My personal essay on learning English as a second language in adulthood

      LEARNING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN ADULTHOOD 

           No other species on the planet uses language or writing - a mystery that remains unsolved even after thousands of years of research. Italian cardinal Joseph Caspar Mezzofanti is said to have spoken more than 38 languages fluently and read a further 12, at the time of his death in 1849. If only he had left us with some magic formula to learn so many languages. However, he did study conscientiously, daily, for years. Most adult learners do not have many years to study language, so in order to learn English as a second language, new and even revolutionary teaching methods are called for. This essay contains all the details concerned with learning English as a second language in adulthood.

         In this essay, it is accepted that the purpose of acquiring a second language is communicative competence, which is the ability to use the language correctly and appropriately to accomplish communication goals. The process of language learning is incredibly complex and even more so when learning a second language. To understand learning English as second language it is necessary to be aware of the differences in the learning process in adults and children. There seem to be as many hypotheses as there are linguists. Experts suggest an innate capacity in every human being to acquire language. It is argued that the human mind is hardwired to learn language; we just add our own specific language content. This seems to correspond with Krashen's theory (as quoted in Krashen, S.D. and Terrell, T.D. (1983)) that defines two independent systems of second language performance in adults; 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'. The acquired system refers to how children acquire a first language, on the contrary the learned system or learning is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge of form of language, for example knowledge of grammar rules, which poses the question why this process is perceived to be so much more complex and difficult in adults.

        First and foremost, there are many things that one should take into consideration when encouraging learning English as a second language in adulthood. Neurological considerations must be taken. This enables an individual to find out how easy or how hard it will be for an adult to study English as a second language. I say this because there have been extensive debates on whether there is a cut-off period, after which language learning is near impossible or at least extremely difficult. The Critical Period Hypothesis, as suggested by numerous researchers, was a window period in early development, when language learning seemed to be achieved without particular effort. Lenneberg (1967) stated that after the "critical period" the two brain hemispheres become specialized in function, in a process called cerebral lateralization. This results in a decrease of brain plasticity. There is no empirical proof of this hypothesis, but if there had been, would these difficulties prove insurmountable? As adults, our ability to hear and understand a second language becomes more and more difficult with age, but the adult brain can be retrained to pick up foreign sounds more easily again. Dr. Iverson said: "Adult learning does not appear to become difficult because of a change in neural plasticity. Rather, we now think that learning becomes hard because experience with our first language 'warps' perception.

         Secondly, cognitive considerations must be taken into consideration. The term cognition comes from the Latin verb congnosco (con 'with' + gnōscō 'know'), itself a loanword from the Ancient Greek verb gnόsko "γνώσκω" meaning 'learning' (noun: gnόsis "γνώσις" = knowledge), so broadly, 'to conceptualize' or 'to recognize'. Education has the explicit task in society of developing cognition.

Language acquisition in early childhood does not seem to depend as much on aptitude, motivation and the teacher, as do language learning in late childhood and adulthood. Children acquire their mother tongue through interaction with their parents and their environment. Their need to communicate paves the way for language acquisition to take place. It is generally accepted that younger learners fare better in phonemic coding, but older learners fare better in analysing language, the ability to work out the "rules" of a language through metacognitive processes. Adult learners are quicker to use code-switching, that is, formulating or comprehending ideas from a variety of input sources, to form a complete picture. Ellen Rosansky, in Brown (2000:p. 61) offers an explanation noting that initial language acquisition takes place when the child is highly "centred" or one dimensional. A child is not only egocentric at this time, but when faced with a problem, can focus (and then only fleetingly) on one dimension at a time. Adults are more consciously aware of learning a second language, which might lead to over analysing of learning. Children learn by listening first. Long before they can speak, they can understand what others are saying. For adults reading is usually the first and easiest skill to acquire, while listening is the most difficult. Even students who know most of the words of a conversation (when they see them written) still can't pick up a conversation in full flow. Cognition develops as a process of moving from the states of doubt and uncertainty (questions) to stages of resolution and certainty (answers) and then back to further doubt that is, in time, also resolved. And so the cycle continues. Language interacts with cognition to achieve a state of equilibrium. Adult learners might be frustrated by the ambiguities and contradictions in a new language and be discouraged by this, although the greater discipline, motivation and clear goal definition of adults, seem to negate this. Influenced by Krashen and Terrell's Natural Approach (1983), the emphasis on communicative methodology in language teaching has brought about a shift away from the use of drill and practice in the classroom. Swain's 1985 study showed that while rote or mechanical learning does have a place in the classroom, in order to be effective, it must be linked to subject matter of use and interest to the learner. A further interesting phenomenon that has yet to be explored is the role that students' output in drills may also function as input and how this input contributes to acquisition.

         Moreover, the next component besides Critical Period Hypothesis of second language acquisition is the variables related to the age factor. Age as an affective factor brings about different performance levels in second language learning, these can be motivation, anxiety, self-confidence, attitude, learning styles and so on. The factors most relevant to second language acquisition (SLA) are: motivation, opportunity, environment, and individual personality. Research on the relationship between motivation and second language acquisition is on-going. Current research looks at instructional practices that teachers use to generate and maintain learner motivation and strategies through which learners themselves take control of factors that have an impact on their motivation and learning, such as lack of self-confidence, change of goals, or distractions (Dornyei, 2003; Noels, Clement, and Pelletier, 2003). Vivian Cook, a researcher in second language acquisition, differentiates between "integrative" and "instrumental" motivation. "Integrative" motivation refers to the motivation to learn a language in order to take part in the culture affiliated with the language, and tends to correlate more with younger learners. "Instrumental" motivation refers to the motivation to learn a language for more abstract goals such as career advancement, self-improvement, or self-empowerment, and applies more to older learners (Cook, Vivian. Second Language Learning and Language Teaching, 2008).A learner's motivation may vary from day to day and even from task to task (Dornyei, 2002b; Dornyei and Kormos, 2000). Using varied and challenging instructional activities helps learners stay focused and engaged in instructional content (Dornyei and Csizer, 1998). Research examining how to improve learner motivation suggests that social factors (e.g., group dynamics, learning environment, and a partner's motivation) affect a learner's attitude, effort, classroom behaviour, and achievement (Dornyei, 2002b). From the above descriptions it can be derived that motivation is proportionate to the desire to reach certain goals. This clearly demonstrates the importance of goal setting. In the famous words of Henry Ford - "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."

       Additionally, For the most part, research confirms that the linguistic and cognitive process of second language learning in children is similar to that of first language learning. Adults, more cognitively secure, operate from the solid foundation of their first language and thus experience more first language interference. Adults make errors not unlike some of the errors children make, because of the creative perception of the second language and an attempt to discover its rules apart from the rules of first language. Adults more readily use their first language to bridge gaps that cannot be filled by generalization within the second language. In this case we do well to remember that the first language can be a facilitating factor, and not just an interfering factor. Discussion of linguistic considerations for English second language students would not be complete without mentioning the differences between basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) and its implications to the content area teacher. Research (Hawkins, 2001, p. 376) has shown that "BICS are characterized by social communication skills which are context embedded and cognitively undemanding" and this, the language of the playground is, usually attained in about two years of second language instruction. CALP, on the other hand, takes students an average of 5-7 years to master, requiring language skills that will aid in the "successful participation in content area classrooms where instruction using language is context reduced and cognitively demanding". Age is not everything in second language learning. Julia Van Sickle and Sarah Ferris (as quoted in Singleton, 2005) states the following, "One of the dangers of the emphasis on critical periods is that it prompts us to pay too much attention to when learning occurs and too little attention to how learning might best occur" (p. 105). The need for teaching English as a second language to adults has recently exploded due to the globalization of business and English being adopted as the preferred business language. The teaching challenges, methods and environment specific to adult language teaching, is not well charted territory as opposed to teaching foreign or second languages to young learners. Care should be taken that the need for adjusting old methods and creating new methods, is not seen as difficulties. Many teachers feel threatened because they are forced out of their comfort-zone. This was the same experience when Communicative Language Teaching was originally adopted in classrooms. Today it is the most preferred method worldwide. Language teaching to adults should be seen as an opportunity to develop new methodology, reach new goals and achieve different but equally rewarding outcomes.

        However, Another important consideration or dimension in the way in which learners learn a foreign language in a formal  classroom  setting,  is  the  preference  which  the  display  towards  either  visual or auditory input. Visual learners prefer reading and studying graphic information whereas auditory learners prefer to listen to lectures. As Brown (2000) noted, successful learners generally utilize both visual and auditory input, although tending to ‘lean; slightly to one or the other.  Joy  Reid  (1987)  conducted  a  study  of  adult  ESL  learners  using  a  self-reporting questionnaire where subjects rated their own preferences on a  five point scale ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’. Results showed that Korean students were  more  visually  orientated  than  English  speaking  Americans  and  Japanese and Chinese students were the least auditory. Factors such as gender, academic field of study and level of education were found to have an impact on the preferences of her subjects. These findings highlighted the importance of recognizing the various style preferences of  learners  and  of  not  assuming  that  they  are  necessarily  related  to  cultural  and  linguistic factors alone.

        In addition, Physiological studies have found that speaking two or more languages is a great asset to the cognitive process. The brains of bilingual people operate differently than single language speakers, and these differences offer several mental benefits. One of them is that it facilitates communication. Obviously, communication plays a vital role in our lives. Therefore, I believe that acquiring a second language, specifically, English creates the opportunity for an individual to communicate with people that speak English around the world. It does not only provide the opportunity to communicate with people who speak English, but it also creates the opportunity for the new language acquirer to teach others the language. Indeed, this would enhance communication.

        Also, another advantage is that one builds multitasking skills. Multilingual people, especially children, are skilled at switching between two systems of speech, writing, and structure. According to a study from the Pennsylvania State University, this “juggling” skill makes them good multitaskers, because they can easily switch between different structures. In one study, participants used a driving simulator while doing separate, distracting tasks at the same time. The research found that people who spoke more than one language made fewer errors in their driving. This clearly tells us that the learning of English as a second language in adulthood would add more skills to the skills that adults already have.

         Again, one staves off Alzheimer’s and dementia. Several studies have been conducted on this topic, and the results are consistent. For monolingual adults, the mean age for the first signs of dementia is 71.4. For adults who speak two or more languages, the mean age for those first signs is 75.5. Studies considered factors such as education level, income level, gender, and physical health, but the results were consistent. This even balls down to the fact that learning a second language during adulthood improves an adults brain memory and helps prevents Alzheimer’s disease which is a progressive neurologic disease of the brain leading to the irreversible loss of neurons and the loss of intellectual abilities, including memory and reasoning, and dementia which comes from Latin de meaning "apart" and mens from the genitive mentis meaning "mind". Dementia is the progressive deterioration in cognitive function - the ability to process thought (intelligence). Why wouldn’t adults want to learn English as a second language?

         To add to the advantages above, adults become more perceptive. A study from Spain’s University of Pompeu Fabra revealed that multilingual people are better at observing their surroundings. They are more adept at focusing on relevant information and editing out the irrelevant. They’re also better at spotting misleading information. Is it any surprise that Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot are skilled polyglots?

         On the contrary, there are some disadvantages to the teaching of English to adult students as well. The first disadvantage is that English learning makes a strong demand on adult learners in terms of time. As a matter of fact, it is really difficult for adult students to make time to learn English. As most institutions and centers teach English in the evening adult students have to study after work. Three one-hour-and-a-half sessions or three three-hour sessions a week seem not to add up to a lot of time but not all adult students can manage to set aside that much time for study purposes. The simple reason is that they all have their own lives to live outside the classroom or they all have other commitments in life than learning English. As a result, some students fail to invest as much time and effort in learning as they should. Of course, teachers will have difficulty in monitoring the performance and progress of those students who cannot attend class regularly.

      Furthermore, another factor that can interfere with or even impede adult students who are learning English is their fear of failure (in other words adults are too self-conscious) and frustration with lack of progress. As can be seen, some adult students are very successful professionals or have a high status at their work place. And now, at school they are just normal students coping with tasks, assignments, examinations, etc. as they have been successful in their career, they do not want to fail to achieve their desired goal of mastering English. They may therefore put themselves under unnecessary stress if they do not give themselves enough time to achieve their goals or if they set themselves unrealistic goals. Other students may be hard on themselves in a different way. For example, adult intermediate and advanced students, those who already know a lot, may find progress difficult to perceive. In this case, the teacher has more work to do: they must help these students get the level of challenge right or view success in a broader sense.

       Subsequently, the lack of well-qualified teachers and the poor physical conditions of the classrooms at some English language schools and centers can be damaging to student motivation. Currently, in Vietnam a great number of institutions and centers provide English courses and they range from universities and their satellite centers, joint-venture centers, privately-owned centers to privately-run home-based classes. Such proliferation of schools and centers is useful in the sense that it offers students a wide variety of programs to choose from. However, because of a lack of quality control, the reality of some schools and centers may fall short of student expectations. Some teachers are untrained or inexperienced, delivering boring or uninteresting lessons; the physical classroom conditions and resources for learning are just basic. All this cannot of course supply students in general and adult students in particular with any intrinsic motivation, a crucial factor for successful language learning.

        Finally, there are various learning strategies. In a helpful survey article, Weinstein and Mayer (1986) defined learning strategies (LS) broadly as "behaviours and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning" which are "intended to influence the learner's encoding process" (p. 315). Later Mayer (1988) more specifically defined LS as "behaviours of a learner that are intended to influence how the learner processes information" (p. 11). These early definitions from the educational literature reflect the roots of LS in cognitive science, with its essential assumptions that human beings process information and that learning involves such information processing. Clearly, LS are involved in all learning, regardless of the content and context. LS are thus used in learning and teaching math, science, history, languages and other subjects, both in classroom settings and more informal learning environments. For insight into the literature on LS outside of language education, the works of Dansereau (1985) and Weinstein, Goetz and Alexander (1988) are key, and one recent LS study of note is that of Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes and Simmons (1997). Within L2/FL education, a number of definitions of Language Learning Strategies have been used by key figures in the field. Early on, Tarone (1983) defined a LS as "an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language - to incoporate these into one's interlanguage competence" (p. 67). Rubin (1987) later wrote that LS "are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly" (p. 22). In their seminal study, O'Malley and Chamot (1990) defined LS as "the special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information" (p. 1). Finally, building on work in her book for teachers (Oxford, 1990a), Oxford (1992/1993) provides specific examples of LLS (i.e., "In learning ESL, Trang watches U.S. TV soap operas, guessing the meaning of new expressions and predicting what will come next") and this helpful definition. From these definitions, a change over time may be noted: from the early focus on the product of LSS (linguistic or sociolinguistic competence), there is now a greater emphasis on the processes and the characteristics of LLS. At the same time, we should note that LLS are distinct from learning styles, which refer more broadly to a learner's "natural, habitual, and preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills" (Reid, 1995, p. viii), though there appears to be an obvious relationship between one's language learning style and his or her usual or preferred language learning strategies. This shows that for individuals, specifically, adults to learn a second language and gain fluency and accuracy, there must be a learning strategy.

        In general, the learning of English as a second language in adulthood is good but complex. According to the facts laid above, it is evident that there are numerous factors that should be considered when an adult takes up English as a second Language. Though, adults may have difficulties learning English as a second language, it is obvious from the above text that to learn a second language during adulthood, there must be a learning strategy. As illustrated by the facts in this write up, it is justifiable to say that it is possible for an adult to learn English as a second language.