Language Acquisition: Age & Personality

• Second language acquisition (SLA) is the process of acquiring a second language, distinct from one's first language (L1).
• SLA encompasses the study of learning in both individual and group settings, across diverse environments.
• In SLA terminology, a second language (L2) can refer to any language learned after the first, regardless of how many languages a person knows.
• SLA includes informal learning, structured classroom learning, and a combination of formal and informal approaches.
• Essential considerations in SLA are what language learners acquire, how they acquire it, and the factors influencing their success.

Key Terms

• First Language (L1): The language learned from birth, typically before age three, and it serves as the foundation for subsequent language learning.
• Second Language (L2): An additional language learned after L1, often for social, educational, or professional reasons.
• Foreign Language: A language studied primarily for academic or travel purposes, not commonly used in the learner's social context.
• Target Language (TL): The language a learner is trying to acquire.
• Linguistic Competence: Underlying knowledge of a language.
• Linguistic Performance: Actual language use in speaking or writing.

Multilingualism

• Simultaneous Multilingualism: Learning multiple languages from birth.
• Sequential Multilingualism: Learning additional languages after L1.

Multidisciplinary Nature of SLA

• Linguistic: Focuses on language structure, including syntax, phonology, and morphology, examining similarities and differences between L1 and L2.
• Psychological: Emphasizes cognitive processes, mental strategies, and how language is represented in the brain, also explores stages of learning, memory retention, and the role of aptitude.
• Social: Considers social interactions, cultural contexts, and societal factors, and how learner identity, motivation, and attitudes influence acquisition.
• Linguistics: Investigates differences and similarities between L1 and L2.
• Psychologists: Explores cognitive processes and brain activity.
• Sociolinguistics: Examines performance and communicative competence
• Applied Linguistics: Considers implications for teaching
• Challenges include the complexity and multifaceted nature of learning, influenced by linguistic, psychological, social, and economic factors.
• Bilingualism is using two or more languages in everyday life, affecting more than half the world's population.
• Bilinguals regularly use two or more languages or dialects.

Bilingual Factors

• Switzerland's four national languages lead to bilingualism near linguistic borders.
• Immigrant populations become bilingual by learning the host language while maintaining their native tongue.
• Code-switching is the alternating use of two languages.
• Biculturalism: Participating in the life of two or more cultures.
• Interference: Deviations in language use due to the influence of deactivated languages.
• Linguistic Diversity: High numbers of native languages in a country can foster bilingualism.
• Migration and Travel: Trade, migration, colonization, and economic needs often require learning another language.
• Education: It is a significant driver of bilingualism, with children learning languages in school or while studying abroad.
• Bilingualism does not require fluency in both languages, but more-so regular use, with one dominant depending on context.
• Bilinguals may use each language for distinct functions, such as family communication versus work.
• Bilinguals have varying degrees of fluency and use in different languages; someone might be fluent in two languages for daily tasks but uses another infrequently.
• Myth of Perfect Bilingualism: Bilinguals aren't "perfect" speakers in all their languages.
• Bilingualism and Childhood: Bilingualism doesn't require early childhood acquisition.

Bilingual Aspects

• Code-Switching: Bilinguals switch languages depending on context, audience, or emotional needs.
• Biculturalism leads to unique perspectives and challenges, but not all bilinguals are bicultural.
• It is dynamic of life stages, plus language use which may shift depending on life circumstances.
• Cognitive Advantages: Bilingualism enhances cognitive flexibility and multitasking skills.
• Bilingual children outperform monolinguals in verbal and nonverbal tasks due to the exposure.
• Bilinguals have advantages even if proficiency is not balanced, showing inherent cognitive benefits.
• Language Interference is a common issue with another, especially in stressful or emotional contexts.

Cognitive Development in SLA

• In SLA: Mental processes in acquiring and using a second language (L2).
• Information Processing: Brain's method of handling L2 input and converting it to output.
• Restructuring: Sudden changes in linguistic performance due to new input fitting existing knowledge.
• Connectionism: SLA is strengthening associations between stimuli and responses in cognitive framework.
• Metalinguistic Skills: Consciously thinking about and manipulating language structures.
• Interference: L1 cognitive patterns that hinder L2 learning.
• Cognitive Processes: SLA involves complex prior knowledge, cognitive styles, and linguistic input.
• Metacognitive Strategies: Learners regulate their learning and improve L2.
• Overview of Cognitive Development in SLA is influenced by prior knowledge, language input, and cognitive abilities.
• It focuses on mentally processing, storing, and using L2, transferring the knowledge from L1, and by restructuring linguistic info by developing effective usage.
• Understanding cognitive mechanisms explains the different progress by revealing influential factors.

Stages of Cognitive Development

• Initial State: Includes cognitive resources at the start of learning, L1 linguistic knowledge, and world knowledge.
• Initial knowledge can both cause interference and facilitate some language acquisition.
• Older L2 learners rely on pre exisiting cognitive maturity and L1 experience.
• Intermediate State: Characterized by cognitive changes and development.
• Systematic progression has some similarity to children acquiring L1 acquisition stages with negative forms.
• Positive Transfer aids in the learning process.
• Negative Transfer can lead to errors, syntax, and is commonly seen in pronunciation.

Information Processing in SLA

• Cognitive processing has phases from controlled to automatic processing.
• Cognitive approaches share assumptions, by human use language to communicate
• There are models for language learning, such as the Multidimensional.
• Linguistic performance involves mapping with forms of strings of lexical items as word-order patterns, and morphological inflections while grammatical with their functions
• It views language learning as building connections between language stimuli and responses.

Bilingualism Enhancements

• Enhance cognitive flexibility, multitasking, and problem-solving
• Enhance abilities and is often more developed in multi and bilingual individuals use to compare and contrast different languages.
• Bilingual advantage in tasks with “selective attention," and "inhibitory control."
  • Monolingual presented with a sponge, bilinguals children enhance the ability in controlling.
• Another cognitive advantage is increased cognitive flexibility.
• Bilingualism has cognitive benefit to ability in thinking divergently.
• Bilinguals navigate their languages more effectively with their cognitive flexibility. It is what makes up the manipulation of language structure.
• Bilingual children shows better performance especially in selectively paying close attention. These boost language reading.
• Improves lifespan.
  • It extends advantages over the lifespan of monolingual counterparts and also may delay the onset of age-related cognitive decline.

Challenges & Considerations of SLA

• Not all studies agree on the cognitive benefits that can impact the language.
• While the many positives may pose challenges to bilingualism, a smaller vocabulary in each language to monolinguism
• Vocabulary tests perform to indicate knowledge. Can also create cognitive load.
• Interference often creates cognitive load.
• Also has a relationship to linguistic mastery.
• In SLA, interactions are essential to communicate.

Communicative Competence in SLA

• Has to do with a speaker and what one should know to communicate appropriately regarding the language.
• Includes social norms for speaking/not speaking with an example of "Rain Check."
• Differences include monolingual and multilingual communicative competence with adaptation.

Social & Interaction in L1 and L2

• With input it must also include social interaction in both languages for language acquisition.

• Interaction enhances communicative competence.

• Interaction is the facilitation not only learning, but further causing acquisition and cultural settings.

• One must consider the microsocial dimensions, to which social settings SLA happens. Its highly variable for the characteristics.

  • Linguistic contexts: Speech can be relevant, or surrounding the sounds.
  • Psychological contexts: Factors associates, and is used by speakers to talk to someone when casually conversing.
  • A substantial amount based on Accommodation Theory, Howard Giles (1970s) explains they unconsciously do it.

  Macrosocial Dimensions in SLA.

  • Can allow learners to acquire varieties. Also the immigrants may hear more variants than males.
  • Languages often serve as gateways to education.
  • Immigrants adopt the language for integration.

• Participating in the boundary requires learning languages and needs a tool.

• Part language is used to unify speakers as members.

Macrosocial Dimensions of Bilingualism

• Educational Systems: Learners’ prior experience of learning, begins through culture.
• L2 learning is where people contact; formal vs instructed.
• Acquisition of a dominant L2 can loss it. Also may make it unable knowledge.
  • Social barriers with instruction
  • In the societal, policy and linguistic attrition impacts individuals success with it.

Social Bilingualism

• Bilingualism is promoted and hindered by social, educational.
• Societal attitudes can influence towards a specific language.
• In London there are 300 languages; sustaining the language and what communities do to hinder that.
• Community must maintain for minority, bilingual schools.
• The experiment includes the English speaking people in Canada.

Challenges of Bilingual Edication:

• Includes Funding, material, teachers.
• The UNESCO suggests for early education included native languages for linguistic diversity.
• The failure comes from instruction on mother language in school.
• Ideological beliefs affect political ones.

Individual Differences in Language

• Acquisition that is in 1st or 2nd, what the efficiency in the proficiency is.

• Cognitive Factors: abilities varies with each learner.

• Phonetic: the learner makes language by repetition.

  • Grammatical sensitivity is more easier identifying patterns in syntax.
  • Memory allows them to hold information more effectively. Studies also indicate level.

• Cognitive Styles: Metacognitive- planning. - memorization = learners often prefer based and practice. - Language by UG can be an asset to master L1 - L2 can be to demonstrate effortless system. - Researchers believe at a period can differ their capacity.

Explore the role of age, personality, and anxiety in language acquisition. Understand the Critical Period Hypothesis. Consider effective language program design for diverse learners.