Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Chapter 2
Questions for self-study
1. List at least five possible motivations for learning a second language at an older age.
6. Give at least two reasons that many scientists believe in some innate capacity for
language.
7. Linguists have taken an internal and/or external focus to the study of language
acquisition. What is the difference between the two?
Active Learning
1. If you can use two or more languages, why is this so? What has been your reason for
learning second language(s)? If you can use only one, why haven’t you learned other
languages? Compare your response to this question with those of other individuals
and make a list of reasons for multilingualism or monolingualism. Categorize these
reasons as primarily based on individual preference and need or on social and political
circumstances.
2. Think about the facilitating conditions to language learning discussed on page 19.
Have you had any of these experiences facilitate your own learning? If so, which
ones? Have there been other factors as well that influenced your learning? In your
answer to question 2 in Chapter 1, did you consider any of these conditions?
3. Based on your personal and educational experience, do you expect to prefer or feel
more comfortable with one of the perspectives on SLA (linguistic, psychological,
social)? Why or why not? If so, what are some strategies you can use to keep an
open mind to the perspectives you might not privilege?
4. It is a matter of debate what level of proficiency is needed before one claims to have
multilingual competence, or to ‘know’ a second language. How did you decide what to
count as L2(s) in question 1 of Chapter 1? Do you have exposure to other languages
www.cambridge.org/cill
© Muriel Saville-Troike 2006
that you did not list? If so, explain why you did not list those languages. Now that you
have read Chapter 2, have your ideas changed about how proficient one must be to be
considered to have an L2?
Answer Key
www.cambridge.org/cill
© Muriel Saville-Troike 2006