"OLAKŠAVANJE USVAJANJA STRANOG JEZIKA ODRASLIM OSOBAMA" - Master Rad - Ljilja Bajić

FACILITATING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION WITH ADULT LEARNERS – A CASE STUDY

What is implied by second language acquisition?

Language learning requires acquiring four learning skills – reading, writing, listening, and speaking

– and four sets of enabling knowledge: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural understanding.

Take your time, be dilligent & use your own strategies.

Agar: “Language isn’t a prison: it’s a room you’re comfortable with, that you know how to move around in.” as cited in Babić (2018a, p. 12)

HOW DIFFERENT METHODS AND APPROACHES IN LANGUAGE TEACHING FACILITATE SLA

•       Grammar-Translation – students translate texts literally
•       Direct Method – uses only the target language
•       Audio-Lingual Method – the system of reinforcement
•       Humanistic Approaches – a set of holistic methods – The Silent Way, Suggestopedia, Community      Language Learning and Comprehension Approach
•       Communicative Language Teaching – puts emphasis on interaction
•       Principled Eclecticism – adjusts the methods to the learners, not the learners to the methods 

HOW INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES (IDs) AFFECT SECOND LANGUAGE ATTAINMENT SUCCESS

Personality, language aptitude, motivation and self-motivation, learning styles, as well as anxiety, creativity, willingness to communicate (WTC), self-esteem and learners’ beliefs all represent learners’ individual differences, that is, all of them have an impact on SLA - Dörnyei (2005)

Teachers : be more attentive to their students’ mistakes and errors, initiate learning in learning centers, adjust the input to the different types of learners, put emphasize on the acquired material – not the errors, use as many suitable and appropriate teaching methods, strategies and techniques as possible, do not show superiority, be bold & motivated, be creative

Students:  adjust your own strategies to your own interlanguage, learn how to correct your own mistakes and errors, be independent, be a risk-taker, wake up your dormant centers, be active, take more responsibility for your learning, be persistent & patient and let the time do its thing

IMPACT OF THE TEACHER’S CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON THE STUDENT’S SKILLS

•       Focused & unfocused feedback
•       Mind the timing
•       Focus on knowledge and the tasks directly – not on a student
•       Endeavour to assist one to achieve their individual learning targets
•       Provide constructive guidance & be candid
•       Do not praise excessively
•       Be cautious about overcorrection & criticism
•       Supportive and informative feedback could be given by teachers in order to enhance their students’ intrinsic motivation

Conclusion

•       Almost every mentally healthy human being might acquire a second language and use it fluently in daily communication if he or she is motivated sufficiently and if the proper teaching methods, approaches and techniques accompanied by ample input are being employed
•        Language is an internal process which is driven by our individual learner mechanisms.