The Psychology of Second Language Acquisition

This assignment delves into the fascinating realm of second language acquisition from a psychological perspective. It examines how individual differences, such as motivation, personality, and learning styles, affect the process of acquiring a new language. The influence of culture on language learning is also discussed, highlighting the interconnectedness of language and cultural norms. Drawing upon relevant research and theories, you'll gain valuable insights into the complexities of becoming proficient in a second language.

Running head: ACADEMIC ENGLISH
Academic English
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Different cultures act as barrier in learning a second language as it might cause cultural
misunderstandings or confusions. The acclimatization to a new culture and translation while
learning second language pose challenges to the learners. Culture acts as barriers for the secnd
language learners as it give rise to cultural misunderstandings. Learners have their own cultural
learning and communication strategies and when these are transferred in learning a second
language, this gives rise to cultural misunderstandings, frustrations and embarrassment (Hidasi,
2008). Different cultures poses misinterpretation of the valued behaviours that affect their
learning of second language. As a result, it affects their learning style, understanding, production
of the language and interactions. This also gives rise to processing of mental and verbal
programming affecting communication with low understanding of second language. For
example, Japanese language work well in a Japanese context and transferring that model of
communication strategy to another language create cultural misunderstandings. Therefore, this
diversity in culture in terms of different learning styles affects the second language learning
abilities (Dörnyei, 2014).
The lack of vocabulary is another barrier in learning a second language. It has an
influence on the second language learners in terms of reading, comprehension, listening and
conversation in the second language. Learners face difficulty in expressing their feelings, ideas
during composition and while conversing in second language. Vocabulary challenges their
memory and makes them prone to grammatical errors and sentence construction in the second
language. The lack of vocabulary pose problems during interactions and this is the main reason
that hinders learners to learn second language. As there is inadequate vocabulary acquisition and
knowledge, learners find difficulty in learning the grammar rules in the second language (Larsen-
Freeman & Long, 2014). Inadequate vocabulary also affects the speaking skill of the second

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language and attains proficiency over the second language. Due to lack of vocabulary, second
language learners are unable to access words in that language that affects their circumvention
ability to define the target language (Alqahtani, 2015).
Teaching method also pose difficulty to second language learners. For the language
learning, teachers play the most important role. They design teaching plans based on different
learning styles for teaching the course plan or lesions. When acquiring a second language, the
teaching methods affect the learner’s progress in learning second language. The learning process
is different in every child and has different way of acquiring information. This results in great
disparity in understanding the teaching style of instructors and expectations of the learners of
how the class will be conducting. This might result in learning anxiety among the learners as
they face difficulties in understanding the teaching instructions in second language (Ishihara &
Cohen, 2014). Low context learning prefers to communicate through words and as a result, low
context of teaching poses challenges for the second language learners as when they lack
vocabulary and word meaning. On the other hand, high context vocabulary communicates in a
way when certain things are left unsaid. In this case, empathy is required to have social
interactions and due to lack of good command over second language, learners are unable to
communicate.
Lack of pronunciation also poses difficulty in learning the second language. It has a
negative effect on the learning skills of the learners that affect their way of communication in
second language. It greatly impairs their communication skills and it depicts their inability to
learn the second language with fluency. When the second language learners face difficulty in
pronunciation, it results in their inability to learn words of the new language. Alphabetical
system of pronunciation is important in learning the pronunciation of new words and its

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inadequacy results in a barrier in learning a second language (Gass, 2013). For example, inability
to understand the alphabetical system in Chinese language would pose a challenge to the second
language learners in understanding and framing of the words and sentences construction (Grant
& Brinton, 2016).
Personality attitude is an essential factor that influences the learning and performance in
second language. Attitude is actually the measure of feeling that learners have regarding the
second language. Concisely, to learn a second language one need to have the right personality
attitude that would explain their linguistic behaviour as language is a construct. Different
learners have different personality attitude that affect their attitude towards learning second
language. They have different feelings, needs, behaviour that recognizes their adaptability and
encouragement towards learning the second language (Oroujlou & Vahedi, 2011). In such cases,
motivation is important for the second language learners. For this, creation of cultural dialogue is
important along with engaging with other students through special interests and occasions.
Scaffolding techniques can be employed like verbal, procedural and instructional scaffolding
where learning process can be tailored according to the needs of the second language learners.
The learners need to be driven towards learning second language and stimulate them towards
need for success and achievement in learning it.

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References
Alqahtani, M. (2015). The importance of vocabulary in language learning and how to be
taught. International Journal of Teaching and Education, 3(3), 21-34.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/42873283/12-2-213.pdf?
AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1503745757&Signature=Qiqikz0
tMdmBRGHpsmnh7Ic8%2FEY%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename
%3DTHE_IMPORTANCE_OF_VOCABULARY_IN_LANGUAGE.pdf
Dörnyei, Z. (2014). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second
language acquisition. Routledge.
https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4r6PAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=D
%C3%B6rnyei,+Z.+(2014).+The+psychology+of+the+language+learner:
+Individual+differences+in+second+language+acquisition.
+Routledge.&ots=CVNKk7zqGY&sig=Wxz02t2Y_8vjin0WoDp5wxYEmkc#v=onepage&q=D
%C3%B6rnyei%2C%20Z.%20(2014).%20The%20psychology%20of%20the%20language
%20learner%3A%20Individual%20differences%20in%20second%20language%20acquisition.
%20Routledge.&f=false
Gass, S. M. (2013). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.
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+Routledge.&ots=ty3mgKHFGF&sig=h5OrRAwWtcUSCYaNDLQdme8gbKk#v=onepage&q&
f=false
Grant, L., & Brinton, D. M. (2016). Pronunciation myths: Applying second language research to
classroom teaching. University of Michigan Press.
http://www.tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej79/r2.pdf
Hidasi, J. (2008). The impact of culture on second language acquisition.
https://www.childresearch.net/RESOURCE/RESEARCH/2006/exfile/HIDASI.pdf
Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2014). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and
culture meet. Routledge.
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Oroujlou, N., & Vahedi, M. (2011). Motivation, attitude, and language learning. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 994-1000.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
271638356_Motivation_attitude_and_language_learning