Second language acquisition: theories and processes

Second Language Acquisition

There is a very close relationship between second language acquisition and other areas of enquiry, and the fact that there are numerous ways in which to examine this issue means that the study of second language acquisition has its own goals. In addition, the study of the topic means that there must be presents its very own set of analytic tools and its own set of data collection methods. What this in essence means is that second language acquisition is in itself a completely inter-disciplinary field, and by its very nature, it has to be studied and analyzed from a variety of different perspectives. One method of study is to state, at the very outset, what it is not. Therefore, it must be said that it is not pedagogy, unless the pedagogy were to affect directly or indirectly the very course of the acquisition process.

Therefore, one must understand how second language has to be learned, and according to Chomsky, 1968, "When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the human essence, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to [humans]." These words can be taken to mean that when one studies how second language is acquired, and then it means that one is also, at the same time, studying language behavior. Language acquisition can be described as a determination and an ascertainment of linguistic constraints on the basic formation of the grammar of second language. In general, all theories of language are concerned with the development of human language knowledge, it can be stated that the study need not be restricted to the study of first language alone, and that the linguistic principles involved reflect the possibilities of the creation of human language.

It is not at all easy to express a very clear picture of second language acquisition, and this is because there is a great diversity and heterogeneity of issues involved, and the research and acquisition methods are also numerous, in addition to the terminology that is involved in the study. In any language teaching, the teacher must therefore possess a deep knowledge of the subject being taught, which the learner must learn to accept with an open mind. In other words, these exists a deep relationship between the knowledge that is being taught by the teacher, and the process of the learning being accomplished.

According to Stephen Krashen, "Language acquisition does not require extensive usage of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill." Krashen, of the University of Southern California, and an expert in the area of linguistics has studied and researched extensively, the topic of second language acquisition, and in his opinion, second language acquisition can be described in five hypotheses: the acquisition- learning hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, the natural order hypothesis, the input hypothesis, and the affective-filter hypothesis. The acquisition-learning hypothesis is, according to Stephen Krashen, one of the most fundamental, and it is also one of the more popular and widely recognized and acknowledged hypotheses. It relates how, in a second language performance, there are two systems, namely, the acquired, and the learned.

The former is termed as the direct product of a sort of subconscious process, in much the same way as young children go through an acquisition process when they are trying to learn a first language. This is because of the fact that during the acquisition process of a language, meaningful interaction, using that language is necessary, if there were to be natural communication, this would also mean that the speakers of this language would concentrate their energies not on the form of their speech, but on the actual communicative act in itself. The latter, or the learning process can be aptly described as the direct product of formal instruction, and it is therefore made up of a conscious process that has the result of producing a conscious knowledge of the language for the user. At times, states Krashen, learning becomes infinitely less important than acquisition.

The 'monitor' hypothesis refers to the relationship already described, which is, between acquisition and learning, and explains the inordinate influence the latter exerts on the former. In this relationship, the monitoring function is carried out by the grammar of the language. Therefore, the acquisition system becomes the utterance initiator, and the learning system takes on the important role of 'editor' or 'monitor'. The monitor therefore performs three important functions: planning, editing, and correcting, wherein three specific functions would be met. The three functions would be that of time, which the learner must have at his disposal, the learner must be able to focus and emphasis on form and also think about the correctness of the language that he is in the process of acquiring, and thirdly, he must know and follow the rules of the language acquisition. All this can be taken to mean that the role that conscious learning plays in language acquisition can be termed as negligible, and that the role that the monitor or the editor plays is also minor.

The monitor would only play a minor role in, for example, correcting any sort of deviations form the 'normal' language that the speaker is making, so that the spoken language has a more polished appearance. The Natural Order hypothesis is based on research findings of Dulay & Burt, 1974; Fathman, 1975 and Makino, 1980, and this hypothesis suggests that the acquisition of grammar and grammatical structures in a language in general follows a sort of predictable 'natural order'. One must remember that in any given language, certain grammatical structures are acquired quite early on, in the learning process, while some others, at a later stage. There is no logic to this, states Stephen Krashen, and it seems to be, more often than not, quite independent of the learner's age, educational background, and the situations of exposure to the language. Krashen also feels that the implication of the natural order hypothesis is not that a language program syllabus ought to be based on the order found in the studies, rather, grammatical sequencing and order must be abandoned when the goal is language acquisition, he felt.

The 'input' hypothesis is used by Stephen Krashen to explain how an individual normally acquires a second language, and therefore, it can be stated that this theory is more concerned with the acquisition process than with the learning process. In other words, it can be said that the learner generally improves and progresses along the so called 'natural order' when he receives the second language 'input', which would be, at that stage, way beyond the comprehension of the learner. In other words, his linguistic competence would not have reached the high levels required for him to progress by using the input, and this means that if, for example the learner was at stage 'A', then acquisition would happen when the learner were at a stage when his comprehensible input would be at 'D'. Since it is not possible that al the learners would be at a similar level of linguistic competence at the same time as the next person, it would mean that 'Natural communicative input' is the key to designing a syllabus, which would be based on the fact that every learner would need to have reached a stage of A+D to reach the appropriate level of linguistic competence required to acquire a second language.

The 'affective filter' theory is a virtual embodiment of Krashen's view that a number of 'affective variables' play an involved, but non-causal, role in second language acquisition. These affective variables include, according to Stephen Krashen: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. Krashen offers the opinion that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety would be much better equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low motivational levels, an attitude of discouragement, and a low self-esteem, and a level of anxiety ca all, on the other hand combine together to form a sort of 'mental block', which would effectively prevent comprehensible inputs from being successfully utilized for the purpose of language acquisition. This can also be taken to mean that when the so-called 'filter' has increased, then it would cause language acquisition to slow down considerably. Therefore, this means that positive affect can be deemed necessary, but not sufficient enough by itself, for language acquisition to take place, unimpeded.

Any second language acquisition model would have to explain certain facts. Some of them are, according to Vivian Cook, an adult, who was a diagnosed amnesiac, could acquire a new language skill, namely, French, without any apparently great difficulty. He was even able to completely master the vocabulary needed for the language. In the same way, all English language learners, especially primary school children, when they are taught Italian for a least an hour a week, start to learn English better. A person who knows a second language generally speaks better, and can grasp things better than a monolingual. One of the best examples for this phenomenon is Einstein, who could speak more than one language fluently. These people are also, reportedly, more creative, and also excellent at problem solving. One Moroccan individual was injured in an accident, she was a bi-lingual, and she could speak both French and Arabic before the accident. During her recovery, she found to her amazement, tat she could speak French one day but not Arabic, and one day, Arabic and not French. After three months, she could speak both fluently.

Today, with the increasing advent of globalization in every sphere of life, it must be stated that almost everyone has something to say about it. While a businessman may feel that the world markets would open up as a direct consequence of globalization, some others may feel that since globalization would only serve to, eventually, widen the already wide gap between the rich and the poor of the world, it may not be such a nice thing, after all. However, the implications of the phenomenon for educators are extremely significant; people can now move freely from one country to another, for any number of reasons, including, for example, a desire for better economic conditions, a need for labor, refugee who move form the country of their birth to another country, oppression of one group of people by another, and also when a natural disaster strikes.

When multitudes of people are mobile, it can only mean that it would directly affect the linguistic, cultural, racial, and religious diversity within schools and between the children of the school. For example in Toronto in Canada almost fifty eight percent of children is from homes where Standard English is not spoken; nor is it the means of communication within the family. It must be mentioned that this is a common enough phenomenon in many schools in North America, and in Europe, but at the same time, it is indeed a controversial issue, wherein educational policies and methodologies vary vastly between these kinds of diverse population. Many students, for whom English is not their mother tongue, were punished previously, but today, however, they would not be punished. At the same time, however, the subtle message that if the child does not speak English, he will not be completely accepted by the school is omnipresent, and therefore, these children would have to naturally renounce their allegiance to their own home and language and culture.

Some people do feel that this could be a direct violation of the child's right to an appropriate education, and it would also, in the long run, destabilize and undermine the communicative relationship between the parent and the child, who is taught to communicate in an alien language, as far as the parents are concerned. Any realistic language educator would have to agree to the fact that schools should and must indeed build on the experiences and the information and the knowledge that such children bring to the classroom, and try to promote these experiences and knowledge within the classroom. However, even today, the primary challenge for an educator and a second language instructor who handles children or even adult learners is that they are the people, after all, who would be held responsible, in the long run, for fostering and then shaping the evolution of national identity of the children, in such a way that the rights of all the children that they teach would be respected, and also so that the cultural, linguistic, and economic resources of the nation would eventually be maximized.

When a new learner is in the process of acquiring a new language, he generally has to progress through several stages: pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. The first stage is the silent time, when the learner has a vocabulary of more than 500 words, but has not yet leant to use them, and he may listen very attentively, and copy words down. In general, at this stage, many repetitions would be necessary, and it would also help if they had a 'buddy' who would speak to them in the language that they were learning. The second stage lasts up to six months, and the learner would now be able to speak in one or two-word phrases. The third stage is that of speech emergence, when the learner has acquired a vocabulary of more than 3,000 words, and they would be able to communicate using short phrases and sentences, even if they may not be grammatically perfect. At the next stage, the learner would know about 6,000 new words, and he can also use complex sentences, which are grammatically correct too. However, when the learner reaches the last fluent stage, he would have spent almost four to six years on acquiring the second language, and at this time, he would be acknowledged for his cognitive academic language proficiency in a second language.