Proficiency Is The Highest Level Of Speech Competency

Foreign language classes are often put off until high school due to the fact that this is when people believe students are most ready to learn another language. This belief is widely accepted despite the fact children are able to learn to speak like natives in foreign languages, whereas teenagers and adults usually are not able to learn how to do this. Speaking “like a native” entails being able to think in a foreign language without having to translate (Nadia 1). The ability to speak like a native in a foreign language can be easier to obtain when taught the foreign language during elementary school. Once a student passes the prime learning stages, learning a foreign language can be extremely difficult. Adults starting to learn a language have to work through an established first-language

Age, Rate and Eventual Attainment in Second Language Acquisition Author(s): Stephen D. Krashen, Michael A. Long and Robin C. Scarcella Reviewed work(s): Source: TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Dec., 1979), pp. 573-582 Published by: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3586451 . Accessed: 09/01/2013 08:48

Firstly, Cook defines the native speaker and L2 users. Then he discusses the slight but salient differences between monolingual native speakers and multilingual native speakers in terms of “multicompetence” so that there is no stable NSM. He also argues NSM is implicit and L2 users are actually using L2 differently instead of deficiently from monolingual bias

The second portion of the article is all about the stages of second language acquisition of which there are 5. In order from low level of linguistic proficiency to high level of language proficiency the five levels – as stated by the article- are: Silent/Receptive/Pre-productive, Early Production, Speech Emergence, Intermediate Fluency, and Advanced Fluency. The article goes on to

In contrast, “some adults have been known to acquire an authentic accent in a second language after the age of puberty, but such individuals are few and far between” (Brown, p.61, 2007). A study conducted by an anthropologist named Sorenson in the 1960’s conflicts with the Critical Period Hypothesis by proving that adults can in fact attain a perfect fluent second language acquisition just like a native speaker. This became evident when Sorenson studied the Tukano culture in South America in which people have to marry outside their ethnic group. Therefore, they marry someone who speaks another language. Once they marry into their spouse’s ethnic community they immediately start learning that specific language. Sorenson reported, “during adolescence,

With the drastic measures that non-native language learners are driven towards, it illustrates how the demand of a certain inflection in an individual’s voice is valued. Nonetheless, studies conducted with semantic development in non-heritage language learners provides evidence that information is processed slower, which implies that learning a non-native language is a long procedure. The spectrum of issue associated with learning a non-native language is undeniably an ongoing concern that requires the attention of many, as ignorance would only exacerbate the matter at

A fundamental goal of learning a foreign language is to communicate. Today, the need of interacting in English effectively, is increasing. This is needed to be able to interact with both native and non-native speakers. A reason can be the diversity in populations which is growing because of migration and many adult learners study English because they need it in workplace settings, where they communicate with English-speaking colleagues or just for English environment. These learners would benefit from a wide repertoire of the learning language to communicate meaningfully.

Buckingham(YEAR) did a study on the overall development of English language learners. Her findings where that the majority enjoyed the bilingual education system when younger, but still had some issues of grammar, article use, and punctuation which where similar among all participants. Comparing the different strategies that are used in the dual language

Many second language acquisition theories have been developed over the years. These theories examine the avenues in which second language is acquired and the avenues in which they are

L1 Learners in the native language environment, people in this environment are native speakers. For acquisition of L1, child learners have no pressure and competition. They do not worry about the level of mother tongue reached, because they are native speakers. In contrast, most of L2 learners rarely in such language environment, they are often in a highly competitive, stressful learning environment. They are learning another language in the first language environment. Moreover, L2 learners study language in the classroom, not a best language learning environment. For example, most of the Chinese students learn English in junior school or high school. Except of their weekly English class, students do not have a good foreign language environment. L1learners can learn language anywhere, and actual use first language, they learned the language in the real life. Most of L2 learners lack the regular practice, so they have to learn by rote.

In the world of English language, the notion of native and non- native speaker is very prominent. The concept of native and non- native speaker is still important to some people especially scholars because it shows the distinct features possessed by the speakers. However, as time passed and new varieties emerge the distinction between these two seems to be less visible. The issue also becomes debateable as each scholar has different opinion on the matter. Some seem to stick to their believes that there are still differences that differentiate the two, native and non- native speakers while some believe that the distinctions are no longer visible, thus make the two speakers equal. Nonetheless, according to some studies carried out, there are

The participants selected were identified through the researcher’s own academic network and environment, due to their suitability as candidates for the aims of the specific research. More specifically, as the aim of this project was to identify, address and understand the impact that non-native English speakers’ differences have on postgraduate students’ perceived ability to learn, the sample was drawn from a population of postgraduate students, who were using English as a second language and they were also studying in London-based universities.

Psychomotor factors explain the difficulty through which native-like pronunciation is acquired. In the first language acquisition, the speech muscles are in developing stage until age 5 and maintain flexibility until puberty, which assist first language acquisition native-like. Scientist suggests that this flexibility helps children in acquiring first language. However, in second language acquisition that happens after puberty the flexibility of speech muscles are reduced because of which native-like pronunciation acquisition much more difficult.

Abstract: In second language acquisition, age factors has always been the study focus and one of the most controversial issues of linguistics. Based on the Brain Plasticity Theory and the Critical Period Hypothesis, the purpose is to prove such a hypothesis that the younger the leaner who begins to learn an second language,the greater the probability that he or she will achieve a native-like command of it.

The aim of this section is to introduce and explore studies that have already around the topic area of this upcoming study. This chapter will focus on five main themes that have arisen throughout the literature which has been reviewed prior to the study. The themes include the comparison of native and non-native Englishes, the influence of French on English, the difference of British and American English, the expansion of American English and finally the students’ attitudes towards Englishes. From the literature I plan to discover the views of different varieties of English and what effect they have on the student. The different opinions and result of the studies will be compared and analysed in order to aid with the formulation of the