EL 104

• Acculturation


  A process where a person adopts and adjusts to a new cultural environment
• Social factors affecting language learning


  • May prevent or may aid contact between the second language group and the target language group
  • The greater the social distance between the two groups, the more difficult it is for a learner to acquire the new language. But the smaller the distance is, the easier the learner to acquire it
• Social dominance pattern


  • The more power one group has over the other in society, the greater the social distance
• Integration pattern


  • Less integration between two cultures gives greater social distance
  • Assimilation - giving up native language
  • Preservation - keeping native language
  • Acculturation - being bicultural
• Enclosure


  • The fewer social constructs the two groups share, the more there will be difficulties in learning the target language
• Cultural congruence


  • The similarity and harmony between the cultures impact second language learning
• Attitude


  Positive attitude is the key to success
• Affective factors affecting language learning


  • Language shock - A learner's fear that he will appear comic equates to less likely to learn
  • Culture shock - Being anxious in a culture results to less likely to learn
  • Motivation - High motivation = Higher chances to learn
• Integrative motivation


  Koreans (ESL)
• Instrumental motivation


  Utilitarian reasons, e.g. BAEL students
• Acculturation model


  • Focuses on the cognitive aspects of learning process
  • Nativization - the learner strategizes and simplifies the learning task by building hypotheses based on the knowledge of his first language
  • Denativization - The learner adjusts his internalized system to make it fit the input
• People adjust their 'speech' to accommodate the person they communicate with
• Motivation is the primary determinant of Second Language proficiency
• Upward convergence


  Adjusting speech to be more like the other person
• Downward divergence


  Adjusting speech to be less like the other person
• Language is structured or constrained by reason
• Language is innate
• It distincts competence and performance
• In the stage of operation, language is most productive
• Children are able to develop the rules of language structure and use through communication with other people
• Foreigner talk


  An aid to communication
• Learned grammatical structures are useless to a child unless these are applied practically
• Many aspects of language and vocabulary are learned through exposure
• Unplanned discourse


  Discourse that lacks for thought and preparation
• Planned discourse


  Discourse that is thought out prior to expression
• Universal Grammar


  A set of fundamental principles that apply to all languages
• Grammar is built into the human brain
• All human beings share a genetic, innate set of language rules</b>
• UG exists in all of the natural languages of the world
• Left-brain dominance


  • Remember names
  • Responds to verbal instructions and explanations
  • Experiments systematically and with control
  • Prepares talking and writing
  • Rarely uses metaphors
  • Analytic reader
  • Planned and structured
  • Makes objectives judgments
  • Control feelings
  • Favors logical problem solving
• Right-brain dominance


  • Remember faces
  • Responds to demonstrated, illustrated or symbolic instructions
  • Experiments randomly and with less restrains
  • Prefers drawing and manipulating object
  • Frequently uses metaphors
  • Synthesizing reader
  • Fluid and spontaneous
  • Makes subjective judgements
  • More free with feelings
  • Favors intuitive problem solving