A Pragmatic Philosophy Of Second Language Acquisition

Many popular theories of second language acquisition have been analyzed throughout history. The socialization of L2 learners, their present emotional state that is present at time of acquisition, as well as the comprehensible input and output with the use of scaffolding play a major role in second language acquisition. Let us also not forget the importance of written expression as well as reading comprehension with these L2 learners. Each play a role in language development. However, I believe that in acquiring a language, one must use a variety of techniques that work together to create a balance within the learning environment. Furthermore, all L2 learners learn differently and so a variety of resources will need to be used based on the ability of each student. There are many theories that have been developed by highly qualified experts in the field on linguistics. However, I will address those areas that I agree with as I present my personal theories on second language acquisition.

My seminar provided an overview of chapter 4- explaining second language learning. During my introduction, key points from each of the 5 perspectives were discussed. The cognitive perspective was given priority as it contained many subcategories within itself. This section also allowed my group mates to connect theory and practice of second language learning. My group mates were able to connect to the noticing hypothesis, processability theory and the three principles of practice through their own personal experiences while learning a second language. The first discussion question asked my group members to evaluate their own understanding of how language learning occurs and compare it with the perspectives we covered. The second discussion question provided them a chance to assess each perspective and think of one weakness and one strength for each. Overall if I were to re-do my seminar, I would like to provide more attention to the other perspectives. I would add more discussion questions in order to stimulate more in-depth discussions. Similarly, adding supplemental information from an outside source to further discussion and connect the theories to pedagogy. Additionally, I would create an activity that focused more on teaching of a second language and how these theories have influenced the current practices used.

This exam is open book / open notes; use any course readings that will assist you. You are welcome to talk with other students about the questions, if you like—in this way the course content is more deeply explored as you learn from your peers (and they learn from you). However, each student must submit his/her own exam with answers that are written by each student in her/his own words. The exam covers all that we have studied in our course. There is no word minimum or maximum; be aware that the quality of the response is of utmost importance, not the quantity of words you use in your answer. Keeping this in mind, answer each question completely yet concisely. Typical answers have generally ranged between 250 and 500 words. Also, you can choose to try for up to 3 extra credit points by answering the extra credit question listed below. Your response to this question must be thorough and well thought out to receive extra credit. Be sure to label each answer within your document (e.g. Question 1, Extra Credit, etc.). Be clear about where one answer stops and the next answer begin. Exams are due on Friday, April 25th by 5:00pm. Submit your exam through the link labeled “Exam” on the Module 5 page. Do not submit your exam to the instructor via e-mail.

A vocabulary is the set of words that make up a language. The acquisition of a vocabulary is a process that usually happens subconsciously and we usually are not aware that it is happening. Vocabulary can be classified as receptive or productive, i.e. what we understand and what we produce. But acquiring a vocabulary is a different process when it is a first language from when it is a second or a foreign language. Acquiring a first language is a natural process while acquiring a second language requires effort and hard work on the learner’s part. In first language acquisition, the basis for learning is universal grammar alone, but in second language acquisition, knowledge of the first language serves as groundwork for learning the second language

The main objective of pragmatics is to study on how non-native speakers comprehend and produce speech acts in a target language. Speech act is not the whole of pragmatics, but is perhaps currently the most important part of the subject. Many of the topics addressed in both narrow and broad views derive from three major pragmatic theories: Speech Acts, Conversational Implicatures,

In the video titled The Four Stages of Acquiring Language, in which I observed. The first stage is “Babbling” one syllable sounds. I observed an infant at 4 months of age babbling. According to the CDC, at 4 months of age infants begin babbling, they can babble with expression and copy sounds he/she hears. Infants at this age can cry in different ways to express hunger, pain or being tired.

Many popular theories of second language acquisition have been analyzed throughout history. The socialization of L2 learners, their present emotional state that is present at the time of acquisition, as well as the comprehensible input and output with the use of scaffolding play a major role in second language acquisition. Kirsten Hummel states, “The one most effective way to increase L2 competence was by exposure to ‘comprehensible input’.” (Hummel, 2014, p. 73) Let us also not forget the importance of written expression as well as reading comprehension with these L2 learners. Each plays a role in language development. However, I believe that to acquire language one must use a variety of techniques that work together to create a balance within the learning environment. Furthermore, all L2 learners acquire language differently and so using a variety of resources that are based on the ability of each student is neccesary. There are many theories that have been developed by highly qualified experts in the field of linguistics. However, I will address those areas that I agree with as I present my personal theories on second language acquisition.

Yet, I am still drawn to what can be done in my own context, as a secondary educator, to help these students transform into successful members of our new global society. Igoa (1995) and Beck & Stevenson (2015) certainly open up the content of what the student needs, but second language acquisition theory and the SIOP model seem like a good direction in terms of building a strong instructional pedagogy for addressing these learners needs.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis captures the relationship between affective variables and the process of second language acquisition by positing that acquirers vary with respect to the strength or level of their Affective Filters.

Nowadays we are living in the age of globalization and as a result anything produced or invented in any part of the world gets global character very rapidly. To keep pace with globalization, it is very much essential to learn the global language English. English has a grip as the language of the global world, and being so it has become the most commonly learnt second language amongst foreign language speakers. English is the most commonly taught second language in foreign schools, as English is the collective language spoken by 1.8 billion people world wide, 27% of the world’s population. (Lona Glenn & Maria Castle, 2011).A vast majority of non-native English learners study a wide variety of school subjects using a language that is not their

Pragmatics is a field of study appeared in the late sixties and early seventies. It is the branch of linguistics concerned with language use, which deal with the form and meaning of sentences respectively (Ninio and Snow, 1996, p.9). Hence, pragmatics is usually associated with utterance and speaker meaning. Some definitions of pragmatics stress different views and perspectives will help us to understand this field.

Second language acquisition is a process that is extraordinarily complex and requires the cooperation of multiple learning factors. Altogether, these factors can be divided into three main domains-cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. The cognitive domain consists deals with the factors on learning, whereas the psychomotor deals with the physical aspects of learning. Although both of these domains are essential to the learning process, this paper will focus on the third domain-known as the affective domain. (the second principle). The affective domain is “the emotional side of human behavior… [and] the development of affective states or feelings involves a variety of personality factors, feelings both about ourselves and about others with whom we come into contact” (Brown 153). The factors of self-esteem, willingness, inhibition, risk taking, anxiety, and personality factors such as motivation and the tendency for extroversion or introversion are all part of the affective domain. This paper will explain all of these factors and their impact on the process of second language acquisition.

classroom. It’s not until recent years that general education teachers realize that ELL students do not learn the same way as their native speaking English classmates because of their lack of English proficiency. (Brown, 2003) One of the factors that affect how ELLs learn is age and there are also several factors such as gender, L1 literacy, social context, and personality. In this term paper I will discuss how age and personality affect second language acquisition and the factors can be used in the language classroom to facilitate second language acquisition.

In today’s society, it is essential that one knows more than one language to be very well qualified in acquiring jobs. However, learning a new language is not an easy task. One must be dedicated and be fully immersed to be fluent at it later on. There are certain grammatical rules that exists in one language but not in the others. Grammatical gender, for an example, is present in various languages around the world, including German. In the other hand, there is the English language which does not possess the use of gender grammar, specifically definitive article “the” and indefinite articles “a/an” in English, and “der/die/das” and “ein/einer/ein” in German. Der/ein is the gender grammar for masculine words, die/einer for feminine, and das/ein for neutral. However, these article could change depending if the sentence is describing the noun being presented is either genitive, dative, or accusative, turning them to either des/dem/den or eines/einem/einen. Despite such complex article rule, German and English are both Indo-European languages that have several cognate words, which could be beneficial for English speakers learning the language.Another interesting idea is whether bilinguals of English and Tagalog, which is an Austronesian language, would have such limitation in being fluent to the third language because of the article rules. It would be interesting to see if

Nowadays as a result of globalization, people worldwide have more reasons to learn foreign languages. Together with the spread of foreign language teaching and learning is the development of theories on second language acquisition. One of the main issues of these theories is the investigation into factors that can influence learners’ second language achievements. As a teacher of English, I find this an interesting issue as a good understanding of factors affecting learners’ achievements in second language acquisition can help me choose appropriate approaches and design suitable materials to facilitate my students.