Factors That Influence The Acquisition Of English As A Second Language

Factors That Influence the Acquisition of English as a Second Language

Introduction
The acquisition of English as a second language is the process by which people learn English in addition to their native language(s); it should start after early childhood. In this case (essay), English refers to the “target language” or “L2”, and the native language refers to the first language or “L1”.Second language acquisition may be abbreviated with “SLA”, or “L2A”, or L2 acquisition”(www.eltworld.net). Most of the American countries like Argentina, Panama, Cost Rica, Nicaragua, and so on, teach and use English as a second language except in few ones for example:
* In Ecuador, children start to acquire it in kindergarten or at school because the government is interested in children´seducation and it believes that it is important for children to acquire early English as a second language.
* Another country is Venezuela. Children start to acquire English in 7th grade because people believe after this age or this level they are competent in their native language.
* An example of a country where English is not taught in school as a second language is Cuba in which thegovernment does not allow it.
In Second Language Acquisition, there are internal and external factors that teachers need to know when they teach English as a second language.
Aspects That Influence Second Language Acquisition
A very important factor that influences the acquisition of a second language is the age of the learners. Bley-Vroman (1989, 1990) argued that first language acquisition bychildren and second language acquisition by adults are fundamentally different processes, because while child language acquisition is guided by innate linguistic mechanisms but with solid literacy skills in their own language; adult second language acquisition relies on problem-solving, instruction, and explicit strategies including motivation as a motor to learn the new language successfully. Thus itis appropriated to think that language acquisitions have to be an integrated process and that a full language acquisition is impossible beyond a certain age.
Other important aspects that affect the SLA are social and cultural ones, because the environment in which an individual is situated can determinate his/her beliefs about other cultures and languages. The following example shows us how theage, social and cultural aspects are related in acquisition of a second language. It tells us the story of Montha, a university student who came to the United States from Cambodia at age 12:
“Montha was the eldest of six children. She had been educated in Cambodia and was literate in Khmer when she arrived, but her education took place entirely in English after she moved to the United States. Thefamily spoke Khmer at home but nowhere else did she use or hear her home language. Montha remembers how difficult it was to fit in at school, where she knew neither the language nor the customs of her schoolmates. Nonetheless, she gradually found her way into school social groups and began to acquire English. Montha was expected to help her mother daily with household chores, whereas her sisterswere permitted to play with other children in the neighborhood. In addition, as an adolescent, she was not permitted to date or to go out with friends in cars, an accepted pastime of many U.S. teenagers. For these activities, she had to wait until she had graduated from high school and no longer lived with her parents.” (http://ablongman.com/html/productinfo/peregoy5e/0205593240_ch2.pdf).
Inthese ways, we can see how the age differences between Montha and her younger siblings affected social participation with English speaking friends based on her family’s cultural expectations. In other words, when the age interacts with social and cultural factors can constrain social language learning opportunities.
So, the opportunities to interact with native-speaking in a native-country is very...