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A similar perspective on the role of social factors in L2 acquisition can be found in John
Schumanns acculturation model.
Acculturation is the way people adapt to a new culture. The Schumann theory on
acculturation is mainly based on the social factors experienced by those learning English as their
second language within the mainstream culture. The factors determine the social distance between
the second language learner and the mainstream culture in which they are living in. this distance
between the learners and the mainstream culture in turn determine the rate of language acquisition.
Schumann states that the degree to which a learner acculturates to the target language group will
control the degree to which he acquires the second language.
There are several social factors that Schumann accounts for the rate of second language
acquisition:
1. Limited integration of cultural groups
2. Size of minority group-the group is more self-sufficient the larger they are
3. How tight-knit the group is
4. The variance of characteristics between their culture and the mainstream culture
5. Majority groups attitude towards the minority group
6. Language learner expects to stay a short time in the country
7. Motivation, culture shock and attitude of language learner
8. Language learner and mainstream culture both view each other as equal
9. Language learner and mainstream culture both desire assimilation
Schumann (1975, as cited in Ushioda, 1993) lists five affective factors that may increase the
psychological distance:
1. Language Shock: Disorientation caused by learning a new linguistic system.
2. Culture Shock: Stress, anxiety and fear caused when entering a new culture, the routines
activities suddenly become major obstacles.
3. Culture Stress: Prolonged culture shock, such as, homesickness, and questioning self
identity.
4. Motivation: Instrumental and integrative.
5. Ego permeability: The amount in which an individual gives up their differences in favor of the
TL group.
SOCIAL IDENTITY AND INVESTMENT IN L2 LEARNING
Bonny Peirce has two views about the relationship between social context and L2 acquisition:
1. The notions of subject to and subject of are central.
She has studied an adult immigrant learner of English in Canada named Eva.
The girl which is working with me pointed at the man and said:
Do you see him? I said
Yes. Why?
Dont you know him?
No. I dont know him.
How come you dont know him? Dont you watch TV? Thats Bart Simpson.
It made me so bad and I didnt answer her nothing.
The theory of social identity assumes that power relations play a crucial role in social
interaction between language learners and target language speakers. Eva indicated she had
felt humiliated at the time. She said that she could not respond to the girl because she had
been positioned as a strange woman. What had made Eva feel strange? The girls
questions to Eva were in fact rhetorical. She didnt expect, or possibly even desire a
response from Eva: How come you dont know him? Dont you watch TV? Thats Bart
Simpson. It was the girl and Eva who could determine the grounds on which interaction
could proceed, it were them who had the power to bring closure to the conversation.
Eva became subject to a discourse which assumed an identity she didnt have. She
was also the subject of the discourse had she attempted to continue on which the interaction
could proceed, for example, by asserting that she didnt watch the TV program of which Bart
Simpson was the star.
22. Language learners have complex social identities
Peirce argues that language learners have complex social identities that only be understood
in terms of the power relation that shape social structures. A learners social identity is multiple and
contradictory. Investment is required for learners to construct an identity that enables them to get
their right to be heard and become the subject of the discourse. It is something learners will only
make if they believe their effort will increase the value of their cultural capital.
Successful learners are those who reflect critically on how they engage with native speakers and
who are prepared to challenge the accepted social order by constructing and asserting social
identities of their own choice.
REFERENCE:
Ellis, Rod. 1997. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp 37-42