User:Mae.golden/Individual Variation in Second Language Acquisition

Age - being edited by Alyssa

Main article: Critical period hypothesis

Age Effects in Second-Language Acquisition

It is fairly undisputed that children are better at acquiring a second language than adults. What remains an area of intense discussion is how to characterize this age effect, and what is the underlying cause. While the main focus of research has been on the possible existence of a critical period for language acquisition, there have also been several other avenues of investigation in search of answers about age effects. Despite the different hypotheses posed by researchers to explain the results, all of the data suggests that maturation negatively correlates with ultimate attainment of a second language. Age effects in second-language acquisition have long been recognized and studied. Most of the earliest writing on the subject came from anecdotal evidence or assumptions without direct evidence. The next stage of age related second language research focused mostly on the effectiveness of second language instruction in schools. These researchers found a negative correlation of age and second language attainment. Along the same lines, naturalistic observation during the early stages of research in this area found that early learners had an advantage over late learners. By the 1980s and 1990s researchers begun to show attention to late second language learners that had attained a high proficiency in their second language. The documentation of these cases caused problems for the popular idea of a critical period for second language acquisition, and sparked interest in other possible explanation for documented age effects in language learning. Around the same time researchers claim to find evidence that the ability to acquire a second language begins to decline around the ages of 6 or 7, and some propose that children and adults may be equipped with different processing mechanisms for language. The most recent research has continued along the same lines, but with a renewal of interest in explanations that do not have a neurolinguistic base. Researchers have found further evidence that late learners have the ability to reach native-like performance. There has also been further evidence that language is handled differently in the brains of children and adults. Late learners of a second language have been shown to have two separate areas of activation in Broca's area (an important language processing center in the brain) for their first and second languages. Early learners only show one area of activation that handles both their first and second languages. Although a lot of research still focuses on the validity of a critical period hypothesis, there is also substantial research in other possible explanations like strength of motivation and quality of input.

Critical Period

How children acquire native language (L1) and the relevance of this to foreign language (L2) learning has long been debated. Although evidence for L2 learning ability declining with age is controversial, a common notion is that children learn L2s easily and older learners rarely achieve fluency. This assumption stems from ‘critical period’ (CP) hypotheses. The idea of a critical period for language learning was popularized by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 in the context of L1 acquisition, but considerable interest now surrounds age effects on second-language acquisition (SLA). In the context of SLA, most researchers arguing for a critical period attribute age effects to maturational changes in the brain. The main concept behind these beliefs is that once language-acquisition circuitry is used for first language acquisition, it is no longer needed and would incur metabolic costs if maintained. Recent studies have recognized that certain aspects of SLA may be affected by age, though others remain intact.

Other Explanations for Age Effects

Although the critical period is the most researched explanation for age effects in second language acquisition, it does not seem to perfectly explain the observed outcomes of SLA. For one, many researchers have pointed out that the relationship between age and second language attainment is fairly linear with no distinct cut off point that a critical period would suggest. Also, the increased documentation of cases of adults with native-like attainment is a strong counterargument to the idea of a critical period. These concerns with the critical period hypothesis for second language acquisition have led to other possible explanations for acknowledged age effects. One of the proposed explanations has to do with motivation. In relation to second language acquisition there are two types of motivation: integrative and instrumental. Integratively oriented people are motivated to learn a second language to communicate with members of the language community, while instrumentally oriented people are motivated by self-oriented reasons (like for a job). Most children learning a second language have an integrative orientation which overall leads to better outcomes when learning a second language. However, when there is an urgency to learn a second language, instrumental orientation can be useful. This is often the orientation of adult learners of a second language, but adults with an integrative orientation are more likely to maintain long term use and fluency in a second language.

Strategy use - being edited by Ruthie

The effective use of strategies has been shown to be critical to successful language learning, so much so that Canale and Swain (1980) included "strategic competence" among the four components of communicative competence. Research here has also shown significant pedagogical effects. This has given rise to "strategies-based instruction."

Strategies are commonly divided into learning strategies and communicative strategies, although there are other ways of categorizing them. Learning strategies are techniques used to improve learning, such as mnemonics or using a dictionary. Learners (and native speakers) use communicative strategies to get meaning across even when they lack access to the correct language: for example, by using pro-forms like "thing", or non-spoken means such as mime. Communicative strategies may not have any direct bearing on learning, and some strategies such as avoidance (not using a form with which one is uncomfortable) may actually hinder learning.

Children use their own strategies of cross reference to learn second languages. A longitudinal study investigated preschool children in an environment where they were exposed to English as a second language. What was noted was that the children applied the knowledge from their first language, using patterns to develop their phonology. It was seen that mere immersion and rehearsal was an effective way for the children to increase their proficiency of their second language.

Cultural interest is a strong motivator for using learning strategies in a second language. There is a direct relationship between attitude toward a language and becoming proficient in the given language (Gardner and Lambert 1959). Interestingly, a study by Baohua Yu (2008) found that among groups of Western and Asian students learning Chinese, Western students significantly outperformed Asian students in spoken Chinese, likely because their motivation levels were higher. Learners from different cultures use strategies in different ways, as a research tradition led by Rebecca Oxford has demonstrated. Related to this are differences in strategy use between male and female learners. Numerous studies have shown that female learners typically use strategies more widely and intensively than males; this may be related to the statistical advantage which female learners enjoy in language learning.

Different learning strategies have been evaluated and tested to determine the efficacy of their methods. According to various studies, language learning strategies are divided into three components: metacognitive, cognitive, and socioaffective (O'Malley 1985). Research shows that cognitively-influenced strategies suit older learners better, while more social-oriented strategies better suit younger learners (Victori and Tragant, 2003). When studied among Turkish L1 speakers learning English, there was a significant deficit in the use of socioaffective strategies, which could be anxiety-related (see Anxiety). (Altunay 2014)

A strategy that was found effective with English speaking Chinese learners was the use of a virtual environment. A virtual environment consists of a digital world in which a person may experience whatever is programmed. A virtual environment was created using the online virtual world known as Second Life, where the users could interact with objects, learning the words and sounds simultaneously. This learning strategy was found to be significantly more effective than traditional methods of displaying solely an image and sound. A similar study was done immersing Chinese learners in a virtual environment and found visualization of the objects increased the learning proficiency and scores on the proficiency test. The results of the two studies suggest an advantage when using a virtual environment juxtaposed to traditional methods among Chinese learners.

Affective factors - being edited by Samantha

Affective factors relate to the non-cognitive factors in the learner, such their emotional state and attitude toward the target language.. Affective factors can influence an individual's cognitive perception and attention and thus their ability to learn, retain, and produce new information. Research into affective factors in language learning has been informed in recent years by research in neurobiology and neurolinguistics. Conn's 1995 research categorizes the three main factors that can hinder language learning and performance: institutional, situational, and dispositional. Dispositional factors further include four main subcategories that are related to affective factors in language acquisition: anxiety, lack of motivation, low self-worth, and negative attitudes or perceptions towards the language.

Historically, the socio-educational model of second language acquisition emphasized the role of the individual when learning a second language -- individual differences in terms of characteristics were thought to be the main driver in determining how well individuals are able to learn another language. The focus of this research was to understand what cognitive abilities successful language learners posses. However, researchers began to incorporate affective variables into their research of language acquisition. Since the publication of a study by Gardner and Lambert in 1972, multiple studies have been conducted on the efficacy of affective variables, and it has been determined that there are two main affective variables when it comes to individual language learning variation. These are motivation and situational anxiety, and each has a different role when it comes to language learning and processing.

Affective filter

Main article: Affective filter

Researchers believe that language learners all possess an affective filter which affects language acquisition. Krashen and Stephen's 1988 original hypothesis on the Affective Filter states that when a learner experiences negative emotions it hinders learning whereas positive emotions produce the opposite effect and boost learning abilities. Research shows that when classroom or learning conditions are ideal but students are still struggling to learn, it may be due to a raising of their affective filters. A filter may be raised due to shyness, fear of ridicule from other students or the instructor, illness, lack of motivation or interest, and/or a variety of other factors. A high filter can act as a mental block or barrier and impede a student's language learning. Students possessing a lower affective filter will be more likely to engage in learning as they are less likely to be impeded by other factors.

Many researchers believe that one of the reasons children are able to acquire a second language more easily or to a higher degree than adults (despite adults' greater cognitive maturity) is due to a low affective filter. Because children are supposedly un-self conscious, they lack the inhibitions and anxiety adults possess when practicing a new language. This point of view tends to assume all children and all adults are alike affectively. However, there are many children that are extremely shy or with anxiety, just as there are many adults who are not self-conscious when practicing a new language.

Anxiety

Although historically researchers proposed that a low level of anxiety may be helpful motivation in language learning, recent studies and more insight into cognitive and neurosciences have shown that anxiety damages students' prospects for successful learning. Research shows that anxiety has negative effects on an individual's cognitive abilities. Specifically, language anxiety is a documented condition that learners experience when learning a new language; it is heightened when they attempt to communicate in the second language. The two subsets of language anxiety are negative evaluation and communication apprehension, and they are felt when the learner is required to use the language orally. Researchers have found that when a learner is anxious, they become more focused on self-cognition. The increase of attention towards the self and away from learning inhibits the learner's short- and long-term memory. In the moment, the learner is not focused on the task at hand, and the input they store in their short-term memory is reduced compared to a non- or less-anxious learner. Later, when the anxious learner attempts to retrieve the input in order to produce output, they have difficulties reaching the input stored in their long-term memory.