On language acquisition and language learning : a field study at the schools of Basra

الملخص EN

Traditionally, it was believed that language acquisition and language learning were two different processes, but this study hypothesizes that they are more or less similar at certain age stages, depending on language universals and universal linguistics.

The advocates of the former point of view are those like Krashen, Wilkins, Schutz, and Asher, who distinguish between language acquisition and language learning.

They state that language acquisition requires natural communication in which speakers are concerned with the messages they are conveying and understanding, not with the form of what they produce.

Whereas language learning concentrates on form rather than communication.

Depending on language universals and Chomsky’s Universal Grammar, the researcher has chosen a number of different private primary schools, at Basra, teaching English at early stages, and examined the accomplishments of the pupils both in English and Arabic.

The results have shown that the learning accomplishments of the pupils in English are more or less similar to those of acquiring Standard Arabic which is more or less the origin or cover umbrella of Basra Arabic.

Statistics have been applied to both of the English performance and the Arabic performance, and so the results have strongly supported the researcher's hypothesis.