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Running head: 2ND LANGUANGE ACQUISITION 1

2ND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 6

2nd Language Acquisition

Name

Institution

The learning process of a second language is meticulous and painstaking to most people. The second language acquisition refers to all the practices that the learners do to acquire the second (or third and fourth) language. It mainly focuses on the non-conscious nature of the process of learning the new language. The learner is faced with numerous challenges in acquiring new vocabulary while linking them to their primary language. This paper shall analyze literature on the second language acquisition.

The Asian Americans are some of the most successful populations in America in terms of education. Yang (2004) notes that these Asian Americans have performed so well that they can be considered the “model minority”. He looks at the census of 2000 where 25.2% of the Asian Americans above the age of twenty-five years had a bachelor’s degree or higher qualifications. The statistics greatly contrast to only 15.5% of the overall population with similar academic credentials. However, he notes that a look at the Southeast Asian American population gave only 5.9% to 14.8% of these qualifications. The children of these Americans from Southeast Asia also faced numerous challenges. They had limited English skills, widespread alienation from mainstream schools and systemic communication between parents, students, and teachers. The children and parents also find it challenging to communicate because of the cultural confusion. They find it very challenging to distinguish between their traditional cultural practices and the American values because of the multi-cultural environment.

The children from these minority communities often find numerous obstacles while learning a second language in their multi-cultural setting. Learning a second language might require the unlearning of the first language. Fillmore (2005) describes this process as a “subtractive bilingualism” in his article “When learning a second language means losing the first.” He illustrates that children from linguistic minority families in diverse societies like America need first to learn the language of the community. They cannot utilize the educational opportunities they are offered entirely without a proper understanding of English, which is the societal language. However, the condition and timing that they encounter the English language can significantly affect their retention and continued use of their mother tongue. These factors are also critical in influencing their development of the second language.

Children at a young age are more likely to lose the vocabularies of their primary language to accommodate the learning of the second language. Fillmore (2005) conducted a nationwide survey in the US using 1100 interviews to determine the language shift among the pre-school children from the language-minority backgrounds. The language minority families whose children attended exclusive Spanish programs were the control group. The families whose children attended bilingual or English-only schools became the study group. He found out that 50.6% of the study families reported a negative change in the use of the first language in their pre-school children. A negative change was characterized by the inclusion of English words in their vocabulary. The sample compares to only 10.8 percent of the control families. Fillmore’s findings suggest that the young children are more likely to lose their primary language while learning the second language. The costs of this loss can be costly to these children, their families, and societies.

The loss of language is an involuntary battle between holding on to the traditional cultural identity and incorporating to the American system. Hinton (2001) shows that there has been a looming debate about the two sides for decades. Abandoning the primary language to incorporate the second language is a sign of patriotism to the child. However, it is critical for these children to hold onto their traditional values for the preservation of their cultures. An essential form of cultural preservation is through language identity. The study analyzes the biographies of the immigrant students to analyze their struggles in learning the language. It notes that most places do not teach bilingual languages as children grow up learning only their primary language. However, some students acquire the second language from sources such as the media (television shows like Mister Roger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street) and friends.

As the child continues to learn the new language, they begin to lose touch with the primary language. Hinton (2001) explains this process as the primary language attrition. The attrition has numerous manifestations. The children may reach a point where they only understand the primary language in a basic way because of the passive knowledge they receive. These children may not speak or understand the language. Others may speak it articulately but find it challenging to write or read it. They may also begin to mix the English language with the primary language for use at home. The mixed language may become the mode of communication at home. However, the language that the student has more knowledge in will dominate the conversation.

The language loss represents more than the loss of linguistic diversity. Vonnahme, (1997) argues that the language loss may mean a loss of unique insights into the human mind. He claims that each language a unique tool for incorporating knowledge and values of a community’s speech, and synthesizing and analyzing the world. The language of an individual is their source of confidence and pride, or self-abasement and embarrassment. Vonnahme further argues that the primary language for bilingual students is their source of self-abasement and embarrassment. He studied a large group of the language-minority population through long-term observation and conversations with elementary school children, and interviews with parents, bilingual young adults, and children from bilingual parents. The parents were predominantly Chinese while the elementary children ranged from Korean/African-American, Siberian, Russian and Romanian. The researcher found out that the process of losing a language was harmful to the individual and the social group. Language and identity are so connected that to separate them means the destruction of the other. Therefore, this can explain the loss of identities among the minorities especially in a country like the United States.

In conclusion, the process of learning a second language is usually challenging for the immigrant populations. These populations are faced with a conundrum of maintaining the traditional cultures and being absorbed into the demands of the new society. A language is a critical tool in the maintenance of the cultural identity. However, people are more prone to lose their primary languages as they acquire the second languages. The probability of losing the primary language is increased with factors such as age and social environment. The children will begin using the second language more while they involuntarily lose their knowledge of the primary language. The loss of the language is not only a loss of diversity but also a loss of unique perspectives of observing and synthesizing the world.

References

Fillmore, L. W. (2005). When learning a second language means losing the first. The new immigration: An interdisciplinary reader, 289-308.

Hinton, L. (2001). Involuntary language loss among immigrants: Asian-American linguistic autobiographies. Georgetown University Round Table on Languages And Linguistics 1999, 203.

Vonnahme, H. E. (1997). Language Loss of Minority Students in Bilingual Education (Doctoral dissertation).

Yang, K. (2004). Southeast Asian American Children: not the “Model Minority”. Future of Children, 14(2), 127-133.