Language Environment

The language environment includes everything the language learners hear and see
in the new language. It holds very impportant roles in the success of language learners. It is
the responsibility of the second language teachers to create a good language environment to
their students. It can be done by incorporating language environment features into curriculum
objectives, teaching techniques, and materials.
There are two main factors which influence the language environment. They are
macro and micro environmental factors. Macro-environmental factors include naturalness of
the language heard, the learner’s role in communication, the availability of concrete referents
to clarify meaning, and who the target models are. Whereas micro-environmental factors
encompasses salience, feedback, and frequency. Here we will explain each of them briefly.

1. Macro-Environmental Factors
These factors directly affect the rate and quality of second language acquisition.They are:
a. Naturalness of the Language Heard
The natural language environment happens when the focus of the speaker is on
the content of the communication. If the focus of the speaker is on the form of the
language, it means that the language environment is formal. Both of the language
environments have their own benefits and limitation. The benefit of natural
environment is that the students can perform better and more fluency than in a formal
environment. Whereas the limitations are: lack of peers who speak the target language
natively, incomprehensibility of the communication, and lack of one’s silent period
(the time when one can absorb the new language but need not produce it). The
beneficials of formal environment are felt especially by adults. First, speakers may
modify their use of new language throgh some of the low level rulrs they know.
Second, it may satisfy the curiosity about the new language as well as the need to be
conciously aware of what they are learning. Moreover, it will increase accuracy in a
few structures of the new language while the subconscious system is being acquired.
Meanwhile the limitations of these environment is the small role that the conscious
knowledge of rules seems to play in either the acquisition or the coversational use of
the language.
 b. The Learner’s Role in Communication
There are three types of communication where the learners take part in it. They
are one-way communication (the learners listen or read but do not respond verbally),
restricted two-way communication (the learners listen and respond, but the responses
are either non-verbal or not in the target language), and the last is full two-way
communication (the learners respond in the target language). Some researchs show
that one-way and restricted two-way communication during the early part of second
language acquisition give a significant learning benefit. Delaying oral practice or just
observing a “silent period” until learners are ready to speak in the new language will
also give benefit to the classroom practices.
c. The Availability of Concrete Referents to Clarify Meaning
Concrete referents refer to any subjects and events that can be seen, heard, or
felt, while the language is being used. They help the learners to figure out the meaning
of the language used. A good language teacher should be aware of the necessityof
providing conrete referents for the new language. It can be done by providing visual
aids, activities, and other “here and now” topics to make the learners understand most
of what is being said in the new language.
d. Who the Target Models Are
There may be many speakers models available (anyone who speaks the target
language can be a potential model). The models can be the learner’s peers, the
teachers, the parents, and the ethnic groups. Yet the learners have their own model
preferences to be imitated. Several researches indicate the following preferences: peers
over teachers, peers over parents, and members of one’s own ethnic group over non-
members. The learner’s choice of model significantly affects the quality of speech
produced.

2. Micro-Environmental Factors
Micro-environmental factors refer to characteristics of specific structures of the language
the learners hear. They are:
a. Salience
Salience refers to particular characteristics that seem to make an item more
visually or auditory superior than another. The characteristics include the amount of
phonetic substance (whether the item is a syllable or not), the stress level on an item
(the amount of emphasis placed on it), and the item’s position in the sentence.
b. Feedback
Feedback refers to the listener’s or reader’s response given to the learner’s
speech or writing. There are three types of feedback: correction, approval (positive
feedback), and expansion (expanding or modifying the learner’s speech without
consiously calling attention to the modification). From these three types of feedback,
correction and expansion become the focus of research attention.
Several researches which involved different types of situation (ESL, FL, and
immersion), different modalities (oral, written), and different ages of students conclude
that correction, whether it is systematic or random, does not seem to be effective in
improving the acquisitin of the corrected structure. However, it may be used for other
purposes, such as to satisfy certain adult needs and to give grades . Whereas the effect
of expansion on the language development of children, according to some researches,
is not yet clear.
c. Frequency
Frequency refers to the number of times a learners hear a given structure.
Generally it is assumed that the more a learner hears a structure, the sooner it will be
acquired. Yet, the research done by Brown (1973) showed that there is no relation
between parental frequencies of certain structure and child’s order of acquisition.
However, frequency can be used to increase the probablility that learners will hear
structures which they are ready to process, increase the chance that they will be able to
attend to and process them.

Micro-environmental factors may affect second language learning only when learners
have reached certain points in their L2 development, such as they are “ready” to
internalize a given structure. Once a learner is ready to learn a structure, the high salience
or frequency of the structure may increasethe probability that the learner will notice the
structure and acquire it. Much more research is necessary before we can specify the
conditions under which micro-environmental factors affect language acquisition.