2020/1 PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

14 .3 Social situations affecting second-language learning 

There are many social situations in which a second language is learned. Basically, we can cover the most important of them according to three cat- egories, the natural, the classroom and community context. The natural situation in which a second language is learned is one that is similar to that in which the first language is learned. It can involve social situations such as those involving family, play, or the workplace. The classroom situation involves the social situation of the school classroom. Each of these types of social situations has its own advantages and disadvantages. The community context allows students to have access to a natural situation outside of the class and thereby supplement their classroom learning.

14.3.1The natural situation

 

Characteristics of the natural situation

A natural situation for second-language learning is one where the second language is experienced in a situation that is similar to that in which the native language is learned. That is, language is experienced in conjunction with the objects, situations, and events of everyday life. The paradigm case would be that of a young child going to live in another country and learn- ing that country’s language, not by any explicit teaching, but by interacting with playmates. For example, an English-speaking 5-year-old girl from New York goes to Tokyo with her parents. Through playing with Japanese chil- dren, she soon learns Japanese. In fact, she learns the language in less than  a year, which is not uncommon for children this age, and her speech is indistinguishable from that of native speakers. A child can learn a second language faster than the first language!

 

With age, language is more essential for social interaction

It is important to note that for adults, social interaction mainly occurs through the medium of language. Few native-speaker adults are willing to devote time to interacting with someone who does not speak the language, with the result that the adult foreigner will have little opportunity to engage in meaningful and extended language exchanges. Adult second-language learners will typically have significantly fewer good language-learning opportunities in a new language community than will children. If the adults mainly stay at home, they will not be able to meet and talk much to native speakers. Going shopping, going to the bank, and other such chores, while beneficial, are very limited in time and scope. Second-language interactions in the workplace could also be very limiting, for, because of their lack of second-language ability, adult learners would not be hired to do work that required native speakers to linguistically interact with them in any depth.

In contrast, the young child is often readily accepted by other children,

and even adults. For young children, language is not as essential to social interaction. So-called ‘parallel play’, for example, is common among young children. They can be content just to sit in each other’s company speaking only occasionally and playing on their own.

 

Older children can have problems

Sometimes older children may not want to identify with a new community and will consequently resist learning the new language. Preston (1989) sug- gests that because children have not yet developed their own identities, they may be more accepting of the social norms of a new community. Thus, while younger children will be more likely to accept learning a new lan- guage and the culture it involves, older children may strive to maintain

their own identity and cultural beliefs by avoiding situations that would expose them to using a language and culture that might challenge their view of themselves.

Conscious willingness to communicate is also considered critical for acquiring and improving a foreign language. In a series of studies con- ducted with Japanese high school students who came to the United States  to study English and experience a different culture, participants pointed out that ‘taking initiative to communicate with American classmates or host families’ helped them gain confidence and improve their language skills (Yashima et al., 2004). Other studies (e.g. MacIntyre et al., 2002, among many others) confirm the view.

 

Conclusion

The opportunities to experience language in a natural situation decline with age. This is indicated in Table 6.1, where young children are assigned a  High value but adults are assigned a Low value.

 

14.3.1 The classroom situation

The classroom is isolated from other social life

The classroom for second-language learning is a planned situation. As we all know, physically, there is a room that is isolated from the rest of social life. In the room there is a teacher and a number of students. The teacher is the one who knows the second language and the students are there to learn the language. In the enclosed space of the classroom, nothing happens (linguistically) unless the teacher makes it happen. Students do not act on their own but follow the directions of the teacher. All other aspects of life are suspended or subordinated to language learning. This, of course, is very different from the home or community where a lucky second-language learner would eat at a table with others, walk around doing things, work in the garden, go for a drive, etc., all the while hearing and using the second language in conjunction with these activities.

 

Learning language as part of a group and not as an individual

There are other characteristics of the planned classroom situation that distinguish it from the natural situation. These include social adjustment to group process (individuals must subordinate their behaviour and follow  classroom procedures for the benefit of all), the need to attend class in order to learn, the need for long periods of concentration, and, when required, having to do home study.

As far as language is concerned, the explicit teaching of grammatical structures and rules may be involved, depending on the method used (see Chapter 7 on second-language teaching methods). Using books and taking

notes are often expected of the student. Students have to get used to learn- ing language as an academic subject. Thus, when considering overall the demands of the classroom situation, it is clear that the older one is, the better one is able to adjust and function within that situation. Young children often will not do as well as older children and adults.

 

Conclusion

Generally, the ability to learn in a classroom setting improves with age because older children and adults can adapt better to the classroom regimen and are more receptive to materials taught through explication. Thus, a High is assigned to adults in Table 6.1. A Low, though, is assigned to young children. To the extent that the children’s second language experience in the classroom can be one of learning through play, this value can be raised – even to High, in the proper setting with the right teacher.

 

14.3.1Who is better? Children or adults?

 

14.3.1.1      In a natural situation

 

Predicting from the values in the table

In the natural situation, younger children will do best. Looking along the line, we have a High on Natural Situation and a High on Inductive. (The Low on Explicative is not relevant here because in the Natural Situation learning is through induction not explication.) There are Highs on both Memory and Motor Skills.

Adults have a Low on Natural Situation and Highs on both Inductive and Explicative intellectual learning. Unfortunately, the High on Induction does not help much in learning syntax because the adult learner does not get enough relevant language and non-language data for analysis through the Natural Situation. Explication is not relevant to the Natural Situation because rarely will people be able to explain grammatical points in the learner’s native language (in the rare event that they would want  to).  Given these facts in addition to the Medium on Memory and the Low on Motor Skills, the adult would be expected to do quite poorly.

Older children would do better than adults because they are Medium on Natural Situation and Medium/High on both Memory and Motor Skills.

The natural situation is more favourable to children because adults generally undergo a marked decline in the quality and quantity of  the social interaction conducive to good language learning. Psychologically, while both children and adults have optimal powers of induction, and are able to induce the grammar of a second language more or less equally well, nonetheless, it will be easier for children to learn syntax than it will be for adults.

Conclusion

In the natural situation of second-language learning, young children will do better than adults, with older children doing better than adults too.

 

14.3.1.2      In the classroom situation

In the classroom situation, adults will do better than young children, because not only are they better in explicative processing but, simply put, they know how to be students. They have sufficient maturity to meet the rigours of a formal learning environment, where concentration, attention, and even the ability to sit still for a long time all play a role in learning. Older learners have cognitive experience lacking in small chilren, and, thus, can be better learners (Edwards, 2004). Matsui (2000) found out  that  experience  with the native language helps adults even to achieve near-native level of pro- nunciation if given explicit instruction. In a classroom-based study compar- ing junior high school students with elementary school students (Politzer and Weiss, 1969), the older students scored higher on all tests.

Because the older child’s memory and motor skills are better than the adult’s, the advantage in explicative processing enjoyed by the adult may not be sufficient to overcome the disadvantages experienced in these areas. Thus, the older child will probably do better than the adult in the classroom situation. Research from as long ago as 60 years (Thorndike, 1928; Cheydleur, 1932) has yielded the same result. The best age to learn a second language in the typical explication classroom situation is probably that age where the individual retains much of the memory and motor skills of the very young, but where the individual has begun to reason and understand like an adult. That age would probably be somewhere around 10 years.

 

Conclusion

In the classroom situation, older children will do best. Adults will do better than young children to the extent that the young children’s classroom is not a simulation of the natural situation.

 

14.3.2  ESL or EFL community context

 

Language community context: English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

Whether the classroom is in a school that is in a community where the second language is spoken is a matter of some importance, for this will allow students to benefit from both a natural situation outside the class and their classroom learning. Thus, for example, Pakistanis learning English in a classroom in London will have beneficial language experiences outside the classroom that Pakistanis learning English in a classroom in Karachi will