Shreya is a Class VI learner who moves from Jalandhar in Punjab to Madurai in…
2024
Shreya is a Class VI learner who moves from Jalandhar in Punjab to Madurai in Tamil Nadu as her father has been transferred. She knows Punjabi as her mother tongue and English language she studies as her second language in school. She is able to speak and read Tamil learning from her neighbourhood.
Which one of the following statements is true based on the languages she now knows?
- A.
Her Punjabi and Tamil come under language acquisition and English comes under language learning.
- B.
Her Tamil comes under language acquisition and English and Punjabi come under language learning.
- C.
All the three languages, Punjabi, Tamil and English come under language learning.
- D.
Her English comes under language acquisition and Punjabi and Tamil come under language learning.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
In the pedagogy of language teaching, Krashen's Acquisition–Learning Hypothesis distinguishes two ways a person comes to know a language. Language acquisition is a subconscious process: a person picks up a language naturally through everyday exposure and communication, without deliberately studying its grammar or rules. Language learning is a conscious process: a person studies a language's rules, vocabulary and structure through formal instruction, typically in a classroom.
Shreya grew up speaking Punjabi at home, so it is her mother tongue, acquired naturally from infancy without any formal teaching. After moving to Madurai, she picked up Tamil the same way — by listening to and talking with her neighbours in everyday situations, again with no classroom instruction. English, however, is a subject she studies formally at school, where she is taught its grammar and structure through deliberate lessons. So Punjabi and Tamil come to her through acquisition, while English comes to her through learning.
Placing only Tamil under acquisition (with English and Punjabi under learning) ignores that Punjabi is Shreya's mother tongue — nothing in the passage suggests it was taught to her formally, so nothing supports classing it as learning.
Classing Punjabi, Tamil and English all under learning ignores that Punjabi and Tamil were never studied through classroom instruction; both came through natural, everyday exposure.
Placing English under acquisition (with Punjabi and Tamil under learning) reverses the two processes — English is the one language Shreya studies formally at school, while Punjabi and Tamil came to her without any formal teaching.
So the statement that correctly matches Shreya's situation is: her Punjabi and Tamil come under language acquisition, and her English comes under language learning.