Culture on Second Language Acquisition †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Culture on Second Language Acquisition. Answer: Introduction: Different cultures act as barrier in learning a second language as it might cause cultural misunderstandings or confusions. The acclimatization to a new culture and translation while learning second language pose challenges to the learners. Culture acts as barriers for the secnd language learners as it give rise to cultural misunderstandings. Learners have their own cultural learning and communication strategies and when these are transferred in learning a second language, this gives rise to cultural misunderstandings, frustrations and embarrassment (Hidasi, 2008). Different cultures poses misinterpretation of the valued behaviours that affect their learning of second language. As a result, it affects their learning style, understanding, production of the language and interactions. This also gives rise to processing of mental and verbal programming affecting communication with low understanding of second language. For example, Japanese language work well in a Japanese context and tra nsferring that model of communication strategy to another language create cultural misunderstandings. Therefore, this diversity in culture in terms of different learning styles affects the second language learning abilities (Drnyei, 2014). The lack of vocabulary is another barrier in learning a second language. It has an influence on the second language learners in terms of reading, comprehension, listening and conversation in the second language. Learners face difficulty in expressing their feelings, ideas during composition and while conversing in second language. Vocabulary challenges their memory and makes them prone to grammatical errors and sentence construction in the second language. The lack of vocabulary pose problems during interactions and this is the main reason that hinders learners to learn second language. As there is inadequate vocabulary acquisition and knowledge, learners find difficulty in learning the grammar rules in the second language (Larsen-Freeman Long, 2014). Inadequate vocabulary also affects the speaking skill of the second language and attains proficiency over the second language. Due to lack of vocabulary, second language learners are unable to access words in that language that affects their circumvention ability to define the target language (Alqahtani, 2015). Teaching method also pose difficulty to second language learners. For the language learning, teachers play the most important role. They design teaching plans based on different learning styles for teaching the course plan or lesions. When acquiring a second language, the teaching methods affect the learners progress in learning second language. The learning process is different in every child and has different way of acquiring information. This results in great disparity in understanding the teaching style of instructors and expectations of the learners of how the class will be conducting. This might result in learning anxiety among the learners as they face difficulties in understanding the teaching instructions in second language (Ishihara Cohen, 2014). Low context learning prefers to communicate through words and as a result, low context of teaching poses challenges for the second language learners as when they lack vocabulary and word meaning. On the other hand, high context vo cabulary communicates in a way when certain things are left unsaid. In this case, empathy is required to have social interactions and due to lack of good command over second language, learners are unable to communicate. Lack of pronunciation also poses difficulty in learning the second language. It has a negative effect on the learning skills of the learners that affect their way of communication in second language. It greatly impairs their communication skills and it depicts their inability to learn the second language with fluency. When the second language learners face difficulty in pronunciation, it results in their inability to learn words of the new language. Alphabetical system of pronunciation is important in learning the pronunciation of new words and its inadequacy results in a barrier in learning a second language (Gass, 2013). For example, inability to understand the alphabetical system in Chinese language would pose a challenge to the second language learners in understanding and framing of the words and sentences construction (Grant Brinton, 2016). Personality attitude is an essential factor that influences the learning and performance in second language. Attitude is actually the measure of feeling that learners have regarding the second language. Concisely, to learn a second language one need to have the right personality attitude that would explain their linguistic behaviour as language is a construct. Different learners have different personality attitude that affect their attitude towards learning second language. They have different feelings, needs, behaviour that recognizes their adaptability and encouragement towards learning the second language (Oroujlou Vahedi, 2011). In such cases, motivation is important for the second language learners. For this, creation of cultural dialogue is important along with engaging with other students through special interests and occasions. Scaffolding techniques can be employed like verbal, procedural and instructional scaffolding where learning process can be tailored according to the needs of the second language learners. The learners need to be driven towards learning second language and stimulate them towards need for success and achievement in learning it. References Alqahtani, M. (2015). The importance of vocabulary in language learning and how to be taught.International Journal of Teaching and Education,3(3), 21-34. https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/42873283/12-2-213.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3AExpires=1503745757Signature=Qiqikz0tMdmBRGHpsmnh7Ic8%2FEY%3Dresponse-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DTHE_IMPORTANCE_OF_VOCABULARY_IN_LANGUAGE.pdf Drnyei, Z. (2014).The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Routledge. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=enlr=id=4r6PAgAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PP1dq=D%C3%B6rnyei,+Z.+(2014).+The+psychology+of+the+language+learner:+Individual+differences+in+second+language+acquisition.+Routledge.ots=CVNKk7zqGYsig=Wxz02t2Y_8vjin0WoDp5wxYEmkc#v=onepageq=D%C3%B6rnyei%2C%20Z.%20(2014).%20The%20psychology%20of%20the%20language%20learner%3A%20Individual%20differences%20in%20second%20language%20acquisition.%20Routledge.f=false Gass, S. M. (2013).Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=enlr=id=6U-BAAAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PP1dq=Gass,+S.+M.+(2013).+Second+language+acquisition:+An+introductory+course.+Routledge.ots=ty3mgKHFGFsig=h5OrRAwWtcUSCYaNDLQdme8gbKk#v=onepageqf=false Grant, L., Brinton, D. M. (2016).Pronunciation myths: Applying second language research to classroom teaching. University of Michigan Press. https://www.tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej79/r2.pdf Hidasi, J. (2008). The impact of culture on second language acquisition. https://www.childresearch.net/RESOURCE/RESEARCH/2006/exfile/HIDASI.pdf Ishihara, N., Cohen, A. D. (2014).Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. Routledge. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=enlr=id=s98JBAAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PP1dq=+teaching+method+and+learning+a+second+languageots=t8biqGnhC7sig=Rq7xqgepVR0cLq7qC4y-G9VRTak#v=onepageq=teaching%20method%20and%20learning%20a%20second%20languagef=false Larsen-Freeman, D., Long, M. H. (2014).An introduction to second language acquisition research. Routledge. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=enlr=id=4jKgBAAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PP1dq=how+lack+of+vocabulary+is+a+difficulty+for+learning+a+second+languageots=kIJIgyZ29rsig=at5nolKm49ZrDKEP0Rtw96uEGqI#v=onepageqf=false Oroujlou, N., Vahedi, M. (2011). Motivation, attitude, and language learning.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,29, 994-1000. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271638356_Motivation_attitude_and_language_learning