Second-language—to-acquire-or-to-learn？

龙源期刊网—toacquireortolearn？作者：田代军来源：《中学生英语·外语教学与研究》2014年第08期【Abstract】Inthisarticle，thewritertriestofocusmainlyontheacquisitionandlearningthatseemnotpaidenoughattentiontoandthus，inlanguageteaching，languageteachersandchildrenhavebeenteachingand“studying”throughquestionableapproach.【Keywords】secondlanguageacquisitionlearningItistruethatmanychildrenwhoseparentsspeakdifferentlanguagescanacquireasecondlanguageincircumstancessimilartothoseoffirstlanguageacquisition，thevastmajorityofpeoplearenotexposedtoasecondlanguageuntilmuchlater（thisisparticularlytrueformostofChinesechildreninourcountrytoday）.Moreover，formostpeople，theabilitytousetheirfirstlanguageisrarelymatched，evenafteryearsofstudy，byacomparableabilityinthesecondlanguage.Thereissomethingofanenigmahere，sincethereisapparentlynoothersystemof“knowledge”whichonecan“learn”betterattwoorthreeyearsoldthanatfifteenortwenty-five.Thenhowsecondlanguagelearnersbecomeasproficientinasecondlanguageastheyareintheirfirstlanguage.Inthisarticle，Itrytofocusmainlyontheacquisitionandlearningthatseemnotpaidenoughattentiontoandthus，inlanguageteaching，languageteachersandchildrenhavebeenteachingand“studying”throughquestionableapproach.Moreefforts，lesspracticalprogress.Ialsotrytotakeacloserlookatthefeaturesoflanguageandopenthedoortoeffectiveforeignlanguage“acquisition”.1.AcquisitionbarriersSomeobviousreasonsfortheproblemsexperiencedinsecondlanguageacquisitionarerelatedtothefactthatmostpeopleattempttolearnanotherlanguageduringtheirteenageoradultyears，inafewhourseachweekofschooltime（ratherthanviatheconstantinteractionexperiencedbyachild），withalotofotheroccupations（thechildhaslittleelsetodo），andwithanalreadyknownlanguageavailableformostoftheirdailycommunicativerequirements.Somelesslikelyreasonsincludethesuggestionthatadults’tongues“getstiff”frompronouncingonetypeoflanguage（e.g.English）andjustcannotcopewiththenewsoundsofanotherlanguage（e.g.ChineseorFrench）.It’sacuteidea，butthereisnophysicalevidencetosupportit.2.AcquisitionandlearningPerhapstheprimarydifficultyformostpeoplecanbecapturedintermsofadistinctionbetweenacquisitionandlearning.Theterm“acquisition”，whenusedoflanguage，referstothegradualdevelopmentofabilityinalanguageusingitnaturallyincommunicativesituations.Theterm“learning”，however，appliestoaconsciousprocessofaccumulatingknowledgeofthevocabulary龙源期刊网（Mathematics，forexample，islearned，notacquired.）Activitiesassociatedwithlearninghavetraditionallybeenusedinlanguageteachinginschools，andtend，whensuccessful，toresultinknowledgeaboutthelanguagestudied.Activitiesassociatedwithacquisitionarethoseexperiencedbytheyoungchildand，analogously，bythosewho“pickup”anotherlanguagefromlongperiodsspentinsocialinteraction（dailyusedofthelanguage）inanothercountry.Thosewhosesecondlanguageexperienceisprimarilyalearningonetendnottodeveloptheproficiencyofthosewhohaveanacquiringexperience.However，eveninidealacquisitionsituations，veryfewadultsseemtoreachnative-likeproficiencyinusingasecondlanguage.Thereareindividualswhocanachievegreatexpertiseinwriting，butnotinspeaking.OneexampleistheauthorJosephConrad，whosenovelshavebecomeclassicsofEnglishliterature，butwhoseEnglishspeechisreportedtohaveretainedfeatures（e.g.vocabulary，grammar）ofasecondlanguageareeasiertoacquirethanothers（e.g.phonology）.Althoughitcontinuestobeamatterofsomedebate，thistypeofobservationissometimestakenasevidencethat，aftertheCriticalPeriodhadpassed（aroundpuberty），itbecomesverydifficulttoacquireanotherlanguagefully.Insupportofthisview，theprocessoflateralizationofthebrainiscitedasacrucialfactor；wemightthinkofthisprocessintermsofthe“language-faculty”beingstronglytakenoverbythefeaturesofthefirstlanguage，witharesultinglossofflexibilityoropennesstoreceivethefeaturesofanotherlanguage.Againstthisview，ithasbeendemonstratedthatstudentsintheirearlyteensarequickerandmoreeffectivesecondlanguagelearnersthan，forexample，seven-year-olds.Itmaybe，ofcourse，thattheacquisitionofasecondlanguagerequiresacombinationoffactors.Theoptimumagemaybeduringtheyearsfromtentosixteenwhenthe“flexibility”ofthelanguageacquisitionfacultyhasnotbeencompletelylost，andthematurationofcognitiveskillsallowsamoreeffective“workingout”oftheregularfeaturesofthesecondlanguageencountered.3.TheaffectivefilterYetevenduringthe‘optimumage’，theremayexistanacquisitionbarrierofquiteadifferentsort.Teenagersaretypicallymuchmoreself-consciousthanyoungchildren.Ifthereisastrongelementofunwillingnessorembarrassmentinattemptingtoproducethe“thedifferent”soundsofotherlanguages，thenitmayoverridewhateverphysicalandcognitiveabilitiesthereare.Ifthisself-consciousnessiscombinedwithalackofempathywiththeforeignculture（e.g.noidentificationwithitsspeakersortheircustoms），thenthesubtleeffectsofnotwantingtosoundlikeaRussianoranAmericanmanystronglyinhibittheacquisitionprocess.Thistypeofemotionalreaction，oraffect，mayevenbeoccasionedbydulltextbooks，unpleasantclassroomsurroundingsoranexhaustingschedule.Thetermaffectivefilterisoftenusedtodescribeakindofbarri