Internal Processing; Effects of Personality And Age on Second Language Acquisition

Presented by :

 Sitti Fatimah Saleng & Uliya Nafida

INTERNAL PROCESSING

There are three internal factors operate as people learn a second language acquisition. Two are subconscious processors, which we call the “filter” and the “organizer”, and one is a conscious processor called the “monitor” (see Figure 3-A)

 

A.    THE FILTER

Language learners do not take everything they hear. Their motives, needs, attitudes and emotional states filter what they hear and therefore affect the rate and quality of language learning. We use the term filter to refer to these “affective” factors that screen out certain parts of learners’ language environments.

The filter is the part of the internal processing system that subconsciously screens incoming language based on what psychologist call “affect”: the learner’s motives, needs, attitudes, and the emotional states. It determines:

ü  Which target language models the learner will select;

ü  Which parts of the language will be attended first;

ü  When language acquisition efforts should cease;

ü  How fast a learner can acquire the language

For example;

§  learners will select certain types of phrases or vocabulary item to learn and use over others, like children tend to first learn phrases and sentences that are essential for social participation.

§  some learners will apparently stop acquiring the target language at a point before they reach native-like proficiency, but after they have acquired enough to communicate

o  Motivation

Motivation in L2 acquisition may be thought of as the incentive, the need, or the desire that learner feels to learn the second language. There are three kinds of motivation affect language acquisition according to Gardner and Lambert (1959):

§  Integrative motivation

It may be defined as the desire to achieve proficiency in a new language in order to participate  in the life of community that speaks the language.

§  Instrumental motivation

It may be defined as the desire to achieve proficiency in a new language for utilitarian reasons.

§  social group identification

It may be defined as the desire to acquire proficiency in a language or language variety spoken by a social group with which learner identifies.

o  Emotional States

§  Relaxation

Georgi Lozanov in Bulgaria found that “the student’s relaxed mental state, brought about by classical music, comfortable chairs, and the instructor’s modulation of voice is believed to increase the receptivity of the student to the new material.”

§  Anxiety

A number of studies has shown a relationship between low anxiety and successful language acquisition; the less anxious the learner, the better language acquisition proceeds.

B.     THE ORGANIZER

The organizer is that part of a language learner’s mind which work subsconsciously to organize language system. It gradually builds up the rule system of the new language in specific ways and it is used by learner to generate sentences not learn through memorization.

o  Transitional Constructions

The language forms learners use while they are still learning the grammar of a language – developmental sequences.

o  Error Types

*The omission of grammatical morphemes – I buy some colouring book

*The double marking of a given semantic feature – She didn’t wented

*The regularization of irregular rules – That mouse catched him

*The use of archiforms – Them going to town; I know them.

*The alternating use of two or more forms – too much dolls; many potteries

*The miss ordering – I don’t know who is it

o  The acquisition Order of Structures

In the common order in which L2 learners acquire the structure of the new language.

o  Attempts to Characterize the Organizer

The order of acquisition is dependent upon relative complexity, grammatical and semantic.

·      Linguistic complexity: the amount of discrete linguistic knowledge in a structure.

·      Learning complexity: the degree of difficulty a learner experiences in acquiring a structure.

C.    THE MONITOR

The monitor is that part of the learner’s internal system that consciously processes information. When the learner memorizes grammar rule and tries to apply them consciously during conversation, for example, we say the person is relying on the monitor. The degree to which the monitor is used depends on at least:

ü The learner’s age or level of cognitive development

ü The amount of formal instruction the learner has experienced

ü The nature focused required by the verbal task being performed

ü The individual personality of the learners

o  Monitoring and the onset of formal operations

At around puberty, many adolescents pass through a developmental state Piages call “formal operations”  which also call as “formal thinker”. Formal thinker has the ability verbally to manipulate relationship between ideas in the absence of prior or concurrent  available empirical propositions, new concepts are primarily acquired from verbal rather than from concrete experience, has meta-awareness of developing system of abstractions, and can also develop general solution to problems.

·      Focus on linguistic task

Ø  Linguistic manipulation task: directs the student's attention to the linguistic operation required by the task.

Ø  A natural communication task: focuses the student’s attention on communicating idea or opinion to someone rather than on language form themselves.

·      Effects of formal Instruction on Monitoring

The use of monitor does not ensure the application of knowledge rules which learners produce.

·      Linguistic Domain of the Monitor

The use of monitor is limited to lower-level rules of the language, those that are easy to conceptualize. Conscious knowledge of a rule, doesn’t guarantee the learner will use it. Many people can correct grammatical errors or stylistic flaws “by feel”

·      Aptitude, Metalinguistic Ability and the Monitor

According to Caroll (1973), there are three components of mastering Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) as following:

Ø  Phonetic coding ability: the ability to store new language sounds in memory.

Ø  Grammatical sensitivity: the individual’s ability to demonstrate his awareness of the syntactical patterning of sentences in a language. 

Ø  Inductive ability: the ability to examine language material and identify pattern of correspondence and relationships involving either meaning or grammatical form.

While according to Pimsleur (1966), the components of language aptitude are as following:

Ø  Verbal intelligent: familiarity with words and the ability to reason analytically about verbal materials.

Ø  Motivation to learn the language

Ø  Auditory ability

Aptitude are more generally related to the acquisition of metalinguistic skills than the acquistition of communicative skills. While, research now suggest that attitudinal and motivational factors have more to do with successfull attainment of communicative skills in a second language than metalinguistic awareness does.

 EFFECTS OF PERSONALITY AND AGE ON SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Although everyone has the same innate language processing mechanism, certain individual characteristics affect how much individual learners use each processor. That is why some learners acquire second language better or faster than others. This chapter provides information about the effect of age and personality toward second language acquisition.

A.    Effects of Personality

Personality is an aggregate of traits characteristic of a particular individual. In this study, personality traits are including self confidence level, capacity to empathize, and the degree of logicality or tendency to analyze.

1.      Self-confidence

Two measures of self-confidence are anxiety level and extroversion. researchers have concluded that lower anxiety levels and a tendency to be out-going were connected with successful L2 acquisition. Self-confident people have the advantage of not fearing rejection as much as those with high anxiety levels. The filter of the self-confident person has a larger screen. Self-confident people are less hampered by the conscious operation of the monitor because they are not so worried about how they appear.

2.      Empathy

According to Webster, empathy is the capacity for participation in another’s feeling or idea. L2 learners with authoritarian dispositions do not seem to learn a second language as easily as less rigid personalities. Empathy is more likely to be manifested in the development of communication skills.

3.      Analytical Tendency

There are two types of “analytic personality”, they are field independent and field dependent. Field independent persons are able to perceive individual items that may be relatively distinguish from their visual background. They are considered as more analytical (left-brained) cognitive style. On the other hand, field dependent persons tend to perceive all part of the organized field as a total experience (Naiman in Dulay et al., 1982: 76). Field dependence has been associated with the emphatic and open personality. From several studies, it is known that more analytical, field independent characteristics appear to be related to the acquisition of metalinguistic skills through conscious learning, while the field dependent persons seems to be more apt to acquire communication skills through subconscious learning.

Personality and Monitor Use

There are three types of monitor users: overusers, underusers and optimal users. Overusers rely a great deal on their consciously acquire rule knowledge when they speak, and they tend to place correctness ahead of communication. Optimal users tend to have selective monitoring that can increase accuracy without significantly interfering with communication. Underusers rely on no monitoring at all. They are typically not embarrassed at their own errors.

B.     Effects of Age

Adults may appear to make greater progress in acquiring second language initially, but children nearly always surpass them. According to some research and anecdotal evidence, children are better at language acquisition than adults.  The available research comparing aspects of L2 performance in children and adults is basically of two types; (1) that which compares the level of proficiency eventually attained by learners who arrived in the host country at different ages, comparing especially those who arrive before and after puberty, and (2) that which compares the rate at which aspects of language are acquired by younger and older L2 learners.

1.      Proficiency and Age of Arrival

Pronunciation an grammar have been the primary focus on the studies comparing attained L2 proficiency and age of arrival in the house country

      Pronunciation

Some studies in the area of proficiency and age of arrival found that the longer ones live in the host country, the better the accent they achieve. Age of arrival is a powerful determinant of ultimate success in accent acquisition, and all confirm that puberty is an important turning point with respect to this aspect of language learning. Another study conducted in the area of age and acquisition of phonology by Scovell (1977) found that the age of arrival give a great impact on dialect acquisition. The younger the learners, the better the dialect acquired.

      Grammar

The degree of native-like pronunciation depends largely on the age of arrival of the learner in the host country. The younger the learner upon arrival, the more likely that native-like pronunciation will be attained, and the available data suggest that this is also true for syntax (Patkowski in Dulay, 1980)

2.      Rate of Acquisition

According to the evidence of some studies, it is believed that children are more successful than adults in learning a second language. However, children are not always faster. Several studies suggest that adults seem to progress faster, especially in their very early stages in acquiring syntax an morphology, although older children, around ten years old, the fastest of all.

Sources of Age Differences

Several plausible sources for the observed differences have been proposed. Biological factor, the cognitive explanation, affective factors and differences in language environment may result in differences in the success attained by children and adults.

      Biological Factors

      Adult brain is fundamentally different from the child’s brain from the perspective of language acquisition mechanisms. In the theory of lateralization by puberty, Lenneberg hypothesized that the ability of the organizer to subconsciously build up a new language system deteriorates after puberty, when the brain’s left and right hemisphere have develop specialized functions. Laterization by five proposed by Krashen argued that right hemisphere brain damage producing speech disturbance appears to be limited to ages five and under. Lateralization by zero gave evidence of more electrical activity over the left hemisphere in infants presented with speech stimuli. It has been proposed that there is no development of cerebral dominance at all.

      Cognitive Factors

      Viewing from the cognitive maturity, adults are better and faster conscious learners than children. Adults can talk about rules like subject-verb agreement, or relative clause formation. Some children do have some degree of meta-awareness of language, but it is typically restricted to the most elementary rules of grammar.

      Affective Factors

      Adults filter out more of the available language input than children do because they gain greater ability to imagine what other people are thinking about. According to Elkind, this state of mind may lead to the increased self-consciousness, feeling of vulnerability, and lowered self image that are associated with this age, and that contribute to an increase in strength of the filter

      Differences in Language Environment

      The differences between adult and children environments may also results in differences in the success attained by children and adults. Children receive much more concrete “here-and-now” input, which facilitates language acquisition; in contrast, adults typically are exposed to conversation about topics whose referents are not obvious from the non-linguistics context. On the other hand, older students may be better at “managing conversation”.