Third Reflection: Second Language Acquisition among Children

Third Reflection: Second Language Acquisition among Children

In recent years, parents and carers have noticed that children have learned another language after or alongside their first language. They started focusing on improving their learning skills and becoming fluent in a second language. This reflection will shed light on the factors that play a major role in children's performance, such as age, interactionist and feedback, environment, and NL on learning SL.

Firstly, age plays a significant role in language acquisition. Munoz (2014) states that children who start learning a second language at an early age, have more ability to acquire the pronunciation fluently like native speakers. Especially in an environment where exposure to the language is intensive (Munoz, 2014). Moreover, Chondrogianni (2018) mentions that critical period hypothesis is the human brain has a period to receive language input particularly. Age also plays a major role in syntax acquisition. Children become more successful in acquiring the L2 syntax complex structure because their brains are still flexible and can process the syntax's structures (Chondrogianni, 2018).

Secondly, interaction and feedback are important for their effect on children's performance when producing the language. Swain and Lapkin (1998) claimed in their study that the interactions between students, especially when doing group work on linguistic tasks lead to help each other in clarifying the meaning of ambiguous words and improving their understanding of grammar and vocabulary (Swain & Lapkin, 1998). Also, in Mackey and Oliver's article (2002), stated that feedback affects the improvement of the second language. There are many types of feedback, such as recast which is the most used type. Which is a teacher correcting the child's use of a word or form indirectly, which helps the child to distinguish the incorrect form without stopping interacting (Mackey & Oliver, 2002).

Thirdly, the environment is also considered as a huge effect on the output of children's SL. De Houwer (2018) mentions that parents and caregivers have an influence on a child's environment of SL. Build a linguistic environment by using the SL, and the strategies that they use to improve his language. Moreover, community factors provide support for SL to get better outputs (De Houwer, 2018).

Last but not least, the native language affects his acquisition of a second language. Which this called interlanguage. Chondrogianni (2018) claimed that L1 has a key aspect on L2 acquisition. Such as some vocabulary, phonological features, and syntax structures applied on L2 , which cause a positive and negative transfer (Chondrogianni, 2018). In addition, in Bingjun's article (2013) states that according to the contrastive analysis hypothesis, if L1 is similar to L2, it will be easier to acquire. And if it is different from each other, the child will face problems acquiring the L2. When L1 and L2 are similar and the rules can be applied to L2, the transfer is positive. If it is different and can not be applied on L2, a negative transfer will be occurred. This clearly noticed in grammar and syntax, the learners use their knowledge of L1's grammatical rules on L2. Which benefits them if it is similar. On the other hand, when it is different it will cause mistakes whether in tenses or prepositions (Bingjun, 2013).

To sum up, this reflection showed the factors of SLA among children. Such as age, children have the ability to be fluent in SL more than adults, especially in pronunciation and grammar. Interaction and feedback from teachers or peers help the child to improve his SL performance. The environment can be a huge factor in influencing a child's SL by communicating with his parents in SL. Lastly, the influence of L1 on L2. Children use their knowledge of L1 to form L2 structures, which leads to negative and positive transfer. Last notice the author would mention that by considering all these factors during children's acquiring journey for SL, it will help them improve their performance rapidly and be able to use SL accurately and correctly.

 

REFERENCE

Bingjun, M. (2013). What is the role of L1 in L2 acquisition?. Studies in Literature and Language, 7(2), (pp. 31-39).

Chondrogianni, V. (2018). Childe L2 acquisition. In Miller, D., Bayram, F., Rothman, J., Serratrice, L. (Eds). Bilingual Cognition and Language: The state of the science across its subfields. (pp. 103-126). Amsterdam, Philadelphia. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

De Houwer, A. (2018). The role of language input environments for language outcomes and language acquisition in young bilingual children. In Miller, D., Bayram, F., Rothman, J., Serratrice, L. (Eds). Bilingual Cognition and Language: The state of the science across its subfields. (pp. 127-153). Amsterdam, Philadelphia. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1998). Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working together. The Modern Language Journal, 82(3), (pp. 320–337).

Mackey, A., & Oliver, R. (2002). Interactional feedback and children's L2 development. System, 30(4), (pp. 459-477).

Munoz, C. (2014) Contrastive effects of starting age and input on the oral performance of foreign language learners. Applied linguistics advance access, 1(21). Oxford University Press.