Personal Insights: Second Language Acquisition and Learning

This report reflects on the student's personal journey in second language acquisition. The student discusses key takeaways, including the confirmation of existing beliefs about the variability in learning rates and the importance of motivation and aptitude. The report also highlights challenges to pre-existing knowledge, particularly regarding motivation, and introduces new insights about the varied impact of language learning on individuals. The student identifies specific factors influencing motivation, such as intensity, attitude, and desire, and reflects on how these factors can be applied to their own learning. The report concludes with questions about the necessity, importance, and smooth process of learning a new language, indicating areas for further exploration. The assignment is based on the provided readings which explores the challenges of language anxiety, the impact of motivation and cognition in language acquisition.

Surname 1
Student’s Name
Course Title
Instructor
Date
Introduction
The subject of acquiring and learning a second language has been brought up on many
occasions. Different people have different opinions on this whole process of learning and also
acquiring a second language. Below, I will discuss what I learned in and affirms what I already
know and does, what I learned and it challenged me to examine what I already know and does,
what I encountered when I was learning that was totally new to me and finally, I will also discuss
the question that I would keep on exploring.
What I Learnt that Confirms what I Already Know
To begin, I confirmed that as I previously thought, it is very true that the processes, rates
variability, and the outcomes are very wide, especially for those people who learn other
languages during their adult years. Most of the researchers ask if there is anything in the learner's
ability to think logically that could explain the reason as to why there are very wide variations in
addition to what I learned, I affirmed that it is very true that motivation and aptitude play a major
role in determining how fast a learner will grasp a second language and vice versa. (Ortega,
pg146)Cognition is the speed through which information is processed, I, different individuals.
Differently, it means that those with low cognition will understand a second language slower that
individuals with high cognition.

Surname 2
What I Learnt that Makes Me Challenge what I Know
In this area, I learned something about the motivation that really made me challenge what
I already knew about that term. One, motivation intensity in learning another language is simply
the amount of effort expended by people when learning a different language. The second factor
that determines the motivation of a second language learner is the attitude that the learner has
towards that language that he or she is learning. Finally, the third factor is the desire that the
learner has towards learning. Desire is simply the investment that a person makes towards
learning a new language. These three factors made me challenge myself by in that there is more
to motivation than just a propeller towards learning. (Gregersen, pg. 27)When I want to learn a
second language, I will ensure that I examine my motivation intensity, my attitude towards
learning, and my learning desire.
A New Encounter in my Learning
As I was learning, I came across some of the things that I never knew. One of the new
things I learned is that; people are affected differently when learning a new language. (Marcos-
Llina´s)I was shocked to know that some people suffer consequences that are disastrous for
either learning or not learning another language.
Questions Left Running in my mind
The whole learning process leaves me with some questions that I should keep on
exploring. One; is it necessary to learn a new language as an adult or not? What is the
importance of learning new languages? What does it take to learn new languages smoothly?
These are what I was left wondering.

Surname 3
Work Cited
Ortega, Lourdes. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. 1st ed., Hodder Education, 2008,
pp. 145-254, Accessed 26 Mar 2020.
Gregersen, Tammy S. To Err Is Human: A Reminder To Teachers Of Language-Anxious
Students. 1st ed., University Of Northern Iowa, 2001, pp. 27-29, Accessed 26 Mar 2020.
Marcos-Llina´s, Mo´nica M. Effects Of Language Anxiety On Three Proficiency-Level Courses
Of Spanish As A Foreign Language. 1st ed., University Of Missourifcolumbia, 2009, p.
97, Accessed 26 Mar 2020.