Understanding the Acquisition of English as an Additional Language
Factors that Influence How English Language Learners LearnVarious personal and environmental factors can influence English language proficiency and the rate of language development. What Are Social Environment Factors That Affect Language Acquisition?Social Setting Community attitudes towards gender roles, class structure, cultural identity, ways to show respect to elders (including teachers), and attitudes towards language learning can all influence how a student approaches learning English. Situational Factors Situational factors include circumstances related to the student’s family or living situation. If the student is a newcomer to Canada, situational factors could include circumstances surrounding the student’s move to the community. Understanding an English language learner’s individual situation can help teachers identify possible challenges (e.g., stress, emotional trauma) and opportunities (e.g., family and community supports). What Are Learning Environment Factors That Affect Language Acquisition?Positive Learning Environment Creating a learning environment in which the student feels comfortable taking risks is critical in promoting English language development. As well, support in learning grade-level content helps ensure the student experiences academic success and develops a positive self-identity. Promotion and Support of the Home Language The home languagehome language: the dominant language that a student uses at home to communicate with family members is the dominant language that a student uses at home to communicate with family members, but it is not a language that the student routinely uses at school. Viewing the student’s home language as an asset rather than a deficit, and encouraging the student to maintain and further develop home language proficiency can help the student in many ways—personally, socially, and academically. The level of proficiency in the home language can influence a student’s success in learning English. Generally, the greater the proficiency in the home language, the stronger the language base the student has to draw upon to learn English. Incorporating the home language in the student’s learning can support the development of English language proficiency. It can also promote the student’s confidence and self-identity and the valuing of their home culture and language. For more information on the importance of the home language in English language acquisition, see Encouraging the Use of Home Languages. Instructional Strategies The instructional strategies that teachers use can greatly influence the student’s English language development. Instructional strategies should be selected to suit the needs of the individual English language learner. For instructional strategies that are effective with English language learners, refer to Making a Difference: Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated instruction (Chapter 9); Supporting English as a Second Language Students: Promising ESL strategies in Alberta; and Working with Young Children who are Learning English as a New Language. Examples of strategies that are effective for use with English language learners include
For more teaching and learning strategies that are effective with English language learners, refer to the English as a Second Language (ESL) Guide to Implementation, Kindergarten to Grade 9 and the English as a Second Language Senior High School Guide to Implementation. What Are Student Characteristics and Traits That Affect Language Acquisition?Age The age at which a student is exposed to an additional language impacts the acquisition of that language. Children who are exposed to another language by 12 years of age are more likely to achieve native-like fluency in the new language. That is, they sound like a native speaker and pick up the grammatical patterns of the target language through immersion. However, older students generally have a greater knowledge base of vocabulary, ideas, and concepts on which to build new understandings. Therefore, they may be able to acquire an additional language more rapidly than some younger students (see What Is Common Underlying Language Proficiency (CULP)?). Students who have literacy skills developed in one language can transfer this learning when acquiring an additional language (see Using Iceberg Models to Explain English Language Learner Profiles). Attitude A student’s attitude towards the English language and Canadian culture influences his or her development as a language learner. Parents/caregivers and community members can play a role in encouraging students to have a positive attitude about learning English. Motivation A student’s motivation to learn and use a new language can also influence the rate and level of language development. Fortunately, students learning English in an English majority context, like in Alberta, are generally highly motivated to learn English. Providing encouragement, tools, and resources will help English language learners feel competent and will accelerate their progress in acquiring English. Personality and Cultural Factors A student’s personality and cultural factors may also influence the development of language proficiency. For example:
Learning Disabilities A student who experiences challenges acquiring English or appears to have greater challenges progressing in a language domain (listening, speaking, reading, or writing) may need to be assessed for underlying factors that may impact English language acquisition. Explicit instruction, scaffolding, targeted language support, and the appropriate use of technology can directly support the learning of students with diverse learning needs. How Do Skills and Experiences Affect Learning?Existing Skills The skills, including language skills, that students possess can influence the acquisition of English as an additional language. Teachers should be aware of the skills that students have in a variety of contexts and seek to integrate these skills into their learning (e.g., the ability to draw, type, navigate the Internet, play a sport or an instrument, or solve problems). Students will also have language skills that they developed in their home languagehome language: the dominant language that a student uses at home to communicate with family members, such as:
Students learning English as an additional language will have numerous strategies for using these kinds of language skills. Student Use of Learning Strategies Language-learning strategies are thoughts, actions, behaviours, and techniques that students use consciously, and sometimes subconsciously, to help them learn, use, and understand an additional language. Students who develop and use a repertoire of language-learning and language-use strategies are often more successful language learners. English language learners may not have been taught language-learning strategies in their previous academic experiences and may require support in acquiring and using language-learning strategies. For example, one very useful language-learning strategy is using circumlocution, which means overcoming vocabulary gaps by describing something when the word for it is not known. Another important strategy is using and interpreting nonverbal gestures, such as facial expressions, shoulder shrugging, and pointing to support communication. Language-learning strategies, like the ones in Language-learning Strategies for English Language Learner, are important tools for English language learners and should be explicitly taught and encouraged. Prior Knowledge English language learners bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experiences, which may be related to such things as languages, culture, storytelling, life in other parts of Canada or other parts of the world, technology, prior schooling, and personal interests. Teachers should encourage English language learners to relate their new learning to their prior knowledge, including their knowledge of other languages, to help build understanding and value what they already know. Limited Formal Schooling English language learners who are refugees may not have had a formal education or they may have had breaks in their schooling due to war, trauma, or natural disasters. As a result, they may not have the foundational skills (e.g., literacy and concepts) for successful learning in either their home languagehome language: the dominant language that a student uses at home to communicate with family members or in English. Because students with limited formal schooling need time to develop foundational literacy skills, it will likely take more time for them to learn English than other newcomer students who are English language learners. As well, students with limited formal schooling have to develop an understanding of foundational and pre-requisite concepts in order to engage successfully with Alberta’s curriculum—and this conceptual knowledge needs to be developed in English, their new language. Explicit language instruction, literacy development, and high-interest/low-vocabulary resources are required to support these students at school. |
