This paper examines the critical factors required for successful foreign language acquisition through personal experience and academic research. Drawing on Lightbown and Spada's framework from "How Languages are Learned," the author argues that three interdependent elements—vocabulary, practice, and motivation—form the essential recipe for language mastery. By analyzing her own struggles with Cantonese and Spanish alongside evidence from language learning studies, the paper demonstrates how vocabulary enables communication, practice builds fluency, and motivation sustains the learning process. The paper concludes that neglecting any single ingredient undermines overall language development.
"Why you want to do the pharmacy?" my parents asked me. To them, English was a foreign language, and I admired their success in adopting it. I only wished that I was as successful in Cantonese so that I could tell them how much I enjoyed learning about compounding medication, drug interactions, and chemistry—the ingredients to becoming a successful pharmacist. Unfortunately, I had never learned the Cantonese equivalents of pharmaceutical terminology, and neither had they learned the English equivalents. Discouraged and disappointed, I simply responded, "Because I like it."
I had learned to speak both English and Cantonese simultaneously while growing up. However, my English quickly became my dominant language while my Cantonese continues to decline. The difficulty I have in communicating in a foreign language does not only pertain to my experience with Cantonese, but also to Spanish. After learning Spanish for several years in high school, I was able to read, write, and speak the language fluently. Regrettably, my mastery of the language was short-lived, and presently I can no longer communicate in Spanish.
The reasons for my failure at mastering either Cantonese or Spanish are explained in Lightbown and Spada's book, How Languages are Learned. The book introduces key factors of which I lacked in my personal experience with foreign languages. The acquisition of vocabulary, practice, and motivation to learn are critical factors in learning a foreign language, and the lack of any of these criteria can hinder language mastery.
Acquiring vocabulary is critical to developing mastery of a foreign language because vocabulary is the fundamental unit used in communication. Logically, you cannot master a language if you cannot communicate with it. As seen in the interaction with my parents, "we can communicate by using words that are not placed in the proper order, pronounced perfectly, or marked with the proper grammatical morphemes but communication often breaks down if we do not use the correct word" (Lightbown and Spada, Kindle Location 1444). Although my parents' question contained many grammatical errors, I was still able to infer that they intended to ask about my interest in becoming a pharmacist because of the word "pharmacy." Had they used a different word, their question might not have conveyed the same intent, indicating an inability to communicate in the language.
Thus, without the correct word, a vital step leading to the development of language mastery would be lost. It is also important to note that the lack of a correct word can also break down communication. In the example, I was unable to communicate with my parents because I lacked the vocabulary to do so. Whereas vocabulary can enable and promote communication, the lack of vocabulary can hinder or discourage it. Often, the discouragement causes me to avoid conversing in the foreign language, resulting in the loss of practice that is also vital to language development.
Practice is critical in mastering a foreign language because it not only stimulates learning vocabulary, but also improves fluency. Evidence from Hulstijn and Laufer indicates that "vocabulary development is more successful when learners are fully engaged in activities that require them to attend carefully to the new words and even to use them in productive tasks" (1530). My personal experience in Hong Kong is a testament to their finding.
With only a limited amount of vocabulary left in my Cantonese dictionary, I spent an entire summer in Hong Kong after high school. During this time, I was forced to communicate mainly in Cantonese with the people I encountered, and I discovered that I remembered new words better if I had to use them more often. My expanded vocabulary allowed me to communicate more frequently, and the more I practiced, the more vocabulary I learned. In addition, my usage of Cantonese became more instinctive and fluent as I practiced. This phenomenon reflects the sociocultural perspective, which claims that "speaking and writing mediates the mind" (2657). Essentially, the more I practiced, the better I was at controlling my mental processes and the better I was at executing my thoughts.
Unfortunately, my rapid advancement in Cantonese ended when I came back to America, where my exposure to the language dramatically decreased. Finding opportunities to practice became more difficult, and my mastery of the language gradually deteriorated. Although it may appear that the solution to regaining my mastery in Cantonese is to practice, the desire to practice poses another challenge.
Motivation is the key to successfully learning a foreign language because it is the driving force behind practice. As previously mentioned, practice develops the necessary vocabulary and fluency for mastery of a foreign language. However, without a willingness to learn the language, it is unlikely that one would seek to practice. In a study that explored the links between teacher's motivational practices and students' motivation for foreign language learning, "researchers found significant positive correlations between the teachers' motivational practices, the learners' engagement behaviors, and the learners' self-reports on the questionnaire" (Location 2069).
This correlation was evident in my Spanish-learning experience, in which my main motivation was pride. This pride was nurtured by motivational practices, such as group work and team competition, used by teachers to encourage students to use the language. My desire to get good grades and to impress my peers encouraged me to become more engaged in behaviors that would better my Spanish-speaking ability (for example, spending more time practicing and studying the language). My effort evidently paid off when I passed my Advanced Placement Spanish test and was able to converse with native Spanish speakers with pride.
However, as Spanish class came to an end, so did my motivation to learn the language. I was satisfied with my grade and there was no longer a desire to practice long hours to impress my peers and teacher. Without any motivation to practice, my mastery of Spanish, like my mastery of Cantonese, also deteriorated.
Although I was unable to master either Cantonese or Spanish, my personal experiences had taught me a lot about foreign language learning. Much like my goal to become a pharmacist, successful language learning requires a combination of ingredients, not just one. The necessary ingredients for the recipe in this case are vocabulary, practice, and motivation. Motivation is needed to promote practice, while practice expands vocabulary, the unit for communication. With the right ingredients, anyone can successfully learn a foreign language.
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