LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 6 June 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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Parental Contribution to the Acquisition of Language Skills –
A Case Study

R. Nilavu, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Candidate

Abstract

This article investigates the hypothesis that parents, who have some knowledge of and control over English skills, do significantly contribute to their child’s acquiring the language skills in that language.. The article has relevance only to the environment where English is not the mother tongue of the learner but is taught as a second or foreign language. The paper presents a case study, observing the simple techniques adopted by the parents of a family in Chennai to inspire, motivate and create passion for English in their child.

Key words: Acquisition of language skills, hypothesis, English as a Foreign Language or EFL.

Introduction

Education is a joint-venture; it is more than filling the mental boxes of learners with bits of information from which knowledge is acquired. In imparting knowledge and skills to the young learners, who will make use of what they have learned to make a decent living, to lead a purposeful life and to contribute to the progress of their nation, teachers and parents have equal and shared responsibility. Teachers and parents are partners.

Balakrishna Joshi (1981) writes:

Parents are the first teachers even as teachers are the
second parents… The foundation of knowledge, the
skills and the attitudes which children display in later
life, is laid in the impressionable period in the home,
which is a world in itself, providing varied and numerous
opportunities for learning through observation, suggestion
and influence… (pp. 166-7)

Parents’ Contribution to the Acquisition of Language Skills in English

The mother is the first teacher of language to her child. The child listens keenly to the sounds and words that the mother produces and utters. As the child grows, he or she listens to the mother, the father and others at home. As far as the mother tongue is considered, the child learner, more often than not, catches what she speaks, retains it, and then reproduces it effortlessly.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

R. Nilavu, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Candidate
Lecturer in English
Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute University
Adayalampattu
Chennai – 600 095
Tamil Nadu
India
nilavusaro@yahoo.co.in

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