Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) refers both to the study of individuals and groups who are learning a language subsequent to learning their first one as young children, and to the process of learning that language. The additional language is called a second language (L2), even though it may actually be the third, fourth, or tenth to be acquired.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1.Background

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) refers both to the study of individuals and groups who are learning a language subsequent to learning their first one as young children, and to the process of learning that language. The additional language is called a second language (L2), even though it may actually be the third, fourth, or tenth to be acquired. It is also commonly called a target language (TL), which refers to any language that is the aim or goal of learning. The scope of SLA includes informal L2 learning that takes place in naturalistic contexts, formal L2 learning that takes place in classrooms, and L2 learning that involves a mixture of these settings and circumstances. For example, “informal learning” happens when a child from Japan is brought to the US and “picks up” English in the course of playing and attending school with native English-speaking children without any specialized language instruction, or when an adult Guatemalan immigrant in Canada learns English as a result of interacting with native English speakers or with co-workers who speak English as a second language. “Formal learning” occurs when a high school student in England takes a class in French, when an undergraduate student in Russia takes a course in Arabic, or when an attorney in Colombia takes a night class in English. A combination of formal and informal learning takes place when a student from the USA takes Chinese language classes in Taipei or Beijing while also using Chinese outside of class for social interaction and daily living experiences, or when an adult immigrant from Ethiopia in Israel learns Hebrew both from attending special classes and from interacting with co-workers and other residents in Hebrew.

When we talk about what is being acquired in SLA, it is not enough just to talk about the language itself. We must also include the social and cultural knowledge embedded in the language being learned, that is required for appropriate language use. What must L2 learners know and be able to do in order to communicate effectively? Part of this knowledge involves different ways of categorizing objects and events and expressing experiences. But an important part involves learners understanding their own and others’ roles as members of groups or communities with sociopolitical as well as linguistic bounds. What difference does group membership and identity make in regard to what is learned, how it is acquired, and why some learners are more successful than others? In this chapter, we focus attention on two levels of context that affect language learning: the microsocial and the macrosocial: The microsocial focus deals with the potential effects of different immediately surrounding circumstances, while the macrosocial focus relates SLA to broader cultural, political, and educational environments.

1.2.Problem Statement

In trying to understand the process of second language acquisition, we are seeking to answer three basic questions:

a)      What must L2 learners know and be able to do in Communicative Competence?

b)      What difference do learners learned and acquired in microsocial and macrosocial context

1.3.The Objective of writing the Paper

Some objectives in writing this paper as follows:

CHAPTER II

D I S C U S S I O N

2.1. Communicative Competence

From a social perspective, the notion of linguistic competence account for what is being acquired in any language that is going to be used for communicative purposes. Dell Hymes (1966), in establishing the framework for a field he called the Ethnography of Communication, made a critical observation that speakers who can produce any and all of the grammatical sentences of a language (which satisfies Chomsky’s 1965 definition of “competence”) would be institutionalized if they indiscriminately went about trying to do so. The concept of communicative competence became a basic tenet in the then-emerging field of sociolinguistics, and was soon adopted as well by many specialists in the field of SLA and language teaching. This term can be defined simply as “what a speaker needs to know to communicate appropriately within a particular language community” (Saville-Troike 2003). It involves knowing not only the vocabulary, phonology, grammar, and other aspects of linguistic structure (although that is a critical component of knowledge) but also when to speak (or not), what to say to whom, and how to say it appropriately in any given situation. Further, it involves the social and cultural knowledge speakers are presumed to have which enables them to use and interpret linguistic forms.

The term language community refers to a group of people who share knowledge of a common language to at least some extent. Multilingual individuals are often members of more than one language community – generally to different degrees, and the one or ones they orient themselves to at any given moment is reflected not only in which segment of their linguistic knowledge they select, but which interaction skills they use, and which features of their cultural knowledge they activate. As we have already seen, the competence of nonnative speakers of a language may differ significantly from the competence of native speakers, even as they may participate in the same or overlapping language communities. This may include structural differences in the linguistic system, different rules for usage in writing or conversation, and even somewhat divergent meanings for the “same” lexical forms. Further, a multilingual speaker’s total communicative competence differs from that of a monolingual in including knowledge of rules for the appropriate choice of language and for switching between languages, given a particular social context and communicative purpose.

Differences between monolingual and multilingual communicative competence are due in part to the different social functions of first and second language learning, and to the differences between learning language and learning culture. L1 learning for children is an integral part of their socialization into their native language community: a child’s native language is normally part of his or her native culture, and thus part of the body of knowledge, attitudes, and skills which are transmitted from one generation to the next as well as a primary medium through which other aspects of culture are transmitted and through which social relations are maintained. L2 learning may be part of second culture learning and adaptation, but the relationship of SLA to social and cultural learning differs greatly with circumstances.

In discussing linguistic and psychological perspectives on SLA, I have for

the most part used “second language learning” in the inclusive sense of adding another language to one’s first (or native) language, but it is important at this point to return to the distinction among second language (SL) learning, foreign language (FL) learning, and auxiliary language (AL) learning which was mentioned in Chapter 2. This is relevant to differential considerations not only of what is being learned in the process of SLA from social perspectives, but of how it is being learned, and of why some learners are more successful than others.

            What we are here distinguishing as an SL is generally learned and used within the context of a language community which dominantly includes members who speak it natively; it is needed to participate in that community socially, academically, politically, and economically. Examples of SL learners would include Spanish speakers in the USA learning English, Turkish speakers in Germany learning German, or Koreans in China learning Chinese. Communicative competence in an SL thus often requires considerable knowledge of the larger community’s culture and social structure, although learners may be selective in deciding which elements they want to adopt as part of their own identity. In contrast, students learning an FL usually do so within the context of their own native culture, often have little opportunity to interact with members of the language community who speak the FL natively (unless they study abroad), and typically have little opportunity (or need) to participate fully in the FL society – indeed, too often the sole reason for studying the language is that it is required for graduation. An AL is learned in a context where it will function for political or technological purposes, and when its use will generally be limited to these social domains; to the extent an AL is required at all for face-to-face interaction, it is likely to be used in linguistically diverse settings which require participants to make use of a common language code for a restricted range of social functions. Examples might include use of English by a Thai speaker for international trade, an Igbo speaker in Nigeria for national-level political meetings, or a Chinese speaker for pan-Asian economic conferences.

2.2. Microsocial Factors

Within a microsocial focus, our first topic will be L2 variation, which has

received extensive attention since the 1970s from SLA researchers concerned primarily with sociolinguistics. We explore how contextual dimensions relate to variation in learner language and consider why differing varieties of an L2 may be chosen as targets of SLA even within groups who are supposedly learning the “same” language. Our second microsocial topic is input and interaction, where we consider how native speakers often modify their language in communicating with L2 learners, how social and cultural factors may affect the quantity and quality of input, and how cultural knowledge and prior experience are involved in processing and interpreting input. As our third topic, we examine how Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory views interaction as the basic genesis of language itself and explore how learners negotiate meaning and fulfill pragmatic objectives even while their linguistic resources are still exceedingly limited.

2.2.1. Variation in Learner Language

One defining characteristic of L2 learner language is that it is highly variable. Some of the variability is due to changes that occur in what learners know and can produce as they progressively achieve higher levels of L2 proficiency. However, there is also considerable variation in learners’ L2 production at every stage along the way that we can attribute to their social  

One of the most important contributions of sociolinguistics (beginning with Labov 1965) has been the demonstration that much of what earlier linguists had considered unsystematic irregularity in language production can be seen to follow regular and predictable patterns, when treated as variable features. These are multiple linguistic forms which are systematically or predictably used by different speakers of a language, or by the same speakers at different times, with the same (or very similar) meaning or function. They occur at every linguistic level: vocabulary, phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse; they include both standard (“correct”) and nonstandard options; and they are characteristic of all natural language production, whether L1 or L2. For example, native speakers of English may say: I ate dinner or I ate supper (variable vocabulary); She was coming or She was comin’ (variable phonology); She has sewed or She has sewn (variable morphology); and That is a big book or That a big book (variable syntax); and they may respond to an introduction with Hi or I am very pleased to meet you (variable discourse).

Which variable feature occurs in the production of any one speaker (native or language learner) depends largely on the communicative contexts in which it has been learned and is used. Some relevant contextual dimensions are:

•    Linguistic contexts: elements of language form and function associated with the variable element. In the examples given above, for instance, the phonological variable [ŋ] in coming is more likely to be used before a word which begins with a back consonant or before a pause, and the variable [n] in comin’ is more likely before a front consonant. The part of speech can also be a relevant linguistic context, with production of [ŋ] most frequent in one-syllable nouns such as ring or song, and [n] in the progressive form of verbs, as in I’m workin’.

 •   Psychological contexts: factors associated with the amount of attention which is   being given to language form during production, the level of automaticity versus control in processing, or the intellectual demands of a particular task. In learners’ production, for instance, the copula of That is a big book may be produced during a formal second language lesson or in a writing exercise but omitted in informal conversation even at the same point of L2 development. Similarly, the variable [ŋ] is more likely to be used by L1 or L2 speakers when they are focusing on their pronunciation in a formal setting than in casual conversation.

•  Microsocial contexts: features of setting/situation and interaction which relate to communicative events within which language is being produced, interpreted, and negotiated. These include level of formality and participants’ relationship to one another, and whether the interaction is public or intimate. Such features interact importantly with the amount of attention that is paid to language form, as illustrated above for the probability that the copula or [ŋ] versus [n] will be produced, or that the differences among see, saw, and have seen will be onsistently observed.

Macrosocial factors, which will be discussed later, may also influence linguistic variation. These include features of the larger political setting within which language learning and use takes place, including the social position and role of users (e.g. whether immigrant, international student, visiting dignitary), societal attitudes toward specific languages and multilingualism in general, and institutional organization (e.g. patterns of education, employment, and political participation). For example, standard and prestige L2 forms are more likely to be used by international students or diplomats while they are functioning within those social roles than by the same individuals while they are shopping in a market or visiting tourist sites.

A substantial amount of research on the effect of microsocial contexts has been based on the framework of Accommodation Theory. Speakers (usually unconsciously) change their pronunciation and even the grammaticalcomplexity of sentences they use to sound more like whomever they are talking to. This accounts in part for why native speakers tend to simplify their language when they are talking to an L2 learner who is not fluent (which we will discuss below), and why L2 learners may acquire somewhat different varieties of the target language when they have different friends.

The effect of macrosocial contexts can also be seen when learners acquire different varieties of the “same” target language. Given similar linguistic, psychological, and microsocial contexts, for instance, female immigrants in the US may hear and use more standard variants than male immigrants from the same language and cultural background – in part because females are more likely to find employment in middle- or upperclass households or in service positions, while males are more likely to find employment in blue-collar occupations. Workplace stratification affects both the nature of language input and group identity.

2.2.2. Imput and Interaction

Language input to the learner is absolutely necessary for either L1 or L2 learning to take place, but the nature of its role is in dispute. Within the linguistic approaches discussed in Chapter 3, for instance, followers of behaviorist learning theories consider input to form the necessary stimuli and feedback which learners respond to and imitate; followers of Krashen’s Monitor Model consider comprehensible input not only necessary but sufficient in itself to account for SLA; proponents of UG consider exposure to input a necessary trigger for activating internal mechanisms, but of minimal importance for many aspects of language development beyond the initial state. Within the psychological approaches discussed in Chapter 4, those working from an IP framework consider input which is attended to (i.e. intake) as essential data for all stages of language processing; those working from a connectionist framework further consider the quantity or frequency of input structures to largely determine acquisitional sequencing, though this is partially contradicted by actual frequencies. Within the social approaches surveyed in this chapter, some researchers also consider input primarily as “data” for essentially innate linguistic and/or cognitive processes, but others claim a more important role for input in determining what features of language are learned, and how. Social approaches also consider the nature and role of interaction in acquisition, and ways in which it is helpful – and perhaps necessary – for the development of advanced levels of L2 proficiency. From a social perspective, interaction is generally seen as essential in providing learners with the quantity and quality of external linguistic input which is required for internal processing, in focusing learner attention on aspects of their L2 which differ from target language norms or goals, and in providing collaborative means for learners to build discourse structures and express meanings which are beyond the current level of their linguistic competence.

2.2.3. Interaction as the Genesis of language

An alternative view of the role of interaction in SLA is based on Sociocultural (S-C) Theory (Vygotsky 1962, 1978). A key concept in this approach is that interaction not only facilitates language learning but is a causative force in acquisition; further, all of learning is seen as essentially a social process which is grounded in sociocultural settings. S-C Theory differs from most linguistic approaches in giving relatively limited attention to the structural patterns of L2 which are learned, as well as in emphasizing learner activity and involvement over innate and universal mechanisms; and it differs from most psychological approaches in its degree of focus on factors outside the learner, rather than on factors which are completely in the learner’s head, and in its denial that the learner is a largely autonomous processor. It also (as noted above) differs from most other social approaches in considering interaction as an essential force rather than as merely a helpful condition for learning.

According to S-C Theory, learning occurs when simple innate mental activities are transformed into “higher order,” more complex mental functions. This transformation typically involves symbolic mediation, which is a link between a person’s current mental state and higher order functions that is provided primarily by language. This is considered the usual route to learning, whether what is being learned is language itself or some other area of knowledge. The results of learning through mediation include learners’ having heightened awareness of their own mental abilities and more control over their thought processes.

2.2.4. Interpersonal Interaction

So far we are using the term “interaction” to mean interpersonal interaction: i.e. communicative events and situations which occur between people. One important context for symbolic mediation is such interpersonal interaction between learners and experts (“experts” include teachers and more knowledgeable learners). Vygotsky calls the level where much of this type of mediation occurs the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). This is an area of potential development, where the learner can achieve that potential only with assistance. According to S-C Theory, mental functions that are beyond an individual’s current level must be performed in collaboration with other people before they are achieved independently.

One way in which others help the learner in language development within the ZPD is through scaffolding. This includes the “vertical constructions” mentioned above as a type of modified interaction between NSs and NNSs, in which experts commonly provide learners with chunks of talk that the learners can then use to express concepts which are beyond their independent means. This type of mediation also occurs when peers collaborate in constructing language which exceeds the competence of any individual among them. More generally, the metaphor of “scaffolding” refers to verbal guidance which an expert provides to help a learner perform any specific task, or the verbal collaboration of peers to perform a task which would be too difficult for any one of them individually (see Bruner 1985). Very importantly, scaffolding is not something that happens to a learner as a passive recipient, but happens with a learner as an active participant.

For L2 learners, L1 as well as L2 can provide helpful mediation. Talk between peers who are collaborating in tasks is often in their common L1, which provides an efficient (and sometimes essential) medium for problemsolving and can enhance learning of both L2 and any academic subjects students are studying in the second language. Symbolic mediation can be interactional without involving face-to-face communication: although we do not often think of it that way, reading actually involves an interaction between the individual and the author(s) of a text or book, resulting in an altered state of knowledge. Symbolic mediation need not even necessarily involve language (although it usually does) but can also be achieved with such nonlinguistic symbols as gestures, diagrams and illustrations, and algebraic symbols.

2.2.5. Intrapersonal Interaction

In addition to interpersonal interaction, S-C Theory requires consideration

of intrapersonal interaction: i.e. communication that occurs within an individual’s own mind. This is also viewed by Vygotsky as a sociocultural phenomenon.

When reading, for example, we engage in intrapersonal as well as interpersonal activity: “we draw interactively on our ability to decode print, our stored knowledge of the language we are reading and the content schemata through which our knowledge of the world is organized” (Ellis 1999:1).

A second type of intrapersonal interaction that occurs frequently in beginning stages of L2 learning – and in later stages when the content and structure of L2 input stretches or goes beyond existing language competence – makes use of L1 resources. This takes place through translation to oneself as part of interpretive problem-solving processes.

Yet another type (which was of particular interest to Vygotsky) is privatespeech. This is the self-talk which many children (in particular) engage in that leads to the inner speech that more mature individuals use to control thought and behavior. While inner speech is not necessarily tied to the surface forms of any specific language, private speech is almost always verbalized in L1 and/or L2. Study of private speech when it is audible provides a “window into the mind” of sorts for researchers, through which we can actually observe intrapersonal interaction taking place and perhaps discover its functions in SLA.

I was intrigued by this possibility, and recorded children over a period of several weeks while they were just beginning to learn English (Saville-Troike 1988). I was particularly interested in finding out if the children were using English to themselves, and if so, what they were using the language for, during a period when they were generally very reluctant to try speaking out loud to others in the new language. Because private speech is generally much lower in volume than interactional speech, and often inaudible unless the observer is within a few inches of the speaker, I equipped these children with wireless radio microphones for recording purposes.

For the youngest children I recorded, English was largely something to play with. For example, three- and four-year-old Chinese L1 brothers (called Didi and Gege, meaning ‘younger brother’ and ‘older brother’ in Chinese) focused extensively on the L2 sounds and seemed to derive pleasure from pronouncing certain words. High-frequency private vocabulary items for them included butter pecan, parking lot, skyscraper, and Cookie Monster. Both children also demonstrated their attention to sound by creating new words with English phonological structure, including otraberver, goch, treer, and trumble – impossible sequences in their L1.

For somewhat older children, English was used more to comment about ongoing events. They displayed a higher level of mental activity related to L2 learning by focusing on grammar as well as on the sound of their utterances. This was very clear in private pattern drills, such as those in the following examples that were produced by a five-year-old Japanese L1 boy in his kindergarten class. While saying (a) to himself, he was practicing English auxiliaries; his drill indicates he had correctly assigned have and am to the same syntactic slot, and he recognized the contraction I’m as equivalent to I am. Example (b) represents a “build-up” drill, where the same child practiced adding an object to make the sentence longer.

a. I finished. I have finished. I am finished. I’m finished.

b. I want. I paper. Paper. Paper. I want paper.

2.2.6. Acquisition Without Interaction; Interaction Without Acquisition

There are challenges to a socioculturally oriented view of L2 acquisition, however. The following two facts are somewhat difficult to explain if we hold a strong position that social interaction is an essential causative force in second language learning:

(1) Some individuals are able to achieve a relatively advanced level of L2 proficiency without the benefit of any interpersonal communication or opportunity to negotiate meaning in the language with others.

(2) Some individuals engage in extensive interaction with speakers of another language without learning that language to any significant degree.

We might explain the first phenomenon by including learner engagement with text and electronic media as types of “social interaction,” as well as intrapersonal communication in the form of private speech and writing, or of inner speech. Such learners would not have the benefit of scaffolding with immediate help from other humans, but corrective feedback and other potential enhancements to SLA can be provided by other means. We could still claim that live face-to-face interaction facilitates L2 learning – at least for most people, but not that it is absolutely necessary.

Explaining why some individuals apparently interact quite successfully

with others while developing little or no competence in a common linguistic

code requires a closer look at what other strategies are used for

communication. These include:

•   Background knowledge and experience which help individuals organize  new information and make guesses about what is going on and what will happen next

 •  Understanding of the overall situation or event, including its goal, the relationships among participants, and what they expect one another to do and say

•    Extralinguistic context, including physical setting and objects

•  Knowledge of genre-specific discourse structures: e.g. what rules for   interaction are expected in a conversation versus a lesson at school, and what sequence of actions is likely •Gestures, facial expressions, and other nonverbal signs

•   Prosodic features of tone and stress to convey emotional state

In spite of cultural differences in each of these elements, there is often enough commonality to allow at least some level of meaningful communication between people who do not speak the same language, but who are cooperative and willing to guess.

            Communicative events cannot be completed without a common language in the absence of familiar context and props, of course, or when nonpredictable information needs to be conveyed. Students studying in a foreign country, for example, cannot understand or express abstract concepts in academic subject fields without L2 knowledge or L1 translation; however, they may be able to function quite adequately in many social situations while still possessing only limited linguistic resources. If individuals have need and opportunity to develop increasing competence in the L2, they will do so; if they are not motivated to learn the L2, they may not – even if they have ample social opportunity.

2.3. Macrosocial Factor

We now shift to consideration of macrosocial factors in looking at how social contexts affect SLA, drawing primarily on the frameworks of the Ethnography of Communication and Social Psychology. These broader societal approaches in research and theory allow exploration of issues such as how identity, status, and values influence L2 outcomes, and why. The macrosocial factors we will consider are at several levels in the ecological context of SLA:

•  Global and national status of L1 and L2

•  Boundaries and identities

•  Institutional forces and constraints

•  Social categories

•  Circumstances of learning

At a global and national level, influences on SLA involve the power and status of learners’ native and target languages, whether overtly stated in official policies or covertly realized in cultural values and practices. Social boundaries that are relevant to SLA may coincide with national borders, but they also exist within and across them as they function to unif from membership; influences on SLA at this level often involve the relationship between native and target language groups, as well as the openness and permeability of community boundaries. Within nations, institutional forces and constraints often affect the use and knowledge of L2 in relation to such things as social control, political and religious practices, and economic and educational opportunities. Age, gender, and ethnicity are factors of social group membership which may potentially be relevant to SLA. Finally, circumstances of learning can influence SLA, such as learners’ prior educational experiences, whether the L2 learning process is informal or formal, and (if formal) the type of educational model learners have access to and the pedagogical orientation of their teachers and administrators.

2.3.1. Global National Status of L1 and L2

Languages have power and status at global and national levels for both symbolic and practical reasons. An important symbolic function of language is political identification and cohesion. We see this in the USA, for example, where English is generally accepted as the single national language, and most people consider it important for national unity that all citizens be able to use one language. Immigrants who come from other language backgrounds are expected to add English as a requirement for citizenship, for participation in US democratic processes, for economic mobility, and for access to education and other social services. Maintenance of indigenous and immigrant languages other than English is not widely encouraged and is often actively discouraged. Indeed, pride in ethnicity along with associated language use can be seen as very threatening to the

dominant group, and as a symbol of disunity and separatism; to speak a language other than English may be considered somehow unpatriotic and “un-American.” In sum, learning English is expected, and the teaching of English as an L2 to immigrants is encouraged and/or mandated by state and federal agencies. In contrast, state and federal support for learning other languages is sporadic and generally ineffectual.

The symbolic function of language for political identification and cohesion is even more important for countries that are in the process of nation-building. For example, establishing the official use of Hebrew was symbolically important to the creation of Israel, even though few early citizens spoke it natively. Massive efforts were made to teach Hebrew as an L2 to all immigrants, and there were social sanctions against the use of Yiddish or other languages which might rival Hebrew for ethnic identification or religious functions. Efforts have also been made to spread knowledge and use of Irish and Welsh as L2s for purposes of national identity, but these have not been as successful.

Second languages have also served political functions in times of conquest and empire-building: e.g. the Norman Conquest brought French L2 to Great Britain, colonial expansion brought English L2 to Africa and Asia and French L2 to Africa, and post-World War II domination by the Soviet Union brought Russian L2 to much of Eastern Europe. These three examples also illustrate the highly diverse outcomes which may follow periods of linguistic spread. The linguistic absorption of the Norman conquerors left behind a residue of French vocabulary embedded in English – no longer as elements of a second language, but integrated in English native speech. With the end of British colonial rule in Africa and Asia, English remained in some of the newly independent nations for auxiliary or official functions. In Nigeria and India, for instance, English was selected as the official national language (in India along with Hindi) because it was widely used and accessible, although not native to any major group of citizens (and thus ethnically neutral). In contrast, the role of Russian L2 has been of sharply waning importance as Ukrainian, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, and other languages of former USSR constituent republics have become symbols of nationalism. Indeed, the situation has become inverted, as many native Russian speakers living in the newly independent countries have recognized the need to add those national languages to their own linguistic repertoires: to learn them as L2s.

2.3.2. Social Categories

People are categorized according to many socially relevant dimensions: e.g. age, sex, ethnicity, education level, occupation, and economic status. Such categorization often influences what experiences they have, how they are perceived by others, and what is expected of them. When they are L2 learners, members of different social categories frequently experience different learning conditions, and different attitudes or perceptions from within both native and target language communities. Therefore, this is another level we need to consider in the macrosocial context of SLA.

Age is an example. We considered age as a biological factor affecting L2 learning in Chapter 4, but it is social as well. Young L2 learners are more likely than older learners to acquire the language in a naturalistic setting as opposed to a formal classroom context. They are more likely to use the L2 in highly contextualized face-to-face situations rather than decontextualized academic ones, or ones which initially involve reading and writing. It is not certain whether these social factors favor SLA by children over older learners, but they make different requirements and involve different learning tasks.

Some aspects of the social setting within which SLA takes place may particularly disadvantage lower age groups. Young immigrant children who are submerged in L2 dominant environments appear ultimately to do less well both in L2 learning and in academic content learning through the medium of L2 than do children who immigrate after receiving basic education in their native language and begin L2 learning at an older age. For instance, Gonzalez (1986) has shown both in Illinois and California that immigrant students from Mexico who attended school in Mexico for two years prior to coming to the US had higher reading scores in English by the sixth grade than did Spanish L1 peers who began school in the USA. In short, students with two years’ less instruction in English did better in English than those who had two years’ more instruction in the USA. Similar findings are reported by Cummins (1981) for Japanese immigrant students in Canada.

2.3.3. Circumstances of Learning

The final macrosocial factors in the ecological context of SLA that we will consider are circumstances of learning. We begin with learners’ prior educational experiences. These are part of the larger social context within which SLA takes place because learning begins with children’s first experiences with the families into which they are born, the communities to which they belong, and the cultural environment within which they live. By the time children begin their formal education at the age of five or six, they have already internalized many of the basic values and beliefs of their native culture, learned the rules of behavior which are considered appropriate for their role in the community, and established the procedures for continued socialization. They have learned how to learn.

We already noted in Chapter 3 that learner differences in cognitive styles and learning strategies are at least partly based in these experiences. The difference between field-dependent (FD) and field-independent (FI) cognitive styles, for example, correlates with how children are raised. Findings on this subject are somewhat speculative, but FD styles appear to be related to the more cooperative settings of rural residence, FI to more competitive urban circumstances; and FD seems to be related to lower economic categories and FI to more affluent. Cultural values for some cognitive styles over others also play a role.

Another fundamental difference in situational circumstances is whether L2 learning is informal versus formal, or naturalistic versus instructed. Informal/naturalistic learning generally takes place in settings where people contact – and need to interact with – speakers of another language. This can be because they live in a multilingual society, their circle of family and friends is multilingual, and/or their lifestyle involves international travel and residence for business or pleasure. Formal/instructed learning generally takes place in schools, which are social institutions that are established in accord with the needs, beliefs, values, and customs of their cultural settings.

CHAPTER III

C L O S I N G

3.1. Conclusion

Learning a second language for communicative purposes requires knowledge and skills for using it appropriately, as well as knowing aspects of linguistic forms and how they are organized. Taking a social perspective, in this chapter we have seen ways in which L2 interpretation and production are influenced by contextual factors, how the nature of social interaction may facilitate or inhibit L2 acquisition, and how outcomes of learning may be determined by the broad ecological context of SLA. The L1 we are born into, and our success or failure in acquiring a particular L2, whether through formal or informal means, can profoundly influence the entire trajectory of our lives.

We have explored the effects of microsocial contexts that we see primarily within the communicative events which learners experience, including who they interact with about what, and how the negotiation of meaning is accomplished in various settings. We have also explored the effects of macrosocial contexts in accounting for language power and prestige, group boundary and identity issues, institutional forces and constraints, and other circumstances which affect learning. We have now viewed SLA from three disciplinary perspectives: linguistic, psychological, and social. As these perspectives provide different foci and different insights, their multiple lenses bring us closer to the goal of a holistic understanding of second language learning.