Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition

Posted on May 20, 2024 in Social sciences

Bilingualism

Definition

Bilingual: individuals or groups of people who obtain communicative skills, with various degrees of proficiency, in oral and/or written forms, in order to interact with speakers of one or more languages in a given society. Bilinguality encompasses both individual bilingualism and societal bilingualism.

Dimensions and Types

Bilingualism is a dynamic phenomenon with multiple dimensions.

Balanced vs. Dominant (Peal & Lambert)

  • Balanced: proficiency in both languages
  • Dominant: proficiency in one language more than the other

Compound, Coordinate & Subordinate (Weinreich)

These categories describe how linguistic codes are organized:

  • Compound: 2 sets of linguistic codes in 1 meaning unit
  • Coordinate: 2 sets of linguistic codes, 2 meaning units
  • Subordinate: L2 codes interpreted through L1

Early & Late Bilinguals

This classification depends on the age of exposure to the second language.

Classifications of Bilinguals

Social Variables

  • Folk Bilinguals vs. Elite Bilinguals (Fishman)
    • Folk Bilinguals: Belong to a language minority group; their own language doesn’t have high status in the dominant language society.
    • Elite Bilinguals: Speak the dominant language and another language.
  • Circumstantial & Elective Bilinguals (Figueroa)

    These dimensions are similar to Fishman’s classification.

  • Additive Bilinguals: L1 is kept & Subtractive Bilinguals: L1 is lost (Lambert)
  • Simultaneous Bilinguals: Exposure to both languages from birth

Proficiency

The combination of proficiency in two languages is considered for different aspects of language, including:

  • Traditional 4 skills domains: speaking, listening, reading, writing
  • Others: Real-life domains & language instructional domains, basic interpersonal communicative skills & cognitive/academic language skills

High proficiency is frequently ill-defined. Bilinguals’ language use is deeply embedded in context; depending on the topic of discussion, interlocutors, (in)formality, psychological/physical conditions. Mackey highlights the importance of alternation & interference in understanding bilingual proficiency. Grosjean introduces the concept of language mode: a state of activation of the bilingual’s languages and language processing mechanism, ranging from monolingual mode to bilingual mode.

The Construct of Language Proficiency

Studies have shown positive effects of bilingualism: balanced bilinguals exhibit higher cognitive levels than monolinguals. However, measuring proficiency presents challenges, with different perspectives including:

Formal Linguistic View

This view focuses on the syntax of languages and is influenced by Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar (UG). Key aspects include:

  1. Chomsky’s distinction between competence (knowledge of the language) and performance (use of the language).
  2. The”idea” speaker’s intuition of the syntax of their first language”in an homogeneous speech communit”.
  3. UG being specific to language -“task-specificit”, language not being a general cognitive system but the vehicle of cognitive growth.

This view focuses on the linguistic aspects of competence and communicative competence (knowledge and ability to use language).

Cognitive & Functionalist View

This view considers language acquisition to be data-driven and a part of general cognition. Aspects of language investigated extend from syntax to vocabulary, comprehension and production of oral and written languages, strategies, attention, metacognition, and translation. L2 acquisition is seen as cognitive problem solving. The main interest lies in learners’ linguistic information (how lexicons are organized & stored in memory), knowledge-based and control-based skills, the role of metacognition, the transition from cognitive to automatic processes, form-meaning mapping processes, attention shifts, and so on.

Socio-cultural View

This view stresses the social and interpersonal communicative aspects of language. Socio-cultural approaches to second language acquisition are concerned with both the variation of language and the sociological and socio-psychological aspects of language. It examines how L2 learners show contextual variability depending on variables such as the linguistic environment (Dickerson), social norms of L1 variation (Schmidt), interaction partners (Beebe and Zuengler), and the function of interaction (Tarone).

Challenges in Proficiency Assessment

  1. Individual differences
  2. Socio-cultural background
  3. Proficiency assessment often encounters the problem of the”ideal monolingua” as a benchmark.

The Age Factor in L2 Acquisition

Age is a factor related to proficiency in the language, marking a difference between learning L1 and L2.

Snow and Hoefnagal-Hohle Study

This study compared three groups:

  • Children: After a 10-month exposure to L2, the children caught up with the adult group.
  • Youth (12-15): Showed the most rapid progress.
  • Adults: Advantage only in the short term

Newport’s research suggests that the age of first exposure influences mastery of certain language domains but not others, and age effects seem to start much earlier than puberty.

Critical Period Hypothesis

Lenneberg (1967) proposed a critical period for language acquisition that starts at 1 year of age and ends at puberty. However, there is no consensus on the onset and closure of the critical period.

Characteristics of the Critical Period

  1. Well-defined beginning and end points for the period.
  2. Well-defined decline in L2 acquisition at the end of the period.
  3. Evidence of qualitative differences in learning between learners in and outside the period.
  4. Environmental variation inside the critical period.

Final Thoughts on the Critical Period

While studies support the existence of a critical period, it is not certain. There is agreement on the decline in learning ability with age for older learners. The question of whether or not a”critical perio” exists in L2 acquisition has yet to be definitively answered.

Other Factors

  • Non-biological variables may be better predictors of language proficiency than the age of immigration.
  • Other non-biological factors are closely interrelated to age.
  • Educational factors have a direct effect on language domains related to academic settings.

The Interaction Between L1 and L2

Influence of Learners’ First Languages

  • Contrastive analysis: L1 has primary influence over L2 acquisition.
  • Behaviorism: Language acquisition is habit formation, and L1 habits interfere with L2 habits.
  • L1 is not always influential in L2; not all errors are part of transfer. This led to the concept of interlanguage.
  • Positive & negative transfer = facilitation/interference
  • Crosslinguistic influence: Transfer from L2 to L1 is not unidirectional.
  • Recent studies (Koda) suggest that L1 affects L2 acquisition and cognitive procedures.
  • Distance between languages: The greater the distance between two languages, the longer it takes to learn.
  • Semilingualism: Lack of proficiency in any language.

Socio-psychological Factors

  • Identity and motivation develop in a sociocultural context. Language acquisition is part of culture, and language development is an acculturation process.
  • Motivation stems from attitude, where motivation is composed of instrumental and integrative motivation.
  • Instrumental motivation: Based on functional goals.
  • Integrative motivation: A desire to integrate into the target language group and culture.
  • The relationship between attitude and L2 performance is bi-directional: positive attitudes lead to higher achievement.