ESL Term:

Acquisition

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acquisition: picking up a lanaguage through meaningful conversation the way children pick up languages. There is no study of forms and grammar. Acquisition is contrasted to learning a language through conscious study of forms. In Krashen's acquisition-learning hypothesis, acquisition is far superior to learning because it is language that is acquired that is available for fluent, rapid, and natural speech. Acquisitiion will occur when a learner is exposed to meaningful, comprehensible input.