INTRODUCTION

First and foremost, we have been given the task to write a review on five articles pertaining to
Second Language Acquisition. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is the process by which people
learn a second language. There are a lot of articles and journals that discuss and provide focus on the
topic. Therefore, based on our task, we have chosen five articles that we think are suitable and can be
used to explore more on the topic. The articles that we have chosen are listed as follows:

Article 1 : Factors Influencing Second Language Acquisition by Siti Khasinah

Article 2 : Individual Learner Differences and Second Language Acquisition by Shahila
Zafar, K. Meenakshi
Article 3 : Contextual Factors in Second Language Acquisition
Article 4 : The Effects of Age and Motivation Factors on Second Language Acquisition by
Mehmet Nuri Gmleksiz
Article 5 : Sociocultural Factors in Second Language Acquisition by JinLiang Zhang

In this review, we will focus on several aspects. Firstly, we will provide a summary for each
one of our articles. Next, we will highlight the similarities and the differences between all the five
articles. We will also point out the strengths and weaknesses of our articles. Moving on, we will proceed
with the applications in teaching that we are able to find as we analysed the articles. Lastly, we will
conclude the review.

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SUMMARY

ARTICLE 1 : Factors Influencing Second Language Acquisition by Siti Khasinah

This article was written by Siti Khasinah from Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh,
Indonesia regarding factors influencing second language acquisition and she has listed down in a
systematic manner all factors that she found including motivation, attitude, age, intelligence, aptitude,
learning style and personality. The writer divided the article with two sections; Definition of Second
Language Acquisition and Factors Influencing Second Language Acquisition. She explained about the
definition of second language acquisition by referring to several sources such as researches by Richards
(1985), Ellis (1986) and Fromkin (2002). Richard states that second language acquisition as the process
by which people develop proficiency in a second or foreign language while Ellis explains that second
language acquisition as a complex process, involving many interrelated factors. It is the product of
many factors pertaining to the learner on the one hand and the learning situation on the other. Fromkin
says that the acquisition of another language or language after first language acquisition that is under
way or completed. Siti Khasinah concluded her first section with stating that second language
acquisition is subconscious study through which a person acquires Language 2 or additional language.

For the first factor which is Motivation, the writer says that motivation is divided into several
types including Integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation where the former one means that
one studies a language because of the interest in the people, culture or to communicate with the speakers
of that language. The latter means one studies a language because it is useful and functional for the
learner for example to get a better job, to pass tests or to enable one to read foreign newspaper. Not only
that, Edward Deci (1975) also divides motivation into two types; intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic
motivation is internal rewards such as feelings of competence and self-determination. Extrinsic
motivation is external reward such as money, praise or positive feedback.

Next factor that the writer points out is attitude of the learners (negative or positive) towards a
few things including the community and people who speak the Language 2, learning and language
concerned and towards languages and language learning in general. It is also important about what the
learners feel about learning a particular language and from a particular teacher. The writer concludes
that positive attitude and level of success affect each other. Next factor would be age where the writer
found that learner with younger age learn better compared to the rest. Language learning may be more
difficult after puberty because it is said that brain lacks the ability and adaptation at that phase thus
children before puberty learn better and they have the probability of getting native-like accent than those
who start learning the language as adolescents or adults. However, another research that was conducted
in formal setting found that adults learn better in that situation both in syntax and morphology. This
might be because older learners are able to apply linguistic rules when they use the language but children

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use it as a tool for expressing meaning. The writer concludes that younger age is better at language
acquisition but adults are better at learning language rules and systems.

Not only that, Siti Khasinah also includes intelligence as the factor that influence second
language acquisition. She said that different types of intelligence that learners have will lead to different
results of success and ways of learning. For example, Gardner (1983) introduced a theory of Multiple
Intelligence including 8 types of intelligence; linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-
kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic. Each intelligence exists in all human but it
evolve independently at different times and different angles. Thus, teachers are said to use different
techniques in teaching so that students all students can learn based on their own intelligences.

The fifth factor that is said to influence the acquisition of second language is aptitude or the
specific ability a learner has for learning a second language (Ellis, 1986). Examples of ability that
learners have would be to identify sound pattern in a new language and recognize the different of
grammatical functions of words in sentences. There are many aptitude tests that were developed by
researchers such as Carroll and Sapons Modern Language Aptitude Test and Pimsleurs Language
Aptitude Battery that can be taken by learners in order to identify their ability of acquiring language
without much effort. However, some researchers do not believe that something like general intelligence
can influence learning foreign language because all children acquire their first language successfully.
The writer of this article sums up by stating that a person with high language aptitude can learn more
quickly and easily than that of low language aptitude. Another factor is learning styles of learner because
Richard (1985) and Ellis (1986) said that there are many types of learners such as audio learners,
kinaesthetic learners, and visual learners. Therefore, if students are aware of their learning styles, are
highly motivated and have positive attitudes, they are likely to succeed in acquiring their second
language. Thus, teachers need to match their teaching methods to students learning styles so that the
learners would be better in acquiring the language and more motivated and interested in learning.

Last but not least is the personality of the learners. The writer has divided the personality into
different types including self-esteem, inhibition and risk-taking, anxiety, and empathy and extroversion.
Self-esteem is considered as one of the personality that would affect the learners in acquiring and
learning language because the higher their self-esteem, learners would be more confidence that they
can succeed in the learning. Inhibition and risk-taking is related to self-esteem in a way because the
higher self-esteem of learner, the lower walls of inhibition and thus lead to greater success in learning
foreign language. Children is said to learn language better than adults because they have low self-
conscious and do not care about making mistakes unlike adults where they are more self-conscious if
their peers would look down on them if they did not do a good job in learning the language. Anxiety on
the other hand is the feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt and worry. This would be developed
by sudden quizzes, competition between students and many more. If the level of anxiety in students is

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high, it will affect students success in learning language. Lastly, empathy and extroversion is achieved
when learning communication skills because it involves other peoples feelings and ideas. Personality
influence only the acquisition of speaking skills and it cannot predict the overall success of students.

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ARTICLE 2 : Individual Learner Differences and Second Language Acquisition by Shahila Zafar, K.
Meenakshi

First and foremost, this journal - Individual Learner Differences and Second Language
Acquisition: A review- has been written by Shahila Zafar and K. Meenakshi , both are assistant and
associate professor in English at the School of Social Science and Language, VIT university , Vellore,
India. This particular journal is an exquisite piece of information regarding the relationship between the
level of second language acquisition (SLA) and factors (nature and nurture) that affecting the process
of acquiring the second language itself.

For this specific research , seven main factors has been selected to be highlighted in the journal
by both writers as they deem that these factors (individual difference) have the most impact on the
people who are undergoing the process of acquiring their second language. Unlike any other journal
which specified their writing only on the main theme, this journal also focusing on the third objective
of this research that is to emphasise the importance of teachers implementing the knowledge of the
seven individual difference in their classroom in order to obtain effective learning. Venturing into the
content of the journal, the writers introduced the seven important individual differences to the readers
early in the introductory chapter. These differences are Age, Sex, Aptitude, Motivation, Learning styles,
Learning strategies and personality. The writers further emphasise on the relationship of the differences
as there are intertwines with one another.

Each of the differences has been explained in details by the writers as they have divided the
content into seven parts representing each factor. The writers has managed to shortly explain on regard
of each topic yet the elaboration is broad and adequate for the readers to understanding and to gather
more additional information. For the age factor, the writers have introduced on the idea of critical period
which has been emphasised as the time where children can easily grab the principles of the language
learned. Meanwhile, in the sex section, both writers had agreed on the female sex to show greater
tendency to master the second language due to several reasons such as integrative motivation and
biological reason. Moving on to the third factor, the assumption that learning language come easily to
those who had the talents in language are strongly agreed by both writers. They also have listed several
aptitude tests which have been used widely in the world to test the learner of English as the second
language.

For the fourth factor, the writers had refer to Gardner and Lambert (1972) idea on the two types
of motivation that is the Integrative and Instrumental motivation. They have stressed on the difference
of both motivation and why they are important in driving the learner to become success in acquiring the
second language. In the learning styles topic, there are two set of learning styles from two different
researchers that had been adopted into the journal. The first set which had been identified by Knowles
(1972) had suggested on four cognitive learning styles - the concrete learning style, analytical learning

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style, communicative learning style and writerity-oriented learning style- . On the other hand, according
to Witkins (1973), there are only two types of learning strategies that is the field independent and field
dependent style.

Additionally, in the learning strategies topic, the writers had been focusing on the three
important elements of learning strategies that is the cognitive element, the metacognitive element and
the social and affective element which had been identified by OMalley and Charmot (1990). Last but
not least, it has also been stated in this journal that personality of the learner has indirectly affected the
acquisition of second language among the students. There are five types of personality characteristic
which may affect the process of acquiring the second language. These personalities are known as the
Extroversion vs. Introversion, Self Esteem, Inhibition, Risk-taking and Anxiety.

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ARTICLE 3 : Contextual Factors in Second Language Acquisition

First of all, this document discussed several particular aspects affecting the students second
language acquisition that stem from contextual factors. One of new ideas that was introduced in this
paper was that the writer highlighted while other researchers rather focused on the methodologies in
acquiring second language, this paper will look at the issue through other circumstance which is
contextual. This paper identified other possibilities that may influence the second language learning
process. It is also important to note that the writer recognised and published these new ideas as it could
challenge the traditional and orthodox notions that viewed second language acquisition would only be
affected by the way the students was taught.

Moreover, the contextual factors have been divided into three main topics which are Language,
Learner and Learning Process. Each factors are thoroughly explained through the separation of the sub
topics which further explored the elements that can affect how a student will acquire the second
language.

As for the Language section, the writer listed down several factors that may influence the
second language acquisition. One of it, the native language proficiency where the more academically
sophisticated the student's native language knowledge and abilities, the easier it will be for that student
to learn a second language. Others include "Knowledge of the second language, dialect and register,
language status and language attitude

In the Learner section, the account provider analysed that students come from different
backgrounds and have diverse needs and goals in learning second language. Factors such as peer
pressure, the presence of role models, and the level of home support can strongly affect the desire and
ability to learn a second language especially amongst adolescence learners. People who are around
the second language learners in a social environment could prove vital in affecting how the learners
gain the proficiency in secondary language.

As for Learning Process component, the writer identified that each students have different ways
of acquiring the second language. For instance, some may find learning through visuals can aid them
better in learning the language. Plus, intrinsic motivation also plays a vital role in mastering the second
language as students are not forced to learn, but they do it for their own sake which can maximise the
learning outcome. Apart from that, classroom interaction is also one of the factor which can affect
the second language learning. This is because, meaningful interactions with peers and teachers in
classroom are more effective compared to lecturing and recitation. Language learning is not about the
transmission of knowledge about a language or from a repeated rote memorisation drills alone but it
also requires interaction with other people.

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 In conclusion, the writer concluded that while this document highlighted the three contextual
factors that may hinder the acquisition, it is important to acknowledge the larger social and cultural
context of second language development that could also influence the second language learning
amongst students especially immigrants.

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ARTICLE 4 : The Effects of Age and Motivation Factors on Second Language Acquisition by Mehmet
Nuri Gmleksiz

Article 4 is an article written by Prof. Dr. Mehmet Nuri Gmleksiz from Firat University,
Turkey, entitled The Effects of Age and Motivation Factors on Second Language Acquisition. There
are a lot of factors which influence second language acquisition and this article focuses on two major
factors which is Age and Motivation. In the beginning, the writer introduces us to the definition of
Second Language Acquisition.

Moving on, the writer of the article further elaborates on the age factor. There are a few things
that he pointed out in this part of the article. For example, Critical Period Hypothesis theory, retainment
of accent and acquisition of pronunciation, oral language skill acquisition by children of different ages
as well as the comparison of performance of students of different ages on language tasks such as reading
and writing. He firstly introduced us to the theory of Critical Period Hypothesis by Lenneberg (1967)
in which states that acquisition of language is an innate process determined by biological factors which
limit the critical period for acquisition of a language from roughly two years of age to puberty. This is
because Lenneberg believes that after the process of lateralization, post-adolescent language acquisition
is going to be difficult. Next, the writer focuses about retainment of accent in which he claimed that
through the findings of many other studies, a large majority of adults retain their accent when second
language acquisition is acquired after puberty whereas children initiating second language acquisition
before puberty have little or no foreign accent. Fathman (1975) and Williams (1979) in their studies,
found that younger students had retained more accent-free pronunciation when compared to adolescents
past puberty. In addition, studies of oral language skill acquisition by children of different ages have
led to the conclusion that older children acquire faster than younger children (Collier, 1988). Some
researchers have made comparisons on the performance of students of different ages on language tasks
associated with language skills and they found that students between the ages of 8 to 12 are faster in
early acquisition of second language skills and maintained this advantage over several years time over
younger students of age 4 to 7. Prof. Dr. Mehmet, from the studies, asserted that older students of age
8 to 12 are faster, more efficient acquirers of school language than younger students between age 4 to
7. McLaughlin (1984) stated that why students acquire the language skills better is that children who
enter school at the age of 5 to 6 have not completed acquisition of their first language which continues
through at least age 12. From age 6 to 12, children are still in the process of developing in first language
the complex skills of reading and writing and so forth.

Next, writer focuses on the effect of motivation on second language acquisition. He claimed
that motivation is one of the important aspects of second language acquisition. It is very difficult to
teach a second language in a learning environment if the learner does not have a desire to learn a
language. Therefore, a teacher is responsible to maximize motivation. Reese & Walker (1997) express

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that motivation is a key factor in the second language learning process. They stress that a less able
student who is highly motivated can achieve greater success than the more intelligent student who is
not well motivated. Cooper & McIntyre (1998) underline the importance of the teacher factor in
students achievement. They add that the more successful the teacher is in focusing and facilitating
effective pupil calibration, the more effective the teacher will be in facilitating effective pupil learning.
The choice of teaching strategy on motivation is emphasized by Reece & Walker (1997). For instance,
an enthusiastic approach is more likely to motivate than a dull approach. Besides, attitudes can also play
a significant role in the language-learning classroom as they have a close relationship with motivation.
Krashen (1985) proposes that attitudes can act as barriers or bridges to learning a new language and are
the essential environment ingredient for language learning. In a laboratory study performed by Gardner,
Lalonde and Moorcroft (1985), a French/English paired associates learning paradigm was used, and it
was found that learning was faster for subjects classified as having relatively high levels of integrative
motivation than for those with low levels. This further clarifies the statement that motivation is
important in second language acquisition.

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ARTICLE 5 : Sociocultural Factors in Second Language Acquisition by JinLiang Zhang

Sociocultural Factors in Second Language Acquisition by Jinliang Zhang highlights the

relationship between sociocultural and second language acquisition, mainly focused on the three main
perspectives; culture and language, cultural confrontation and culture familiarization. Generally, the
writer states that second or foreign language learners need to encounter cultural confrontation on their
learning road which means that they have to accumulate the knowledge pertaining to the target language
in order to create cross-culture awareness. In the introduction part, the writer also emphasized on

Firstly, the relationship between language and culture is mainly emphasizing on how the
learners could acquire the culture of that particular target language community while learning their
language. The writer included researches in order to support the existence of relationship between
culture and language. Mckay (2000) pointed out that by teaching language, one is inevitably already
teaching culture implicitly. The writer also included a survey during 1999, of native English and
Chinese speaker on what items they would associate with the word food. It is found that Chinese
would consider food as steamed bun or rice meanwhile English would think of steak and bread, or
even the cooking processes. Due to this inseparability between culture and language, one would
inevitably encounter a new culture when learning a second language.

The second point would be the cultural confrontation where the writer emphasizes that it is
impossible to learn a language without studying the culture of people it represents, their customs,
traditions and behaviour. As the example provided in the article, it is found that the style of writing for
Chinese and American differs in the convention of their ideas. Chinese writers often digress meanwhile
Americans tend to think and write in a linear way. In China, it would be better if someone able to
elaborate and digress more so that he or she will be given more respect but in America, they would
prefer if the writer goes straight to the point and being direct with them.

The last main point for this article would be the cultural familiarization in pertaining the second
language. The main part of this point is the students must undergo a socializing process not just focusing
on the language learning solely. A language teacher need to assist the students in removing their cultural
blinders which means that the teacher supposedly to correct students misconceptions about a particular
culture and give them an overview about the ideology of cultural pluralism. In addition, the students
should be taught to eradicate all stereotypes about certain culture so that the choices of second language
acquisition would be diverse no matter what language they intend to learn. The amount of cultural
information that should be exposed to the students depends on their goals of acquiring the second
language. Therefore, it can be concluded that is important to acquire second language by familiarizing
with the culture not acquiring the culture.

In conclusion, it is being restated in the article that within the learning process, the learners
would encounter confrontation between their native culture and the one that is related to the target

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language. The writer has suggested to cultivate or nurture multiculturalism in learners minds, which
means that the learners should be equipped with appropriate amount of non-discriminatory cultural
information as this would help them in pertaining a better understanding of the target language and
establish proper attitudes towards it.

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SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

In general, the articles that we have chosen, highlighted many factors that would influence the
second language acquisition among the learners. The two articles chosen mainly highlighted the factors
in general and the other three articles have focused on certain factors.

We have found a lot of similarities between each article. For example, four articles except the
fifth article included motivation as the factor that influence the second language acquisition. In the
fourth article, the writer generally elaborated the motivation as a whole meanwhile the first and second
article explained on the two types of the motivation which are instrumental and integrative. To make
the point clearer, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation also being explained in the first and third article.
This shows that motivation can be considered as one of the most plausible factors in acquiring language.
This would be further support by Saville-Troike (2006), in which he claimed that motivation is the
second strongest predictor (after aptitude) of second language success.

Apart from that, another most addressed issue that could be found in most of the articles is the
age factor. In the fourth article, a research by Lenneberg in 1967, claimed that there is a certain period
in acquiring the second language which can be known as critical period hypothesis. This means that
learning language can be excellently done within this period which is from the age of two till puberty.
This factor also stated in the first and second article, in which both article emphasized the similar
elaboration regarding the critical period of learning the second language. However, there are more
explanation given in the second language in which the writer also include other researchers findings.
A research by Long in 1990 found that it is difficult for a language learner of more than 15 years of age
to acquire native like fluency and an absence of an accent. This statement is supported by Saville-
Troike (2006), in which he argued that some older learners can achieve native-like proficiency, although
they definitely constitute a minority of second language learners. It can be concluded that it is difficult
for a language learner to acquire second language if they surpass certain limit of the age which is known
as the critical period.

Three articles; Article 1, Article 2 and Article 3 have emphasized on the learning styles as the
factor influencing second language acquisition. Learning styles or also known as cognitive style is
basically about an individuals preference in the way of processing that is, of perceiving,
conceptualizing, organizing and recalling information related to language learning. Skehan in 1989
found that individuals vary greatly in the ways they learn a second language. In the second article, the
writer has provided two different theories in supporting the need of different teaching styles; the theory
by Knowles (1972) and Witkin (1973). The former highlighted four different learning styles such as
concrete, analytical, communicative and writerity-oriented learning style. Meanwhile, the latter
addressed the right or left brain which is strongly related to field dependence or independence. This
particular issue also being included in the first article along with four learning modalities; visual,

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auditory, kinaesthetic and tactile. Therefore, if the students know about the preferable learning style,
they are more likely to succeed in second language acquisition.

However, the fifth article displayed a different issues about the factors influencing the second
language factor because the writer focused more on the sociocultural factor. Another four articles have
similarities since they stressed more on the general factors of a language acquisition process. For
example, the writer elaborated more on the importance of cultural confrontation and familiarization in
order to learn the second language better. The learners need to be familiar and socialize with the culture
of target language so that the acquisition would be faster as they had already acquire the basic
foundation. Brown (as cited in Jiang) described, A language is part of a culture and a culture is part of
a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate them without losing the
significance of either language or culture. Therefore, this article would help in providing a different
and new insights as the other articles did not include information about the culture of target language
in any part. This shows that the difference of this article would help in recognizing another factor that
would affect second language acquisition, not only the general factors as stated mostly in the other
articles.
In conclusion, the five articles mainly highlighted all the factors for second language acquisition
in which can be applied in teaching and learning language processes. These factors would help a lot for
the teachers in creating teaching aids and materials. This would be explain in the next section of our
article review.

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STRENGTHS

While reading our respective journals, we have managed to discover several strengths of the articles
that may directly or indirectly help the readers to decipher the purpose or the main objective of the topic
discussed.

1. Systematic and Organized

One of the strength that can be found and these journals would be the systematic and organized
presentation of idea in almost every journal which we had chosen. This can be seen in Article 3 where
the content in the journal had been divided into three sub-components which are the language, the
learner and the learning process. Meanwhile, in Article 2, the seven individual differences are discussed
separately under their own topics subsequently. This is a very important step to be followed as a
systematic and organised article is easier to be read. It helps the reader to comprehend the content, to
determine the main idea and to seek for the elaboration for each idea accurately. This will make the
reading process to be an easy ride and eventually, the article would be appealing to the reader as it is
pleasant and conducive to them.

2. Language

Other than that, the usage of easy words and familiar jargon is also listed as one of the advantages
of these articles. Except for Article 5, we all agreed that most of the journals used language and jargon
which is on the moderate level coupled with non-complex sentences. For instance, in Article 2, most of
the sentences are short and simple. On the other side, Article 3 is filled with readable yet eloquent words
This is crucial to help the readers to easily understand the message that they writers try to convey
through their writing by avoiding orotund language. On top of that, the usage of easy language and
everyday jargon also important for the reader to avoid taking much time just to comprehend the meaning
of the words let alone to finish pages of articles. Laufer and Sim (1985a, 1985b) show that FL learners
seem to rely more on word meaning than on knowledge of the subject or syntax. This means that a
certain size of vocabulary has to be known to the learners before they approach a text comfortably.
Furthermore, in order to comprehend a text, readers should be familiar with 95 per cent of the words in
the text at any level (Hirsch & Nation, 1992) Hence, by helping the readers to understand the text, the
writers also help them (the readers) to save the time which they used to read the entire journals. This
would absolutely be a great benefit to the second language learners who might need to read the journal
for academic purpose.

3. Clear explanation

Another criterion that would makes a journal seems more appeal to the readers would be the way
the writer present the elaboration for each point. In every piece of writing, elaboration for the points

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mentioned is the vital part for the readers for they need to comprehend the relationship between each
point and the objective of the article. Even though some of the journals may keep the explanation simple
and short, however it has been presented in precise and concise manner. Other than that, these
explanations are also crucial so that the readers would gain a lot of other benefit from it rather than for
comprehension purpose only. This is shown in every journals where numerous of new and useful
information can be obtain in the explanation part which can be implement by the reader in their daily
life. For instance, in the Article 2 and 1, an explicit discussion regarding types of personality and second
language learning. From that particular discussion, the readers may check for themselves which
personality that they are belongs to and how to use the personality in order to improve their second
language acquisition process.

4. Comparison between two cultures

When most of the articles are focusing their studies mainly on the English language associated
societies, a comparison made in the Article 5 between two different societies is simple a fresh idea. In
Article 5, the writers who studied the effect of sociocultural toward the second language acquisition,
choose to compare the culture of two different societies which are China and USA. This is a good
attempt to escape from the usual routine of generalizing the theories in SLA by using one type of
language only. In doing a research, generalization would likely to lead to low in validity of the content
which would consequently raise questions and issues regarding on how reliable the research is in near
future. Thus, involving more than one language and the society which speak the language in a research
helps in making the research more appealing and trustworthy for the readers to use it for their own
benefit.

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WEAKNESSES

Although the papers may have their own strengths, some of them exhibit few weaknesses that have to
be addressed in order to produce a good research article. One of the weaknesses is:

1. Limited Focus and Coverage

This weakness can be identified in Article 3 and 5 where the focus is mostly in America plus
China for the fifth article. This can be considered as a weakness because a good research paper can be
generalised and applicable for other parts of the world. The limited focus will result in low
representativeness because it may not applicable in other countries where the cultural context might be
different. You want to survey as large a sample size as possible; the larger the standard deviation, the
less accurate your results will be, since smaller sample sizes get increasingly further away from the
entire population (Simmons, n.d.)

As opposed to these articles, the other three documents are more general and could be used as
a yardstick for other countries.

2. Too Short and Simple

As for this weakness, it can also be detected in Article 3 and 5. The elaboration and the
paragraphs are too short for a sophisticated research purpose. Interestingly, Article 2 may have covered
everything on the topic but it was only on the surface and not in depth. As a result, these articles could
hinder the outcome of a particular research and may lead to misinterpretation of the facts and messages
that are being introduced by the writers.

3. No/Less Explorations and Findings by the Writers Themselves

This weakness is portrayed in Article 2, 3 and 4 where the writers only quoted from other
researchers and there was no finding from their own. This is the shortcoming of an article because it is
not a research journal where the verdicts are mixed with the writers own research and citations from
other researchers. As a result of this limitation, the validity of the articles could be questioned because
the writers did not have his/her own researches as a guideline to stay objective while writing the paper.

4. No Graphical Representation

As for this shortcoming, it can be identified in all five articles that we have reviewed. There is
no graphical representation of the data statistics, pie chart, line chart, etc. in all articles. We viewed it
as a weakness because the visual representation could provide the readers with more concrete evidence
from the researches. The writers should provide some statistics for the cited researches number of
research samples, the affected races, etc. By doing this, the reliability of the article and research will be
high and it will benefit the readers and other people who are studying the topic in the articles.

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5. Some Words do not Have Proper Explanation

This weakness can be seen in article 5 where some words are not well-explained by the writer.
In this case, the words are confrontation and familiarization. The account provider did not explain
the meaning of these words later in the article and it could cause confusion amongst readers especially
those who are not well versed in this linguistic field. The writer of the 5th document only highlighted
the words in Key words section (without explanation) and it could hamper the reading for some people.

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APPLICATIONS IN TEACHING
Based on 5 articles that we have reviewed, there are several suggestions that we managed to
get in order to apply them in teaching second language. First of all is based on Article 1 and 2 where
they discussed about the factors that influence second language acquisition. These two articles can be
read by teachers or future teachers because it consists a lot of information on how to improve the quality
of teaching language. For example is learning styles as one of the factors that is stated in Article 1 and
2 because it explains on how all students have different styles of learning and attaining language thus
teachers can take note on that factor and use different teaching methods so that it can cater all students.
This is also can be seen in Article 3 because it explains how learners have different ways of learning
process thus teachers need to identify and acknowledge learners; capabilities in acquiring second
language and use suitable techniques in teaching to help students learn in their own styles and pace.

Not only the teaching methods but also the environment in classroom is also important in
helping students learning process. Based on Article 4, we think that teachers need to create affective
teaching environment so that students are comfortable and feel more motivated. This environment can
be created by having a great social interaction between both between teachers and students, and students
and students. By having great social interaction in classroom, students would feel more motivated to
study because they feel belonged in that learning space. This is also supported by Article 3 because it
emphasis on motivation that can be created in classroom. Intrinsic motivation is closely related to
interactions in classroom because peers that can help students learn better give them the feel of self-
esteem. Therefore, the classroom environment is very crucial in creating a comfortable learning space
and it enhance the motivation in students which will lead to a higher success rate.

Last but not least is exposing students with authentic materials such as videos because it would
help students to have a vivid look on how the language is wielded on a day to day basis by native
speakers. By learning language, students would also learn the culture that come along with the language
thus exposing them to authentic materials will help in acquiring the language faster and easier. Not only
that, teachers also can introduce students to native speakers either in real life or through videos on the
net. If students listen to how native speakers speak, they would be tend to learn faster. However,
speakers chosen need to have specific criteria such as the speed of speaking and the accent because
students would have a hard time in understanding speakers that talk very fast and with a thick accent
especially students with low proficiency level. In conclusion, teaching language would be easier if the
students are exposed to the culture of the language itself.

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CONCLUSION
In conclusion, there are a few things that we have managed to highlight based on our review.
Firstly, we have found that based on the five articles we reviewed, motivation, age and learning styles
are among the essential factors that influence second language acquisition. Almost all articles
mentioned these factors as an important aspect of learning a second language. This goes to show that
motivation, age and learning styles are something that should be given extra consideration upon
teaching a second language. This will ensure higher rate of success in obtaining and mastering second
language among students. By identifying and making use of knowledge from researches done by
researchers, we can ensure effective teaching can be implemented and executed.

There are several strengths and weaknesses that we found as we analysed all the articles. We
have all agreed that the articles that we all chose are systematic and organized. The language used is
rather simple and easily understood. The articles also gave clear and concise explanation to the readers.
On the other hand, we also found that the articles have limited coverage and focus. Most of our articles
provide focus for America hence is not representative to other parts of the world. Some of the articles
are also too short and simple. The elaborations might not be enough for the readers to further enhance
their understanding. Next, there are limited or no explorations by the writer of the articles themselves
in which might raise questions regarding the validity of the articles since the writers do not have a
guideline when writing their articles. There are also no graphical presentation in the articles and some
of the words are not explained properly.

Upon analysing all the articles, we are able to come up with strategies and applications of these
factors in teaching. For instance, in order to ensure effective teaching, we need to identify and
acknowledge learners capabilities. By doing this, we can know accommodate and plan the best
teaching strategies for them. Next, to ensure effective learning, teacher is responsible to create an
affective learning environment as well as maximize motivation. If the learning environment is
conducive and motivating, learning process is easier. Lastly, using authentic materials in teaching can
provide opportunities for students to understand better as they have an idea of how the language is used
in their surroundings. For instance, video is a great choice of teaching materials as they provide a vivid
look on how the language is wielded in daily interactions.

Lastly, we personally believe that these articles are helpful for teachers as well as students to
understand the process of language acquisition and the factors that might influence the learning process.
If we are able to understand and know in detail of all the things that are essential in language learning,
the rate of success will increase and learning process will be more enjoyable and relatively easy for
both teacher and learner.

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REFERENCES

1. Ellis, R. (1986). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2002). An Introduction to Language. Boston:
Wadsworth
3. Richards. J, Platt. J, & Weber. H. (1985). Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. England:
Longman
4. Simmons, A. E. (n.d.). The Disadvantages of a Small Sample Size. Retrieved November 14, 2016,
from http://www.ehow.com/info_8448532_disadvantages-small-sample-size.html
5. Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
6. Jiang, W. (2000) The Relation between Culture and Language [J]. ELT Journal. Oxford
University Press. 54(4): 328-334.
7. Zhang, J. (2006). Sociocultural factors in second language acquisition. Sino-US English
Teaching. (Vol. 3, No. 5, Serial No. 29)
8. Zafar & Meenakshi (2012), Individual Learner differences & Second Language Acquisition : A
Review , Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 639-646
9. Koren (1999), Vocabulary Instruction through Hypertext: Are There Advantages Over
Conventional Methods of Teaching? , Volume 4, No 1 http://www.tesl-
ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume4/ej13/ej13a2/

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APPENDIX

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