounds they represent), followed by decoding when reading and spelling when writing, and then by learning to read for meaning and to write with clarity. The process doesn’t, however, end there. For most people, language acquisition and improvement never ends.