1. What is language acquisition?
the learning and the development of a person’s language.
It is studied by linguists, psycholinguists and applied linguists to enable them to understand the processes used in learning a language, help identify stages in the developmental process, and to give a better understanding of the nature of language. It focuses on the study of the development of phonology, grammar, vocabulary and communicative competence.
2. Contrastive analysis / CA
a procedure designed to find out the differences and similarities between languages in order to help teachers and learners, and not produce errors at all. It was developed and practiced in the 1950s and 1960s. It was more successful in phonology than in other areas of language, and declined in the 1970s as interference was replaced by other explanations of learning difficulties.