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Additional activity These factors influence the route of bilingual first language acquisition. Do you think they have a similar influence on students in bilingual education programmes here in Spain? Could you predict which factors could influence this second language acquisition in a positive / negative way? In order to give an accurate answer to these questions I will first address the similarity of 1st language and second language acquisition connected to the factors influencing the route of acquisition. Second, I will discuss and reason how these factors could influence on students learning a second language in bilingual education programmes. I believe that the factors influencing the route of bilingual first language acquisition have a similar influence on the students in bilingual education programmes. McLaughlin (1984) defines a bilingual first language as the individual exposed to two languages from birth until the age of 3. Therefore, these students are not considered to be acquiring a bilingual first language but a second language from an early age. However, first language and second language acquisition share some similarities, in particular, the personality and context. Both the social context, which can be considered to be part of the social factor, and the psychological traits of people are directly connected with the affective side of language learning, therefore, they play an essential role on the process of acquiring any language. It can be stated that the input will have an impact on the route of second language acquisition. This impact or effect will be explained in the following part of the answer. After having explained the similarities that both routes of language acquisition may have, I will now discuss which factors may have a positive and a negative influence on this second language acquisition. With regard to the social dimension, students acquiring English as a second language in a bilingual programme do not have the same social context as English natives do have. The Spanish society is mainly based on the Spanish language and according to 2011 INE survey (Spanish acronym for Statistic National Institute) almost 65% speak no English at all and, of the remaining 35%, few has advanced command of English. Consequently, this social reality might have opposite influences. On the one hand, regarding the macro-social dimension, that
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would be excluding their closer social context; family and close peers, L2 learners in Spain may find a general lack of support or promotion of the L2. The fact that most of the society only interact in one language does not favour the acquisition of a L2. For instance, the vast majority of Mass media is intended for Spanish speakers. This factuality would have a negative influence in any second language acquisition since it makes students social dimension much poorer with regard to their L2. On the other hand, people with an advanced L2 command usually beneficiate from the current society demands. Living in an international world comes with the necessity of learning second languages. The negative society situation in relation to the learning of second languages provides a favourable social role to those who have a L2. It may have positive repercussion; people more and more see the benefits of learning a second language and social/educational institutions start promoting the learning of a second language. As far as input in concerned, the areas of differences between bilingual first language acquisition and second language acquisition are the quantity and the quality of input. Whereas in the case of bilingual first language acquisition the child hears the language all day everyday, a second language learner only hears the target language at school. Students in English bilingual programs do not have the same characteristics regarding the social dimension. The second language input is basically restricted to the educational context since almost no part of the society can be considered bilingual in English, so the lack of input related to the social dimension must be compensated at schools, nevertheless, this measure does not have as much power as a whole society have on the language acquisition. This is the reason why Bilingual education programmes have grown in our Education System. The negative results of second language competence at the end of compulsory education warned the educational policies concerning the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Consequently, the lack of input, as well as its quantity and quality were noticed as one of the main drawbacks affecting students competence in the second language. As a result of this change in the educative policies, I personally see, regarding both quantity and quality, how positive this increase is.

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On the one hand, students have more possibilities to interact in the target language, and the kind of social interaction is broadened. For instance; the language and social interaction that takes place in the English lesson does not require the same competences as in the Physical education or Arts classroom. On the other hand, the quality of input is related to the teachers level of the target language. The personnel teaching in Bilingual programmes are supposed to have a certain domain of the language that allows them to carry out this specific curriculum in the target language. Furthermore, some educational administrations try to increase the quality of the input by providing native speakers assistants to the schools which are immersed in a bilingual education programme. The assistants role basically to supply learners with a real input, thus the quality is also increased. In my opinion, this task can be perfectly achieved by a teacher who has a good competence in the target language, so they could fulfil the quantity and quality needs of the students language input.

Now, that I have discussed the Input factor influence, I will move on to discuss the last factor, that is, the affective side of language learning. The positive or negative influence of this factor on learners in bilingual programmes will vary depending on the registers used when giving input in the target language. Regarding day-to-day practice, students mainly received orders in the target language, this fact is due to the commonly spread teachers role in the classroom, thus this is not a positive aspect reinforcing the affective side of the language learning. Moreover, the lack of use of the L2 in their homes and the fact that target language purposes are more focus on the acquisition of contents, E.g.: Science. It neither helps the affective factor. For these reasons, in most of the cases, the relation of the children to the speakers of the target language is seen as a non-affective relation. Due to the nature of the context, the affective side of language learning that a mother or father can provide to their children, it cannot be given under the same circumstances from teacher to learner. This reality regarding the language used at schools may have more implications in students language acquisition. From my experience, students motivation towards
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learning might improve depending on the relevance it may have for them. In this sense, teachers providing meaningful learning may boost learners motivation, thus when teaching a second language, the register and the relevance of the task could be directly supporting the affective side of language learning too. Then, if teachers would try to connect the target language tasks to the students lives and interests, perhaps, this connection could really positively change the relation towards the language. As a conclusion, I can say that the more these factors in bilingual education programmes resemble the ones involved on the route of the bilingual first language acquisition, the more successful the acquisition of the language will be. For this purpose, teachers involved in these programmes would need to reflect on the factors cyclic interdependence; I have been able to see how the social dimension factor affects the input and then input will depend on the affective side of language learning, which will be also different if the social factor is too. References: McLaughlin, B. 1984. Second-Language Acquisition in Childhood. Hillsdale (NJ): Erlbaum.