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Content: 1.Introduction.2 2. Chapter 1: 1.1. Age as an affective factor..4 1.2.Hypothesis in ESL learning acquisition...12 1.3.

Factors affecting second language acquisition...19 3.Conclusion...24

Introduction.
Age" can be seen as a learner variable, a contextual consideration that can be rated alongside knowing "who" exactly your students are, and "where" and "why" they are learning English as a Second or Foreign Language. While it would perhaps be rash to say that this or that specific method matches this or that specific age group of learners, there are definitely general considerations for various age groups that ought to encourage teachers to be mindful/selective of the kinds of teaching techniques they use according to the age of their students. It is very well known that children (from ages 5-12) are very much orientated in their minds around the "here and now" and directly visible/perceivable. Grammatical rules/explanations are usually lost on them, as are somewhat "adult" notions of what is correct and what isn't. They develop well when given plenty of examples and patterns to follow. They tend to have a much shorter attention span and need activities that capture their immediate interest. They also need much in the way of "sensory input" - that is, they need to have many or all of their five senses stimulated at once. While generally less inhibited than adults in terms of experimenting with new language, they tend to have more fragile egos and can be very sensitive to their peers. The ages 12-18 coincide with a time of rapid transition and change, both mentally and physically. As teenagers begin to develop more cognitive ability, they can be exposed to language learning techniques that require more logical and/or abstract thinking. Attention span begins to lengthen, but there are also more distractions of an emotional nature. Probably the most important considerations for these learners are "affective" ones. Issues to do with ego and self-esteem are at their height, and teenagers can be incredibly sensitive to the ways others see their physical, mental and emotional development. Real or percieved errors can shatter confidence and detract from risk-taking. Teachers of teenagers need to be able to find ways to draw on and develop congnitive, analytical and logic skills, whilst being constantly mindful of feedback techniques and confidence building strategies. Teachers of adults need to bear in mind that these learners have longer attention spans and can handle learning that requires more cognition and abstract thinking. They tend to respond well to the teaching of grammatical rules. They may not be as willing to be "risk-takers", and generally need to feel respected and that they have a "choice-making" role in the classroom. Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill. It does not occur overnight, however. Real language acquisition develops slowly, and speaking skills emerge significantly later than listening skills, even when conditions are perfect. The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production. In deciding how to develop language teaching methods and materials, one can take three approaches: make use of second language acquisition theory, make use of applied linguistics research, and make use of ideas and intuition from experience. These approaches should in fact support each other and lead to common conclusions.

The process of language learning can be very stressful, and the impact of positive or negative attitudes from the surrounding society can be critical. One aspect that has received particular attention is the relationship of gender roles to language achievement. Studies across numerous cultures have shown that women, on the whole, enjoy an advantage over men. Some have proposed that this is linked to gender roles. Second language acquisition is the process of learning a new language after the acquisition of a learner's native language. It can also incorporate the learning of third, fourth or subsequent languages as well as heritage language learning. Some students learn a new language more quickly and easily than others. This simple fact is known by all who have themselves learned a second language or taught those who are using their second language in school. Clearly, some language learners are successful by virtue of their sheer determination, hard work and persistence. However there are other crucial factors influencing success that are largely beyond the control of the learner. These factors can be broadly categorized as internal and external. It is their complex interplay that determines the speed and facility with which the new language is learned.

Chapter I
1.1 . Age as an affective factor
Age is one of the affective factors in Second Language Acquisition.A great variety of views have been expressed on the age question in children and adults who learn either the native language or the second language in different ages.Age as an affective factor brings different performance stages in second language learning.Various explanations and interpretationos of second language acquisition exist while considering age.The relationship between age and success in second language acquisition,though complex in nature,is linked to the Critical Period Hypothesis,this priod also is known as the sensitive period,is defined as the period during which a child can acquire language easily,rapidly,perfectly and without instruction. Affective factors relate to the learners emotional state and attitude toward the target language. However,general second language research has failed to support the critical period hypothesis in its strong form.The effective use of strategies has been shown to be critical to successful language learning.Strategies are commonly divided into:learning strategies and communicative strategies,although there are other ways of categorizing them.Learning strategies are techniques used to improve learning,such as mnemonics or using a dictionary.Learners (and native speakers)use communicative strategies to get meaning across even when they lack access to the correct language:for example,by using pro-forms like thing,or non-spoken means such as mime. Substantial interest surrounds the question of how age affects second language acquisition. This is a particularly intriguing question for educators who must develop appropriate curricula and instructional strategies for refugee and immigrant children of different ages who are entering our schools. Unfortunately, too little is known about language acquisition in general to allow us to say definitively that X or Y makes acquisition easy at one age or difficult at another. However, the convergence of several lines of psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic theory and research suggest possible explanations for age-related influences on language acquisition that language educators should take into account. The purpose of this discussion is to focus on several variables that have been shown to be age-sensitive in the process of second language acquisition. A word of caution is necessary at the outset: generalizations about the relationship of age and language acquisition are treacherous for two obvious reasons. First, people of the same age do not share all the same characteristics. We can speak of a typical six-year-old or an average fifteen-year-old, but we have to keep in mind that a norm or an ideal may be as much fiction as fact in the real world. Among people of the same age, differences in attitudes, aptitudes, knowledge, and skills make sweeping generalizations about learners elusive. Second, there is no uniform pattern of development that everyone follows. Even if we could say that everyone eventually achieves certain characteristics, it is clear that there is no common route to be followed. Knowledge and skill are acquired by each of us according to a highly individual map.

Cognitive Development Piaget has shown how human cognitive development is achieved through maturational stages, with our thought processes and patterns changing systematically as we age. He has also influenced the way we understand the stages of language development as part of more complex cognitive development Children seem unable to engage in sustained socialized speech until they move out of what Piaget calls the preoperational stage of cognitive development and into the concrete operational stage. This shift, which normally occurs around age six or seven, finds children outgrowing their inability to focus on more than a single aspect of a situation, or a single point of view, and beginning to consider relationships. At that point they begin to consider the need to communicate differently with different audiences--to take the listener's point of view into account. Given this pattern in child language development, it should not be surprising that educators have greater success redirecting the language behavior of 8- to 12-year-olds than 4 to 7-yearolds. Although this younger group has no trouble learning a second language in natural settings, they do seem to be slower to respond to formal language instruction in school than older learners. It can be expected that as they move into the stage of cognitive development that permits socialized speech, their openness to educational intervention will increase. Around this same age, middle childhood, children develop a conscious awareness of language that allows them to think about it, judge it, and manipulate it much as adults do. This new awareness of language corresponds to a general cognitive "decentering" that children experience as they begin to step back and reflect on situations rather than just on themselves. Conscious awareness of language makes it possible for children to think about the appropriateness of what they and others say and to segment language into units -- a necessary step for learning to read. The onset of this awareness, coinciding with other advances in cognitive development, appears to be at, least partly responsible for the boundary that researchers have found between early childhood and middle childhood for purposes of school language acquisition. Instructional strategies which are popular in formal classroom settings are more likely to fit the cognitive abilities of older children, creating an advantage in rate of acquisition for older children over younger ones. A similar developmental boundary occurs around the time of adolescence, when the "formal operations" stage of cognitive development begins, allowing a kind of abstract thinking not tied to experience with concrete objects. At this stage, new concepts normally derive from verbal rather than concrete experience . The ability to manipulate abstract linguistic categories and to formalize rules and concepts is an additional aid for language acquisition. This advantage, related to conscious language learning and not natural language acquisition , helps explain the initial advantage for older learners that many researchers have found. Because of their conscious awareness of language and ability to formalize linguistic rules, older learners can outperform younger learners in the early stages of language acquisition, especially in production tasks (speaking and writing). This advantage for older learners often flip-flops as
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the natural acquisition strategies of younger learners become more powerful. Only when conscious knowledge is called for, as in monitoring tasks that require grammatical analyses , do older learners keep a long-term advantage over younger learners. The relationship of language acquisition to cognitive development may be one source, then, of the "age differences" researchers have found among language learners. By being alert to the cognitive variables active in the children who enter any classroom, educators can base instruction on what the individual learners are ready to accomplish.

Sociocultural Context

The previous discussion of cognitive factors focuses on the natural, innately-determined blossoming of cognitive and linguistic capabilities that all normal children experience. Looking at the sociocultural context of language acquisition, however, one can find evidence that a child's environment nurtures and shapes his or her ability to use language. Specifically, the experiences a child has with language at home and in the community may have a lot to do with later success in school and may be age-related. In this section, some aspects of this sociocultural influence will be analyzed in an attempt to further clarify sources of age-related variance in language acquisition. Shirley Brice Heath, an ethnographer at Stanford University, makes the following observation about schooling and language development: Strangely enough, though the common expectation is that the school prepares the young for life in the "real world" gradually and with compassion, school personnel rarely recognize that some fundamental notions that lie behind the language arts curriculum represent harsh demands for language minority children. Not only is there the general expectation that all children will learn to speak English, but also the assumption that they have internalized before they start to school the norms of language used in academic life. Heath summarizes six uses of language that schools normally expect children to have mastered before schooling begins: 1. Use of language to label and describe the objects, events, and information that nonintimates present them ("Can anyone tell me today's date?"); 2. Use of language to recount or recast past events or information shared with or given by non-intimates in a predictable order and format ("Where have we heard this term before?"); 3. Following directions from oral and written sources without needing sustained personal reinforcement from adults or peers ("Let's get ready for lunch."); 4. Use of language to sustain and maintain the social interactions of the group ("If you want to use the scissors, Jenny, ask Tammy politely."); 5. Use of language to obtain information from non-intimates ("Why didn't you ask?"); 6. Use of language on appropriate occasions to account for one's unique experiences, to link these to generally known ideas or events, and to create new information or to integrate ideas in innovative ways ("My uncle has geese on his farm; I could bring some feathers" - said in a science discussion of the effects of goose down.) . The ability to use language in these ways is arguably a prerequisite to success in school, but it is not explicitly taught in school. Some children develop this ability at home and bring it to school; others--but not all others --intuit it in school from models presented by teachers,
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textbooks, and peers. This is an important point because it can easily be assumed that the difference between a five-year-old who cannot do the things with language that Heath has listed and an eight-year-old who can do these things is simply schooling: exposure to and practice with decontextualized language, not linked to the here-and-now. Some theorists argue that schooling an immigrant child in his or her native language for a few years will allow the child to develop language-for-school skills that can be transferred to a second language. Unfortunately, this view can be misinterpreted to mean that being in school at the right age is by itself productive for developing language skills for school. If this were the case, the success of compensatory education would be easier to achieve than it is. British sociolinguist Basil Bernstein (1972) is less optimistic than Cummins about the "automatic" benefits of schooling for language development. He points to the mismatch between teachers' expectations and students' backgrounds as a cause of many students' failure in schools, especially big city schools. The teachers, as well as the school systems they function in, devalue the patterns of language use which are common in many language minority homes and in American working class families, but these patterns are not always successfully replaced. For more than 25 years, Bernstein has been developing a theory of language use based on the dichotomy of "restricted" and "elaborated" codes. (The dichotomy is roughly equivalent to Cummins' distinction between "context-embedded" and "context-reduced" language.) Speakers of an elaborated code will choose from a wider range of syntactic possibilities to convey a message than will speakers of a restricted code. They will also make more lexical distinctions and put more of their intent into words. A restricted code relies on "gestures, intonations, and verbal metaphor" to express many meanings that could be verbalized, particularly attitudes toward the addressee such as respect and familiarity. Restricted-code discourse is not fully intelligible to audiences who do not share the speaker's cultural background (home, ethnic identity, intellectual interests). This is not the case with elaboratedcode messages, where verbal means are more fully employed to make the message explicit and clear to any audience. A major function of schools is to give students familiarity and practice with the use of an elaborated code for both learning and self- expression. Bernstein traces code preference to cultural and subcultural patterns: "A restricted code will arise where the form of the social relation is based upon closely shared identifications, upon an extensive range of shared expectations, upon a range of common assumptions. Thus a restricted code emerges where the culture or subculture raises the 'we' above 'I'.... An elaborated code will arise wherever the culture or subculture emphasizes the "I" over the 'we'" (Bernstein,1982,p.476). How might code preference be age-related and affect the course of language acquisition? Collier (1987) found that among her subjects, who were 5-to 15-year-old immigrants, 8- to 11-year- olds outperformed 5- to 7-year-olds and 12- to 15- year-olds in acquiring English. If her subjects represented the Asian and Hispanic groups that most immigrant children are part of, it is likely that their families and peers usually used a restricted code, rather than an elaborated one. If this is so, it follows that 4- to 7-year-old immigrant children, just venturing into a new culture, just beginning school, and just starting to learn English, would be unlikely to produce elaborated-code utterances in a relatively unfamiliar language. Similarly, Collier's 12- to 15-year-olds were in that sensitive adolescent period in which even language majority children retreat into restricted code usage whenever possible, even to the exclusion of their
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parents. Comparatively poor performance by these children in an elaborated English code should be no surprise. In summary, it cannot be assumed that older learners who perform better than younger learners in school are doing so because they have been in school longer. Unless schools can break through code-preference barriers with immigrants more successfully than they have with other language minority students, including working-class whites, other sources will continue to be needed to support the schools' efforts to facilitate language acquisition and academic achievement. However, when teachers can guide language minority students toward more elaborated code usage, these students will reap the same benefit as language majority students do who shift from restricted to elaborated code: they will succeed in school. Effective schools have curricula and teachers who are sensitive to this need.

At what age should second language instruction begin?


The learners age is one of the characteristics which determine the way in which an individual approaches second language learning.The role of the critical period in second language acquisition is still much debated.Even people who know nothing about the critical period research are certain that,in school programs for second or foreign language teaching,younger is better.For every researcher who holds that there are maturational constraints on language acquisition,there is another who considers that the age factor cannot be separated from such as motivation,social identity,and the conditions for learning.They argue that older learners may well speak with an accent because they want to continue being identified with their first language cultural group,and adults rarely get access to the same quantity and quality of language input that children receive in play settings.Many people conclude that it is better to begin second language instruction as early as possible.

How do children and adults learn a second language?


Researche suggests that adult and child second language learners pass through essentially that same developmental stages in second language acquisition.The only difference is the cognitive maturity of the learner making for an increased vocabulary and rule application.Both are expected to make transfer errors and overgeneralize language rules. Adults reaching native-like competence in a second language ranges from to a 5% rate of success.People beyond the age of puberty do not acquire native like pronunciation of a second language based on neurological and cognitive factors.Studies show that there may be a critical period for accent only,however the pronunciation of a language is not the only factor for second language acquisition,nor is it the most impotant. How Do Children Learn a Second Language? It is commonly known that children with regular faculties and given noemal circumstances easely master their native language.It is often claimed that children are superior to adults,that is that the younger the learner of a foreign language,the more effective the learning process and the better the outcome obtained.This assumption often derives from a distinctive element in the study of the age factor,the so-called critical period hypothesis predicting that if the acquisition of a foreign language starts between the age of 2 and 12-13.Also exist studies which dispute the assumption that children are superior to adults in learning a foreign language and maintain the exact contrary. Children, unlike adults ,have an innate ability for learning language with a great facility and minimal effort. It is commonly believed that children are better suited to learn a second language than adults.Children in informal language learning environments ussualy have more
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time and opportunities for new language learning and using the second language.There is no pressure on children to speak accurately from the very beginning.They do not have a language ego,that is,they do not worry about making mistakes.Furtermore,childrens learning style tends to downplay explanation. Children are able to understand words and hear small sound differences that adults often miss -- making understanding more difficult for adults. Typically, children learn their native language from interacting with their parents. Almost every single dialogue is a lesson in the language. Research shows that acquisition of second language in children is similar to the processes used in the acquisition of first language. In general, there are two ways in which children may learn a second language: simultaneously or sequentially. Simultaneous learners include children under the age of 3 who are exposed to two languages at the same time. These children may include those who are exposed to one language by parents at home and another language by providers in their early childhood program. Simultaneous learners are also young children whose parents each speak separate languages to them at home. Before 6 months of age, simultaneous learners learn both languages at similar rates and do not prefer one language over the other. This is because they build separate but equally strong language systems in their brains for each of the languages they hear. These separate systems allow children to learn more than one language without becoming confused. In fact, the pathways infants develop in their brains for each of the languages they hear are similar to the single pathway developed by children who are only exposed to English. At 6 months, children begin to notice differences between languages and may begin to prefer the language they hear more. This means that parents must be careful to provide similar amounts of exposure to both languages; otherwise, children may begin to drop vocabulary of the language to which they are less exposed.

Tips to teach a child a second language:


Surround the child with more than one language through conversations and social groups using different languages; the earlier the better. Maintain home (heritage) language when a second language is being learned outside the home. Expose children to multilingual settings and give them plenty of opportunities to play with children who speak the second language. Provide fun and interactive language-learning environments (e.g., music, dance and film) in both languages, and often with children of similar age. Promote reading and storytelling in multiple languages. Maintain a positive attitude toward languages and cultures children learn. Lust has been exploring language acquisition in young children for more than 30 years, across more than 20 different languages and cultures, studying which aspects of language acquisition are biologically endowed and which are learned, when and how language acquisition begins and how multiple language acquisition affects cognitive development in children. Children do seem to forget languages more quickly than adults, which can result in negative cognitive effects.There is some thought that children who may appear to be learning a second language very quickly at a very young age (before the age of 5), accompanied by the loss of
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their first language, have really replaced the first language with the second language. Success in language learning can be measured in two ways: likelihood and quality. First language learners will be successful in both measurements. It is inevitable that all first language learners will learn a first language and with few exceptions, they will be fully successful. For second language learners, success is not guaranteed. For one, learners may become fossilized or stuck as it were with ungrammatical items. Research in SLA focuses on the developing knowledge and use of a language by children and adults who already know at least one other language a knowledge of second language acquisition may help educational policy makers set more realistic goals for programmes for both foreign language courses and the learning of the majority language by minority language children and adults.

How do adults learn the second language? Adults when trying to learn a second language, are usually presented with a myriad of grammar rules and patterns to master from the very first class, their cognitive development cannot be equalled to that of a child and that statement is very true indeed. However, the fact that there are important cognitive and developmental differences between children and adults does not by any means imply that language should be presented devoid of any meaning as a rigid set of rules and patterns which are essential to master. Our ability to hear and understand a second language becomes more and more difficult with age.

Can older adults successfully learn foreign languages?


The research shows that:

there is no decline in the ability to learn as people get older; except for minor considerations such as hearing and vision loss, the age of the adult learner is not a major factor in language acquisition; the context in which adults learn is the major influence on their ability to acquire the new language.

Studies comparing the rate of second language acquisition of children and adult have shown that although children may have an advantage in achieving native-like fluency in the long run, adults actually learn languages more quickly than children in the early stages. Also this studies on aging have demonstrated that learning ability does not decline with age. If older people remain healthy, their intellectual abilities and skills do not decline. Adults learn differently from children, but no age-related differences in learning ability have been demonstrated for adults of different ages. The advantage for adults is that the neural cells responsible for higher-order linguistic processes such as understanding semantic relations and grammatical sensitivity develop with age. Especially in the areas of vocabulary and language structure, adults are actually better language learners than children. Older adults studying a foreign language are usually learning it for a specific purpose: to be more effective professionally, to be able to survive in an anticipated foreign situation, or for other instrumental reasons. Adult learners need materials designed to present structures and vocabulary that will be of immediate use to them, in a context which reflects the situations and
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functions they will encounter when using the new language. But the adults suffer from language ego and are embarrassed by errors ,and consequently,they may develop a sense of inadequacy after experiences of frustration in tryung to say exactly what they mean. As adults begin to learn a foreign language they will realize that it is hard work---hundreds of hours of study are needed to speak the language reasonably well. Two valuable skills for adult learning of languages include a good memory and a good ear: 1.Good Memory - There are thousands of new vocabulary words to memorize and learn, so it is a distinct advantage to be able to recall words, idiomatic expressions and the like after brief introductions to the words. Many study guides are available to improve memory, but it is very useful to be able to make associations. 2.Good Ear - People are are so accustomed to their native language that they hardly need to pay attention to the spoken word. Understanding a foreign language spoken fast and fluently can be a challenge. As mentioned before, the adult learner needs to be re-educated to pay attention to new sounds. Good listening conditions are essential, such as a one-on-one conversation. Adults may have an easier time learning a second language because of knowledge of a first language.However,often their second language is learned in a classroom setting and interference is greater than in a natural setting,which is how children usually learn.First language can cause interference between first language and the second language in adults,but based on research we cannot say itis the most relevant or crucial factor in adult second language acquisition. The Critical Period Hypothesis has been challenged in recent years from several different points of view.Some studies of the second language development of older and younger learners who are learning in similar circumstances have shown that,at least in the early stages of second language development,older learners are more efficient than younger learners.In a educational research,it has been reported that learners who began learning a second language at the primary school level did not fare better in the long run than those who began in early adolescence. Most studies of the relationship between age of acquisition and second language development have focused on learners phonological(pronunciation)achievement.In general,these studies have concluded that older learners almost inevitably have a noticeable foreign accent.Knowing more about the development of learner language helps teachers to assess teaching procedures in the light of what they can reasonably expect to accomplish in the classroom.

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1.2. Hypothesis in ESL learning acquisition

Brain Plasticity Hypothesis is a striking early learning language theory.According to this hypothesis the optimum period for language acquisition falls within the first ten years of life,when the brain retains its plasticity.The brain of a child is flexible and adaptable. Language Acquisition renamed Universal Grammar,describes the ability to acquire language as a separate faculty that is inborn and activated during childhood. Second language acquisition theories and research have attempted to explain various interpretations in age factor of second language acquisition.It is commonly believed that children are better suited to learn a second language than are adults .However general second language research has failed to support the critical period hypothesis.The advantage in second language acquisition that is predicted by the Critical Period Hypothesis for children over adults has been challenged in recent years from several different points of view.Like many issues,the role of age in second language acquisition is controversial. Another strong hypothesis is that older second language learners are more successful that than younger language learners in second language acquisition.This notion was highly supported by a number of short term experimental researchers.These studies and research were based on teaching projects and second language immersion programs.Some of these studies have highlighted adolescents and adult of different ages where results have indicated that the older learners are far better than the younger ones. Many studies have been conducted since the above theories were advanced to try to either prove or disapprove the hypothesis that language learning is facilitated to early age. A review of second language acquisition theories and their explanations for age-related differences is necessary before considering empirical studies.The most reductionist theories are those of Penfield and Lenneberg,which stem from first language and brain damage studies,children who suffer impairment before puberty typically recover and (re-)develop normal language ,whereas adults rarely recover fully,and often do not regain verbal abilities beyond the point reached five months after impairment.Both theories agree that children have a neurological advantage in learning languages,and that puberty correlates with a turning point in ability.They assert that language acquisition occurs primarily,possibly exclusively,during childhood as the brain loses plasticity after a certain age.It then becomes rigid and fixed,and loses the ability for adaptation and reorganization,rendering language. Second language learners reconstruct rules for what they hear,guided by strategies that derive from certain innate mechanisms that cause them to formulate certain types of hypotheses about the language system being acquired. Theories in Second Language Acquisition surveys the major theoretical approaches currently used in second language acquisition (SLA) research, providing a systematic and coherent presentation in a single source.

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There are five components in Theory of language acquisition: - The Acquisition Learning Hypothesis
- The Monitor Hypothesis - The Natural Order Hypothesis - The Input Hypothesis - The Affective Filter Hypothesis.

The acquisition Learning Hypothesis.


This hypothesis actually fuses two fundamental theories of how individuals learn languages.Studies has concluded that there are two systems of language acquisition that are independent but related:the acquired system and the learned system. - The acquired system relates to the unconscious aspect of language acquisition.Whwn people learn their first language by speaking the language naturally in daily interaction with others who speak their native language,this acquired system is at work .In this system,speakers are less concerned with the structure of their utterances than with the act of communicating meaning. - The learned system relates to formal instruction where students engage in formal study to acquire knowledge about the target language.For example,studying the rules of syntsx is part of the learned system.

The Monitor hypothesis.


The monitor hypothesis seeks to elucidate how the acquired system is affected by the learned system.When second language learners monitor their speech,they are applying their understanding of learned grammar to edit,plan,and initiate their communication.This action can only occur when speakers have ample time to think about the form and structure of their sentences.Some language learners over-monitor and some use very little of their learned knowledge and are said to under monitor.Ideally,speakers strike a balance and monitor at a level where they use their knowledge but are not overly inhibited by it. The language that one has subconsciously acquired "initiates our utterances in a second language and is responsible for our fluency," whereas the language that we have consciously learned acts as an editor in situations where the learner has enough time to edit, is focused on form, and knows the rule, such as on a grammar test in a language classroom or when carefully writing a composition. This conscious editor is called the Monitor. Different individuals use their monitors in different ways, with different degrees of success. Monitor Over-users try to always use their Monitor, and end up "so concerned with correctness that they cannot speak with any real fluency." Monitor Under-users either have not consciously learned or choose to not use their conscious knowledge of the language. Although error correction by others has little influence on them, they can often correct themelves based on a "feel" for correctness.

The Natural Order Hypothesis


This hypothesis argues that there is a natural order to the way second language learners
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acquire their target language .Researche suggests thet this natural order seems to transcend age,the learners native language,the target language ,and the conditions under which the second language is being learned.The order thet the learners follow has four steps: 1.They produce single words. 2.They string words together based on meaning and not syntax. 3.They begin to identify elements that begin and end sentences. 4.They begin to identify different elements within sentences and can rearrange them to produce questions. The natural order hypothesis states that "the acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order." For a given language, some grammatical structures tend to be acquired early, others late, regardless of the first language of a speaker.

The Input Hypothesis


This hypothesis seeks to explain how second languagesare acquires.In its most basic form,the input hypothesis argues that learners progress along the natural order only when they encounter second language input that is one step beyond where they are in the natural order.If the input contains forms and structures just beyond the learners current level of competence in the language,then both comprehension and acquisition will occur. Stephen Krashen cites many varied lines of evidence for this hypothesis,most of which appeal to intuition,but which have not been substantiated by empirical studies.While he acknowledges that some people who are exposed to extensive comprehensible input do not achieve high levels of proficiency in the second language,he retains his conviction that input is the source of acquisition. Evidences for the input hypothesis can be found in the effectiveness of caretaker speech from an adult to a child, of teacher-talk from a teacher to a language student, and of foreigner-talk from a sympathetic conversation partner to a language learner/acquirer. One result of this hypothesis is that language students should be given a initial "silent period" where they are building up acquired competence in a language before they begin to produce it. Whenever language acquirers try to produce language beyond what they have acquired, they tend to use the rules they have already acquired from their first language, thus allowing them to communicate but not really progress in the second language.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis


This hypothesis describes external factors that can act as a filter that impedes acquisition.These factors include factors motivation,self-confidence,and anxiety.For example,if a learner has very low motivation,very low self-confidence,and high level of anxiety,the affective filter comes into place and inhibits the learner from acquiring the new language.Students who are motivates,confident,and relaxed about learning the target language have much more success acquiring a second language than those whoare trying to learn with the affective filter in place. What makes this hypothesis attractive to practitioners is that it appears to have immediate implications for classroom practice.Teachers ca understand some learners,given the same opportunity to learn,may be successful while others are not.It also appeals intuitively to those who have tried unsuccessfully to learn a language in conditions where they felt stressed or uncomfortable.One problem with the hypothesis,however,is that it is difficult to be sure that affective factors cause the differences in language acquisition. Another strong hypothesis is that older second language learners are more successful that than younger language learners in SLA. This notion was highly supported by a number of short term experimental researchers. These studies and research were based on teaching projects and second language immersion
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programs. Some of these studies have highlighted adolescents and adults of different ages where results have indicated that the older learners are far better than the younger ones. In other studies on age and SLA, many researchers have mentioned a similar finding that adult subjects performed better than the children.|Some researchers of SLA interested in assessing phonological skills of learners suggest a common belief that younger learners acquire a native like accent in the target language.The younger learners pronunciation was better than that of the older ones. Age is one of the characteristics that determine the way in which an individual learns second language. Age is highly associated with critical period in many research studies. There are a number of controversial issues related to second language acquisition and critical period hypothesis. Young learners are considered fluent in communication of the second language and achieve native like accent. Learners after the age of puberty do not acquire native like accent of a second language but have complex learning pattern. Research suggests that child and adult second language learners pass through different developmental states in second language stages. Learning depends on the cognitive maturity and neurological factor of learners.Age is not everything in second language learning. However, factors related to the age, for example the learning opportunities, the motivation to learn, individual differences, and learning styles, are also important determining variables that affect the rate of second language learning in various developmental stages of the learners. Adults reaching native-like competence in a second language ranges from zero to a 5% rate of success.People beyond the age of puberty do not acquire native-like pronunciation of a second language based on neurological and cognitive factors. In terms of the Comprehension Hypothesis, an "independent acquirer" has two characteristics: * The independent acquirer has acquired enough of the second language so that at least some authentic input is comprehensible, enough to ensure progress and the ability to acquire still more language. *The independent acquirer will understand the language acquisition process. The independent acquirer will know that progress comes from comprehensible input, not from grammar study and vocabulary lists, and will understand ways of making input more comprehensible (e.g. getting background information, avoiding obviously incomprehensible input). Studies show that there may be a critical period for accent only, however the pronunciation of a language is not the only factor for second language acquisition, nor is it the most important. The acquistion-learning disctinction hypothesis claims that adults do not lose the ability to acquire languages the way that children do. Just as research shows that error correction has little effect on children learning a first language, so too error correction has little affect on language acquisition. These five hypotheses of second language acquisition can be summarized: 1. Acquisition is more important than learning. 2. In order to acquire, two conditions are necessaary. In view of these findings, question is raised: does classroom language teaching help? Classroom teaching helps when it provides the necessary comprehensible input to those students who are not at a level yet which allows them to receive comprehensible input from "the real world" or who do not have access to "real world" language speakers. It can also help

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when it provides students communication tools to make better use of the outside world, and it can provide beneficial conscious learning for optimal Monitor users. Various research studies have been done comparing the amount of language competance and the amount of exposure to the language either in classroom-years or length of residence, the age of the language acquirer, and the acculturation of the language acquirer. The results of these studies are consistent with the above acquisition hypotheses: the more comprehensible input one receives in low-stress situations, the more language competance that one will have. Once it is realized that receiving comprehensible input is central to acquiring a second language, questions are immediately raised concerning the nature and sources of this type of input and the role of the second language classroom. To what extent is the second language classroom beneficial? Classrooms help when they provide the comprehensible input that the acquirer is going to receive. If acquirers have access to real world input, and if their current ability allows them understand at least some of it, then the classroom is not nearly as significant. An informal, immersion environment has the opportunity to provide tons of input; however, that input is not always comprehensible to a beginner, and often for an adult beginner the classroom is better than the real world in providing comprehensible input. However, for the intermediate level student and above, living and interacting in an environment in which the language is spoken will likely prove to be better for the student, especially considering the fact that a language classroom will not be able to reflect the broad range of language use that the real world provides. The classroom's goal is to prepare students to be able to understand the language used outside the classroom. What role does speaking play in second language acquisition? It has no direct role, since language is acquired by comprehensible input, and in fact someone who is not able to speak for physical reasons can still acquire the full ability to understand language. However, speaking does indirectly help in two ways: 1) speaking produces conversation, which produces comprehensible input, and 2) your speaking allows native speakers to judge what level you are at and then adjust their speak downward to you, providing you input that is more easily understood. What kind of input is optimal for acquisition? The best input is comprehensible, which sometimes means that it needs to be slower and more carefully articulated, using common vocabulary, less slang, and shorter sentences. Optimal input is interesting and/or relevant and allows the acquirer to focus on the meaning of the message and not on the form of the message. Optimal input is not grammatically sequenced, and a grammatical syllabus should not be used in the language classroom, in part because all students will not be at exactly the same level and because each structure is often only introduced once before moving on to something else. Finally, optimal input must focus on quantity, although most language teachers have to date seriously underestimated how much comprehensible input is actually needed for an acquirer to progress. In addition to receiving the right kind of input, students should have their affective filter kept low, meaning that classroom stress should be minimized and students "should not be put on the defensive." One result of this is that student's errors should not be corrected. Students should be taught how to gain more input from the outside world, including helping them acquire conversational competence, the means of managing conversation. For starters, we must realize that learning does not turn into acquisition. While the idea that we first learn a grammar rule and then use it so much that it becomes internalized is common and may seem obvious to many, it is not supported by theory nor by the observation of second language acquirers, who often correctly use "rules" they have never been taught and don't even remember accurately the rules they have learned.

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However, there is a place for grammar, or the conscious learning of the rules of a language. Its major role is in the use of the Monitor, which allows Monitor users to produce more correct output when they are given the right conditions to actually use their Monitor, as in some planned speech and writing. However, for correct Monitor use the users must know the rules they are applying, and these would need to be rules that are easy to remember and apply--a very small subset of all of the grammatical rules of a language. It is not worthwhile for language acquisition to teach difficult rules which are hard to learn, harder to remember, and sometimes almost impossible to correctly apply. For many years there was controversy in language-teaching literature on whether grammar should be deductively or inductively taught. However, as both of these methods involve language learning and not language acquisition, this issue should not be central for language teaching practice. There has similarly been controversy as to whether or not errors should be corrected in language learners' speech. Second language acquisition theory suggests that errors in ordinary conversation and Monitor-free situations should not be corrected, and that errors should only be corrected when they apply to easy to apply and understand grammatical rules in situations where known Monitor-users are able to use their Monitor. There is a second way in which the teaching of grammar in a classroom can be helpful, and that is when the students are interested in learning about the language they are acquiring. This language appreciation, or linguistics, however, will only result in language acquisition when grammar is taught in the language that is being acquired, and it is actually the comprehensible input that the students are receiving, not the content of the lecture itself, that is aiding acquisition. "This is a subtle point. In effect, both teachers and students are deceiving themselves. They believe that it is the subject matter itself, the study of grammar, that is responsible for the students' progress in second language acquisition, but in reality their progress is coming from the medium and not the message. And subject matter that held their interest would do just as well, so far as second language acquisition is concerned, as long as it required extensive use of the target language." And perhaps many students would be more interested in a different subject matter and would thus acquire more than they would in such a grammar-based classroom.

Popular language teaching methods today include:


Grammar-translation Audio-lingualism Cognitive-code The direct method The natural approach Total physical response Suggestopedia 1. GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION Grammar-translation usually consists of an explanation of a grammatical rule, with some example sentences, a bilingual vocabulary list, a reading section exemplifying the grammatical rule and incorporating the vocabulary, and exercises to practice using the grammar and vocabulary. Most of these classes are taught in the student's first language. The grammar-translation method provides little opportunity for acquisition and relies too heavily on learning. 2. AUDIO-LINGUALISM An audio-lingual lesson usually begins with a dialogue which contains the grammar and vocabulary to be focused on in the lesson. The students mimic the dialogue and eventually memorize it. After the dialogue comes pattern drills, in which the grammatical structure introduced in the dialogue is reinforced, with these drills focusing on simple repetition, substitution, transformation, and translation. While the audio-lingual method provides
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opportunity for some acquisition to occur, it cannot measure up to newer methods which provide much more comprehensible input in a low-filter environment. 3. COGNITIVE-CODE Cognitive-code is similar to grammar-translation except that it focuses on developing all four skills of language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Communicative competence is focused upon. Since the cognitive-code approach provides more comprehensible input than grammar-translation does, it should produce more acquisition, but other newer methods provide even more and have better results. Learning is overemphasized with this method. 4. THE DIRECT METHOD Several approaches have been called the "direct method"; the approach evaluated here involves all discussion in the target language. The teacher uses examples of language in order to inductively teach grammar; students are to try to guess the rules of the language by the examples provided. Teachers interact with the students a lot, asking them questions about relevant topics and trying to use the grammatical structure of the day in the conversation. Accuracy is sought and errors are corrected. This method provides more comprehensible input than the methods discussed so far, but it still focuses too much on grammar. 5. THE NATURAL APPROACH In the Natural Approach the teacher speaks only the target language and class time is committed to providing input for acquisition. Students may use either the language being taught or their first language. Errors in speech are not corrected, however homework may include grammar exercises that will be corrected. Goals for the class emphasize the students being able use the language "to talk about ideas, perform tasks, and solve problems." This approach aims to fulfill the requirements for learning and acquisition, and does a great job in doing it. Its main weakness is that all classroom teaching is to some degree limited in its ability to be interesting and relevant to all students. 6. TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE Total Physical Response, or TPR, involves the students listening and responding to commands given by the teacher such as "sit down" and "walk," with the complexity of the commands growing over time as the class acquires more language. Student speech is delayed, and once students indicate a willingness to talk they initially give commands to other students. Theory predicts that TPR should result in substantial language acquisition. Its content may not be always interesting and relevant for the students, but should produce better results than the audio-lingual and grammar-translation methods. 7. SUGGESTOPEDIA Suggestopedia classes are small and intensive, and focus on providing a very low-stress, attractive environment (partly involving active and passive "seances" complete with music and meditation) in which acquisition can occur. Some of the students' first language is used at the beginning, but most in the target language. The role of the teacher is very important in creating the right atmosphere and in acting out the dialogues that form the core of the content. Suggestopedia seems to provide close to optimal input while not giving too much emphasis to grammar.

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1.3. Factors affecting second language acquisition.

Some students learn a new language more quickly and easily than others. This simple fact is known by all who have themselves learned a second language or taught those who are using their second language in school. Clearly, some language learners are successful by virtue of their sheer determination, hard work and persistence. However there are other crucial factors influencing success that are largely beyond the control of the learner. These factors can be broadly categorized as internal and external. It is their complex interplay that determines the speed and facility with which the new language is learned.

Internal factors
Internal factors are those that the individual language learner brings with him or her to the particular learning situation.

Age: Second language acquisition is influenced by the age of the learner. Children, who already have solid literacy skills in their own language, seem to be in the best position to acquire a new language efficiently. Motivated, older learners can be very successful too, but usually struggle to achieve native-speaker-equivalent pronunciation and intonation. Personality: Introverted or anxious learners usually make slower progress, particularly in the development of oral skills. They are less likely to take advantage of opportunities to speak, or to seek out such opportunities. More outgoing students will not worry about the inevitability of making mistakes. They will take risks, and thus will give themselves much more practice. Motivation: Intrinsic motivation has been found to correlate strongly with educational achievement. Clearly, students who enjoy language learning and take pride in their progress will do better than those who don't. Extrinsic motivation is also a significant factor. ESL students, for example, who need to learn English in order to take a place at an American university or to communicate with a new English boy/girlfriend are likely to make greater efforts and thus greater progress. Experiences: Learners who have acquired general knowledge and experience are in a stronger position to develop a new language than those who haven't. The student, for example, who has already lived in 3 different countries and been exposed to various languages and cultures has a stronger base for learning a further language than the student who hasn't had such experiences. Cognition: In general, it seems that students with greater cognitive abilities will make the faster progress. Some linguists believe that there is a specific, innate language learning ability that is stronger in some students than in others. Native language: Students who are learning a second language which is from the same language family as their first language have, in general, a much easier task than those who aren't. So, for example, a Dutch child will learn English more quickly than a Japanese child.

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External factors
External factors are those that characterize the particular language learning situation.

Curriculum: For ESL students in particular it is important that the totality of their educational experience is appropriate for their needs. Language learning is less likely to place if students are fully submersed into the mainstream program without any extra assistance or, conversely, not allowed to be part of the mainstream until they have reached a certain level of language proficiency. Instruction: Clearly, some language teachers are better than others at providing appropriate and effective learning experiences for the students in their classrooms. These students will make faster progress. The same applies to mainstream teachers in second language situations. The science teacher, for example, who is aware that she too is responsible for the students' English language development, and makes certain accommodations, will contribute to their linguistic development. Culture and status: There is some evidence that students in situations where their own culture has a lower status than that of the culture in which they are learning the language make slower progress. Motivation: Students who are given continuing, appropriate encouragment to learn by their teachers and parents will generally fare better than those who aren't. For example, students from families that place little importance on language learning are likely to progress less quickly. Access to native speakers: The opportunity to interact with native speakers both within and outside of the classroom is a significant advantage. Native speakers are linguistic models and can provide appropriate feedback. Clearly, second-language learners who have no extensive access to native speakers are likely to make slower progress, particularly in the oral/aural aspects of language acquisition.

In second language acquisition exist another factors that affect the second language learning.They are:
1.Intelligence. The term intelligence has traditionally been used to refer to performance on certain kinds of tests.These tests are often associated with success in school,and link between intelligence and second language learning has sometimes been reported.Over the years,many studies using a variety of intelligence(IQ)tests and different methods of assessing language learning have found that IQ scores were a good means of predicting how successful a learner would be. Some recent studies have shown that these measures of intelligence may be more strongly related to certain kinds of second language abilities than to others. It is important to keep in mind that intelligenceis complex and that individuals have many kinds of abilities and strengths,not all of which are measured by traditional IQ tests.In our experience,many students whose academic performance has been weak have experienced considerable success in second language learning. Traditionally,intelligence refers to the mental abilities that are measured by an IQ test.It usually measures only two types of intelligence:verbal/linguistic and mathematical/logical intelligence.There are other types of intelligence such as spatial intelligence,bodily kinesthetic intelligence,musical intelligence,interpersonal intelligence,and intrapersonal intelligence.Intelligence,especially measured by verbal IQ tests,may be a strong factor when it comes to learning that involves language analysis and rule learning.On the other hand,intelligence may play a less important role in language learning that focuses more on communication and interaction.
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2.Aptitude. There is evidence in the research literature that some individuals have an exceptional aptitudefor language learning.Learning quickly is the distinguishing feature of aptitude.The aptitude factor has been investigated most intensively by researchers interested in developing tests which can be used to predict whether individuals will be efficient learners of a foreign language in a classroom setting.The most widely used aptitude tests are The Modern Language Aptitude Test(MLAT) and The Pimsleur Aptitude Battery(PLAB).Both tests are based on the view that aptitude is composed of different types of abilities: ( 1)The ability to identify and memorize new sounds; (2)The ability to understand the function of particular words in sentences; (3)The ability to figure out grammatical rules from language samples; (4)Memory for new words. While earlier research revealed a substantial relationship between performance on the MLAT or PLAB and performance in foreign language learning,these studies were conducted at a time when second language teaching was based on grammar translation or audiolingual methods.With the adoption of a more communicative approach to teaching,many teachers and researchers came to see aptitude as irrelevant to the process of language acquisition.Unfortunately,this means that relatively little research has actually explored whether having a skill such as the ability to identify and memorize new sound is advantageous when classroom instruction is meaning-oriented rather than focused on drills or metalinguistic explanations. Successful language learners may not be strong in all of the components of aptitude.Some individuals may have strong memories but only average abilities in the other components of aptitude.Ideally,one could determine learners profiles of strengths and weaknesses and use this information to place students in appropriate teaching programs. 3.Personality. A number of personality characteristics have been proposed as likely to affect second language learning,but it has not been easy to demonstrate their effects in empirical studies.As with other research investigating the effects of individual characteristics on second language learning,different studies measuring a similar personality trait produce different results.For example,it is often argued that an extroverted person is well suited to language learning.However,research does not always support this conclusion.Although some some studies have found that success in language learning is correlated with learners scores on characteristics often associated with extroversion such as assertiveness and adventurousness,others have found that many successful language learners do not get high scores on measures of extroversion. Another aspect of personality which has been studied is inhibition.It has been suggested that inhibition discourages risk-taking which is necessary for progress in language learning.This is often considered to be a particular problem for adolescents,who are more self-conscious than younger learners.In a series of studies were founded a support for the claim that inhibition is a negative force,at least for second language pronunciation performance.One study involved an analysis of the effects of small doses of alcohol on pronunciation.They found that subjects who received small doses oh alcohol did better on pronunciation tests than those who did not drink any alcohol.While results such as these are interesting,as well as amusing,they are not completely convincing,since the experiments are far removed from the reality of the classroom situation.Furthermore,they may have more to do with performance than with learning. Several other personality characteristics such as self-esteem,dominance,empathy, talkativeness ,and responsiveness have also been studied.

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However,in general,the available research does not show a clearly defined relationship between personality and second language acquisition.And,as indicated earlier,the major difficulty in investigating personality characteristics is that of identification and measurement.Another explanation which has been offered for the mixed findings of personality studies is that personality variables may be a major factor only in the acquisition of conversational skills,not in the acquisition of literacy skills.The confused picture of the research on personality factors may be due in part to the fact that comparisons are made between studies that measure communicative ability and studies that measure grammatical accuracy or metalinguistic knowledge.Personality variables seem to be consistently related to the former,but not to the latter. Despite the contradictory results and the problems involved in carrying out research in the area of personality characteristics,many researchers believe that personality will be shown to have an important influence on success in language learning.This relationship is a complex one,however,in that it is probably not personality alone,but the way in which it combines with other factors,that contributes to second language learning. 4.Motivation and attitudes. There has been a great deal of research on the role of the attitudes and attitudes and motivation in second language learning.The overall findings show that positive attitudes and motivation are related to success in second language learning.Unfortunately,the research cannot indicate precisely how motivation is related to learning .As indicated above,we do not know whether it is the motivation that motivation that produces successful learning or successful learning that enhances motivation or whether both are affected by other factors. Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors:learners communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community.If learners need to speak the second language in a wide range of social situations or to fulfil professional ambitions,they will perceive the communicative value of second language and will therefore be motivated to acquire proficiency in it.Likewise,if learners have favourable attitudes towards the speakers of the language,they will desire more contact with them.Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert coined the terms integrative motivation to refer to language learning for personal growth and cultural enrichment,and instrumental motivation for language learning for more immediate or practical goals. Research has shown that these types of motivation are related to success in second language learning. One factor which affects motivation in the social dynamic or power relationship between the languages. 5.Motivation in the classroom setting. In a teachers mind motivated students are usually those who participate actively in class,express interest in the subject-matter,and study a great deal.Teacher can easily recognize characteristics such as these.They also can have more opportunity to influence these characteristics than students reasons for studying the second language or their attitudes toward the language and its speakers. Although little research has been done to investigate how pedagogy interacts with motivation in second language classrooms,considerable work has been done within the field of educational psychology.Graham Crookes point some levels of motivation for students in relation with pedagogical practices,which are: Motivating students into the lesson. Varying the activities,tasks,and materials. Using co-operative rather than competitive goals.

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Clearly,cultural and age differences will determine the most appropriate way for teachers to motivate students.In some classrooms, students may thrive on competitive interaction,while in others ,co-operative activities will be more successful.

The effect of motivation on second language learners


Motivation plays a significant role in the process of learning a second language.Language teachers cannot effectively teach a language if they do not understand the relationship between motivation and its effect on second language acquisition.The core of motivation is what might be called passion.Pssion,which relates to a persons goals and desires,is intrinsic.Successful learners know theur preferences,their strengths and weaknesses,and effectively utilize strengths and compensate foe weaknesses.Successful language learning is linked to the learners passio. Learners need quality instruction,input,interaction,and opportunities for meaningful output,not only to make progress,but also to maintain motivation for language learning.What a good teachers must do,then,is only tap into sources of intrinsic motivation,but also find ways to connect intrinsic motivation with external motivational factors which can be brought to a classroom setting.This is especially significant when English is not seen as important to the students immediate needs,other than to pass axams. Since learners have different purposes for studying a language,it is important for teachers to identify the purposes and the needs of the students and develop proper motivational strategies.Students should understand why they need to make an effort,how long they must sustain an activity,how hard they should pursue it,and how motivated they feel towards their pursuits.Motivation fluctuates .It is very challenging to keep language learners motivation at a high level all the time.While designing a language course teachers must take into consideration that each learners interests ans expectations are different. Motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety all affect language acquisition, in effect raising or lowering the "stickiness" or "penetration" of any comprehensible input that is received.

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Conclusion
Standards, unfortunately, are often used not simply as goals but as guides to pedagogy. Current theory comes to conclusions that are completely opposite: language acquisition is a result of input, grammar plays a peripheral role in second language performance, and first language influence is simply the result of a lack of acquisition of the second language. The Standards also are uninformed about basic writing theory and research. It should be pointed out that this criticism is not based on the fact that the Standards are focused on literature as the goal of foreign language study. The study of literature is without question a primary goal of foreign language study. But the Standards encourage a curriculum and methodology that is inappropriate for any use of the foreign language, for literature, science, business, or simply getting to know people from other countries and of other cultures. I do not propose that theory and research should fully determine teaching methodology: The ideas and intuitions of expert teachers should be given at least as much weight. In addition, the creators of the Standards are certainly free to disagree with this version of theory. But they are not free to completely ignore all research on second language acquisition and teaching. The independent acquirer has acquired enough of the second language so that at least some authentic input is comprehensible, enough to ensure progress and the ability to acquire still more language. The independent acquirer will understand the language acquisition process. The independent acquirer will know that progress comes from comprehensible input, not from grammar study and vocabulary lists, and will understand ways of making input more comprehensible (e.g. getting background information, avoiding obviously incomprehensible input). Studies show that there may be a critical period for accent only, however the pronunciation of a language is not the only factor for second language acquisition, nor is it the most important. The acquistion-learning disctinction hypothesis claims that adults do not lose the ability to acquire languages the way that children do. Just as research shows that error correction has little effect on children learning a first language, so too error correction has little affect on language acquisition. The Comprehension Hypothesis claims that we acquire language by input, not by output, a claim is supported by studies showing no increase in acquisition with more output. Studies show, however, consistent increases in acquisition with more input. . Oral output (speaking) invites aural input, via conversation. If you talk, somebody might answer back. The Comprehension Hypothesis predicts, however, that the contribution of conversation to language acquisition is what the other person says to you, not what you say to them. Comprehensible input-based methods encourage speaking but do not force it. Students are not called on; rather, participation is voluntary. The following factors affect second language acquisition. Determine whether each factor is related mainly to the student, to the family or to the environment of the second culture.

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