Srie Novita Winda

20018035
Course: Introduction to Psycholinguistics

Children vs. adults in second-language learning

This seems to be backed up by the common observation that young second-language learners

seem to pick up another language quickly, just by exposure and without teaching. Factors

involved in second-language acquisition can be divided into two categories:

1. Psychological Factors. What shall be considered are the following factors: intellectual

processing, which is involved in an individual’s analytical determination of

grammatical structures and rules; memory, which is essential if language learning is

to occur and remain; and motor skills, which concern the pronunciation of the sounds

involved in the second language, the use of the articulators of speech (tongue, lips,

mouth, vocal cords, etc.). The role of motivation and attitude regarding the learning of

a second language will also be taken into consideration.

2. Social Factors. The types of situations, settings, and interactions which an individual

experience can affect the learning of a second language. In particular, the natural

situation (family, play, workplace) in contrast to the classroom situation will be

focused on. In addition, light will be shed on whether the second language is learned

in a foreign community (the EFL situation), or in the community of the first language

(the ESL situation).

- Basic psychological Factors Affecting Second-language Learning

someone can explain rules to you, explication, or you can figure them out for

yourself, induction.

Explication is the process whereby the rules and structures of a second

language are explained to a learner. This explanation is given in the first language of

the learner. The learner is then expected to understand, learn, and apply the rule in the

second language. Why a language cannot be learned completely by explication. While

parts of a second language can be learned by explication, it is impossible for it to be

learned entirely by explication. This is because not all the rules of language have been

discovered and written down. Even for a language such as English, the most

researched of all languages, one still finds linguistic journals discussing the concepts

involved in such features of English as tense and the article.

Induction, learning rules by self-discovery is the essence of the process of

induction. The child who is exposed to second-language speech and remembers what

he or she has heard will be able to analyze and discover the generalization or rule that

underlies that speech. Not only must the learner devise the rule based on the speech

that has been heard, but he or she must also figure out how those rules are to be

applied in other cases.

- Memory

Vocabulary Learning and Rote Memory. Second-language learners and

teachers are forever talking of practice and review. The reason that practice and

review is necessary at all is because of some lack in memory ability. So, the greater

the number of related occurrences needed for learning, the poorer a person’s memory

is.
 Syntax Learning and Episodic Memory. Memory is crucial for the learning of

grammatical structures and rules. For example, in order to determine the type of

questions that require ‘do’ (as in ‘Do you want some candy?’ but not in ‘Is the dog

barking?’), how to negate sentences, how to use politeness structures (‘Please, close

the door’, ‘Would you please close the door?’, ‘Would you be so kind as to close the

door?’), etc., memory is essential.

- Motor skills

Articulators of Speech. Motor Skills is a term that psychologists use to describe the

use of muscles in performing certain skills, from general ones like walking to fine

ones like writing and speech. The Motor Skills that are involved in speech utilize

what linguists call the articulators of speech. These include the mouth, lips, tongue,

vocal cords, etc., all of which are controlled by muscles that are under the general

control of the brain. The articulators of speech must do the right thing at the right time

if one is to utter sounds accurately.

Decline in General Motor Skills To be able to attain a high level of proficiency in a

motor skill, e.g., gymnastics, skating or piano playing, one should start young. The

reason is that somewhere around the age of 12 years, the ability to acquire new motor

skills begins to decline. This decline is due to the fact that the fine control of the

muscles of the body is as yet unknown, although, since the decline is of such a general

nature, involving many muscle groups, it seems likely to be due to some change in

central functioning in the brain.

Who is better? Children or adults?

we have a High on Natural Situation and a High on Inductive. They are Highs on both

Memory and Motor Skills.

Adults have a Low on Natural Situation and Highs on both Inductive and

Explicative intellectual learning. Unfortunately, the High on Induction does not help

much in learning syntax because the adult learner does not get enough relevant

language and non-language data for analysis through the Natural Situation.

Explication is not relevant to the Natural Situation because rarely will people be able

to explain grammatical points in the learner’s native language. Given these facts in

addition to the Medium on Memory and the Low on Motor Skills, the adult would be

expected to do quite poorly.

In the classroom situation, adults will do better than young children, because

not only are they better in explicative processing but, simply put, they know how to

be students.