PERSONAL REFLECTION

BY FAREEZA SAHEERA BINTI JAAFAR (191020469)

ENTRY DATE: 8 JULY 2020 (WEEK 3)
The topic that was covered during the lecture session on 8 July 2020 is regarding
the key issues in Second Language Acquisition which was introduced by Rod Ellis
in the year 1989. Based on the lecture that was given, there are seven key issues
in Second Language Acquisition. Before proceeding to the main part of this
entry, I would like to give a brief explanation on how far is my understanding
about the seven key issues of Second Language Acquisition. Firstly, one of the
key issues is the role of first language. Referring to the diagram below,
languages can be categorized into two which are cognate and non-cognate.

English
Examples of French
cognate
Spanish

Examples of Arabic
non-cognate Japanese

Usually, learners will find that first language knowledge would interfere with
the second language. L1 and L2 can be similar and in any other way or
somehow, L1 would actively aid the process of learning L2. The issue that is
undertaken into close look here is the interference. If L1 and L2 were similar,
the smaller will the interference be and this is indicated as Positive Transfer.
Meanwhile, if L1 and L2 is not similar, there will be areas of difficulty and this is
where the Contrastive Analysis Theory is developed.
The second key issue is the “Natural” route of development. The issue
focused on whether the route of development in L1 acquisition is matched with
the L2 acquisition. The issue is also known as L2=L1 hypothesis. This is because
the processes of L2 acquisition and L1 acquisition are very similar which can be
determined as a result of the strategies that learners employ. It also believed
that L2 = L1 hypothesis is investigated in two different ways which are “Error
Analysis” and “Longitudinal Studies of Second Language Learners”.
Besides that, another key issue would be Contextual Variation in
language-learner language. Errors usually show that learners do not simply
memorize the target language rules and then reproduce them in their own
utterances and the rules are usually differ from the target language. It is
important to acknowledge that contextual variation may exist into two contexts
which are situational and linguistic.
The fourth key issue is the Individual Learner differences which involves
five general factors that contribute to individual learner differences such as age,
aptitude, motivation and needs, personality and also most importantly, the
cognitive style.

Personalit
Age Aptitude
y

Motivation Cognitive
& needs Style
According to Ellis (1989), he wrote that ‘it is self-evident that second
language acquisition can take place only when the learner has access to
second language input’. This statement emphasized on the fifth key issue
which is the role of the input. It was also believed that L2 acquisition is
based on comprehensible input that is looked within the learner’s current
second language competence in the term of its syntactic complexity. This
is also known as i + 1. The fifth issue indicates that acquisition takes place
if the learner receives comprehensible input and comprehensible input is
claimed to have been provided only if the acquisition takes place.
The sixth key issue is the learner process. Ellis (1989) believed that
learners need to sift the input they receive and relate it to their existing
knowledge. There are three sets of learners’ strategies. They include
learning strategies, production strategies and communication strategies.
Meanwhile, the seventh key issue is the role of formal instruction which
can take many different forms and it makes the possibility that the route
of development is amenable to influence by certain methods but not by
others.
Based on all the key issues that I have studied, I have discovered that it is
important for an ESOL teacher to understand and be alert on these key
issues that it will help them to be more specific when delivering the
content knowledge on the target language to the learners. During the
lecture, my attention was caught through the discovery on how
interference may occur when a learner is in their learning process of L2
which can be actively aided by their L1. Not only that, the key issue that
focused on learner process which comes with three sets of learning
strategies is relatable that I have been wondering if anyone that is trying
to use their second language may actually gone through the same
strategies only that they did not know if it was the correct strategies or
not.
The topic has led me to the critical thinking on how any individuals may
struggle in a way that we would not understand how when they are trying
to communicate with us using their non-native language. This is when the
question arises if they could be in a state that the acquisition is not fully
obtained yet or it is just that there are key issues that they did not pass
yet and therefore, giving utterances that is incomprehensible when
communicating.
The seven key issues may not all be faced by all learners as every
individuals has different pace in their learning process but with the
perfect understanding on those key issues, it can give them the
awareness that it is okay to make mistakes but it is better to get it
improved by understanding on which part that is lacking when they are
learning a foreign or second language. Not only that, it is vital to discover
that there are reasons on why certain errors existed in learning languages
and it is completely normal to face it as a normal human being.
Another discovery that I have made while studying this topic is that
external factors that can influence learner’s second language acquisition
in formal instruction is the role of teacher. It is believed that teacher shall
be a transmitter and facilitator that can influence learner’s motivation.
One of the important things to highlight is that motivation does correlates
with achievement and it is assumed that learner with high motivation will
acquire the target language better than learner with low motivation. I
would strongly agreed to the fact that learners should be put on into high
motivation when attempting to learn a new language so that it wont tear
their spirit down when making errors.
In a nutshell, I would like to conclude that the seven key issues in
Second Language Acquisition is an interesting topic that could be assisting
any ESL teachers around the world while carrying their duty from time to
time.