The Social, Cultural And Personal Factors Affecting English Learners

This article will analyse some of the theories of language acquisition and how they relate to adult learners, in terms of when they were children learning a first language, and also adults in Further Education (FE) classes who are re-learning a language. It will also examine the link between childhood environment, cultural transmission and other social, personal and cultural factors which can affect the development and acquisition of language. Lastly, the effects of learning disabilities and difficulties, in particular dyslexia and hearing loss, are discussed and how they can impact upon an individual's literacy skills. There have been a number of proposed theories and scientific explanations of language acquisition. One of the earliest came from Skinner (1957) who argued that children acquire language based on behaviourist reinforcement principles, where correct utterances are positively reinforced as the child realises the communicative value of words (Lemetyinen, 2012). For example, when a child says "up" and is picked up by its parent, the child is rewarded and this will increase language development. Additionally, Skinner proposed that as children grow, the parents will only positively reinforce and pay attention to recognisable phrases and sounds. This selective reinforcement, he argued, will ultimately lead to an elimination of incorrect or 'baby sounds', and the acquisition of correct sentences and grammar. It could be expected that, based on these theories, a child who receives little reinforcement (or opportunities to converse with and imitate others) will be impeded in their learning of language. Overall, Skinner's work indicates that the way adults speak and interact with children has an effect on their language development. Although this may be at least partially true, many critics have said it is far too simplistic and does not account for all the stages of language acquisition. For example, children (and adults) are not limited to the sentences they have heard and can produce an infinite number of original sentences. Also, children and adults develop grammatical knowledge which can sometimes be applied incorrectly e.g. 'soakened' or 'mans'. This is not imitation as adults generally speak using the correct past tense or plural form. Furthermore, the speed at which children acquire language is phenomenal and would be much slower if it depended on imitation and reinforcement alone (Ambridge & Lieven, 2011). Chomsky (1965) was a leading critic of Skinner and had an alternative theory - innateness. He stated that children have an innate, biological ability to acquire language and if they are exposed to language, the acquisition of it will occur naturally. Chomsky also proposed the idea of 'transformational grammar' - the grammar that transforms a sentence - where surface structures are words that are actually written and deep structure is the underlying message or meaning of a sentence. Furthermore, Chomsky's idea of 'universal grammar' declared that children instinctively know how to combine nouns and verbs into meaningful phrases (Lemetyinen, 2012). The findings of Bard and Sachs (1977) and the child called 'Jim', however, appear to contradict this theory. Jim was the son of deaf parents but not deaf himself. They wanted him to speak normally, so they used very little sign language and instead exposed him to spoken language through television and radio. Jim's language development suffered immensely as a consequence, but with speech therapy he did improve rapidly. This is real-life evidence of the need for human interaction and communication. The social interactionist theory of Bruner (1983) and other theorists put more emphasis on the conversational aspects of the adult / infant relationship, but also drew on Skinner's reinforcement and imitation theory and Chomsky's 'transformational grammar' concept. The interactionists suggested turn-taking conversations between the adult and child would need to take place in order for the latter to develop language skills. These skills would be enhanced by the child desiring communication, relating such occurrences to their social setting and applying their grammatical awareness to new words and phrases. This approach to learning also argues that knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not imposed on them, and that they form this new knowledge in conjunction with existing ideas they had originally (Taber, 2006). It is particularly relevant to the adult English lessons in FE, where learners can be any age from sixteen upwards and most possess long-standing literacy skills or beliefs which are often incorrect. Moreover, some researchers have reported benefits of exposure to a language in infancy or childhood when relearning it a later stage (Au, Knightly, Jun, & Oh, 2002). Additionally, Vygotsky's zone of proximal development perspective suggests that learning is a social process and that dialogue between the learner, teacher and peers plays a crucial role in learning (Cakir, 2008). This perspective is central to all literacy classes; for example, part of the assessment criteria is a group discussion between learners. Furthermore, the dialogue between students increases the exchange of ideas when learning new material; this in turn will aid each learner's understanding of literacy skills. The social interaction and constructivist theory approach to language acquisition links closely with the personal, social and cultural factors which affect many adult learners in FE. When learners walk into an English class in an FE environment, they arrive with previous experiences of education and their attitudes towards it will already have been formed (Wallace, 2009). Changing what might be a mainly negative outlook of learning is a crucial part of the teacher's role, particularly early on in the academic year. To create a suitable environment for learning language and literacy skills, especially for those learners whose prior experience of learning has been chiefly negative, teachers will need to take into account a range of personal, social and cultural factors for each individual. Learners use literacy skills as part of their everyday lives, perhaps reading a newspaper or understanding a bus timetable, but often overlook the value of these skills and perceive traditional uses such as formal letters as more important (Mace, 2005). Teachers may need to demonstrate practical uses for the traditional language and literacy skills acquired in class, so that learners can make the connection to modern life e.g. formal letter (sent via email) applying for a job or writing a complaint letter. If the learner can see how this work fits with their everyday life their perception of learning may become more positive, which in turn could improve their motivation, attendance and confidence (Mace, 2005). Although learners may have low levels of literacy, they may have effective and established coping strategies to enable them to perform a variety of routine tasks e.g. asking a neighbour to read their mail. The tutor's role should be to inspire the learner to build on what they already know, but also to see that knowing how to do something themselves (and why they are doing it) is far more beneficial. Other personal factors which could affect learners' acquisition and development of language skills include criminal behaviour (in the past or present), which may lead to an individual not being permitted to continue with an English course in FE. This situation may also have been replicated at school age through expulsion or repeated suspension, both of which would impede learning as they prevent the repetitive practice required to achieve proficient skills (Rice, 2004) and increase the likelihood of the individual using infrequent and incorrect terms of speech - often without realising (Yule, 1996). Additionally, the learner may have had long periods of truancy or absenteeism which would further inhibit an acquisition of language skills for the same reasons. Further personal factors which could present a barrier to learning include: sexual orientation, racism, religion, disability and poor physical or mental health (Isserlis, 2010). These factors might cause a learner to suffer from a severe lack of confidence amongst others, or prevent them from even starting a class to improve language skills. Adult learners may also have personal issues such as alcohol or drug dependence. They could be a victim of (or suffered in the past from) bullying, violence or trauma. As language learning demands control, connection, and meaning, adults experiencing effects of past or current trauma are particularly challenged (Isserlis, 2010). There is a broad research literature that reveals the link between having low literacy skills and economic and social status, with adults in this category being more likely to be unemployed, living on low incomes in socio-economically-excluded geographical areas (Brynner and Parsons, 2001). The impact of this research for FE tutors is that some of their learners, particularly those who are attending to improve low literacy skills and develop their language, will probably be experiencing some of these social barriers to learning. They might be unemployed, in poverty or have a lack of housing or food security. These social factors may cause a learner to lack motivation, concentration or the confidence to believe they can improve their skills. Moreover, learners from a poorer geographical area may have fewer opportunities for learning language such as libraries with limited facilities or a lack of books and resources at home. They might also hold a lower (or alternative) expectation of language education; their priority could be economical survival and they see education solely as a tool to gain employment - not to improve and learn new literacy skills for personal growth or access to higher education, for example. This perception also links to culture and society; in certain social groups or families the regard for reading and writing delivered from an adult to a child may be one of indifference or, at worst, disdain. If an individual was brought up around this attitude in early childhood and experienced a lack of exposure to language and dialogue, they are not likely to achieve the same language proficiency when opportunities are presented to them later (Perfetti & Marron, 1998). This lack of language proficiency, together with being unacquainted with the need for different dialects in certain social situations, can lead some learners to use inappropriate words, tone or body language - often without being aware of it. There may also be other cultural factors affecting a learner's acquisition of language such as them having parents who speak English as a second language, a traveller culture where learning at school is restricted to early teens, or the requirement to look after siblings or other relatives. In addition to these possible social and cultural factors, many learners in FE English classes will have developed coping mechanisms to overcome the problems they encounter with language in their everyday lives e.g. avoiding reading mail by asking neighbours or relatives to help them. This may be due to limited opportunities for learning to read in childhood, but could also be due to a learning disability or difficulty such as dyslexia (Thomas, 2006). Dyslexia has several different definitions and learners, after completing a diagnostic assessment, are placed on a continuum of severity (Rice, 2004). Grizzle and Simms (2005) suggested dyslexia is a broad term used to describe a learning disability where the learner's reading ability and phonological decoding skills are impaired. The critical difficulty in dyslexia lies in the decoding at the single-word level rather than in comprehending passages of text (Snowling, 1991 cited in Rice, 2004). Therefore, a dyslexic learner might excel at developing their skim reading skills or explaining the overall meaning or intention of a piece of text, but struggle to compose their own piece of writing in response to a particular scenario or task. The implication of this in an FE setting is that they may be working at a much lower level for the writing element of functional skills, compared to the reading and speaking and listening components. This could prevent them from achieving full functional skills qualifications and as a consequence they may not be allowed to continue to develop language skills, as they will not generate funding. According to recent research, dyslexia is a complex neurological condition and can affect other areas such as motor skills, oral language skills and organisational skills (Ott, 2005). Learners can struggle to acquire the phonemic awareness and relationship of letters to sounds, leading to an inability to spell easy words (Rice, 2004). Examples of this could include: misrepresenting sounds e.g. 'bad' for 'bat', confusion of syllables e.g. 'rember' for 'remember', or intrusive vowels e.g. 'tewenty' for 'twenty'. Dyslexic learners may also read more slowly than their non-dyslexic peers and be more conscious about sharing or showing others their writing. This can impact on the peer learning or group work within the classroom setting. The ability to integrate auditory and visual information is an important aspect of speech perception for listeners with normal hearing and may be even more important for those with hearing loss (Perfetti & Marron, 1998). The earlier hearing loss occurs in a child`s life, the more serious the effects will be on the child`s development; however, with early intervention and support in place the effects can be minimised. Particular problems could include vocabulary developing more slowly e.g. abstract words, quieter speech sounds not being produced e.g. 'sh' or 'f' (and as a consequence speech will be harder to comprehend) or social isolation leading to infrequent attendance. Learners with profound or pre-lingual deafness are likely to have experienced similar barriers to those above, but may also need extra support to understand English as British Sign Language might be their first language. They will probably use a communicator in an English class, which will enable them to access the auditory content. A deaf student will perhaps take longer to acquire and develop literacy skills due to the nature of this translation; whether it is sign language, note-taking or lip speaking there will inevitably be a delay for both parties to interpret and process the information. There are also many more learning disabilities or difficulties such as visual impairment, Irlen's syndrome, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, Asperger's syndrome, Tourette's syndrome and aphasia. Each of these factors would have an effect on a learner which would differ from one individual to the next, but overall they will all impair the social and linguistic interaction between parent and child, or teacher and student. They may also lead to a learner feeling self-conscious in a social setting and becoming more concerned with feeling safe or controlling their behaviour to fit in than concentrating their efforts on learning literacy skills. Learning disabilities and difficulties can also permanently impede a learner's development in early childhood because they may interfere with the so called 'critical period' of brain development, where language skills depend critically on input (Yule, 2000). It is reasonable to state that there are numerous social, cultural and personal factors which could potentially affect a learner's acquisition and development of language skills. Yule (2000) emphasises that cultural transmission of a specific language is crucial in the human acquisition process. Furthermore, considerable evidence suggests that reading is influenced strongly by early language factors (Grizzle and Simms, 2005). By the time learners reach FE, they bring with them a history of literacy experiences (both good and bad) and a belief in their own language skills which may be difficult to change. There are several theories of language acquisition and despite a numerous amounts of linguistics research many questions remain unanswered (Crain et al., 2006). However, most of the theories and research articles discussed in this assignment highlight human interaction and input as crucial for successful language acquisition. Learning disabilities and difficulties can impede the development of literacy skills, but with early intervention and support improvements can be made.

References Ambridge, B. & Lieven, E.V.M. (2011). Language Acquisition: Contrasting theoretical approaches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Au, T. K., Knightly, L. M., Jun, S.A. & Oh, J. S. (2002). "Overhearing a language during childhood". Psychological Science, 13 (3), Bynner, J. and Parsons, S. (2001) 'Qualifications, Basic Skills and Accelerating Social Exclusion' [electronic version], Journal of Education and Work. 14, pp. 279-291. Cakir, M. (2008). Constructivist Approaches to Learning in Science and Their Implications for Science Pedagogy: A Literature Review. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp 193 - 206. Crain, S., Takuya, G. and Thornton, R. (2006). Language Acquisition is Language Change. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Vol. 35, No. 1. pp 31-49. Fowler, E. & Mace, J. (2005). Outside the classroom - researching literacy with adult learners. NIACE, p.18. Grizzle, K. L. & Simms, M. D. (2005). 'Early Language Development and Language Learning Disabilities' [electronic version]. Pediatrics in Review, 28:8.

Isserlis, J (2010). 'Trauma and learning - what do we know, what can we learn?' [electronic version]. Low Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition. Bow Valley College, p.42. Lemetyinen, H. (2012). Language Acquisition Theory. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/language.html on 15th November 2012. Ott, P. (2005) How to Detect and Manage Dyslexia, Heinemann, UK. Perfetti, C. A. & Marron, M. A. (1998). Learning to read: Literacy acquisition by children and adults [electronic version]. In D. A. Wagner (Ed.). Advances in adult literacy research and development. Hampton Press. Rice, M. (2004). Developmental dyslexia in adults: a research review. NRDC, p. 12. Taber, K. S. (2006). Beyond Constructivism: the Progressive Research Programme into Learning Science. Science Studies in Science Education, 42, pp 125-184. Wallace, S. (2009). Managing behaviour in the lifelong learning sector (2nd ed.) Exeter: Learning Matters.

Yule, G. (2000). The study of language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.