Introduction to Learning an Additional Language

In the history of second language acquisition research—and this is the way research in acquiring an additional language is discussed—there is a very strong tradition of monolingualism. Researchers and their subjects typically came from social contexts in which there was a dominant language, and learners were either studying to learn a second language or they spoke a non-dominant language and were studying the dominant language as a second language in the environment where that language was spoken. Now, we have millions of people learning a second language, often English, in an environment where that language is not commonly used. In recent times, the study of second language acquisition has recognised that frequently the learners who are studied may already be bilingual and are adding a language to their repertoire. While there are some studies on how learning a second or third language might be different, the process of acquiring another language is at the core of the questions the research seeks to address. What is being studied is how another language is acquired. Recognising that our learners may already be bilingual, this unit is called Learning an Additional Language; however, the term ‘second language acquisition’ (SLA) will be used in the unit, particularly because much of the research addresses SLA.

This unit is about the content and process of acquiring an additional language, whether it’s a second, third or fourth language. You will first study what we mean by ‘language’ and how it has been viewed in the studies of SLA. You will look at what we mean by ‘additional language’ and at what an ‘emergent language’ is and how this has been studied. Then, you will study each of the major theoretical approaches to the study of second language acquisition.

The context for the study of the acquisition of a language in addition to the first language has seen enormous change in the last century. From the 1930s to the 1950s there was a focus on learning, and consequently on verbal learning, that derived from behaviourist psychology. The context has changed considerably since those days, as has the study of language development generally. The understanding of what we mean by language has moved from a form-focused system involving layers of knowledge (e.g. phonology, morphology, syntax, etc.) to a socially situated communication act central to our cognition. Our approach to teaching language has shifted from a focus on the layers to a focus on what occurs in language use. As well, understandings of the task of our learners have been affected in recent times by greater knowledge of the diverse contexts in which our learners will use the language they are acquiring.

Along with the shift in how we view language and our learners’ language lives, our approach to studying the processes involved in acquiring another language has moved from a focus on the mind of the individual learner to the social context of the classroom in which they learn to the sociocultural context in which the additional language has a role for the learner.

Activity

Besides the conceptualisation of the goal of acquisition, fluency in English language and ideas about the interaction between cognitive processes and sociocultural context, the nature of English has changed. As English has become a global language, the variation in the target for the learner has further complicated the understanding of the task for the learner. When we hear or see English as used by speakers from, for example, Singapore, how do we know if the forms that are not standard in American or Australian or British English are part of that learner’s language, or part of Singapore English? Listen to some examples of English as spoken in different countries taken from the International Corpus of English. Researchers are studying local varieties on English in order to determine what forms are standard for those varieties. Visit the following websites for samples from Hong Kong, Jamaican, Kenyan, Philippine and Tanzanian English:

• Hong Kong English
• Jamaican English
• Kenyan English
• Philippine English
• Tanzanian English

Samples such as these raise the question: what is the target language for the learner?

This unit will generally follow the themes set out above. We will begin with a discussion of what language is, followed by one around the role that language has for the learner, as second, additional etc. Then we will focus on the study of second language acquisition as it has developed and focused on the individual learner and context, beginning with the strategies for studying emergent language.