Factors Affecting Language Aquisition by Kevin Larson

Cognitive

klarson0023 — 2024-03-21 04:41:24 UTC

Humans all go through a cognitive development in their childhood/adolescence and the stage that each child or adolescent is in will factor into their acquisition skills. The ability to memorize and symbolize new information is critical in both first and second language acquisition. When a young child, each new word you learn means something symbolically, whether it is a physical object or an abstract concept. But, when learning your first language each word learned is not tied symbolically to any other words. When learning a second language, each new word learned symbolically represents the physical object or abstract concept, but also the equivalent word in your first language. Memorizing each new word in the short term memory and committing to practice in to instill it in the long term memory is where language learning comes from.

Linguistic

klarson0023 — 2024-03-21 04:46:33 UTC

Each language has its' own rules and rhythms and is spoken a certain way (subject to changes based on region and country). For a person learning their first language, this is no problem since each aspect of the language is picked up naturally. However, learning a new language is its own unique challenge of learning the rules and rhythms of the second language. How similar the first and second language are play a massive role in how easily (or not easily) the second language is picked up. For instance, English and Spanish are very similar languages and are widely regarded as being simple to learn one from the other. But on the other side of the coin, English and Mandarin share virtually no similarities and are regarded as being difficult learning one from the other.

Physical

klarson0023 — 2024-03-21 04:49:08 UTC

There is a physical aspect to all languages, such as common gestures used to represent certain words, like raising your shoulders, moving your arms out the side, and facing your palms up to signal confusion. Students and teachers can also use movement in an academic setting for language acquisition as well. For instance, when going over verbs or movement based words students can physically demonstrate the action while saying the words to begin to build brain and body connections to the second language. When learning words that are not verbs or movement based, students can perform a movement when to signal they feel confident in an answer or they can create a dance to go along with a presentation. Movement is everywhere and intertwining it with language learning will build connections and confidence.

Affective

klarson0023 — 2024-03-21 04:52:37 UTC

A person's general attitude will have a significant impact on how they acquire a second language. Affective factors will not have as much of an impact on learning a first language since that will happen naturally during childhood. But for second language acquisition, the type of environment they are in, the internal and external motivation and feedback, and interactions will go a long way. For instance, when learning a new language there will lots of trials and many errors. Students should be encouraged in their mistakes because they are trying, educators have a responsibility to instill confidence in students. When they are correct, give an appropriate amount of praise as well because getting things 100% correct is not the norm when learning a new language. Lastly, give challenges. Give students the space to grown on their own and in groups, let them succeed and fail with corrective and supportive feedback all along the way.

Socio-Cultural

klarson0023 — 2024-03-21 04:54:40 UTC

Socio-cultural factors affecting first language acquisition go beyond just what country you are in, because if you are in a diverse country where speaking a language other than the national language is not only accepted but celebrated you may learn your parents/guardians native language. In second language learning, the factors affecting it are almost solely placed on the persons proximity to that second language. That second language could spoken by a grandparent, a friends parent, or maybe even they learned a non national language first and are having to learn the national language to get through life. The socio-cultural aspect of language learning is based of the availability of that language.

Political

klarson0023 — 2024-03-21 04:57:17 UTC

"A language is just a dialect with an army and a navy." Learning your first language is almost wholeheartedly dependent on what country you are in, because needing to know that countries national language is imperative to participating in society there. Politics will also play a role in second language learning based on whether or not there are any blacklisted languages in that country. Does that country mandate that school age children secondary languages? All these factors allow politics to play a role in the languages we first and second learn.