Social Cultural Factors In Second Language Acquisition

Social Cultural Factors In Second Language Acquisition

There are several factors that affect the acquisition of a second language by an individual. Culture plays a major role in people’s lives because it shapes not only our actions but also our thoughts. Cultural factors that can affect the acquisition of a second language are many, first of all the role that the second language plays in the society (Adger, 1995). If learning a second language will lead to acceptance by people or lead to a climb in the social class ladder then it will be highly encouraged, but if felt like it has no value then it will not be encouraged.

A culture that has embraced its native language in their curriculum, make it easy for their students to learn other languages (Tharp, 1998). This is because the features of use of one language to proficiency highly influence the acquisition of another language. This is the reason as to why most exchange programme students who come to America are able to easily learn English and perform well in it. This is because they have done the same in their countries like china and Japan.

Culture also affects the attitude that people will have on a second language, for instance in most Middle East countries they have the culture of being against America that they do not even want to learn English. This is what is known as intrinsic motivation from an individual but is partly dependent on culture (Adger, 1995). The cultural difference between the two languages also affects the acquisition of a second language. If the two languages are linguistically similar then it becomes easy, cultural similarity is also a factor because it creates a familiar environment to the learner and creates a good chance of easily learning the language (Deci, 1985).

References

Adger, C. Kalyanpur, M. Peterson,D, Bridger T. (1995), Engaging Students: Thinking, Talking cooperating. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin

Tharp, R.G, Gallimore, R. (1988), Rousing Minds to life: Teaching, Learning, School in Social Context. Cambridge University Press, New York

Deci, E.L, Ryan, R.M,,(1985), Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behaviour, Plenum Publishers, New York