From their very first days, newborn’s cries already bear the mark of the language their parents speak, reveals a new study. The findings suggest that infants begin picking up elements of what will be their first language in the womb, and certainly long before their first babble or coo.

These research findings confirm the theory of Universal Grammar proposed by the great American Linguist Noam Chomsky. Noam Chomsky wrote a critique to Harvard psychologist BF Skinner's work which treated the language faculty purely as a learned behavior, and found that language is something innate and we acquire it by birth. So we are all born with genetically inherited ability of learning our mother tongue at a lightening pace. Most of the children speak their mother tongue effortlessly by the age of three years. But the new finding unveils the incredible thing that a child learns its mother tongue in its mother’s womb.

 Contrary to the children's ability to learn language at an amazing pace the grownups struggle for years and years to learn a second language. What could be the reason behind this phenomenon?  The most important reason might be that the children treat language purely as a skill and acquire the skill even before they start going to school, whereas the grownups treat language as knowledge that should be learnt and start reading grammar books. The innumerable grammar rules that feature in these books not only baffle them but also make them lose interest in pursuing the language.

Now the big question is why the second language learners are laboring after grammar? It’s simple. Whenever they visit a bookshop they find numerous grammar books written by different authors. When they see them they get an impression that in order to get a new language they should first learn its grammar. Then why so many grammar books appear in the market in spite of the many findings revealing that language is a skill that should be acquired by silent listening and speaking by imitation. One of the reasons is, the teachers who teach English in India are ill equipped and they teach grammar rules to the students in their mother tongue and encourage them to learn all the grammar. As a result they concentrate mostly on grammar and fail to use the grammar knowledge in their day to day communication. Seeing the demand for grammar books most of the well known publishers are releasing new versions of grammar books as they are selling like hot cakes.

So we should all realize that language is an innate ability that manifests outwardly the moment it finds a suitable environment. So the role of the teacher should also change accordingly.  Instead of using chalk and talk method he should transform himself into a facilitator and a guide and make an effort to increase student talk time in the classroom. The Lab sessions that are introduced in educational institutions should be utilized to create conducive environment for the students to practice speaking. Practice makes man perfect is an old adage. The new principle is practice makes the thing permanent. When language becomes permanent it becomes a part of our lives and results in its acquisition.