Language learning: epistemological issues concerning the vocabulary acquisition

Abstract

The present paper was carried out following a detailed data research; and it analyses the different pedagogical and linguistic principles that support the learning and acquisition of the vocabulary, as it is considered the main basic unit that conveys meaning and symbolic function in the language and discourse as well. Many foreign language teachers neglect such epistemological aspects, without being aware they constitute the theoretical mainstay of reference, at the time of assessing the learning and diagnosing the possible problems there may arise. On the other hand, these theoretical issues are also useful to evaluate the contents as well as planning the teaching at certain levels. In this way, both, language acquisition and language learning, demand natural communicative acts, in which speakers do not only focus on the utterance but on the meaning and understanding of their messages. All these elements, indeed, are essential to foster cognitive skills learning a foreign language.