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Second Language Acquisition Perspectives Paper

Shreya Khosla
Ling 512: Second Language Acquisition
Professor Carolyn Kristjanson
November 6, 2019
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Introduction

This paper examines the Systemic Functional Linguistics and Sociocultural Theory

perspectives in second language acquisition with the end goal of building up an individual

position proclamation about how a non-native language is learned. The first part of this paper

presents a case study of a learner of English as a second language, focusing especially on the

factors that have helped the learner learn English, as well as some of the things that have been

obstacles. The second part consider is a position statement that describes a general understanding

of second language acquisition more widely before combining the distinct insights from the more

general research to a personal view of how foreign language acquisition process proceeds.

Part I: Language Learner Perspectives

Description of a Language Learner

The case study is an in-depth observation of a language learner named ‘Naya’, a female

native speaker of Chinese, currently aged thirty-four and has been studying English as a second

language in her home country China since she was twelve. During our first interview, it appeared

that her motivation to learn English was for academic purpose as right now she is doing her Pre-

Master Program and after that she will be joining MBA. However, as our meetings increased, in

her mind she had two options. First, English for academic purposes, work purpose and to get a

job in a foreign company in China. Second, transactional English if she will settle in Canada. For

her, transactional English includes talking to a realtor to buy a house, to buy a car, talking in a

grocery store, talking to her daughter’s teacher in school etc. (See Appendix G, M4, 24).

Naya’s English progress reflects a normal, i.e. slow rate of acquisition typical of a learner

whose only exposure to the language has been in formal, non-communicative classroom.
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However, she clearly acquires some phonemic coding ability, grammatical sensitivity as she is

able to communicate somewhat effectively during our interviews. Her use of simple grammatical

structures (eg., Present tense) and vocabulary is somewhat accurate, while her pronunciation

suffers because of the difference between the Chinese and English phonologies.

Another influential factor has been the age at which Naya began learning English as a

second language and the amount of time spent. Naya started learning English when she was 12

years old. She found English as an uninteresting subject while she was in school because the

learning was based on completing chapters, units and then taking an exam to pass the class. She

didn’t used to focus and devote much time learning English as a second language. As argued by

Genesee, “Typically foreign languages are not taught until later and we devote less instructional

time to them because they are regarded as less important than reading, writing, and arithmetic”

(Genesee, 2009, p. 6). She used to focus on the subjects which were more important and

interesting to her for example, Mathematics and Chinese (See Appendix D, M1, 20). Talking

about age being an influential factor, Naya started learning English at an appropriate age but as

she found it uninteresting, she didn’t focus much on it. There wasn’t any pressure or motivation

from her parents as well to learn English.

The Learner’s Context

Naya’s language acquisition is not affected by individual learner differences, but also by

her social context within and outside the classroom. All of Naya’s learning in China has taken

place in formal setting in school closely resembling Lightbown and Spada’s (2013, p. 126)

description of structure-based instruction. Learning was limited to a few hours per week in

school, with the only English speaker available being her non-native Chinese teacher. English

was encountered in written form in textbooks i.e. list of vocabulary with Chinese equivalents.
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On the other hand, the classes she is taking in Canada are in natural aquisition setting as stated in

Lightbown and Spada (p. 124). She is being exposed to a wide range of vocabulary and

structures, on daily basis she “encounters a number of different people who use the target

language proficiently” (p. 124). Her participation in different types of language events is on a

daily basis as she goes to college, talk to her classmates and teacher in class, converse with

native speakers of English or other people, she exchanges information and arguments etc. Thus,

at the moment she is in a completely different language learning setting as she was earlier in

China.

In her school life, Naya’s classes mainly focused on structure-based learning. She

remembers some audiolingual drills during her earliest instruction to practice the pronunciation

of some English words (See Appendix E, M2, 18). Naya’s description of her education in China,

with a strong focus on competence as accuracy clearly demonstrates the instructional styles by

Lightbown and Spada (2013, pp. 154, 159) ‘get it right from the beginning’ and ‘just listen and

read’. The type of classroom in which Naya learned English was a teacher centered classroom in

which they learned what the teacher taught. She also mentioned in our interview that the learning

was based on the book, completing units, chapters and syllabus (See Appendix E, M2, 18). The

comprehensible input was measured by tests and examinations (See Appendix E, M2, 18).

The Learner’s Language

Considering the meetings and interviews with Naya, I would say that she might be Stage

II – Intermediate Language Ability on the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) scale and

Benchmark Level 6. She is still developing her English Skill in Speaking and Listening. The

most developed skill could be reading as she likes to read and enhance her vocabulary. On the

other hand, the least developed skill could be listening because in interview, I felt that she wasn’t
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able to understand the questions being asked as sometimes she used to give answers which

weren’t related to the question (Appendix F, M3, 1-6). The most important skill to Naya is

speaking in a long run as her goal is to sound like a native (See Appendix G, M4, 26). Talking

about in current context, academic writing is most important to her as she will be joining MBA

after her ESL classes.

Characterizing Naya’s language proficiency as demonstrated in the interview sessions

and doing her Interlanguage analysis, although the learner was almost aware in using the correct

sentence structures, overall, the following conclusion can be made regarding her competency.

Even though, it could be said that Naya is an upper intermediate English language learner and

she has competent level on when to use which tense of the verb in which context, despite of that,

she kept making errors and doesn’t correct it by herself. Her performance will emerge if she self-

correct. Concerning the learners interlanguage, she appears to be likely to mark present tense

correctly with most of the verbs other than ‘study’ and ‘listen’. Naya seems to demonstrate

“False concepts hypothesized” (Ellis, 1986, p. 53), as she has a faulty understanding of target

language distinctions when she uses a plural form of a verb in the place of a singular form of that

verb or vice versa. She is putting ‘s’ after some verbs she uses in present tense and didn’t put ‘s’

where it is needed (See Appendix A).

Talking about the construction of Register, in some cases, Naya does not achieve social

purpose in terms of pragmatic factual information as sometimes she doesn’t understand the

question she is being asked during the interview. I have to ask her the question 2-3 times in a

different way as she doesn't stick to the context and she doesn’t seem competent. According to

Halliday, SFL aims to explain how individuals use language and how language is structured for

its different usages. (as cited in Figueiredo, 2010, p. 121). Naya organizes her answer according
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to the questions she is being asked. She uses different choice of verbs while answering the

questions about her preference on certain topic (I want, I think, I would like to). She repeats the

verb ‘think’ a lot during our conversation. Considering the fact that she needs the knowledge for

academic purposes, some strategies to staying on the topic while answering the question,

responding to something and understanding the questions can be developed (See Appendix B).

Considering the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd interview, Naya made many errors but never made an

effort to correct it. Her main goal while speaking was only to communicate her meaning to the

listener and not the fluency or correct structures. However, in the 4th - final interview, she started

to correct herself while speaking. Although, she only corrected herself in the past and present

tense of one verb ‘take’ while speaking, but she made an effort. Maybe it was our interview, or

she might have felt that she should start correcting herself for better pronunciation or fluency

(See Appendix G, M4, 2).

Analysis

Taking all these considerations of the learner’s differences and background together, their

influence on Naya’s overall language proficiency, especially in term of explaining her

grammatical competence but weak spoken performance, becomes evident. As for her preferred

learning styles, it is possible that these have been shaped by her cultural background (Scovel,

2001, p. 95). Naya told during an interview that it’s hard to speak English in her culture as

talking in her culture involves only actions and not much words (See Appendix F, M3, 18). The

learning session which might be helpful for Naya could be a session on how to approach the

questions. As examined earlier, Naya was unable to understand the question being asked and

wasn’t giving appropriate answers. Thus, these sessions could be really helpful for her. ‘Learning

by talking’ theory according to the sociocultural perspective might work with Naya. “Extending
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Vygotskyan theory to second language acquisition, Jim Lantolf (2000), Richard Donato (1994),

and others are interested in showing how second language learners acquire language when they

collaborate and interact with other speakers” (Lightbown & Spada, 2013, 119). Naya told me

during our interview that she is an introvert, so, this perspective of ‘Learning by talking’ will

require her to talk and improve her English.

Part II: Literature Perspectives

An understanding of Language

Second language acquisition is a complex process that has differing point of views about

how it occurs. From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), “language is a

system that can be described in two parts- the phonological (sound system) and the grammatical”

(Halliday, 1975). According to Wells, 1999, language is also a process of “making meaning- a

semiotic process; and the prototypical form of human semiotic is language”.

As represented by sociocultural theory, Language is viewed as “a ‘tool of thought’, or means of

mediation, in mental activity” (Mitchell, Myles & Marsden, 2019). Language is not only a

system of rules in one’s mind, but also a “resource for participation” in social life (Zuengler &

Miller, 2006). According to Schleppegrell, 2018, “Every language is a meaning-making system

that varies in its expression according to contexts of use, offering a vast set of options for

meaning”. People are empowered by the languages they speak from their birth. In other words, a

language has power of its own which can lead the attitude that its speakers may receive from the

society. All of these above authors explain SFL in different yet relatable contexts.

The Second Language Learning Process

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From the sociocultural perspective, learning is a “mediated process” which is partially

mediated through learners’ progressing use as well as control of mental tools (Mitchell et al.,

2019).

The difference between second language acquisition (SLA) and first language acquisition

(FLA) is that, unless two languages are learned simultaneously, the learner already has a

language system (L1) in place that influence the development of L2. Simultaneous bilingual

acquisition is that children are exposed to two languages from birth (Genesee, 2009, p.4). Also,

children are born with the ability to acquire two languages simultaneously during infancy

(Genesee, 2001, p. 153). Another difference between SLA and FLA and difference between L1

(mother tongue) and L2 (second or additional non-native language) acquisition is the factor of

the age of the learner. All normal humans are bound to acquire native proficiency in a mother

tongue by virtue of being immersed in it from birth (Lightbown & Spada, 2013, pp. 17-19),

exposure to an L2 is uncertain and may take place in adulthood.

As stated by Zuengler & Miller, 2006, “When learners appropriate mediational means,

such as language, made available as they interact in socioculturally meaningful activities, these

learners gain control over their own mental activity and can begin to function independently”.

From the perspective of Sociocultural theory, learning is a social and shared process which can

also depend on “face-to-face interaction” and includes “joint-problem solving and discussion,

with experts and also with peers” (Mitchell et al., 2019, p 222). Classrooms are interactive

places. Students sitting in groups so as to promote interaction, talking, arguing, trying to make

their points, and collaborating on a project together. Therefore, they use different language

practices, such as putting together collaborative projects, oral presentations in English, students

walking around periodically to get materials they need to complete their project. The teacher sits
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with the students listening, redirecting conversation at times, asking and answering questions, or

just being part of the small group discussions (Garcia & Sylvan, 2011, p.393). Thus,

“Participation in [social] activities is both the product and the process of learning.” (Zuengler &

Miller, 2006, p.38)

The successful second language learning “involves a shift from collaborative inter-mental

activity to autonomous intra-mental activity” (Mitchell et al., 2019, p 222). This means that the

learner knows how to do things with collaborative talk and then eventually incorporate a “new

skill into their own individual consciousness” (Mitchell et al., p 222). The key aspects of the

second language learning process from the perspective of SFL and Sociocultural Theory (SCT)

are that the learning process focuses on providing learners with social interaction that will allow

for the negotiation of meaning as a natural process of communication (Lightbown & Spada 2013,

p.165). Learners can be enrolled into the subjects that are taught in L2 (Lightbown & Spada, p.

171), which will prompt opportunities for the students to apply their meaning-making systems in

an L2 context (Schleppegrell, 2018, p.2). Also, as stated by Lantolf, 2012, “SCT is not a theory

of language, language learning, or language processing. It is a theory that unites human social

activity and human mental activity through communication” (p. 699).

The Effect of Context on Second Language Acquisition

According to Genesee (2009, p. 12), in some areas, the minorities are forced to

discontinue or restrict the use of their mother tongue at home, in favor of the dominant language

of the area in which they live, even though they may lack the full competence in the majority

language (Genesee, 2009, p. 12). These decisions are made at the macro level, which affect the

language learning experience for the minority students. Research also shows that the minority

language students regularly “draw on skills and knowledge linked to the home language to
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perform literacy tasks in English, arguably as a way to fill in gaps in their English competence

prior to full mastery of the language” (Genesee, p. 13).

People at the macro level expect the learners to adapt to the new language and its social

environment using the meaning-construction system previously developed.  For this reason the

people at the macro level are oriented towards result in the communicational use of the language,

more than an academic (high school, college), as Zuengler & Miller (2006) points out, “language

not as an input (effort), but as a resource for participation in the kind of activities our everyday

lives comprise” (p. 37). Also, they expect social immersion to allow the learner to adjust his

language to a variety of contexts with the semiotic means that they [L2 learners] have previously

developed” (Wells, 1999, p. 8). All these socio-political contextual factors influence approaches

to how learning is best accomplished and the attitudes to the learning being acquired by the

learner.

Based on the understanding that SFL directs the learning of a language through the

recycle of L2 learners semiotic process (Schleppegrell, 2018) and SCT sees language-learning

through the use of language as a mediator to an end (Zuengler & Miller, 2006), the linguistic

environment affects language learning as student are expected to work in groups to produce the

language by doing activities that involve the free used the language. They also get involved in

subject matters that are taught in L2 (Mitchell et al., 2019, p. 222). The exposure to the second

language or L2 is important for the minority students as well. The educators can provide equal

learning opportunities to minority groups who live in a multicultural area. They empower the

students to develop in them a secure sense of identity and self-esteem and in order to enable

them to participate competently in the education process (Feng, 2005, p.544). By this, the

minority students can get a quality education or an effective language learning experience.
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The classes taught in a problem-solving fashion also stimulates the meaning-making

resources of L2 learners (Schleppegrell, 2018; Zuengler & Miller, 2006, p.39) towards

production of the language. Likewise, participation in [social] activities is both the product and

the process of learning.” (Zuengler & Miller, 2006, p.38). In such a way, the quality and quantity

of exposure to second language or the linguistic environment helps the learner at the meso level

to learn the L2 in an efficient way.

According to Lightbown & Spada (2013, p. 109), a naturalistic setting involves informal,

if not incidental, acquisition of a language (i.e. the mother tongue) used for everyday social

interactions, whereas an instructional setting involves formal, explicit teaching of some non-

native language not necessarily spoken in the local community. As noted by Garcia & Sylvan

(2011), plurilingual instruction can also be exercised in classrooms in order to recognize and

honor each individual's language (p. 391). This type of instruction helps the learner as the

instructor acts as a coach for the learners to acquire language needed from the subject matter

(Schleppegrell, 2018, p.9). The educational principle is that a student has the right to understand

the language of instruction, and it is the responsibility of the school districts to teach learners the

English language (Macias, 1994, p. 220).  It is not possible to isolate languages or to limit

instruction to two or even three languages .Creating a context where paying close attention to

how a student and his or her language practices are in motion-that is, to focus on how the

students are engaged in meaningful activities is of great importance (Garcia & Sylvan, p.390).

The classrooms can be more interactional where the time is invested by the students in

communicating and interacting with each other, doing problem-solving activities rather than\

teacher telling or instructing the students and at the end students taking the tests.
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Learning, in Vygotsky’s view, is what an individual is able to do with the assistance of

another person or an artifact created by others. Assistance may be in the form of direct and

explicit instruction, as occurs in school; it may be indirect and implicit instruction, as occurs in

the case of everyday non reflective activity, or into a social role, such as mother, father, student,

supervisor, etc. (Lave & Wenger, 1991, cited in Lantolf, 2012, p. 698). The L1 learning which

happen in naturalistic setting may not be different in the classroom where L2 is being learned.

The Language Learner and Individual Differences

Considering each individual language learner brings with them various personality traits,

expectations, beliefs, attitudes and strengths, there are very few statements about language

learning that are true for every individual. There is a whole range of various factors that may

influence a language learners’ success. According the Feng (2005), Respecting and protecting

home languages of minorities in a multicultural country or region, and create equal opportunities

for their language learning as the majority in bilingual education system (pp. 532-533). This

helps the learner to connect things from L1 in order to learn L2. Also, for bilingual children, the

process of code-mixing embodies learning of both languages is taking place simultaneously

(Genesee, 2001, p. 153).

Motivation consists of effort in addition to desire to attain the considered goal which is

learning the language and also favorable attitudes toward learning the language (Gardner, 2010,

as cited in Dewaele, 2013, p.161). This according to Lightbown & Spada (2013) can build a

desire for more contact with the speakers of the language. Motivation plays a pivotal role in the

learning process such as the amount of effort that individuals put into learning, the duration that
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they persevere at learning, and how successful they will eventually be at using the language

(Ushioda, 2009, p. 218).

Motivation in second language learning, according to Lightbown & Spada (2013), is “a

complex phenomenon”. Learners’ communicative needs as well as their attitudes toward the

second language community play a significant role. The need to speak L2 in a wide range of

social situations in addition to fulfilling professional ambitions can motivate people to acquire

proficiency in it (p.87). Pittaway (2004) proposes the term investment as the relationship

between the language learner and the social world (p. 203). On the other hand, Norton states that

“An investment in an imagined community assumes an investment in an imagined identity, one

that may continually change across time and space” (pg. 3). All these aspects of motivation

affect language learning experience of an L2 language learner.

In addition to motivation, learning styles also have an immense impact on language

learning, especially in classroom settings. In situations where a teaching environment does not

match the learning styles of the students, learning is likely to be hindered. Norton (2010)

describes a situation in which for the readers (students) of Archie comics in Canada, it was ‘fun’

reading the comic because the children were able to “construct meaning” and “make hypotheses”

(p. 4). On the other hand, it was a power issue for the parents and the teachers by which this kind

of learning was told as “waste of time” and “garbage” (Norton, p. 4) to the students and they

were discouraged. This kind of environment “may limit a child’s engagement with text,

sometimes rendering it a meaningless ritual” (Norton, p. 4). Hence, considering the learning

style(s) of the students are necessary in language learning.

Cognitive variables, including learning styles and strategy use, can also affect language

learning.  Affective strategies help students to understand their emotional being and regulates
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their attitudes and emotions (Oxford 1990, p. 135). According to Ortega, “Strategies are

conscious mental and behavioral procedures that people engage in with the aim to gain control

over their learning process” (Ortega, 2009, p.208).  One example of an effective learning strategy

is deep breathing and relaxation techniques (Mostafavi & Vahdany, 2016, p. 207). These are

used to lower the anxiety and stress, allowing higher levels of information to be retained. This is

an example of a behavioral learning strategy. This requires one to be able to self-assess their

anxiety level, which is a mental strategy. Talking about one’s feelings openly would be a

behavioral strategy (Oxford, 1990, p. 144). These strategies can apply to learning a second

language, as it requires much focus to do this, and stress and anxiety can block one’s ability to

focus and lower one’s motivation to learn. These strategies can accelerate one’s learning

(Mostafavi, 2016).

Non-material elements such as spiritual orientation and agency can affect language

learning in a way that if learners have agency of meaning-making, they can connect effectively

in a wide scope of literacy practices but if they have little agency over meaning-making, learning

becomes meaningless and ritualized (Norton, 2010, pg. 10). On the other hand, Ushioda (2009)

talks about person-in-context which means focusing on real persons, agency of the individual

person as thinkers “with an identity, personality, a unique history and background” (p.220). The

focus is on people who have goals and visions, focus is on this agent and the complex dynamic

system of relationships. Talking about agency, "Agency arises when spontaneous activity is

coupled to the world, forming a coordinative structure" (Larsen-Freeman, 2019). Motivation of

learning a language emerges from relation and interaction, a perspective which sees motivation

coming out of relations between human intentionality and social structures, a dynamic

interaction between agency and social structure (Ushioda, 2009).

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The Nature of Second Language Competence and Performance

The target of a language learner in most situations is to achieve an ability to communicate

with native speakers of the language. Competence in a language consists of more than just the

ability to use a language correctly. According to Halliday (1978), SFL “is both a theory of

language and a methodology for analysing texts and their contexts of use… SFL aims to explain

how individuals use language and how language is structured for its different usages” (Eggins,

1994 as cited in Figueiredo, 2012, p. 121). “The register variables of field, tenor and mode

represent the attempt of the school of systemic functional linguistics to understand and explain

the distinct situational contexts in which we operate and interact” (Figueiredo, 2012, p. 137). On

the other hand, according to Derewianka (2012), “writing should be viewed as a communicative

act with writers encouraged to see the various linguistic choices available to them as meaning-

making resources, ways of creating relationships with their reader, and shaping and flexing

language for particular effects.” (p.143).

It is important to note, as have Norton (2010) that language is a site of social struggle as

it enables or prevents users’ full participation in “imagined communities” (p. 3). The

corresponding positions of all those who consider themselves to belong to any given imagined

community, for example, based on ethnic, religious, political groups are strong-willed by the use

of language in constructing powerful community. This type of competence is especially

important as L2 learners entering a foreign community are generally exposed to social groups.

Conclusion

In the course of this paper, some beliefs have been confirmed, for instance, the benefit of

acquisition of starting the learning process earlier rather than the later and the crucial importance
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of motivation for learners to reach their goals. Also, SFL theory recognizes the meaning-making

systems which children bring to the classroom and offers teachers means to build on those ways

of meaning which enable children to develop new language resources related to the learning they

are engaged in. Some previous beliefs have been challenged where I thought that memorization

is a key to learn effectively. It is because it has been a part of my previous education

background. I now understand that emphasizing communication and the meaningful use of

language in context may be just as effective in helping a learner acquire communicative as well

as grammatical competence. Additionally, the whole concept of Complex Dynamic System

Theory (CDST) and the learner’s agency has developed throughout the course.
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Appendix

Appendix A:

Sample Language User’s Interlanguage Development Analysis 

Linguisti “Correct” Language Alternative Variant Form needed but

c Feature Variant omitted
Frequency - list all
Frequency - list all examples from the selected Frequency - list all the
examples from the selected texts places in the selected
texts texts where this form
was needed

 So, I need to  I think from current  I think from

Usage 1 communicate and I now China from current now
need to clearly studying English in China [we start
(Present understand what Elementary school to study]
tense) they are talking (M1, 12) English in
about and I need to  I am here, I am Elementary
express myself listen (M1, 28) school (M1, 12)
clearly (M1, 14)  I am here, I am
 I speak to my listening (M1,
teachers (M1, 22) 28)
  I am not familiar
with that(M1, 22)
 give me feedback
(M1, 28)
  I know what you
are talking about
and you know what
I want to express
(M1, 32)

 So, I think it is more

difficult for me
(M3, 4)
 If I read seven times
(M3, 8)
 I think right now we
have individual
work that is
assignment (M3,
 21

14)

 Book give us the  You [means]  You [mean]

Usage 2
instruction and education education background
     (Verb- steps (M3, 12) background(M1, 4) (M1, 4)
Singular  So, I think right   I think most people   I think most people
now I follow that [knows] (M1, 8) [know] (M1, 8)
and  I can separate into
steps. (M3, 12)  I can separate into
plural) different [category] different [categories]
(M1, 22) (M1, 22)
 because Nathan  because Nathan
sometimes [talk] sometimes [talks]
about (M1, 22) about (M1, 22)
 but if someone  but if someone
[correct] me (M1, [corrects] me (M1, 28)
28)
 So, the writing
 So, the writing we we have
have different different
[structure] (M3, 4) [structures]
 for speaking my (M3, 4)
teacher only [give]  for speaking my
me feedback (M3, teacher only
12) [gives] me
 Book [give] us the feedback (M3,
instruction (M3, 12) 12)
  Teacher [give] us  Book [gives] us
feedback (M3, 14) the instruction
(M3, 12)
 So, [that’s push] me
to read a lot (M3,   Teacher [gives]
16) us feedback
(M3, 14)
 So, [that
pushes] me to
read a lot (M3,
16)

Appendix B:

Register
Field Interviewer and Interviewee setting
 22

Memorization of vocabulary and Grammar

 Lexical items refer to:

o can/cannot understand
o I mainly focus
o I don’t like to memorise

 Verbs focus on: 

o I think
o I want
o I would like to

Teno  Contact: High- Interviewer and interviewee have met for the third time. They
r both have a social relationship outside the interview process.
 Status: Unequal status: 
o Interviewer initiates the conversation.
o Interviewer asks the questions and interviewee answers.
o Interviewee knows that the interview is for writing a paper for her
class.
 Affect: High
o Interviewee is relaxed while giving the answers
o She connects the answer to her personal life and gives examples from
her personal life or experience.

Mode  Spoken: face-to-face dialogue.

 Formal conversation
 Discourse markers such as so, because, I think, I like.
 Frequency of I

Appendix C:
 23

Sample Language Analysis for Spoken Discourse

(Adapted from Burns, Joyce, & Gollin, 1996, p.94) 

Discours Criteria Achieved Action Priority               

e (with examples) (where needed)
Dimensio  Rank from 1-5
n Yes Partiall No
y

Social  Indicates Encounters

Purpose sociocultural
(pragmatic)
(Burns et purpose
al., 2006,  Indicates Factual 
p. 11) motivation
(interpersonal or (informatio
pragmatic) as n)
fitting for
purpose 

Field  Makes
appropriate*
lexicogrammatic
al field choices

Tenor  Makes
appropriate
lexicogrammatic
al field choices

Mode  Uses She goes 3

appropriate off topic
thematic ties often
and referential during the
links to extend interview
discourse (M3, 2).

It takes 1
-2 more
questions
for her to
answer
the main
point
(M3, 2).
 24

Sometime
s she
skips one
part of
the
question
while
answerin
g (M3,
4). 

Exchange  Maintains
Strategies own role in
constructing the
discourse
 Uses
appropriate
conversational
moves to
negotiate
effective
knowledge or
action
exchanges

Appendix D:
Interview 1:

Time Turn Speake Transcription of what the Teacher and Interviewee said…
(Optional r
)
Example:   T Thanks for meeting with me today. To begin, would you please tell
me a little about yourself. 
 S Sure. My name **** and I am 19 years. I come to Canada before
sits month to better my English.
1 T Okay, so let's start the interview. So what is your name?
2 S ****
3 T Okay ****, so tell me about yourself.
4 S You means[ mean ] education background or just another things
[ thing]?
 25

5 T Anything. you can tell me about your personal life or you can tell
me anything about yourself. Just give a brief introduction.
6 S   Okay I think I can tell you that XXX my experience. I just
arrived[ to ] Canada this year, September 1st and I am here in, I
think this is the 6th weeks[week ]. Till now I [ have ] joined ESLI
and now is PMP 1 so it’s good for your interview and for your
study and next January I would joined[ join ] PMP 2 and after
April I would joined[ join ] my Master degree.That’s all.
7 T So, where are you from?
8 S I am from China. Yeah and XXX Beijing, I think most people
knows[ know ] the Beijing side so I think I would like to say
Beijing. 
9 T How many languages do you speak?
10 S Only Chinese and English.
11 T And when did you start learning English?
12 S Wow, that from my elementary school. No, I don’t think
so…..Middle school. Yeah because my age is a quite large, I think
from current now China from studying English in Elementary
school but to my age we start English at in middle school.
13 T What motivated you to learn English?
14 S Motivate, I think from my previous conversation [ it ] is almost
work related. I need to give them status of my project and I need to
know some progress in Belgium. So, I need to communicate and I
need to clearly understand what they are talking about and I need to
express myself clearly. So that’s the motivation.
15 T When you started learning English as a second language, how was
your first experience?
16 S Honest speaking, at the beginning I study English is very poor. I
also remember, at my clearly remember XXX my class called ‘The
new concept English 1 practice and examination’. I remember
several of my classmates went to some another school and joined
the examination. And finally, I can’t remember clearly XXXX but I
remember it is very bad. So that gave me the first information that I
am not good at study English. And the other thing that is negative
impact on my future learning. So, after that I always learning very
very bad.
17 T Who was your teacher? Do you know native and non- native? Was
it Native or non-native?
18 S Non- Native. Our teacher is Chinese.
19 T While learning English what challenges did you face?
20 S I think in our learning, we didn’t speak too much. We just
remember the words, memorize the word and also sometimes my
parents will tell me the Chinese and I will write down the English
word in my paper and then I need to fill my examination papers.
 26

That’s all. I don’t like English in my school, I liked mathematics

and Chinese. So, I focus much on that, not English.
21 T When you talk to people here in Canada, How do you feel talking
to native speakers or people who know more English?
22 S I can separate into different category. First category you can say, I
speak to my teachers. That’s good because they speak all our class
related and I know the class an they know what they want to teach
us so I can understand clearly. And the second is my classmate.
Our classmate, we all talk about assignment related. So that’s good
and third I think is homestay. I can understand clearly about
Vincent and Angelica. But I also have difficulty about Nathan
because Nathan sometimes talk about some slangs and some 
phrasal words and I am not familiar with that. Sometime I XXX
difficult, I would ask him to repeat it and after that I can understand
about. And final category that will be get some supermarket and
grocery XXX just say hello, what’s going on, whatsup, how are
you, these things.
23 T What do you do when you feel that you said something wrong in
pronunciation while speaking, any grammatical structure you
skipped?
24 S I would correct that and after that other one also don’t understand
me, I will change another way to say it again. 
25 T When you talk to someone and you made an error and you know
that, do the listener (the person you are talking to) ignore it or do
they correct you?
26 S Ignore, always ignore.
  27 T What is your personal opnion about this?
28 S I would like to, they can correct me because in future I wouldn’t
make the same mistake again. Even though I noticed I made a
mistake, but if someone correct me I think the give me more deep
XXXX. I am here I am listen..learning this language. If correct me..
give me a feedback, that’s a good thing.
29 T When you were learning English in China, what was the focus on?
Was it fluency or pronunciation?
30 S You mean school or just after school?
31 T Just tell me both of them.
32 S In school, my focus only on the score. I think just follow the book
and one lesson to the next unit and finally I get my grade. It’s
middle that’s okay. And after school I think just the
communication. I know what you are talking about and you know
what I want to express.

Appendix E:
 27

Interview 2:

Time Turn Speake Transcription of what the Teacher and Interviewee said…
(Optional r
)
Example:   T Thanks for meeting with me today. To begin, would you please tell
me a little about yourself. 
 S Sure. My name **** and I am 19 years. I come to Canada before
sits month to better my English.
1 T Do you remember what we talked about the last week? This
interview will be related to the last week and I'll carry forward. So,
let me ask the first question. How old were you when you started
learning English?
2 S I remember I studied from primary school.
3 T Primary school? How old?
4 S How old. 12.
5 T Tell me again what was your motivation to learn your second
language in your home country?
6 S I participate my work and I need English to communicate with my
colleague. So that’s motivate.
7 T When you were in school, did your parents force you to study
English outside the school?
8 S No, I think English is my class, so my parents of course will push
me to study hard. But they never pushed me to study English
outside school.
9 T Do you identify yourself as an English learner or English user? Do
you know the difference between Learner and user?
10 S I think learner means I am still learning and user that I can use
English as I want
11 T How do you identify yourself?
12 S Learner.
13 T Would you describe yourself as a successful English language
learner or user?And why?
14 S No, not successful. Why I think that's the reason is so complicate. I
just know I need to learn that but how much why I didn't learn well.
I think a lot of reason.
15 T What is the reason?
16 S I think my English only improved for work. So that means I can
talk a lot in related to the work environment. But at the daily
communication use, I am not good at that. I think my daily time I
speak Chinese with my family, with my friend. So, I don’t have any
environment to practice the life English.
17 T How did you learn English in your home country?
 28

18 S We have book, we have teacher, we have according to the teacher’s

instruction, maybe first we need to pre-review the book and read
that and maybe we have to remember the new words and we listen
to the words and maybe make some sentence for this new words.
And then we have examination. Examination only focused on the
listening and writing.
19 T What is the view of learning an additional language in your
culture? English or any other language. What do people think about
that?
20 S I think it’s common in China to learn English. But other people
maybe they have want to have another study in German, French
XXX learn different language.
21 T What is their opinion about that? What do people think?
22 S People think it’s good to learn the second language. You have more
oppurtunity or choice to do anything.
23 T What is the opinion of your culture towards bilingualism?
24 S I XXX support that. I think English is a common language. They
would prefer to learn English and also another language.
25 T Can you give me an example to explain this?
26 S In China a lot of training agencies, so many of them. So everyone
of them learn English. 
  27  T Did you ever learn English from a native speaker?
28 S I told I went to the agency, that’s native speaker.
29 T What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of
studying or learning with a native speaker?
30 S You can hear the good English pronounce but they don’t know
your struggle of studying English. You can listen well, but that’s
only advantage. And you don’t know, non-native speaker may have
some mistake when they speak, native speaker, they don’t have
mistake.
31 T What do you think who is better to learn from?
32 S I think different class or topic has different situation. For example,
if you want to learn the Grammar, I would like to choose Chinese
teacher because they can use the Chinese to give me more
description and I understand well. If the speaking class, I would
choose Native speaker. They give me a good pronounce and good
language.

Appendix F:
Interview 3:

Time Turn Speaker Transcription of what the Teacher and Interviewee said…
 29

(Optiona
l)
Example: T Thanks for meeting with me today. To begin, would you please tell
me a little about yourself.
S Sure. My name **** and I am 19 years. I come to Canada before
sits month to better my English.
1 T Is there anything that you can memorize well in your English
learning? What about when you were learning English in China?
2 S I speak English through my work environment, so I just speak more
and understand and I think at the beginning I cannot understand
clearly but at the time consuming that I can understand more
because, we mainly focus on the working area, and we discuss
more like, we have different coverage. So, I think at the beginning I
don’t understand this knowledge but at my work go through I can
understand more. So, I think this gave me confidence to hear good
and speak a lot.
3 T Do you memorize any vocabulary or grammar when you were
learning English? What about in Canada?
4 S Canada, I think right now I don’t have the grammar lesson. We
only have the reading and writing. So, the writing we have different
structure compare to China and Canada. So, one aspect I need to
fit…. understand this structure and second I need to learn the
English as parallel. So, I think it is more difficult for me, but I think
that it’s okay.
5 T So, you don’t memorize? Or you memorize?
6 S I don’t like to memorize that. I think I would like to practice and
apply into my own writing.
7 T What about some vocabulary words which you have to use?
8 S Vocabulary, I like to read it. If I read seven times and don’t know
the meaning, I will check in dictionary. If I only read it one time I
would skip it and understand the meaning of the whole sentence.
9 T Can you think of any small strategy by which you can memorize?
10 S Read more. I think to reading. I read some books or articles, I think
I would learn some new words and after seven times I see this
word, I would memorize it.
 30

11 T How do your teacher evaluate your language proficiency? When

you are writing or speaking?
12 S I think, at the beginning I joined the Trinity, I have my IELTS
score. That’s one to assess my English level and for speaking my
teacher only give me feedback, she can understand what I want to
tell and for writing I think I don’t have a good skill in writing. So,
my lesson is writing class and we have a assignment. But for
assignment we have some requirement, detail requirement, so we
just need to follow that requirement then we have book. Book give
us the instruction and steps how to do that first and second. So, I
think right now I follow that steps.
13 T What about when you do your individual work and group or partner
work? How do your teacher evaluate that?
14 S Evaluate that…. I think right now we have individual work that is
assignment. Right now my assignment, I reach more than 85%. The
group work, we have the group presentation, but the full score is 10
and we got 9.75. so, I think we have…. Teacher give us feedback
that we have to a lot of research and we express our ideas clearly.
15 T What do you pay attention to when you are learning English? Why?
16 S I think right now I would like to pay attention, reading and
speaking. Reading, right now I find that I to reading English books.
So, right now I would reading more and writing lessons need me to
read a lot of research articles. So, that’s push me to read a lot. And
speaking I think I need to communicate with a lot of people and
now I am in Canada. So, I am only speaking English.
17 T Is there anything in your culture which makes it easy or difficult for
you to learn English?
18 S Yeah, in China our culture is… it’s difficult for us to speak English.
Because speaking English is always to talk and in China we
always… in our culture we need to follow the instruction and don’t
need to talk too much and just use your action. So, yeah that’s
difficult for us.
19 T Is anything easy for you in your culture?
20 S Yeah, it’s not…. it’s not easy because my personality is kinda like
introvert. So, I’m not good at speak to different people. So, it’s not
easy for me.
21 T What does success in English learning looks like for you?
 31

22 S Looks like for me… looks like for me, I can talk to foreigners
frequently and fluently. Yeah, that’s good for me.
23 T What do you like about English language and speakers of English?
24 S I like English. The English express always use direct method and I
like to use direct method to express myself and I can understand
other people. And even writing, we always use deductive method.
So, I like this.
25 T What you don’t like… dislike?
26 S Dislike, I can’t express myself clearly and XXX. So, that’s my
dislike part.

Field Tenor Mode

Appendix G:
Interview 4:

Time Turn Speaker Transcription of what the Teacher and Interviewee said…
(Optiona
l)
Example: T Thanks for meeting with me today. To begin, would you please tell
me a little about yourself.
S Sure. My name **** and I am 19 years. I come to Canada before
sits month to better my English.
1 T Tell me something interesting about today.
2 S Today… interesting things, I have two interesting things. First is
after my first class finish at 10.45 I came back to home. After
eating I take … I took a little nap, just a 15 minutes but give me a
more energy and I like fresh and after that I have almost two and 30
minutes class. I think it’s very, I can focus, I can hear well and
catch me a good learning experience. So, I think after only…
maybe in the noon I just take a 15 minutes nap, it’s good for me and
second amazing thing that I went to the library after my class and I
write a paper about our religions. After that I also, I feel tired
again…
 32

3 T You took a nap?

4 S Yeah I take… took a nap in the library.
5 T Tell me story about a special celebration in China you really like.
6 S Wow, celebration… actually I think in my little age my biggest
celebration is Chinese New Year. It’s the lunar day of January 1st
but the difference our normal date. It’s my favorite because every
year when I was in China, I always get some money from my
parents, from my aunty, from my uncle and grandparents. That was
my favorite time. Until I grew up I didn’t get any money from
them. I have to give the money to my little sisters or brothers. So,
that’s the tradition that the old person gives the younger person that
to make wish that they can grow up well and no other unlucky
things.
7 T So, are you the oldest?
8 S Yes. So that’s no unlucky things. Sister and both my grandparents.
9 T Where do you see yourself in future?
10 S Wow! The self in the future. I considered that question yesterday.
11 T Why did you consider it yesterday?
12 S Because suddenly yesterday I feel sick of my home.
13 T Oh, like home sick!
14 S Yeah, so, I just wondering if I would continue with my PMP 2
class.
15 T Oh my god!
16 S Yeah, so I think with my future and I think I don’t know whether I
want to continue here study because I really miss my daughter. So,
I would like to go back to China and stay with her forever. So, I
think I also consider that here I studied… I have studied two
months and only one month I can finish my first semester and I can
almost two years can finish my PMP 2 and also my master
program. I hope I can continue to finish that. So, I think my future
would be I continue with my PMP 2 class and master program, and
at the same time bring my daughter here and we can stay here and
have a good life here and maybe two years later I would go back to
China. The time change, things change, so, I don’t know what will
happen in the future. So, this is my current plan is this.
 33

17 T What role do English play in your vision of the future?

18 S Can you repeat it?
19 T What role do English play in your vision of the future?
20 S Of the future, I think English in the future is important for me. I
would like to, in China we have different type of the company. We
have the government company, we have the personal company and
foreign company. I would like to find the job in foreign company
because I always use… I used to work in the foreign company and
if I can use the English well then I think I can go to more higher
position.
21 T What about in Canada? If we hypothetically say that you want to
stay, bring your daughter…
22 S First of all, I would stay in Canada that it’s very important I need to
speak English everyday.
23 T Where else will you speak English?
24 S I think daily communicate with the friend around me and talk with
my daughter’s teachers and even my classmates and my teachers
and after my join of work I need to talk with my colleague. If I join
a company I will use it in the working environment, working
related, I need to send message and send email, talk with colleague
about my work, communicate the progress of my work and know
other things and communicate with the work related. And if my
daughter come here I need to talk to my daughter’s teacher and
maybe some normal things maybe for my phone, I need to talk to
the person maybe some service, phone service and also, I would
rent a apartment. I would need to talk to the dealers and maybe I
would like to purchase a car and car related lot of things,
maintenance, and buy some insurance.
25 T What will be you proficiency in English in future? How well you
will be able to speak English?
26 S I set my targets as fluent as the native speaker. But I think is very
high level.