universal grammar (UG) (noun): a theory in linguistics usually credited to Noam Chomsky that suggests that the ability to learn grammar is built into the human brain from birth regardless of language.

Universal grammar, theory proposing that humans possess innate faculties related to the acquisition of language. From this perspective, a grammar must contain a finite system of rules that generates infinitely many deep and surface structures, appropriately related.

One important issue in current language acquisition research is whether the acquisition of a second language is fundamentally different from that of the first language. Universal Grammar (UG) refers to a grammar which is genetically endowed to all human beings and which all languages have in common.

Universal grammar (UG), in modern linguistics, is the theory of the genetic component of the language faculty, usually credited to Noam Chomsky. The basic postulate of UG is that a certain set of structural rules are innate to humans, independent of sensory experience.

Linguist Noam Chomsky theorized that the observable data for language acquisition did not favor a behaviorist approach. He argued that the stages of development that are required for children to develop their cognitive abilities in other areas do not apply to learning language.

These theories include the Page 6 Running head: SLA & TEACHER INSTRUCTION 5 acculturation model, sociocultural theory, universal grammar hypothesis, interlanguage theory, Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition, and the complexity theory (Menezes, 2013).

Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition consists of five main hypotheses:

• the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis;
• the Monitor hypothesis;
• the Input hypothesis;
• and the Affective Filter hypothesis;
• the Natural Order hypothesis.

-Krashen’s theory is one of the most influential Innatist theories in SLA. Krashen’ Monitor Model hypothesised five main components: 1) the acquisition learning hypothesis, 2) the natural order hypothesis, 3) the monitor hypothesis, 4) the input hypothesis, 5) the effective filter hypothesis (Krashen,1987).

The learning theory of language acquisition suggests that children learn a language much like they learn to tie their shoes or how to count; through repetition and reinforcement. The interactionist approach (sociocultural theory) combines ideas from sociology and biology to explain how language is developed.

Two Theories

Stages of language acquisition in children

Language Learning refers to learning about a language, its sound system, its structure. It is largely an intellectual exercise. Language acquisition means somehow absorbing a target language’s sound system and structure, ideally without ever thinking explicitly about the language’s actual structure.

Process of M&A (Mergers and Acquisition)

1. Developing Strategy.
2. Identifying and Contacting Targets.
3. Information Exchange.
4. Valuation and Synergies.
5. Offer and Negotiation.
6. Due Diligence.
7. Purchase Agreement.
8. Deal Closure and Integration.

There are six stages in children‟s first language acquisition, namely:

• Pre-talking stage / Cooing (0-6 months)
• Babbling stage (6-8 months)
• Holophrastic stage (9-18 months)
• The two-word stage (18-24 months)
• Telegraphic stage (24-30 months)
• Later multiword stage (30+months.

staged; staging. Definition of stage (Entry 2 of 3) transitive verb. 1 : to produce (something, such as a play) on a stage. 2 : to produce or cause to happen for public view or public effect stage a track meet stage a hunger strike.

: expressing a complex of ideas in a single word or in a fixed phrase.

1 : of or relating to one color. 2 of an afterimage : having approximately the same hues as an original image —opposed to heterochromatic.