Learning a Second Language
Image source: sosclassroom.org
Second language acquisition has always been important to me as English is not my first language. I grew up speaking Gujarati first then started to learn English. My parents taught me the basics such as the alphabet and numbers. However, that was not sufficient when I stared Kindergarten. Most of my time in junior kindergarten, I spoke Gujarati and was scolded by the teacher. Through my experiences working in schools I've noticed that there are more and more students who are immigrating to Canada and many of them do not speak English. I've seen various teachers use different methods to teach those students some of which were successful where as others were not. In my Principles of Learning course, I was given the opportunity to research different theories and perspectives on second language acquisition. Some theorists I explored are Stephen Krashen, B.F. Skinner, John Schumman and Piaget. I believe that it is important to learn about how children learn a second language because as I mentioned above, there are many immigrant children in schools today who do not speak English. As a teacher, in order to be successful in teaching English to students it would be beneficial to know what theories are out there and what research has be done.
Theories on Second Language Acquisition
Stephen Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition is comprised of five main hypotheses. In the first hypotheses, the ‘acquired system’ or the ‘acquisition’, he relates the learning experience of a second language to learning one’s native language. “It requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act” (Schutz, 2007). He further emphasizes this hypothesis by adding a learning system that is more important than simply acquiring the language. The second hypothesis that Krashen speaks to is the monitor hypothesis. This looks at the influence of learning on acquisition. “According to Krashen, the acquisition system is the utterance initiator, while the learning system performs the role of the 'monitor' or the 'editor'” (Schulz, 2007). The notion of time, or lack thereof in our experience, is mentioned in this hypothesis. The third hypothesis, natural order, rejects the notion of grammatical sequencing and indicates that the goal of learning a second language is the language acquisition. This hypothesis suggests that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a 'natural order' which is predictable. For a given language, some grammatical structures tend to be acquired early while others late. Although this may seem contradictory to the first hypothesis, Krashen rejects grammatical sequencing when the goal is language acquisition. (Schultz, 2007). The fourth hypothesis, input, is a process of acquiring, not necessarily learning a second language. Krashen simplifies this hypothesis by using the equation ‘i+1’. The ‘i’ represents previously acquired linguistic competence and the ‘1’ represents new knowledge that learners should be ready to acquire (Krashen, 2003).The fifth hypothesis, affective filter, is where outside variables influence the acquisition of the second language.
On the other hand, John Schumman proposed the theory of acculturation which is an environmental-oriented theory that states that second language acquisition is the result of acculturation. Acculturation is defined as the social and psychological integration of the learner with the target language (TL) group (Schumann, 1986). This model argues that to be successful in second language acquisition, learners must be socially and psychologically closer to the speakers of the second language trying to be learned.
While Schumman focused on acculturation, Piaget focused on a universal theory of language development. According to Piaget, the context in which language is learned is unimportant and not influential. Children are constantly constructing their knowledge and “changes in knowledge or cognition are unidirectional and emerge as the biological nature of the human organism unfolds” (Garton , 1992, page 7). Piaget coined the terms assimilation and accommodation, which humans use throughout their lifetime because it assists them with making sense of the world. Assimilation refers to the way in which people change new information so that it fits with their existing knowledge. Whereas, accommodation refers to the way we change our current perceptions based on new knowledge (Siegler & Alibali, 2004). Assimilation and Accommodation assist in second language acquisition once learners already have a foundation or basic knowledge of what words mean to them.
On the other hand, John Schumman proposed the theory of acculturation which is an environmental-oriented theory that states that second language acquisition is the result of acculturation. Acculturation is defined as the social and psychological integration of the learner with the target language (TL) group (Schumann, 1986). This model argues that to be successful in second language acquisition, learners must be socially and psychologically closer to the speakers of the second language trying to be learned.
While Schumman focused on acculturation, Piaget focused on a universal theory of language development. According to Piaget, the context in which language is learned is unimportant and not influential. Children are constantly constructing their knowledge and “changes in knowledge or cognition are unidirectional and emerge as the biological nature of the human organism unfolds” (Garton , 1992, page 7). Piaget coined the terms assimilation and accommodation, which humans use throughout their lifetime because it assists them with making sense of the world. Assimilation refers to the way in which people change new information so that it fits with their existing knowledge. Whereas, accommodation refers to the way we change our current perceptions based on new knowledge (Siegler & Alibali, 2004). Assimilation and Accommodation assist in second language acquisition once learners already have a foundation or basic knowledge of what words mean to them.
Artifact 1This artifact (located on the right) is a paper that describes a situation where both my collaborator and I experienced learning a second language; French. We use the various theories described above as well as others to analyze and examine our experience learning French. I chose to include this artifact because it highlights the main theories that are used for learning a second language as well as puts the theories into practice using personal experiences. For the most part, we were able to validate most of the proposed theories. From this artifact, I have gained a better understanding of how children learn a second language. This will give me better insight when developing lessons and teaching children who are learning English, or any other language as a second language.
|
|
Artifact 2
The second artifact (below) is a "Pecha Kucha" presentation based on the above second language acquisition paper. A pecha kucha is a presentation format that is based on the idea of 20 images x 20 seconds. This means that the presenter is to choose 20 images/slides to present the information. They are to spend 20 seconds talking to each picture/slide. This format makes presentations concise, and keeps it moving rapidly. It is especially useful where there are many presenters in a short period of time. The pecha kucha presentation method was new to me during my M.Ed. I found it difficult to compress everything I wanted to say per picture to 20 seconds. However, my partner and I found a way to make it work. I really enjoyed working on this presentation and presenting it because though it seemed difficult in process, in the end it was a great way to showcase our learning of second language acquisition because it was short and simple. I will definitely be using this type of presentation method in my future classroom. It will be interesting to see what the students will come up with.
References
Garten, Alison F,.(1992). Social interaction and the development of language and acquisition. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Krashen, S. (2003).Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Schumann, J. H. (1986). Research on the acculturation model for second language acquisition.Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 7(5), 379-39.
Schütz, R. (2007). Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition. English Made in Brazil. Retrieved from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html.
Siegler, R., & Alibali, M (2004).Children’s thinking. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Krashen, S. (2003).Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Schumann, J. H. (1986). Research on the acculturation model for second language acquisition.Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 7(5), 379-39.
Schütz, R. (2007). Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition. English Made in Brazil. Retrieved from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html.
Siegler, R., & Alibali, M (2004).Children’s thinking. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.