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EDU 704

THE FACTORS THAT

INFLUENCE THE ACQUISITION


OF A SECOND LANGUAGE

The Factors that Influence the Acquisition of a Second Language


Second-language acquisition is the process by which people learn a second language. Some
students learn a new language more quickly and easily than others. This simple fact is known by
all who have themselves learned a second language or taught those who are using their second
language in school. Clearly, some language learners are successful by virtue of their sheer
determination, hard work and persistence. However there are other crucial factors influencing
success that are largely beyond the control of the learner.

Age

Second language acquisition is influenced by the age of the learner. Adults feel it difficult to
recognize sounds of foreign language, to remember what is heard and also to produce sounds.
This happens mainly because of the problem of transfer of habits of the native language.
Children, who already have solid literacy skills in their own language, seem to be in the best
position to acquire a new language efficiently. A 3 year old child has great facility in imitating
foreign sounds and remembering them. Teaching writing is not a pre-requisite for pronouncing
sounds and words. High school children are at a transition stage in which limited use of special
symbols can be of some help. Greater flexibility of vocal organs, spontaneous oral imitation,
sensitivity to the forms of speech heard and natural love of repetition of the six to ten year old
student favour learning a new language. A small child would be less conscious and more an
extrovert. This will favour easy language learning. It has been observed that ten year old students
are passionately interested in the study of languages. Motivated, older learners can be very
successful too, but usually struggle to achieve native-speaker-equivalent pronunciation and
intonation. Research has shown that the starting age does not affect the route of the second
language acquisition (S L A) but it does influence the rate of acquisition. It has been established
that adults will acquire proficiency levels rapidly because of their cognitive abilities, but children
are more successful as far as pronounciation is concerned.

Sex

Many studies have found that gender can have a significant impact on how students learn a
language. Although the study of gender as a variable in language learning is still at an early stage,
studies of individual language learner differences related to sex (biological) or gender (socially
constructed) have shown that females tend to show greater integrative motivation and more
positive attitudes to L2, and use a wider range of learning strategies, particularly social strategies.
In all phases of language learning, i.e., articulation, word use, length of utterance, complexity,
grammatical correctness of sentences etc. girls are found to excel. The difference was highly
reflected in the case of adolescents. It was also found that girls use more personal pronouns than
boys and minimum number of slangs. Again, the singletons are proved to be superior in
producing long talks, long sentences, clear articulation etc. when compared to twins, triplets and
quintuplets. Studies of actual results suggest females are typically superior to males in nearly all
aspects of language learning, except listening vocabulary.

Personality

Studies have shown that extraverts (or unreserved and outgoing people) acquire a second
language better than introverts (or shy people). Introverted or anxious learners usually
make slower progress, particularly in the development of oral skills. They are less likely
to take advantage of opportunities to speak, or to seek out such opportunities. Extroverts
will be willing to try to communicate even if they are not sure they will succeed.
Logically, anxiety will cause students not to try and advance their skills, especially when
they feel they are under pressure. Just the lack of practice will make introverts less likely
to fully acquire the second language.

A number of personality traits in aggregate constitute the personality of an individual


Self esteem
Research has shown that the feeling of self worth an individual possesses correlates significantly with
his/her performance. In other words, if a learner thinks well of himself, he also learns better.
Extroversion
It is generally believed that extroverts research has been inconclusive in this regard. The popular belief
may have gained credibility due to the fact that extroverted learners find it easier to make contact with
other L2 users and consequently obtain more input.
Anxiety
While all learners do experience anxiety, some may tend to be more anxious than others and thus be faced
with impediments in the process of language learning. Anxiety could result in either positive or negative
results. Facilitating anxiety helps the learner to face the challenge of the new task successfully.
Debilitating anxiety discourages the learners and forces them to avoid the learning task.
Tolerance of ambiguity
Very often, in the process of language learning, things are not clear. Some learners feel frustrated and
appeal to the teacher for clarification; these learners are said to have a low-level tolerance of ambiguity.
Research has shown that learners with a higher level of tolerance of ambiguity are more successful.
Risk
The willingness to take risks is closely related to a high tolerance for anxiety-inducing situations. Good
language learners take risks in different ways: they make guesses : they are not ashamed of making
mistakes and appearing foolish in the process of trying to communicate: they use their minimal
knowledge of the target language to achieve maximal communication.

Cognitive Style

In general, it seems that students with greater cognitive abilities will make the faster progress.
Some linguists believe that there is a specific, innate language learning ability that is stronger in
some students than in others. Each individual leaner has his own way of processing information
or approaching a task. This is known as his cognitive style. The processing of the input depends
on the cognitive style of each student. The particular aspect of the presented material to which
each student listens, will be different and thus the difference in the intake. If there is any
compatibility with respect to the learning style and the instructional style, again, there will be
anxiety, lack of confidence, de-motivation, all of which will affect the learning process adversely.
According to Ellis, cognitive style is a term used to refer to the manner in which people perceive,
conceptualize, organize and recall information. There are two types of cognitive style: field
independent and field dependent.
Field independent learners display the following characteristics
They rely on an internal frame of reference in processing information
They are analytical and look at a language in terms of its parts.
They are not socially very much aware and are not so skilled in interpersonal
relationships.

Aptitude

Aptitude is a combination of characteristics indicative of an individuals capacity to acquire


(with training) some specific knowledge, skill or set of organized responses such as the
ability to speak a language. It is the present potentiality. Only by understanding where the
learner is, what his language potential is, the teacher can predict where he will reach.
Aptitude in the foreign language can be measured and the teacher can, within his limits, try
to individualize teaching.

Carrol proposed that foreign language aptitude consisted of four independent abilities
Phonetic coding ability, which consists of the ability to perceive and memorise new sounds.
Grammatical sensitivity, which is the individuals ability to demonstrate awareness of the
syntactic patterning of sentences of a language.
Rote learning ability, which is the ability to learn association between sounds and meanings
rapidly.
Inductive ability which consists of the ability to notice and identify similarities and differences in
grammatical form and meaning.

Intelligence

Intelligence is related to the development of L2 reading, grammar, vocabulary but unrelated to


oral productive skills. Intelligence may be a strong factor when it comes to learning in terms of
linguistic analysis and grammatical rules. However, intelligence plays a minor role in classrooms
with more focus on communication and interaction. Learning a language is quite different from
learning an intellectual subject like Physics or Civics. At the same time, teaching a foreign

language is an intellectual task which depends on the teachers abilities. Verbal or linguistic
intelligence is accepted to be one of the components of multiple intelligence. Language learning
fosters intelligence. At lower levels, intelligence is found to be highly related to acquisition of
vocabulary. Experiments have proved that emotional intelligence also has a significant role in
foreign language development. Language ability is a combination of verbality (fluency,
confluence etc) cerebro-vocal ability, memory and perception, reasoning, speech and writing.

Attitude

An attitude is a dispositional readiness to respond to certain situations, persons or objects in a


consistent manner which has been learned and has become ones typical mode of response. It
represents ones views regarding something. Attitude can be defined as a set of beliefs developed
in a due course of time in a given socio-cultural setting. Although it necessarily so not determine
behaviour but can have some impact on it. Language learning is affected by the attitude and
motivation. Motivated, demotivated and amotivated students have different perceptions of their
class, teacher and curriculum. Their perceptions are responsible to their attitudes. An individuals
perception of the class, perception of the teacher, peer group,syllabus and his/her awareness for
future needs effect hi/her attitude to language learning.

Attitude can range from extreme positive to extreme negative grade. It is studied that positive attitude
facilitates learning. If the learner is reluctant to learn or he/she does not have a positive attitude,
he/she does not produce any result. Learning of a foreign language is not so easy when compared to
many other school subjects. A positive attitude is to be developed towards the language. This can be
done by applying a variety of techniques like games, film shows, dramas, simulations etc.

Conclusion
The success in second language acquisition depends on many factors. Age and motivation factors are
among the most important ones. In studies, it has been found that if a learner has a competency in his or
her own language, he or she is more advantageous than those who have not completed his first language.
As to motivation, it has been found that motivated students are more successful in second language
acquisition than those who are not motivated.

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