For my presentation, I've decided to research language. I think that is interesting to know how a person acquires language and how they learn a second language. Most people say that children and people who learn a second language learn by imitating what adults or people around them say. But it has been suggested that language is a biologically programmed activity.
             In 1957, B.F. Skinner published a book where he argued that children and people who learn a second language learn how to speak appropriately because people who know the language correct their grammar. He believed that a parent shapes a child's speech by turning their babbling into words and combining these words into short or long sentences. And for people who learn a second language, he believed that their primary teacher shapes their grammar and teaches them how to put words together to form sentences.
             In the 1960's Chomsky proposed that humans are born with a language acquisition device (LDA), a linguistic processor that is activated by verbal input. According to Chomsky, the LAD contains the knowledge of rules that are common to all languages. So LAD should allow any child who has enough vocabulary to put words together. It's the same for people who learn a second language. If a person who learns a second language has enough vocabulary he can put words together to make sentences. But a person who learns a second language can not use the LAD to learn a second language unless he learns the second language during the Sensitive Period.
             The sensitive period is the period when a child's brain is not developed yet and is specialized to learn the language. This sensitive period occurs between birth and puberty. So learning a second language after puberty is very hard because the sensitive period is over. Also, if a child has a traumatic accident during the sensitive period, he can recover and learn the language again because the right side of his brain can assume any li...