Having an extensive knowledge of other languages beyond one's native tongue is extremely useful in the world today, especially when working in certain professions such as health care or diplomatic relations, and also when traveling to foreign countries. People who enjoy this advantage went through a process of learning their non-native tongue that linguists today call second language acquisition ( SLA ). The term ‘second language' not only refers to the second tongue that a person learns, but also to any further language learned after one's early childhood. Linguists, along with me, have long since wondered why this process is much easier for some people than it is for others. Does it have to do with the person's mental capacity for language or the motivation they receive from the people around them? Is their a critical period after which language learning becomes much more difficult or even impossible? And furthermore, is it easier to learn a third or fourth language after the second tongue is mastered?
There are several theories and studies surrounding the topic of second language acquisition, including those of Lennenberg, Penfield and Roberts, Chomsky, Newport and Supalla, Skinner and Mowrer, Piaget, Mayberry and Lock, and Krashen, who initiated the common use of the term ‘language acquisition'. Many of those involving age and language learning state that as age increases, the ability to acquire a new language decreases and support the critical period hypothesis. However, other theories go against a set critical period and claim that learning a new language is possible throughout one's life. The objective of this project is to look at four different people from various backgrounds and levels of second language acquisition to study possible reasons why some people have an easier time learning new languages than others. The critical period, the input hypothesis, the monitor model, language transfer, brain development, and social aspects surrounding second language acquisition will be discussed.
The four people involved in this project are Esther Angulo, Miles Hill, Sarah Ladd, and Joshua Koonce. Esther was born in Spain and is a native speaker of Spanish. She began to learn English at school at the age of ten. Esther is fluent in English, but retains a strong Spanish accent and occasionally falters in remembering a vocabulary term. Esther will be used as a comparative base since her native language is Spanish. However, since her second language was used in the experiment, this must also be taken into consideration. Miles has lived in France , England , and Mexico . His first language is English, with French as a close second. He began to learn Spanish when he moved to Mexico at the age of fourteen. Miles is fluent in English, French, and Spanish. He also reads Italian and Latin. Sarah, now eighteen, began to take a more serious interest in the Spanish language in middle school. She recently went on a mission trip and gained experience speaking in Spanish to native speakers. Sarah is not fluent, but is able to carry on an intelligent conversation in Spanish. Joshua who is twenty years old, has only been exposed to Spanish in college. He has been in only two Spanish classes, and is in the beginning stages of learning the language. Each person was given the same paragraph to translate. They were asked to keep the paragraph upside down until the recording was started. They were then told to read the paragraph aloud in English and translate it into Spanish to the best of their abilities. These instructions were implemented in order to make sure each person had the same amount of time to study the paragraph before they translated it. The results display different levels of grammar, knowledge of vocabulary, and even different accents.
Transcription
Esther
One day, a lady was walking in the rain with an umbrella. She feels very sad because she has lost her precious poodle. Anna, her dog, ran away because she loves to play in the rain. The lady was so preoccupied with looking for Anna that she stepped on a stick and hurt her ankle. Thankfully, at that moment, a man walked up carrying a very wet Anna. He helped the woman and saved the day! The End
(Pause for Thinking) (Quietly) I have to translate it? (I nod)
Un día, una chica estaba andando en la lluvia con un paraguas. Ella esta muy triste porque ha perdido su preciado… (short pause) algo. Anna su perro, se escapo porque le encanta jugar en la lluvia. La chica estaba tan preocupada buscando Anna (pause) que piso un palo y se…. lastimo la rodilla. Gracias a Dios, en ese momento, un hombre (long pause) AHHH andaba… llevando AHHH una Anna que esta muy mojada. El le ayudo a la chica y le salvo el día. El fin.
Miles
One day, a lady was walking in the rain with an umbrella. She feels very sad because she has lost her precious poodle. Anna, her dog, ran away because she loves to play in the rain. The lady was so preoccupied with looking for Anna that she stepped on a stick and hurt her ankle. Thankfully, at that moment, a man walked up carrying a very wet Anna. He helped the woman and saved the day! The End
(Pause for thinking)
Un día, una dama estaba caminando en… en la lluvia con un paraguas. Este se siente triste porque se perdió su perro. Anna, su perro, el.. se fue por que le encanta jugar en la lluvia. La dama se preocupaba porque estaba buscando Anna (pause) ah… que la dama piso un… un… no se y se lastimo la rodilla. Gracias, que en ese mo… mo..momento, un hombre le acerco con el perro mojaba. El hombre ayudo a la dama y salvo al día. Fin.
Sarah
One day, a lady was walking in the rain with an umbrella. She feels very sad because she has lost her precious poodle. Anna, her dog, ran away because she loves to play in the rain. The lady was so preoccupied with… looking for Anna that she stepped on a stick and hurt her ankle. Thankfully, at that moment, a man walked up [and carried] carrying a very wet Anna. He helped the woman and saved the day! The End
Ok Había una vez, una mujer era… um (laughs) ahm era en la lluvia con una… humm una cosa que ahh (short pause) proteger… una persona ahh de la lluvia. Ahh ella ah se sentía muy mal porque ahh no tenia tu mmm tu… (pause) perro precioso. Anna, su perro, ahh no esta con ahh con la mujer porque Anna (short pause) Anna le gusta… ahh juga... jugar en la lluvia. (sigh) La mujer era tan preocupada um con buscando para Anna que ella… (pause) mmm (draws in breath and quietly giggles) que ella… ahmm (long pause – quietly giggles) um era… (clicking tongue noise) (quiet mmm) [still long pause] (quietly oh well) laughs. A por Dios, ahh or Gracias a Dios, ahmm en este momento, un hombre (pause) ahh caminando al… oh camine no cami… cami…na ahh (laugh) a la mujer ah con una con Anna que era muy… muy… (pause) ahh wet. El ah le ayuda el mujer… ahh la mujer no… no el ayude (slowly) el a-yu-daba (quietly - oh I see it) ella a-yu- (pause) dio ayudio (laugh) (giggle) el la mujer y…. (pause) todos era bien. El fin.
Josh
One day, a lady was walking in the rain with an umbrella. She feels very sad because she has lost her precious poodle. Anna, her dog, ran away because she loves to play in the rain. The lady was so preoccupied with looking for Anna that she stepped on a stick and hurt her ankle. Thankfully, at that moment, a man walked up carrying a very wet Anna. He helped the woman and saved the day! The End
Alright… in Spanish. Un día, (pause) a lady fue (pause) walking en el agua con umbrella. She feels (pause) mucho mal porque ella ahh (pause) lost her precious poodle. Anna, (pause) ella mmm dog, (pause) ran away porque ella mm loves juegar (jugar) en el agua. The lady fue so preoccupied (laughs) with looking por Anna, (pause) ese ella stepped en a stick and… y (pause) hurt her ankle (laughs). Thankfully, a ese momento, a hermeso (hombre or hermano?) walked up carrying a very wet Anna. El asiste the woman and saved the day. The End.
Analysis
Second language acquisition is generally thought to decrease in success as a person increases in age, with a significant decrease after the critical period. The critical period, the time when a child's brain is still able to easily acquire certain skills such as language, is considered to be over at the onset of puberty, around age twelve. The idea of a critical period for a child's first language was brought about in 1967 by Eric Lennenberg, but more recently this idea has begun to be applied to one's second language. Critical periods in nature are common, such as the idea that a young bird must hear an adult bird singing during a certain time in its life or the young bird will not produce a complete birdsong when it reaches adulthood. Certain types of critical periods in humans are also accepted, such as if a baby's eye is covered during a specific time in which connections between the eye and the brain are being formed, then the child will be irreversibly blind. However, for a second language in humans, the presence of a critical period is not as widely accepted as it is for animals in nature, some processes in humans, or even for a person's first language. Much of the evidence for a second language critical period is based on the development of the human brain. For example, in 1985, Felix proposed that since a child's brain creates many, many new pathways and connections daily, then the child may be more adept at language learning than adults whose connections in their brains are more specialized through lateralization. (Lateralization is the localization of a function such as language localization in the left hemisphere.) Therefore, when exposed to a new language, previously nonexistent connections may be created in a child's brain that are unable to be formed in an adult's brain. Support of this theory stems from studies performed on impaired adults and also children who encountered brain damage before puberty. The results noted that most of the time the children make a full recovery while the adults cease in verbal improvement five months after the damage was done and therefore do not fully recover. Based on this research, Penfield, Roberts, and Lennenberg formed theories that each conclude that pre-pubescent children hold the advantage in learning new languages. This raises the possibility that since Joshua was not exposed to spanish until his brain became more specialized after puberty, he may not be able to form the necessary pathways that would allow him to become fluent. He may have missed his opportunity to acquire a new language. Miles on the other hand, was exposed to spanish for the first time at age fourteen, which is after the close of the critical period. Sarah began Spanish near the end of the critical period and is currently not fluent. Therefore, why did Miles acquire fluency in the language while Joshua and Sarah have not?
There are several differences between the cases of Miles, Sarah, and Joshua that must be taken into consideration. Miles learned spanish in Mexico out of necessity. He was immersed in the language and learned it through listening to the native speakers around him. This is a recommended way of learning a new language. Miles also knew two previous languages, and some studies such as one performed in 1988 by Thomas display that being multilinguistic may have helped him in the acquisition of his third language. Maybe he has a larger capacity for language or a better understanding of universal grammar since he already knew one romance language. Possibly Miles more easily grasps the meaning idea of a new idiom because he has a better language acquisition device in his brain. A more advanced or better language acquisition device in his brain would have allowed Miles to formulate grammar out of the “raw input” he received from the people who surrounded in Mexico . Sarah has always held an interest in learning spanish; she even plans to have a future job that incorporates the language. She has studied spanish for several years and has a very strong background in grammar in both english and spanish. Also, she has only been exposed to native speakers for a few weeks, not for years such as Miles. Joshua speaks only one language, does not have a strong grammatical background, and has not been surrounded by native speakers of spanish. He also does not have any reason to learn spanish, which is believed to greatly affect how a person learns a new language and will be discussed later. Many people just like Joshua and Sarah have learned a non-native language after puberty and the proposed critical period. There are even TV commercials for programs for second language acquisition such as the Rosetta stone that cater to older teens and adults. These programs, classes in college, and immersion in foreign countries sometimes work on post-pubescent people; therefore, the success of these programs possibly disproves the presence of a critical period for second language acquisition.
Because people whose proposed critical period has ended can continue to learn new languages, some linguists choose to believe that a critical period for second language acquisition does not exist. James Flege for instance, states that children and adults who are exposed to a foreign language typically have an accent. He states that since there is no clear point where a critical period marks the beginning of an accent, then one simply does not exist. Each person studied in this project had an accent in their second language, even Esther who began to learn english when she was ten years old retains a strong accent when speaking in english. Hakuta and Bialystok present similar evidence for syntax, and even suggest reasons for the belief in a critical period. They state that some of the neurological differences could be the results instead of the causes of differences in the second language learning process. Could this be the case? Is the idea of a critical period for second language acquisition based on misinterpreted data, or is the data correct and a critical period does exist?
Whether there is a critical period for second language acquisition is inconclusive, but what is known is that acquiring a second tongue happens differently from learning one's first language. In fact, one's first language and second language are not even stored in the same place in the person's brain. Native languages are kept in the left temporal lobe of the brain, while second languages are possibly stored in the right hemisphere of the brain. This was discovered by Deheane in 1999 when he began to study how “cerebral circuits used to handling one language adapt for the efficient storage of two or more” ( http://www.wikipedia.org ). He found that when translating between native and non-native tongues, different parts of the brain were in use depending upon which language was being thought about at the time. Therefore, not only are first and second language acquisition comprehended and learned differently, but they are also kept in totally different areas of the brain. Another psychologist who believes that it is optimal for children to learn language over adults, but not necessarily believes in the critical period is Piaget. He states that “cognitive development and language acquisition are life-long processes that constantly update and re-organize schemata” ( http://www.wikipedia.org ). Based oh Piaget's idea and the theories of such psychologists as Newport and Supalla that resulted from Piaget's theory, it can be concluded that language ability does decline with age, but does not experience a significant and abrupt drop off after a ‘critical period'.
Other theories have also impacted the linguistic world. For instance, Stephen Krashen, a linguistic expert who has specialized in language acquisition for over twenty years introduced the theory of second language acquisition. His theory distinguishes between learning or having formal knowledge of a language, and acquiring or being able to unconsciously converse in a non-native language. Esther and Miles each have an acquired knowledge of Spanish because they can easily converse in the language, but Joshua only knows some vocabulary and grammar rules; therefore, he is only learning Spanish. Sarah, who can converse about some topics unconsciously, has acquired some of the language, but is in the process of learning other parts. She uses her learned knowledge of Spanish grammar rules to ‘monitor' the Spanish that she has acquired, as shown when she goes through the different verb conjugations until she finds what seems to be the correct one. The idea that the learning process acts as a monitor for unconscious acquisition is the second area of Krashen's second language theory, known as the monitor hypothesis. This ‘monitor model' also predicts that adults will display more progress at the beginning of language acquisition than children because they will use this ‘monitoring' quality to converse more than a child initially will. However, the child will eventually emerge as the superior language learner because of gaining control of most of the second languages grammatical rules before the onset of puberty.
Another hypothesis incorporated into Krashen's theory is that of ‘natural order'. The natural order hypothesis states that “the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a 'natural order' which is predictable” ( http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html ). The predictable natural order for the four subjects would be that Joshua would focus on vocabulary, Sarah would focus on vocabulary and grammar, and Miles would translate the paragraph almost as well as the native speaker, Esther. The level of language transfer, or transferring of rules of the native language to the second language, is also predicted to be higher in Sarah and Joshua than in Miles and Esther. The actual ‘natural order' displayed by the four people is that the most adept non-native speaker, Miles, has knowledge of grammatical rules and vocabulary and actually translated the paragraph more quickly and with less hesitation than Esther. Esther faltered somewhat because she was relying on her second language, English, and she did not know what the word ‘poodle' meant. Miles also faltered one time with vocabulary on the word ‘stick'. Furthermore, he translated the paragraph based more on its concept than on an exact translation as Esther, Sarah, and Joshua did. The newest learner, Joshua, mostly focused on the vocabulary that he knew, without concentrating on grammar. Sarah, however, is learning both vocabulary and grammatical rules at this step in the process of language acquisition, and she applied both to her translation. As predicted, she knew more than Joshua, but still less than Miles. Interestingly, Miles and Esther both substituted the word ‘knee' for the word ‘ankle'. Each knows the word for ankle, but used a more common word from the general area of the body instead. Sarah and Joshua did not know the word for ankle, and neither tried to come up with a similar word. However, Sarah did produce a definition for the word ‘umbrella', which is more than Joshua attempted to do. Each person also used a different word for ‘lady'. Miles chose to use the exact translation, while Sarah and Esther translated the concept of a lady. Joshua simply restated the word in english because he did not know the term in spanish. Furthermore, language transfer is difficult to assess in this short paragraph, but in talking to each of the subjects, it can be concluded that Sarah sometimes has some trouble with the placement of specific words, but Josh has the highest amount difficulty with language transfer. Miles, Sarah, and Joshua performed in a basic predictable manner, despite the few unexpected similarities and differences.
Next, Krashen's theory includes the input hypothesis, which attempts to show how second language acquisition actually occurs. He states that “the learner improves and progresses along the ‘natural order' when he/she receives second language ‘input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence' ( http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html ). Based on the people studied, this hypothesis becomes a little confusing. For instance, it is unclear why Sarah and Josh are not performing better in language competence after the time that each has studied spanish since they were each exposed to an input of ‘i + 1', which is what Krashen states will better lead to language acquisition. Miles on the other hand, was exposed to a higher level of input and therefore should have failed in language acquisition because the level of learning was well beyond his level of competence; however, Miles was the one who obtained the highest level of proficiency. The evidence from this project seems to go against Krashen's logical input hypothesis.
Lastly, the affective filter hypothesis incorporates other important variables surrounding second language acquisition such as motivation and self-confidence. This hypothesis logically states that people with lower motivation and self-confidence levels will have a harder time grasping a new language. Also, people who receive more motivation will perform better with learning new tongues. Krashen proposes that most of the time, adults learn a new idiom because of occupational or even academic motivations, and therefore input more effort than a younger learner in order to reach a high level of proficiency. Since Joshua does not have the occupational, social, or academic motivation that Sarah and Miles have, this may be a strong reason why he has not achieved a greater proficiency in his second language up to this point. Josh may also have trouble with the ‘fear barrier'. He may be afraid of failing or of a negative reaction by his peers to his receptive beginner's spanish; therefore, he practices the language less and advances slower as a result. It is reasonable to conclude that if a person does not truly wish to learn a new tongue, then they will have a harder time becoming fluent if the language is forced upon them. Sarah wishes to become completely fluent in spanish so that she may one day become a health care professional who can work successfully with Hispanics. This motivation, along with strong encouragement from her family, has, according to the affective filter hypothesis, led to an easier and more efficient language learning process. Miles, as stated above, acquired spanish through the process of immersion. He learned spanish based more on the motivations of a child. A child sometimes has no other option than to learn a new language or they will not be able to communicate with their surrounding community. Hence, Miles could not communicate to a socially acceptable level with his peers until he spoke the common tongue of his peers. This would have led to faster and more successful language acquisition. As shown, social stresses and levels of self-confidence and motivation play a noticeable role in second language acquisition.
After analyzing each transcription to find out why some people have an easier time learning new languages than others, it can be determined that there are several aspects that aid or hurt the acquisition of one's second language. First, the continual development of a child's brain until puberty possibly aids in pre-pubescent language acquisition. This could, in the future, lead to a determined critical period for the learning of a second language and beyond. However, evidence against the presence of a critical period also exists. If there is a critical period, then why do children have accents and problems in syntax with their non-native tongue? Furthermore, linguistic evidence surrounding this topic greatly influences Krashen's second language acquisition theory. He proposes what seems to be a logical hypothesis. I believe that based on the information provided, Joshua faces the most difficulty, and therefore will have a harder if not impossible time in learning spanish. He has a weak background in grammar and little motivation to even learn the idiom. Joshua also missed what some propose to be the critical period. I however, do not believe that a critical period for second language acquisition exists; only that children hold a greater advantage in learning new tongues. As stated, first and second languages are even stored in different parts of one's brain, leading to the conclusion that they are very different and evidence for one cannot be applied to the other. Sarah has not learned spanish to fluency yet because of insufficient teaching methods. She has however, achieved a high level of success and will become proficient one day because of her strong motivation to do so. Miles learned spanish out of necessity, after the critical period. I believe that his knowledge of French aided in the process of acquiring his third language. Therefore, some people experience an easier time learning new languages mainly because of social aspects such as motivation and peer acceptance, knowledge of other languages, the age in which the person is exposed to the language, and the person's background with the grammar of their native tongue.
This source was extremely helpful. It gave information about many of the theories discussed, the definition of second language acquisition, and several studies surrounding the topic of language acquisition.
This article, entitled Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition , overviewed Krashen's theory and Krashen's view of the role of grammar in language acquisition.
Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis , was actually a book review, but helped in knowing which theories supported and which theories did not support the critical period hypothesis.
About the
Author
My name is Victoria “Tori” High and I began my life living on a farm with my mother and father in a small community near the town of Wilson , North Carolina . A few years later, my mother and I moved into the city of Wilson , where I have since resided. My experiences with a foreign language and culture began at a very young age when I became friends with the children of the Hispanic workers that helped out around our farm. Since this time long ago, I have studied the Spanish language in school and have learned how to communicate some with our family friends in Spanish. As a result of these experiences, I have always wanted to travel to various foreign countries, but, unfortunately, I have scarcely traveled outside of my home state.
Artistic ability is not one of my strong points; however, in middle and elementary school and for two years in high school I participated in our choral department. Our high school choir has obtained a nationally ranked title for the past twenty-eight years, so participation in the choir was an honor. I also have an interest in photography that developed through participating in an art class at my local high school. I have previously researched the effect of environment on the psychological development of feral children, and, if possible, I would like to further explore the development of a feral child's language capabilities verses the language capabilities of a normal human child. This experience not only sparked my interest in the language possibilities of feral children, but enabled me to gain experience researching in college libraries, on the internet, in periodicals, and in online journals. Therefore, I believe that my ability in using information technology is at least adequate.
Experts are a small group of humans that are highly advanced in their personal area of study. They retain an extensive amount of knowledge about their field. This can be attributed to several years of study or a great amount of innate talent as in the case of Capablanca. Even though experts are highly regarded throughout the world, I do not have a strong desire to become a part of this faction. My areas of interest are the Spanish language and biology. I believe that I will be satisfied with achieving fluency in Spanish and knowing enough biology to be able to successfully perform whatever future job I choose to undertake. With this mindset, I hope to become very advanced in my areas of interest and still have the time to pursue other areas of interest such as the history of the human culture, language, and race.
Having an extensive knowledge of other languages beyond one's native tongue is extremely useful in the world today, especially when working in certain professions such as health care or diplomatic relations, and also when traveling to foreign countries. People who enjoy this advantage went through a process of learning their non-native tongue that linguists today call second language acquisition ( SLA ). The term ‘second language' not only refers to the second tongue that a person learns, but also to any further language learned after one's early childhood. Linguists, along with me, have long since wondered why this process is much easier for some people than it is for others. Does it have to do with the person's mental capacity for language or the motivation they receive from the people around them? Is their a critical period after which language learning becomes much more difficult or even impossible? And furthermore, is it easier to learn a third or fourth language after the second tongue is mastered?
Second language acquisition is generally thought to decrease in success as a person increases in age, with a significant decrease after the critical period. The critical period, the time when a child's brain is still able to easily acquire certain skills such as language, is considered to be over at the onset of puberty, around age twelve. The idea of a critical period for a child's first language was brought about in 1967 by Eric Lennenberg, but more recently this idea has begun to be applied to one's second language. Critical periods in nature are common, such as the idea that a young bird must hear an adult bird singing during a certain time in its life or the young bird will not produce a complete birdsong when it reaches adulthood. Certain types of critical periods in humans are also accepted, such as if a baby's eye is covered during a specific time in which connections between the eye and the brain are being formed, then the child will be irreversibly blind. However, for a second language in humans, the presence of a critical period is not as widely accepted as it is for animals in nature, some processes in humans, or even for a person's first language. Much of the evidence for a second language critical period is based on the development of the human brain. For example, in 1985, Felix proposed that since a child's brain creates many, many new pathways and connections daily, then the child may be more adept at language learning than adults whose connections in their brains are more specialized through lateralization. (Lateralization is the localization of a function such as language localization in the left hemisphere.) Therefore, when exposed to a new language, previously nonexistent connections may be created in a child's brain that are unable to be formed in an adult's brain. Support of this theory stems from studies performed on impaired adults and also children who encountered brain damage before puberty. The results noted that most of the time the children make a full recovery while the adults cease in verbal improvement five months after the damage was done and therefore do not fully recover. Based on this research, Penfield, Roberts, and Lennenberg formed theories that each conclude that pre-pubescent children hold the advantage in learning new languages. This raises the possibility that since Joshua was not exposed to spanish until his brain became more specialized after puberty, he may not be able to form the necessary pathways that would allow him to become fluent. He may have missed his opportunity to acquire a new language. Miles on the other hand, was exposed to spanish for the first time at age fourteen, which is after the close of the critical period. Sarah began Spanish near the end of the critical period and is currently not fluent. Therefore, why did Miles acquire fluency in the language while Joshua and Sarah have not?
My name is Victoria “Tori” High and I began my life living on a farm with my mother and father in a small community near the town of Wilson , North Carolina . A few years later, my mother and I moved into the city of Wilson , where I have since resided. My experiences with a foreign language and culture began at a very young age when I became friends with the children of the Hispanic workers that helped out around our farm. Since this time long ago, I have studied the Spanish language in school and have learned how to communicate some with our family friends in Spanish. As a result of these experiences, I have always wanted to travel to various foreign countries, but, unfortunately, I have scarcely traveled outside of my home state.