Second language acquisition

The classroom is not a natural environment, and language learning in a Second Language Acquisition (SLA) class differs from language acquisition in the native speaker’s environment when a person lives as one of them. One of the features of language as learnt in a classroom is the teacher’s feedback, whose role in the modern theory of SLA is still much debated (Lochtman, 2002). Thus, the Universal Grammar approach in its strict form rejects any type of corrective feedback. Interactional-cognitive…

The English Language Learner faces many obstacles when entering their school classroom. A language barrier, academic content, and standardized assessments are factors that play into the learning transition of ELL students. With new high stakes assessments, ELL students find themselves with a heavier burden than their English speaking peers. A challenge for linguistic learners is the complex linguistic structure often found on state tests as mentioned by Abedi and Levine (2013). Another concern…

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…

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…

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…

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…

affect the acquisition of a second language are psychological variables such as motivation. Perhaps, a student may not feel motivated to learn English if there is no need for him or her to do so. For example, an L1 students might be motivated to learn a second language to become part of a specific groups of friends, and also to learn new concepts at school where English is the only language spoken in the classroom. On the contrary, the same child might not be motivated to learn another language…

Learning a second language (L2), after a first has already been acquired, may be a different process from learning a first language (L1); it involves acquisition of a new set of arbitrary forms to re-represent an already established set of forms from L1 (Midgley, Holcomb, & Grainger, 2009). Semantic and translation priming studies utilizing vocabulary from two languages offer an informative perspective into these processing systems of second language in the mind of a bilingual or a second…

is said to be one of the ways of learning a language. According to Skinner (1957, cited in Harmer, 2007), in this method, learners are required to replicate sentences and their correctness is applauded by the teacher and the high frequency of this process increases the students’ condition to develop language effectively in the future. It is supported that “Behaviourism analysis is alive and well, and is making significant contribution in applied language settings” (Castagnero, 2006, cited in…