Bilingualism, Language Acquisition, and Language Teaching

Abstract

The aim of this study is to give information about bilingualism, to explain the differences between language acquisition and language teaching, and to give information about the advantages and disadvantages of being bilingual. In this article, we will discuss the concepts of 'bilingualism', 'language acquisition' and 'language learning', which are thought to be basically the same but differ in their content in terms of our readings and evaluations. Therefore, the main purpose of our study is to determine the differences between these concepts. “Bilingualism” means the ability to communicate in two different languages. Language acquisition takes place by combining the messages that the language learner is unconsciously exposed to. Learning a language, on the other hand, is a process and requires an active effort, while it requires volitional effort.

The main difference between learning a language and acquiring a language is that learning refers to the conscious process, while language acquisition refers to the subconscious process.