Learning second language has become a trend around the world over these years. In nowadays society, just knowing one language seems not enough for today’s competitive environment. Along with the increasing number of the people who want to learn a second language, teacher’s mission of teaching second language become more and more significant. However, many teachers are holding the misconceptions which might influence the learnings of second language learners. “Myths and Misconceptions about Second Language Learning,” written by Barry Mclaughlin, is an article discussing the misconceptions about second language acquisition.
I feel that first language acquisition is strongly interconnected with how successful you will become with your second language being acquired. If one is able to completely master their native language then they would probably become successful when learning a second language. Moreover, many of the words in the English language can sound the same as the Spanish words with the same meaning. At least for me that was one of the advantages that acquired as being a bilingual person. Therefore, I complete agree with Cummins theory as one as a bilingual speaker can obtain many advantages.
However, there is no consensus over what this role is. It is commonly believed that as individuals grow older, their ability to acquire a new language systematically and gradually declines. This idea is made clear by the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) that is much debated by the linguistics and cognitive science communities. This hypothesis proposes that the degree to which individuals can acquire a new language is linked biologically with age. Penfield & Robert’s (1959) hypothesis attempted to demonstrate that there is "a biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired more easily and beyond which time language is increasingly difficult to acquire."
They are considered as unfavourable sensations that prevent the learners’ efficient processing of the language input.The second language learner ; in the majority of circumstances, may face such barriers and they can earnestly inhibit the learners’ learning and performance in any second language class. Many studies were conducted by many researchers and have stressed the importance of understanding affective factors in second language learning .So, they are of an utmost importance and this is why, there were attempts that would reduce their influence and create a comfortable learning atmosphere and let the learners feel less stressed, more confident and take an active part in the learning process. Section I : The factor of
The second language learners will be able to learn the rules of the language effectively when the learners have enough time for it. 2. Focus on Form. The highlight of the language is that an effective monitoring requires an enough time. But if there is not enough time, students need to focus on the patterns of the language usage or careful about the accuracy of the language pattern essentially.
Actually, children who are proficient at face-to-face communication can have problem in academic language usages. Yet, teachers may assume that children’s oral abilities parallels to their overall language competence, and instruct the more complex subject in all-English classroom that in reality, hinders children’s academic reading and writing. Thus, the article’s appeal out of the forth myth is similar to the third one, which is to make home language available to children learning the second language. And I think the argument seems to echo Steven Krashen’s input hypothesis that acquisition occurs when the individual is exposed to language that is comprehensible with i + 1. To achieve the step beyond the current language level, students’ first language is helpful because it enhances the comprehension needed to build the bridge from i to
Just due to these two topic researches, people know deeply about the second-language learning and expand many ways to improve the ability of second-language. However, there are still some factors affecting the research. Some statistics from the Internet are unspecific and they are too general. The researches are effective. It is easy to find the materials from the Internet and my classmates who are learning the second language can also provide their opinions about the second-language
The first two misconceptions stem from the “critical period hypothesis,” which, from the aspect of second language acquisition, concludes that older learners may have a noticeable accent in the spoken language. During the discussion of the first misconception, the author denies the myth that second language learning is easier for children than for adults, contending that older learners are more developed and experienced in learning features of a second language and that “pronunciation” is the only exception in which younger learners might better older learners. Moving on to the second myth, the author then provides some studies which overthrew the myth that the earlier children begin to learn a second language, the better. However, he acknowledges that early exposure to L2 learning can make “a long sequence of instruction leading to potential communicative proficiency possible” to “foreign” language learners, stressing that there is a difference between second language learning (ESL instruction) and foreign language learning. How can early exposure to L2 learning affect only phonological development for ESL learners but not the rest of the linguistic features?
The analysis of first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition has always been a controversial subject to many linguists such as Krashen (1982) and Ipek (1984). Their theories regarding the characteristics of each L1 and L2 acquisition illustrate that they have both similarities and differences. Even when it comes to the similarities and differences, linguistics have different opinions. This paper covers similarities and differences that have been investigated and gathered by different theorists. L1 and L2 acquisition share several similarities.
When two native speakers converse, the conversation is effective and runs smoothly because of the level of knowledge of language is rather high. However, in a conversation involving two speakers that did not share the same level of competency in English, either the message or the process of language production is not as efficient compared to conversation that involves the competency of two native speakers. It is likely to be true that some of second language speakers have reached almost the same competency as native speakers; however, there must be a gap in between the level competency itself. For example, second speakers usually think in their first language, and then translate it into target language, while native speakers would already think in their first language