Aspects Of Second Language Acquisition And Second Language Learning

2.1 Introduction

The previous chapter explained the variables and the important aspects of the present study. The present chapter thus continues the explanation on the aspects of the theories and studies done towards the matter. The explanation provides evidence and brief explanations on what have been found about the matter. The explanations start from the most basic aspect of the research which is the language in general.

Language is an essential element in every human life as it serves more than what people usually thought it would be. Language according to Nunan (2007) is a tool for communication and is a complex system which consists of subsystems of discourse, utterances or sentences, clause, phrase, word, morpheme, and phoneme. Scarino

However, although they are related to the same language, both of the processes have their own concepts and differences. Language learning is different from language acquisition in a way that it involves people learning new language whether it is a second language or a foreign language or even a third language. This process is very important as knowing another language besides the mother tongue definitely doubled the advantages one can get from a language.

Krashen (2009) in Scarino and Liddicoat (2009) has come up with a very clear explanation in distinguishing the learning and acquisition processes. The scholars define language acquisition as a subconscious process of picking up a language. During the process, people are unaware that they are acquiring the language but they are aware that they are using the language in communication. This process is similar to the acquisition of the first language by children as they are unconsciously learning the language. The acquisition occurs in an informal situation and involves implicit learning. The outcome of the process can be seen through the usage of the language in speech

In this process, people are well aware that they are learning the language and include effort in the process. This process can be seen in the second language learning and also the foreign language learning by adults. Krashen’s acquisition-learning distinction theory thus clarifies that language learning process usually involves in second and foreign language learning and not in the first language acquisition. This indicates that language learning process, thus revolvses and discusses more around the second and foreign language learning. Figure 2.1 illustrates the whole idea in the theory. Figure 2.1: Krashen’s Acquisition-Learning Distinction Theory (2009).

Based on the theory, language learning is perceived as a conscious and explicit learning of language within a formal environment. However, second language learning cannot be discussed without any relation to SLA as both of the aspects are interrelated with each other. Language acquisition is concluded as definitely happened in the first language (L1) and second language acquisition (SLA) however happened in L2 where the process also involved second language learning