In my high school, there was one classroom where no native English speaker entered. It was a room filled with flags and pictures from around the world. It was a room filled with students from around the world. One could say that when you looked into the classroom all you saw was darkness: dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin. The area of my high school had a large population of Burmese and Hispanic, mostly Mexican, students. They never left that classroom. They never had class with American students. The occasional intermixture of Americans and foreigners was mostly in two places, the Spanish Club and on the soccer field.

My high school divided the “foreigners,” the “ESL students,” from the Americans. They made what Ilona Leki calls the “ESL ghetto.” Though I never wondered if they were being helped by being segregated, I always wanted to be in that classroom. Not only did I want to be with other Spanish-speakers, I also wanted to be with those who had similar cultures as to the one I left at a young age. Furthermore, I wanted to learn more of the Burmese culture, of their language, and of their political struggle, which led many of them to the States.

I found Theresa Jiinling Tseng’s article “Theoretical Perspectives on Learning Acquisition” really interesting because Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is something I find intriguing. Though she talks about the four major theories of SLA, I think we should look at L1 language acquisition. Yeah, we probably won’t remember how we learned – or acquired – the way we speak, but we have an idea. We learn by a combination of those four theories. Behaviorist: we learned by drill and practice. Just the other day, I saw a mother telling her daughter “what do you say when you burp?” She, from a very young age, was being drilled on what is done after certain actions, on what is considered courteous. Innate: we learned by listening, by hearing what sounds right or wrong. We learned at a young age that we don’t have tooths but rather teeth. Cognitive: like a dancer learning to waltz or like a young boy learning how to dribble a basketball, we learned to notice how things are pronounced or said and eventually imitated what we heard. And we learned by interaction. This can be done by speaking to others such as parents, friends, or even teachers. I don’t even know how many times I had to ask to go to the bathroom simply because I said one wrong word, can. I quickly learned the difference between may and can.

As we can see, the four main theories of SLA can fit as theories of native language acquisition. So, what big differences are there between the two? In what ways can SLA mirror native language acquisition? I think all four theories must be applied. This is difficult to do for many since they are unable to travel or live abroad. One great way to do this, however, is to use the internet. It is very easy to watch TV shows, movies, or documentaries in the L2 wanted to be learned and acquired. One can read books, magazines, blogs, and websites in that L2. One can even find a virtual pen pal, where she can use Instant Messaging to practice writing and also use a microphone to practice the pronunciation and listening. Furthermore, one can use a webcam to learn the kinesics and facial gestures used, as well. The pedagogy of any L2 still requires much research to help perfect the best acquisition, but I think that with the right research and the right pedagogy, we’ll be able to bring second and first language acquisition closer together, where the learning of either language is difficult to differentiate.

Leki, Ilona. "Before the Conversation: A Sketch of Some Possible Backgrounds, Experiences, and Attitudes Among ESL Students Visiting a Writing Center." ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors. 2nd ed. Eds. Shanti Bruce and Ben Rafoth. Boynton/Cook: Portsmouth, NH, 2009. 1-17.

Tseng, Theresa Jiinling. “Theoretical Perspecitves on Learning a Second Language”. ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors. 2nd ed. Eds. Shanti Bruce and Ben Rafoth. Boynton/Cook: Portsmouth, NH, 2009. 18-32.