Second Language Research

UNESCO defines a second language as “Any language acquired by a person in addition to his/her mother tongue (the language learnt first as a child)”

The goals of Second Language Research or SL research are significantly different from language acquisition, which generally refers to a first language. SL research is more focused on the how of second language acquisition (SLA) itself, to improve on language teaching techniques and to improve upon and contribute towards the theory of language acquisition. SL research is interested in the psychology and sociology of learning a second language. Problems such as the difference between speech and writing are researched.

While SL research is a fairly independent stream of research, it has its roots in other disciplines such as linguistics and psychology. Many of its questions stem from child language acquisition that seeks to answer the same questions. In general it tries to find an explanation about how the mind acquires two languages and handles two different grammatical structures, exploring whether they are two completely different processes or just different aspects of the same process.

SL research data can help in showing how the brain adapts to the additional task of another language and perceives and stores data and retrieves a particular language. SL research data is also relevant to education and the need to clearly identify second language problems and learning disabilities. It can also be used for people with special needs such as Alzheimer and Down syndrome.

Since SL research became a separate stream of inquiry from the 1960’s a variety of approaches have been used in answering the question of learning a second language. Early research focused on differences between the native (first) language and second language to predict areas of difficulty for the learners. Subsequent research focused on universal grammar, capabilities that are present in any SL learning regardless of first language of the learner or the target second language.

Current developments in this research has now increasingly stressed on other factors such as motivation, age and background of the individual. Key aspects such as the environment in which the second language is being learnt, the personality and also the gender of the learner are also considered. Effects of first language on the second language learning are also taken in to consideration.

There are three factors that are taken in to consideration during SL research:

1. Describing the language: This is used to characterize the unique features of the language being learnt.
2. External factors: How does a learner get information about a language?
3. Internal factors: This is the ability, motivation and other factors that the learner uses to learn a language

SL research plays an important role in improving techniques of language education and also gives us an insight into the workings of the human brain. It has grown in importance in recent years as the world increasingly shrinks from a social and economic perspective. Many people are voluntarily learning a second language for the purpose of business, travel, and education.