Acquisition of a Second Language

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses some of the issues and processes addressed in studies of second language acquisition. It looks at the changes that teaching a second language has undergone over time and what can be expected in the future. The paper describes the basic issues of how we learn a second language and how we might facilitate the process in the future.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Review of Literature
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Eckman, Highland, Lee, Mileham, and Weber (1995) point out that teaching of a second language has had different supports over the last few decades. It at first relied heavily on linguistic theory and on theories of learning, and in the 1960s and 1970s, teachers were trained in contrastive analysis and were often expected to write a contrastive analysis of a portion of the grammars of two languages, based on then-prevalent theories of language teaching. When the theoretical basis was shown to be inadequate, teaching based heavily on this model stopped. There was no concerted effort to evaluate the model. Teachers were then taught that repetition, drills, and memorization of dialogues were unnecessary."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Chomsky, Noam, Language and Politics. New York: Black Rose Books, 1988.
• Diebold, A. Richard. "Incipient Bilingualism." In Language in Culture & Society, Dell Hymes (ed.), 495-510. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
• Dulay, Heidi and Marina Burt, "Remarks on Creativity in Language Acquisition," in Burt, Dulay, and Mary Finocchiaro, Viewpoints on English as a Second Language. New York: Regents Publishing Company, 1977, pp. 95-126.
• Erkman, F.R., Highland, D., Lee, P.W., Mileham, J., & Weber, R.R. (1995). Second Language Acquisition: Theory and Pedagogy. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Krashen, Stephen D., Inquiries and Insights: Second Language Teaching Immersion & Bilingual Education Literacy. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Alemany Press,1985.

More papers on Acquisition of a Second Language:

• Persuasive Essay # 91843 : "Teaching English as a Second Language"
• Case Study # 115815 : "Learning English as a Second Language"
• Essay # 23889 : "English as a Second Language (ESL)"

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