DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGES: A FUNCTIONAL AND PEDAGOGICAL ANALYSIS Zulkifley Hamid & Rahim Aman School of Malay Language, Literature and Culture Studies Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 43600 Bangi, Selangor Abstract This article examines the differences and similarities between first and second languages. The discussion focuses on the aspects of function and pedagogy. With respect to differences, attention is given to aspects related to language as a choice, the method of knowledge acquisition for first and second languages, and the different functions of first and second languages. For similarities, the discussion focuses on the importance of acquiring both first and second languages holistically. Although there are many differences between first and second languages, there are also similarities. Keywords: Language Differences, Language Similarities, Language Acquisition, Language as a Choice, Language Functions Abstrak Makalah ini membincang perbezaan dan persamaan antara bahasa pertama dan bahasa kedua. Perbincangan tertumpu pada aspek fungsi dan pedagogi. Dari segi perbezaan, perbincangan menjurus kepada aspek kebebasan memilih oleh pengguna bahasa, cara penguasaan pengetahuan bahasa pertama dan kedua, dan perbezaan dari segi fungsi bahasa pertama dan kedua. Dari segi persamaan pula, tumpuan diberikan kepada keperluan untuk menguasai pengetahuan bahasa pertama dan kedua secara utuh. Hakikatnya, terdapat banyak perbezaan antara bahasa pertama dan kedua, namun tidak dapat dinafikan terdapat juga persamaan antara bahasa pertama dan bahasa kedua. Kata Kunci: Perbezaan Bahasa, Persamaan Bahasa, Penguasaan Bahasa, Kepilihanan Bahasa, Fungsi Bahasa INTRODUCTION Language usage is a purposeful action. There are two things, which are surely true of any normal speaker/hearer of a native language. First, that he knows something, his language, and second, he can exploit that knowledge (Kean 1981, 175). To enable any language user to use language effectively, he or she must be competent in both aspects of language, that is, grammatical and sociolinguistics competence. Jilid 1, Bilangan 1, Julai - Disember 2006 1