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.

Judie Haynes’ article, “Stages of Second Language Acquisition”, clearly states five stages that a new learner of English may go through. In Haynes’ theory, there are five stages in total, and they are pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. According to Haynes, new learners of English acquire language by going through the same stages. However, how much time each student spends at a particular stage may be different. Despite the different time length, the stages of people acquiring new language are worth discussing.

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.

Living in such a diverse nation containing nearly over 350 languages, does it make sense ignoring all but one? The study of foreign language in America is on the decline as English becomes the language most spoken. The English languages is prominently used in economics, finance, politics and so on. However, this monolingual plague that's affecting America presents an issue, those who are being affected are at a disadvantage. They are at a disadvantage because numerous business practice contain the benefit of knowing multiple languages, they miss out on culture, the secret doors of doors the world has to offer and better mental wellbeing.

The researchers utilized 186 monolingual and bilingual kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders from Taiwan. The author’s hypothesized that the bilingual children (Mandarin & Southern Min) would be likely to learn experimentally manipulated phonotactic patterns more readily than their monolingual peers. The researchers provided the parents with a home language use questionnaire. The authors created two artificial languages with the same phonemes. The two artificial phonological systems consisted of four onsets (/p/, /ph/, /l/, and /n/) and eight rimes. The test phase involved a two-option forced-choice judgment

Hola, yes all U.S. students should be required to learn a second language. There are many benefits of learning a new language. You can grow your vocabulary skills and learn about a whole new culture! As a matter of fact, we should all be equal.

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

How can language and content instruction be coordinated to generate acquisition of social and cognitive academic languages?

So based on the analysis of both English and Mandarin phonology, we can see that they vary greatly. The most logical reason for Chinese having tones is because only about up to 400 different syllables can be made whereas in English there are approximately 12000.(Gao 2002) Also shown in English is the importance of stress and pitch, which lack the same importance in Mandarin. While stress in English can change a noun to a verb or even change the complete meaning of the word, stress in mandarin is only used on certain

Language carries the beauty and persona of our thought process and the study of Linguistics helps us develop insights, appreciate and analyze many aspects of this powerful medium of expression. My fascination with Second Language Acquisition (SLA) began with the course ‘Language Acquisition and Learning’ that I took while I was in the 4th year of my undergraduate program at the University of Dhaka. In that course, for the first time, I was introduced to various theories and hypotheses about how people acquire a second language, such as Stephen Krashen’s five main hypotheses on language acquisition (the acquisition-learning hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, the natural order hypothesis, the input hypothesis, and the affective filter hypothesis), Larry Selinker’s Interlanguage theory, John Schumann’s Acculturation model, and Howard Giles’s Accommodation theory. These theories helped me realize the robustness and richness of SLA research and made a permanent impression on my mind about this field. Besides SLA, I was also acquainted with Psycholinguistics through this course. I have learned about several theories of first language acquisition, e.g. the Behaviorist theory, the Innatist theory, the Cognitive theory, and the Maturational theory. It is worth mentioning here that this course really helped me set my dream to become an academic as well as a researcher in the field of language acquisition and learning.

In our everyday lives, the origin of our ability to communicate is usually not often taken into consideration. One doesn't think about how every person has, or rather had at one time, an innate ability to learn a language to total fluency without a conscious effort – a feat that is seen by the scientific community "as one of the many utterly unexplainable mysteries that beset us in our daily lives" (3).. Other such mysteries include our body's ability to pump blood and take in oxygen constantly seemingly without thought, and a new mother's ability to unconsciously raise her body temperature when her infant is placed on her chest. But a child's first language acquisition is different from these

Children acquire language since they were born. They communicate with their parents. Furthermore, children and parents interact with each other using a language that we often call the first language or mother tongue. At an early age, children are only learning one language that is the mother tongue. By age and speech development, children improve to acquire a second language from the school or the environment around them. In terms of speed of langgauge acquisition, children are factorized by both the child and the child’s learning environment. Therefore, it is important to understand how children acquire second language. This paper is provided

* In the educational field, the teaching learning cycle is a model used in contemporary teaching in both school and adult educational settings. Rothery (1996 in Derewianka & Jones 2012, pg 43) who originally developed the model used this to aim at disadvantaged children for teaching literacy and writing in the KLA (Key learning areas) who were from socially disadvantaged areas. Over time the model has been phased across other areas of the English language such as listening, speaking, reading as well as writing. The key involvement of the teacher also known as ‘expert other’ in the teaching learning cycle is guiding the learner to understand key concepts in academic literacy through use of scaffolding strategies to transform students

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.

Krashen used the natural approach to explain the process of second language acquisition. Krashen’s model basically consists of two parts. In the first part, the language acquisition device the comprehensible input triggered and this starts children’s language development. This process is affected by the anxiety factor, which he called affective filter. In the second part, the acquired language combined with the intentional learning result in the language output. In this process, the intentional learning monitors students’ output. Specifically speaking, his model proposes that a low affective filter or a low anxiety is good for children’s acquisition. He further believes that the learned knowledge hinders our acquisition and needs to be avoided (Brown, 2014). This argument indicates that teachers had better avoid such monitoring as correcting students’ responses since it hinders students’ acquisition. Also, Krashen argues that it is good for children to acquire the language subconsciously. Besides, he asserts that children follow a natural order to acquire the rules of the language.