Running Head: FINAL SYNTHESIS ACTIVITY 1

Final Synthesis Activity

Jessica S. Smith

University of Southern Mississippi

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Activity A: Top 10 List

1. Attitude is everything

It does not matter how smart a person is, how young a person is, or where they live. If the

person does not have a positive attitude, if the person is not willing to take risks, and if the

person does not invest the time necessary into learning the language; the person will not learn the

language. Second language learners must be motivated to learn to language.

2. Age is an important factor that can be overcome

Children have many benefits to learning a second language. They are less inhibited and

they take more risks. They are also able to have a more native accent if they learn a second

language before puberty. Since they start learning when they are younger, they have more time

to be able to perfect the language. Adults tend to do better at grammatical structures and are able

to learn concepts more quickly. Adults can use strategies to overcome inhibitions and find the

time and proper motivation for language learning in order to be more successful.

3. Native language influences how a new language is learned

Second language learners view their second language through the filter of their first

language. Constructs in a second language that are similar for a student’s native language are

easy for them to learn. Constructs that do not have a native language equivalent are harder to

learn. Errors can often be attributed to the native language.

4. Individual differences must be taken into account

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Students vary in their personalities, their learning styles, and their interests. Right

brained, extroverts make great language learners, but they are not the only ones who can learn a

language. It is important to take into consideration students’ personalities, learning styles, and

their interests in order to meet their needs and ensure a successful language learning experience.

5. There are many strategies that can be used to aid language learning

Cognitive strategies consist of planning, organizing, monitoring, evaluation, activating

prior knowledge, using senses, and contextualizing (Brown, 2014, pg. 126). Affective strategies

such as being supportive of oneself, reducing negative emotions, motivation oneself, and having

a positive attitude can be extremely useful (Brown, 2014, pg. 127). Sociocultural interactive

strategies are interacting to learn, guessing, and starting conversations (Brown, 2014, pg. 127).

6. Authentic, meaningful input is essential

The reason why young children normally do so well at learning a second language is that

they are placed in meaningful language learning situations on a daily basis at school. If they want

to have friends and please the people around them, they must learn the language. Providing

meaning on that level is difficult in the classroom, but it must be attempted. Interesting content

and interaction with others needs to be considered very carefully when designing a lesson.

7. Focus on Form is necessary

Students need a lot of quality input for language learning to occur. That often times is not

enough. For students to progress adequately, they need feedback to help them recognize and
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correct their errors. When doing activities, meaning is the most important, but form must be

referenced and corrected as needed.

8. While helpful, study abroad is not necessary

Study abroad is helpful in that it forces students to interact with language in authentic and

meaningful ways. It ensures that people are immersed in the language despite one’s time

constraints he or she faces at home. However, a language can be learned at home especially if

they same amount of time is devoted to content that is meaningful. Study abroad also has some

negative consequences like homesickness and culture shock that can hinder the language

learning experience.

9. Culture is important

It is really import to have a good understanding of the culture one is studying to be

successful at interacting with native speakers. According to Baker-Smemoe, Dewey, Bown, and

Martinsen (2014) students who has the most cultural sensitivity had the largest gains on their

language growth.

10. Student gesture and kinesics

Being able to understand someone goes beyond the words that come out of their mouth.

It’s important to be able to recognize what a person is feeling or how he or she is interpreting

what is being said. This is especially important when a language learner says something that

could be pragmatically inappropriate to know that a miscommunication has occurred.

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This course has really dispelled a lot of myths I had about language learning. I have

always really felt that since I was unable to spend a year abroad due to having my daughter so

young that I missed out on the opportunity to attain the level of fluency that I desired. During the

two summer trips I did have abroad, I made so much gain in such a short period of time that I

was further convinced that this was true. I now realize that this is not entirely the case and that if

I were to be able to devote as much time and energy to my studies at home that I would continue

to make improvements.

While traveling this summer, I am going to implement many of the affective strategies I

learned about in order to be as successful as possible when I am interacting with others in

France. I am also going to keep my friend in mind who is not a native English speaker in mind

when I make mistakes. I am going to keep a journal while I am there and set affective goals for

myself. I now have a new mantra: Taking risks is more important than being right.

I have also realized that creating meaningful content is much more important than I had

originally thought. I am going to continue to work to create lessons that are engaging and

exciting for my students. From our Marie Antoinette class, I found that I could incorporate

something I learned about her and the French Revolution into nearly every unit that we do. This

is something that would really excite my students in my opinion so much more than just learning

vocabulary and talking about themselves at a very basic level would. I know my students would

love learning about the monkey in the palace running around putting on makeup much more than

they care about being able to say “The monkey is in the zoo.”
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This also brings me to the issue of culture. I feel that I am often forced to get rid of

cultural activities in order to do things like gather more data how many vocabulary words

students know and other administrative things. I know culture is important to language learning

and this class has further emphasized its importance. I am going to fight to include culture and

make more of an effort to combine it with the vocabulary we are learning so they go hand in

hand.
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Activity B: Younger is Not Always Better

There are many advantages and disadvantages to learning a language as both a child and

an adult. One is not necessarily better than the other. Ultimately, successfully learning a

language comes down to the quality and duration of input the learner is exposed to, the

opportunity the learner has to produce the language in meaningful ways, and the student’s desire

to learn the language.

The Critical Period Hypothesis is the belief that there is a small window of time in a

person’s life that he or she must learn a second language by if they are going to achieve native

like fluency (Gass, 2013, pg. 434). According to the hypothesis, if the learner misses this critical

time period, native fluency will not be possible. The Critical Period Hypothesis forms the basis

for the belief that a person is always better off learning a language at a younger age.

In my opinion, the biggest advantage that a child had over an adult learner is the affective

area. Adult language learners typically have more inhibitions than child language learners

(Brown, 2014). Children have not fully developed their language ego and the desire to save face

is not as strong; therefore, children are more likely to take risks and make mistakes in their

language learning (Brown, 2014). As a result, this gives them the opportunity to produce the

language more, receive more corrective feedback, and grow as a language learner. An adult who

is reluctant to speak for fear of making a mistake will not have as many opportunities for

feedback, nor as many opportunities to self-edit his or her working language based on the input

he or she receives from others.

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According to Brown, “Some adults have been known to acquire an authentic accent in a

second language after the age of puberty, but such individuals are exceptional” (Brown, 2014,

pg. 57). The one real advantage that children have in learning a language may not really be an

advantage at all. Research indicates that there is no such thing as a native accent as native

speakers’ accents vary so much from region to region and country to country (Brown, 2014). As

an American speaker of English, I would have a foreign accent in England or in Austria. My

accent would also be considered foreign to people living in the South. In any of those places it

would be apparent that I am an outsider. Unless a person is learning a language for the sole

purpose of spending the rest of his or her life in the same area of the same country, having an

accent is not that significant and typically does not interfere with one’s ability to communicate or

be understood.

For children over seven the quality of the input they receive is the biggest determinant of

success (Gass, 2013). Children who move to a new country, go to new schools, and develop

friends they are close to that speak the target are much more likely to be more successful

language learners than adults who move to a new country. The reason for this is that adults often

do not receive as much meaningful input as children do. For example, if an adult moves with his

or her spouse, he or she still has meaningful interaction in his or her native language which

supersedes that of his or her second language. If the adult has a job with speakers of his or her

second language and has friends who are speakers of the second language, that person will have

a better chance of being a successful second language learner.

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The amount of time spent being exposed to input and practicing output are also important

factors in determining how well a child or adult can acquire a second language. In a study of

Chinese speakers, Bialystok found that “age of onset of learning does not have significant

effects, and that there is some support for the importance of length of stay in the target culture”

(Gass, 2013, pg. 438). The younger a person learns a language, the more time they have in life to

receive additional input and correct their errors (Gass, 2013, pg. 437).

While there are many benefits to learning a second language younger in life, there are just

a many benefits to learning a language later in life. “In general, children have a better phonology,

but older learners often achieve better syntax” (Gass, 2013, 118). This means that adults are

better able to understand the grammatical forms and the structure of the language. Therefore,

they will be able to use patters to produce more structures more quickly than children will who

rely more heavily on collocations.

Adults and children both make comparisons between their native language and their

second languages while they are learning. Adults have a more complete understanding of their

language than children do. As a result, they are able to make more comparisons more quickly

and ultimately make more connections increasing their knowledge of the second language.

Adults tend to do better on criterion scores than children do with similar amounts of language

exposure (Gass, 2013, pg. 436).

According to Table 3.1, the only things that adults truly have that are working against

them are accents and affective factors such as inhibition, language ego, identity, and attitude as

mentioned above (Brown, 2014, pg. 69). The other attributes have not been proven to be affected
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by the age of the learner. As teachers, part of the reason we study second language acquisition is

so that we can help learners determine what they need to do in order to be successful at learning

a second language. Adults can learn strategies to manage their inhibitions and make up for the

affective issues that they have. As teachers, we can create a safe space for students to learn and

feel comfortable expressing themselves.

Ultimately, age is not the real issue that affects how well a person learns a language.

Students can learn languages at any age. They just require authentic, meaningful input, the

opportunity for language production, the desire to learn a language, and the time to do so.
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References

Baker-Smemoe, W., Dewey, D. P., Bown, J., & Martinsen, R. A. (2014). Variables affecting L2

gains during study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 47(3), 464-486.

doi:10.1111/flan.12093

Brown, H. D. (2014). Principles of language learning and teaching. 6th edition. Pearson.

Gass, S. M. with Behney, J. & Plonsky, L. (2013). Second language acquisition: An

introductory course. 4th edition. Routledge.