engleski

Knowing the Language: the importance of previous language acquisition experience

Intesive foreign language courses, due to the intensity of work and the large number of hours in a short time period, often show problems with language teaching and learning better than traditional courses. After only a few days of intensive teaching of Croatian at the School of Croatian Language and Culture (organized by the University of Zagreb), it is possible to differentiate two large groups of students according to their previous language learning. One group consists of students who have already learned Croatian (e.g. at Universities, foreign language courses, individual lessons), while the other group usually consists of Croats living abroad, who acquired the language in the interaction with their family, friends or in Croatian communities. Differences between these groups are expressed in all segments of their language knowledge, but maybe the best indicator of that is the acquisition of grammar. The first group acquired Croatian grammatical patterns trough their formal education. During that process they mastered the basic concepts of grammar and become acquainted with the Croatian grammatical structure. Students from the other group apply grammar in their speech thus they are not aware of knowing certain grammatical rules. Often they lack basic grammatical knowledge, even in their first language.

foreign language learning; language teaching methods; explicit and implicit language knowledge; interlanguage

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