PROBLEM FORMULATIONS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

13 The first language acquisition refers to the acquisition of a native language in language learners at the early age while the second language acquisition refers to the language acquisition other than learners’ native language that occurs in adult learners. Since this study focuses on acquisition by adult Indonesian EFL learners, then this sub-section only focuses on the acquisition of second language experienced by adult learners The term second language does not always refer to second language learned by language learners. The terms second language may also refer to third or fourth language other than learners’ native language. As seen in figure 2 about Kachru’s concentric circle 1985 Indonesia belongs to expanding circle country group, in which English is as a foreign language. Even though according to that concentric circle English is not as a second language in Indonesia, in this study employs theories on second language acquisition because this study concerns Figure 2. 1 The three concentric circles of World Englishes by Kachru 1985 14 about the acquisition of language other than the learners’ native language. Gass and Selinker 1994 argue that an important aspect of second language learning is that the second language learning refers to the learning of a language after learning of the native language. They also add that the acquisition of a second language may take place in classroom as well as in more natural situation. In other words, the second language acquisition is possible to happen in guided or unguided situations. Second language acquisition studies are not only can be applied to individual language learners but the studies can also be applied to groups as claimed by Saville and Troike 2006 that “SLA refers both studies of individuals and groups who are learning a language subsequent to learning their first one as young children and to process of learning that language”. Further, Saville and Troike also add that the context of second language acquisition includes learning process in both formal and informal situations. According to Klein 1986, “a second language can be acquired in a variety of ways, at any age for different purposes, and to varying degrees”. It implies that it supports the idea of second language learning that may be occurring in formal and informal situations with various learners age as well as various learning purposes. That statement also indicates that Klein agrees about the idea of guided and spontaneous language acquisition in SLA. The guided language acquisition emphasizes the idea of SLA in a classroom with a teacher to guide the language learners in acquiring the second language. While the spontaneous language acquisition accentuates the concept of SLA experienced by language learners with second language exposure