Acquisition of Secondary Langu

The acquisition of a second language is a hotly debated topic in the world of linguistics. In a world more accessible to everyone and cultures freely mixing, the acquisition of a second, third, or greater language can be incredibly helpful. Teachers, businessmen, politicians and anyone merely interested in traveling often finds it useful to acquire another language to better exchange ideas or fit into another culture. However, second language acquisition in adults rarely has the same success as is found in children. Thus, in an attempt to make acquiring secondary languages easier, linguists are searching for the answer as to why learning languages is so much more difficult for adults than for children.

Several things happen when an adult tries to learn a foreign language, according to Robert Bley-Vroman in his article The Logical Problem of Foreign Language Learning. First, there is a variation from adult to adult in level and rate of success. In mentally healthy children, language acquisition, whether it be the first or subsequent language they have been exposed to, is almostalways successful. The success rate in adults, when compared to the level that children achieve,

Flaws do exist in White’s argument, however. The group she chose to test on acquired their second language (English) at a relatively earlier age (adolescence). As she readily admits, Bley-Vroman’s theory might still be correct if it allows that the Universal Grammar may not disappear until after adolescence. Further testing needs to be done on both ends of this argument. At this point all Bley-Vroman has is a theory and all White has done is find a questionable counter example. An easy solution to this would be to do more field research.

is almost zero (Bley-Vroman 6). Secondly, adults set different goals for themselves and are generally satisfied when they reach them. These goals vary, and the success adults have in reaching them vary, but usually these goals fall far short of true fluency. Some adults only strive to be able to communicate effectively in the language, not caring so much about grammar or syntax, while others strive for perfect grammar at the expense of a slower ability to communicate. Finally, when an adult reaches this level, fossilization occurs. Fossilization is when an adult reaches a certain stage in the acquisition of a second language and can make no further progress in the long term. There may be noticeable changes in a controlled learning environment, but they tend not to last (Bley-Vorman 9).

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