Second Language Acquisition

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Introduction In today's global economy the demand for language skills continues to grow as governments, businesses and organizations build relationships with foreign interests. However, learning a new language comes with its own set of problems. Even the brightest of students can find the new language to be difficult and hard to understand. The process by which people learn a second language is referred to as a Second Language Acquisition. Thus, the subject matter of this term paper is second language acquisition (SLA). It consists of two chapters each of which discusses different problematic issues of SLA and a conclusion. Chapter I deals with different approaches towards SLA. Second language acquisition theory seeks to quantify how and by what processes individuals acquire a second language (Krashen 1981). Different attitudes towards the explanation of acquisition process have led to the origination of different, quite controversial theories. Chomsky’s theory of inborn structures is similar to the so called theory of “imitation and practice” according to which language acquisition is possible due to the existence of certain innate structures. The proponents of discourse theory claim that to acquire a language means to correlate linguistic means and proves. The universal grammar theory suggests that language acquisition depends on the knowledge of universal grammar. Another theory of foreign language acquisition founded by Krashen suggests the idea of differentiating between such processes as language acquisition and language learning. Language learning is a conscious process, whereas language acquisition is unconscious. As Krashen (1987)

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