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A Brief Analysis of Psychological Factors in SLA
CHEN Qian
School of Foreign Studies, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan, P.R.China, 454003
[email protected]
Abstract: Second language acquisition is a very complicated process. Learners are influenced by many
factors, such as the learners' age, linguistics aptitude, individual differences and psychological factors.
This paper analyzed the function of motivation and other psychological factors in SLA with the theory
of linguistic psychology. It also emphasized the importance of emotion with the Affective Filter
Hypothesis of Krashen. Then made suggestions to help teachers teaching and form learners' interest in
the learning process, and enhance the learners' SLA level.
Keywords: psychological factors, SLA, motivation, attitude, emotion
The second language acquisition (SLA) usually refers to any other language learning after native
language acquisition. As an independent discipline, Second language acquisition research probably
formed in early 1970s in 20th centuries. It focuses on features and changes during the development of
SLA, the common features and individual differences of SLA learners, and analyzes the internal and
external factors in the process of SLA. Generally speaking, it is for the systematically explores of the
essence and the procedure of SLA, and to explain how to obtain a second language and how learners can
get a second language. So far, the SLA research includes linguistics, psychology, psychological
linguistics, pragmatics, social linguistics, etc.
1 Different Factors in SLA
SLA is an extremely complex process. Learners are easily influenced by many factors while learning a
second language, as well as age, cognition, language, society, environment, etc. Learners’ individual
differences have been a hot topic among linguists in recent years, various factors are proposed by
different schools of linguistics. Because of individual differences, personal emotions, cognition,
physiological aspects, and living environment, learners achieve to different levels after a period of study.
In the learning process, various factors interact with each other. One change is likely to affect other
factors, which directly affects learners’ SLA level. Thus, both the social factors and the psychological
factors must be involved, to create a favorable environment of SLA.
Among the factors mentioned above, the psychological factors are very important. Learners are
influenced by motivation, attitude and emotion and restraints inevitably. Here, according to the general
teaching experience, try to analyze the psychological factors of motivation, attitude and emotion in a
simple way.
2 Psychological Factors in SLA
2.1 Motivation
Motivation is an internal process to inspire people to meet their needs. Jakobovits’ research shows the
percentage in SLA: motivation accounts for 33 %, aptitude accounts for 33 %, intelligence accounts for
20, and the other factors accounts for 14 % [1]. Therefore, motivation has been regarded as the key to
teaching. It is impossible to achieve the desired results if learners’ motivation cannot be inspired. The
classification of motivation is various because of the different linguistics schools. The most influential
experts are Lambert and Gardner. They classified motivation into two kinds, namely “integrative
motivation" and "instrumental motivation". According to their definitions, learners with integrative
motivation have a real or a special interest in the target language. They wish they can communicate with
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people who use the target language, expect to participate in social activities organized by those people,
even become members of them. Learners with instrumental motivation have particular purposes, to get a
job to improve their social status by passing some qualification test, or in order to acquire new
information of the target language countries by reading science and technology literature, etc [2].
Before that the instrumental motivation is the main orientation for most of the second language learners.
Students rarely have the opportunity to communicate with foreigners, and the original foreign languages
materials are electronic video publications. But with the quickening pace of globalization, China's
comprehensive national power strengthened. Lots of international conferences held in China, in addition,
the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo proved the increasing
international exchanges. Thus the emphasis of SLA study is turning into the integrative motivation and
learners’ facility. So in the SLA process, teaching groups shall change their ideas, emphasize their
guiding status and student's subjective role, cultivate students' active learning ability vigorously. Change
the learning motivation into integrative motivation to increase learners’ knowledge and improve their
qualification. Furthermore, encourage learners to study according to their own level and interest, and
ready to provide consultation when learners choose their learning material or reading books, newspapers
and magazines. This is helpful to cultivate learners' interest and strengthen internal learning motivation
and thus cultivate the integrative motivation.
Another famous motivation category is "intrinsic motivation" and "extrinsic motivation"[3]. The former
generate the joy and satisfaction from language learning activity itself, it does not require external
conditions or participation. The latter is caused by the external activities and to promote the power of
learning but not learning activity itself. In the long-term of the SLA process, intrinsic motivation and
extrinsic motivation are necessary; both of them interact with each other and may change into each other.
In SLA, interest, expectation and satisfaction are intrinsic motivation. Interest refers to curiosity and
passion which make learners to get experience from the target language. Expectation refers to success
and failure desired in the process of SLA. Satisfaction refers to external rewards, like praise or high
grades, and relevant emotions such as joy, self-esteem. Characteristics of Extrinsic motivation are
mainly embodied in the will of selection and engagement in SLA, the insistence and the effectiveness of
SLA, namely, whether learners can insist in a higher level of activity.
2.2 Attitude
Language attitude means speakers of different language or language variants hold various attitudes
toward their native language or other languages. To society and individuals, the position and the
importance of language comes from the attitude people treat this language. Although attitude is just a
kind of psychological condition, but it do affect human language learning. The second language learning
attitude refers to learners’ cognition, emotion, behavior in the learning tendency. Attitude is usually
includes three parts: cognition composition, that for the faith in the target language. Emotional part, that
for the positives and negatives in the target language. Dynamic composition refers to the intention and
action in learning the target language. In the middle of the 20th century, Gardner and Lambert launched a
series of investigations between attitude and the SLA achievement relations with other experts. Three
aspects were involved in the investigation: attitudes toward the target language and people in the target
language; attitudes toward relevant matters to the target language, and attitudes toward language and
language learning. Results show that the positive attitudes help learning SLA by raising the efficiency,
Negative attitudes hinder SLA.
Schumann (1978) points out: social distance and psychological distance are the main factors to keep
learners making progress. Negative attitudes will make learners do not wish to contact the target
language people and culture, have a low motivation to adapt to this culture. That makes SLA is not an
easy thing, thus anxiety appears. For example, learners who take Russian as a second language, their
attitudes toward Russian changed after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Because Russia and counties
which use Russian quit world dominant position gradually and the economic development slows down,
therefore learners lose their interest and change their attitude. Their negative attitude causes the majority
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of students lose confidence. Although it is necessary to take it as second language, learners still perform
in a negative way and make less progress.
Different language learners treat the target language, the target language society and culture, and other
relevant matters with different attitudes. Larsen mentioned some important factors that affect learning
attitude; they are parents, friends, learning environment, teachers and ethnic emotions. Ellis (1994)
figured out that attitude affect achievements in SLA, and also gets affected by the success made in the
process of SLA. In many cases, attitude and motivation are key measure to predict the success in SLA.
We know, positive attitudes are helpful to learner in SLA and the negative attitudes will hinder it.
Therefore teachers should pay attention to develop learners' positive attitudes, for instance, positive
attitudes in the target language culture. Teachers can strengthen cultural introduction in class, to enhance
the mutual understanding, in order to help learners develop positive attitudes. After all, as a
psychological factor, attitude is important to the concrete implementation and final success of SLA.
2.3 Emotion
Emotion is another important psychological factor, language learners inevitably influenced by individual
character, anxiety or other emotional factors. Krashen took emotional factors into his monitoring mode
and put forward affective filter as an important influence in SLA. Affective filter can control the input
and absorption of the second language. The strong affective filter causes less language input. The
emotional factor has been a controller with great influence besides the comprehensible language input [4].
"Emotional factors are a complex array of psychological factors, the combination with uncertainty and
flexibility, so there is more judgment than argument on many years of study, and it has theories but lacks
operability." [5] In recent years, researchers pay more and more attention to the emotional factors in the
study of SLA. Human beings are emotional creatures. It is extremely important to understand human
beings’ feelings, react, beliefs, and values for SLA. From the educational point of view, one of the
biggest psychological factors is the learners' emotional control. For second language learners, emotional
factors are the engine and might become resistance sensor; emotional factors affect the effectiveness of
SLA directly.
There are many kinds of emotional factors influencing language learning, including self-esteem and
self-confidence, suppression and adventure, empathetic, outgoing, imitation, anxiety. Anxiety is the
main topic here. In the process of SLA, anxiety refers to learners’ tension, worry, fear and other
emotional experience and anxiety states emerged in the process of SLA. It is a collection of unpleasant
emotional reactions and psychological discomfort, and caused by self-doubt, stress, tension or other bad
feelings. Anxiety might be the largest emotional obstacle in the process of SLA. For all the learners,
anxiety can bring motive power or difficulties. On the one hand, certain anxiety could make learners
produces the courage to meet the new task, and that is one of the important factors in SLA. On the other
hand, extreme anxiety could make learners avoid the study task. According to the causes, there are
personality anxiety and environmental anxiety classified by the researchers of SLA. Personality anxiety
determined by learners’ individual characters, it is a long-term and stable factor. Environmental anxiety
caused by different environment, it is a short-term and changeable factor.
In the SLA process, learners’ anxiety could be classified in these kinds: (1) Class anxiety. In class, some
students are afraid of making mistakes in front of teachers and students. (2) Test anxiety. This emotional
factor might lower the normal level of learners. If Learners are not afraid of test, then his second
language learning results are likely to be normal. (3) Communication anxiety. Learners are afraid of
using the target language to communicate with other, because they couldn't express themselves well.
Scientific research shows that, emotions and feelings will influence and adjust learners’ cognitive
process. Relaxed and optimistic learners can concentrate, memorize, think well, and improve the
learning efficiency.
Learners’ anxiety are generated in different ways, hence they treat their anxiety with different manners.
Teachers are key factors to cause environmental anxiety in the SLA process, their behavior and attitude
affects learners’ participation enthusiasm. Teachers shall make sure that the students have enough sense
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of security, encourage students with appropriate material. In this way, learners can keep their
self-confidence, avoid harming their self-esteem. Teachers shall create comfortable and harmonious
SLA environment, in order to achieve the purpose of overcoming anxiety.
3 Conclusion
We can see psychological factors in SLA could result in both positive and negative function. Therefore,
it is important to make use of the favorable factors and try to transfer the unfavorable factors to the
favorable ones. Teachers should stimulate learners' learning motivation, cultivate their language interest
and help them to form correct attitude towards the target language culture. So learners can learn with the
positive attitude and eliminate their anxiety. At the same time, a relaxed atmosphere, encouragement,
proper strategy and positive guide are quite helpful in SLA process. SLA process is a very complicated
cognitive process, psychological factors are particularly important ones compared with other factors.
Perseverance is the master helps learners to continue and changes negative psychological factors into
active ones.
References
〔 〕
[1]. Jakobovits L. Foreign Language Learning: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of the Issue M .Rowley,
mass: Newbury House, 1970.
[2]. GUI Shichun. Psychological linguistics [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education
Press, 1995. (In Chinese)
[3]. Deci Edward L, Richard M Ryan. Intrinsic motivation and Self - Determination in Human
Behavior
M . New York: plenum, 1985.
[4]. Krashen, S. Second language acquisition and second language learning [M]. New York: Pergamon
Press, 1981.
[5]. DAI Manchun. Emotional Factors and Definitions [J].Foreign Language Teaching and Learning,
2000, 6:470~474. (In Chinese)
〔 〕
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