Cihan University / Sulaymaniyah Campus - English Department

National Institute of Technology

Third Year - Linguistics

Second Language Acquisition (L2)

Prepared by: Asos S. Khder
Prepared by: Asos S. Khder
Email: salar.ali@spu.edu.iq

National Institute of Technology Supervised by: Dr. Aras A. Ameen 2020-2021

What is second language acquisition?

• Second language acquisition, or sequential language acquisition, is learning

a second language after a first language is already established.

• Many times this happens when a child who speaks a language other than

English goes to school for the first time.

• Children have an easier time learning a second language, but anyone can do

it at any age.

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Acquisition and learning

• The term acquisition involves the subconscious acceptance of knowledge where

information is stored in the brain through the use of communication. Acquisition also

refers to the process used for developing native languages and often learned through

absorption in one’s early years home environment.

• Acquisition normally takes place without a teacher.

• Activities associated with acquisition are those experienced by the young child.

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Acquisition and learning

• The term learning is the conscious acceptance of knowledge ‘about’ the features of a
language, such as the grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or style.
• Learning takes place with a teacher.
• For example, Mathematics is learned, not acquired.
• Activities associated with learning have traditionally been used in second language
teaching in schools.
• Activities associated with learning have traditionally been used in second language
teaching in schools.

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Acquisition and learning
Briefly, Learning: based on being taught by a
teacher (e.g.) Math, pronunciation,
vocabulary and grammar, typically in
an intentional setting.
• It is a conscious process.
• Language learning requires a
formal knowledge of explicit rules.
• Results in more knowledge about
the language than fluency.
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Acquisition: when you learn a
language naturally by the expose in a
nature studying natural environment
than you acquire a language.
• It is a subconscious process.
• It occurs very naturally in a non-
threatening environment.
• Results in better fluency in social
interaction
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Acquisition barriers

• For most people, the experience with an L2 is fundamentally different from their L1
experience and it is hardly conducive to acquisition.
• Why learning L2 is fundamentally different than L1?
1. Interaction not continuous.
2. Already have a language for communication.
3. Many adult learners manage to learn L2 effectively- they do not sound like native
speakers.
4. Joseph Conrad (1851-1924) in renaissance age who wrote novels in English that became
classics of English literature, but whose English speech retained the strong Polish accent
of his L1.
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The age factor

• After the critical period for language acquisition has passed, around the time
of puberty, it becomes very difficult to acquire another language fully.
• We might think of this process in terms of our inherent capacity for language
being strongly taken over by features of the L1, with a resulting loss of
flexibility or openness to receive the features of another language.
• In another term, L1 dominates our brain and it can not receive another
language.

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The age factor

• Given the example of Joseph Conrad and many others, we might note that

the dominance of the L1 is particularly strong in terms of pronunciation.

• The optimum or best age for learning may be during the years from about

ten to sixteen when the flexibility of our inherent capacity for language has

not been completely lost, and the maturation of cognitive skills allows a

more effective analysis of the regular features of the L2 being learned.

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Affective factors

• Yet even during this proposed optimum age for L2 learning, there may exist an
acquisition barrier of quite a different kind that might affect language acquisition.
1. Embarrassment/ Unwillingness- e.g. being ashamed of his/her accent to produce
the different sounds of another language.
2. Lack of empathy with the other culture (for example, feeling no identification
with its speakers or their customs).
3. This type of emotional reaction may also be caused by Dull textbooks, classrooms
environment, etc.

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Affective factors

• All these negative feelings or experiences are affective factors that can
create a barrier to acquisition.
• Basically, if we are stressed, uncomfortable, self-conscious or unmotivated,
we are unlikely to learn very much.
• In contrast, learners who have other personality traits, such as self-
confidence, low anxiety and a positive self-image, seem better able to
overcome difficulties encountered in the learning space.

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Affective factors

• Children are generally less constrained by affective factors. Descriptions of

L2 acquisition in childhood are full of instances where young children quickly
overcome their inhibitions as they try to use new words and phrases.

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 Thank you
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