Language acquisition

Error correction is a well-established aspect of second language learning that many, if not all, learners experience. It has, for many years, been believed to benefit the learners; some methodologies for second language acquisition and learning are built on error correction (behaviourism, for instance, as it follows that language learning is simply forming habits; bad habits – ie. errors – must not be permitted). However, in recent years the benefits of error correction have come under severe…

Language is constantly changing and adapting to fit the need of the people who use it, as it is a vital part of human life. Growing up, language courses were never of any interest to me. I knew how to read, speak and write, so I saw no need to suffer through countless language classes. Only in recent years have I grown to like language. University has provided me with the push I have always truly needed to become fascinated with language. This occurred through having to constantly expand my…

which hold true regardless of the language spoken by children or their families. “Among these, the biggest single child-specific demographic change in the United States over the next 20…

Motivation in Second Language Acquisition”, written by Sarwat Sultan and Irshad Hussain, both authors discuss the importance of motivation, and how both imperative and instrumental motivation are vital and central when it comes to fully acquiring a second language (Sultan and Hussain 2010, pg. 145). Intergrative motivation is a language learning motivation first described by R. Gardner and W. Lambert, and it is applied to language learners who are “integratively” motivated to learn the language…

What is the priority? My chosen priority addressed in this research essay will focus on diverse-learners and in particular students for whom English is an additional-language or dialect (EAL/D-learners), as they form a significant group in Victorian-government-schools and represent 13 per cent of all students, according to Victoria-State-Government. Department of Education and Training (DET) in Victoria focuses on diversity by recognising that ‘Every Victorian student is unique, bringing a…

Motivation Factors in Language Learning Makiko Ebata Digital Hollywood University (Tokyo, Japan) cocomaki4(at)hotmail.com Introduction Motivation in language-learning plays a vital role. It is motivation that produces effective second-language communicators by planting in them the seeds of self-confidence. It also successfully creates learners who continuously engage themselves in learning even after they complete a targeted goal. In order for English instructors to motivate them, a number of…

Empirical Study in Critical Language Classrooms”, Foreign Language Annals, vol. 48, Iss. 3, pp. 511-520. Summary: This article studies how the global influences of different countries are related to the learning of these countries’ language, in the classrooms of the United States. The researchers believed that there was relationship between global competence and language learning motivation, and therefore set global competence as an independent variable and motivation of language learning as a…

not be entirely representative; however, it provides both a good starting point and a good direction to move in. Several studies, including Dekeyser (1993) and Incecay and Dollar (2011), found that the students ' own beliefs and behaviour towards language learning were the most indicative of successful error correction. (successful as defined by markedly improving the proficiency of the student in the aspects tested). Particularly with Dekeyser 's study, he posits that error correction does not…

The above statement, ‘child language errors are victories of nature over nurture’ suggests that errors in children’s language support the view that children acquire language through a more natural process rather than through the process of nurture. This essay will examine whether a child acquires language through a more natural or nurtured environment. Throughout the years there have been many theories to suggest how the human brain develops language. 1. The Imitation Theory 2. The…

dependent on two components: principles, properties shared by all languages, and the parameters, the way in which these properties vary. Controversies abound with the UG model, but it does explain how all natural languages are similar in some respects and how humans are able to learn their first language as well as other languages. UG simplifies the ideas about learning a second language by claiming that "learning the grammar of a [second language] is not so much learning completely new…