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RIZKY YOLANDA

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SOCIAL FACTORS AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Social factors have a major impact on L2 proficiency but probably do not influence it
directly. Rather, their effect is mediated by a number of variables. One set of variables which
have been found to be of a major importance is learner attitudes. Social factors help to shape
learners attitude which, in turn, influence learning outcomes. Social factors also influence L2
learning indirectly in another way. They determine the learning opportunities which Individual
learners experience. For example, the learners socio-economic class and ethnic background may
affect the nature and the extent of the input to which they are exposed.
Learner Attitudes
Learner manifest different attitudes towards (1) the target language, (2) target language
speakers, (3) the target-language culture, (4) the social value of learning the L2, (5) particular
uses of the target language, and (6) themselves as members of their own culture.
Social Factors and Second Language Acquisition
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Age
Sex
Social Class
Ethnic

Learners' choice of target language variety


One way in which social factors of the kind considered in the previous section impact on
L2 learning is in terms of the influence they exert on the learners' choice of target variety. Much
of SLA research has been predicated on the assumption that learners are targeted on the standard
dialect of the L2. Such an assumption, however, is not warranted in the case of many learners.
The choice of reference group depends crucially on the social context and how this shapes
learners' attitudes towards the different varieties with which they come into contact. L2 learners
in settings where the target language serves as a medium of communication appear to be
sensitive to differences in the dialects to which they are exposed. Eisenstein (1982) found adult
ESL learners in the New York metropolitan area were able to recognize dialect differences early
on in the learning process, but that their ability to categorize the specific varieties developed
more slowly. The same study also found that dialect sensitivity and attitude formation develop in

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parallel and that the advanced-level learners had assimilated the attitudes associated with native
speakers of English.
Natural versus educational settings
A general distinction can be made berween 'natural' and 'educational' settings. The former
arise in the course of the learners' contact with other speakers of the L2 in a variety of situations
in the workplace, at home, through the media, at international conferences, in business
meetings, etc. There will be some learners who experience the L2 entirely in natural settings and
others whose only contact with it is in educational settings. However, many learners will be
exposed to the L2 in both natural and educational settings. A general assumption is that the
learning that takes place in natural and educational settings is very different in nature. In natural
settings informal learning occurs.
Natural contexts
Following Judd (1978), three broad types of context in natural L2 learning settings can be
identified. The type that has been most thoroughly researched is found in situations where the
target language serves as the native language (or one of the native languages) of the countryas
is the case for 1.2 learners of English in the United States or Canada or L2 learners of French in
France or Belgium. The second type is found in the decolonized countries of Africa and Asia,
where the L2 functions as an official language.
L2 learning in official language contexts
Independence led some countries to search for an alternative official language (for
example, Hindi in India and Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia), but many countries adopted the
language of the ex-colonial power and maintained it in most of its previous social and official
functions (for example, Nigeria chose English and Zaire chose French, while India also felt the
need to maintain English alongside Hindi). Whether an indigenous or foreign language was
chosen as the official language, it constituted an L2 for the vast majority of the population.
Social and economic advancement depended to a large extent on its successful masterya fact
that constituted a powerful motivation for acquiring it. Official language ser-tings are often
characterized at the national level by the rapid spread of the L2 and at the individual level by
rapid acquisition in at least some sections of the population. In many instances, however, the

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level of proficiency attained is limited, as learners fail to develop adequate cognitive academic
language proficiency.
Second language learning in international contexts
A number of languagesin particular Englishare now widely used as international
languages. That is, they serve as a means of communication between speakers of different
languages in a wide range of contexts: business and trade, academic and scientific, media and the
arts, travel and tourism, and literature. The speakers may or may not be native speakers of the
language and the speech events may or may not take place inside a country where the language is
spoken as a mother tongue. Crystal (1988) claims that there are over 700 million users of
English, of whom the majority (400 million) are non-native speakers. Many of these will use
English primarily for international communication.
Segregation
Segregation occurs where the L2 learner is educated separately from the majority or a
politically powerful minority, who speak the target language as their mother tongue. Immigrants
or migrant workers who are educated in special schools, centres, or units designed to cater for
their language needs constitute an example of segregation in a majority setting. 'Bantu education'
in Namibia prior to independence is an example of segregation in a setting where a powerful
minority spoke the official language (Afrikaans) as a mother tongue.
Mother tongue maintenance
Skuttnab-Kangas points out rhat mother tongue maintenance can take two forms. In the
weaker form, pupils are given classes in their mother tongue, directed at developing formal
language skills, including full literacy. In the stronger form, pupils are educated through the
medium of their mother tongue. Mother tongue maintenance programmes are based on
enrichment theory, according to which high levels of bilingualism are seen as a cognitive and
social advantage.
Submersion
Skutmab-Kangas defines a submersion programme as; a programme where linguistic
minority children with a low-status mother tongue are forced to accept instruction through the

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medium of a foreign majority language with high status, in classes where some children are
native speakers of the language of the instruction, where the teacher does not understand the
mother tongue of the minority children, and where the majority language constitutes a threat to
rheir mother tonguea subtractive language learning situation (1988: 40). Submersion is
common in Britain and the United States, where ethnic minority children are educated in
mainstream classrooms.
Immersion
The term 'immersion' has come to refer to a number of different contexts, which need to
be clearly distinguished. Initially, the term was used in the context of Canadian French
immersion programmes, where members of a majority group (native speakers of English) were
educated through the medium of French, the language of a minority group. There are a number
of variants of these programmes, depending on whether the programme begins early (for
example, in kindergarten) or late (for example, in Grades 4 or 7), and whether it is full (more or
less all instruction is conducted in the L2) or partial (only part of the curriculum is taught
through the L2).
The language classroom
Whereas the previous educational contexts have all involved L2 learners in multilingual
settings, the final context we will consider involves 'the language classroom', defined here as a
setting where the target language is taught as a subject only and is not commonly used as a
medium of communication outside the classroom. In this sense it includes both 'foreign 1
language classrooms (for example, Japanese classes in the United States or English classes in
China) and 'second' language classrooms where the learners have no contact with the target
language outside the language classroom (for example, 'ESL' classes in a francophone area of
Canada).
Social models of L2 acquisition
We will now examine three models of L2 acquisition which seek to account for the role
of social factors. The three models reflect the primary research interests of their progenitors and
the contexts in which they have worked. Two of the modelsSchumann's Acculturation Model
and Giles and Byrne's Inter-group Modelhave been designed to explain L2 learning in natural
settings, in particular those where members of an ethnic minority are learning the language of a

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powerful majority group. The third modelGardner's Socio-educational Modelwas derived
mainly from studies of L2 learning in language classrooms, although Gardner argues that it is
also applicable to L2 learning in natural settings
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The Inter-group Model

The Socio-educational Model

A historical-structural perspective
Finally, we should note that all three models can be criticized from a historical-structural
viewpoint. This emphasizes the historical background of the social, political, and economic
forces that determine individual choices. Tollefson (1991) embarks on a lengthy critique of
speech accommodation theory, including Giles and Byrne's Inter-group Model. His main point is
that it rests on the idea of 'natural law' (i.e. that human choice is essentially free and structures
society) and, in so doing, fails to consider the various historical and structural variables that
explain why learners from minority language backgrounds make the choices they do. According
to Tollefson, the concepts of ethnolinguistic vitality and ethnolinguistic group can only be
properly understood by considering issues of power and domination in the majority and minority
groups involved. He also argues that by emphasizing the role of convergence in language
learning, the Inter-group Model suggests that 'learners who identify with their mother tongue
cannot also be fully bilingual' and thus, inadvertently, 'provides a theoretical justification for
language education programmes that seek to weaken learners' ties to their mother tongue and
their community' (1991: 76). Although Tollefson does not consider the Acculturation Model and
the Socio-educational Model it is clear that they too are vulnerable to a historical-structural
critique.

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