The Influence of Social Factors on Children’s Achievement of Acquiring Second Language
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL CONCEPT
2.1 Previous Related Research
It is believed that social factors give significant influences on the
acquisition of second language. Law at.al (2010) found that the children’s
school entry performance is clearly associated with socio-economic status –
the greater the disadvantage the lower the child’s score. Furthermore, the
child’s communication environment and language are important influencing
factors on the child’s school entry scores, the more advanced the child’s
language and the more supportive the child’s communication environment,
the higher the child’s school entry score. The research was quantitativequalitative.
The study used a large complex dataset from the Avon Longitudinal
Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as ‘Children of the
Nineties’. The subjects of this study was the children born to mothers in and
around the area of Bristol which used to be known as Avon. The children
were born between April 1991 and December 1992. In the time since
recruitment, mothers have completed questionnaires regularly about a wide
range of developmental, social, medical and environmental aspects of their
child and about family life as have the children too as they grew older. Since
the children were seven years of age they have been invited to a number of
6
Universitas Sumatera Utara
7
‘Focus’ clinics at which a range of direct assessments have taken place. Data
had also been collected from the children’s schools and also supplied by the
Department for Education. The project focuses on the early questionnaires
completed by mothers during the child’s pre-school years and data collected
from children’s schools at school entry. 4941(51.3%) were boys and 4688
(48.6%) were girls. The research was longitudinal, so the data taken was then
more accurate.
The same finding came from Butler (2013). He found that
socioeconomic is highly correlated with language learning. He studied 572
elementary level students in China. The data were taken through survey. It
was a short term research. To analyze the data, he used ANOVA. In his
paper, by examining parental SES and children’s EFL learning, he suggested
at least the following three SES-related factors that seem to be closely related
to learners’ second/foreign language learning: (1) resource availability and/or
access to learn the target language (TL); (2) beliefs about the success of
learning the TL; and (3) the role or status of the TL in a given context.
Besides, numerous studies have established a link between poverty
and children’s cognitive abilities and social-emotional competence. Hartas
(2011) utilized a national longitudinal sample from the Millennium Cohort
Study; the study examined the relationship between home learning and
parents’ socio-economic status and their impact on young children’s
language/literacy and socio-emotional competence. A series of univariate
analyses of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the main and
Universitas Sumatera Utara
8
interaction effects of learning activities at ages three and five and
socioeconomic
factors
(i.e.
family
income,
maternal
educational
qualifications)
The findings consistently shows that, irrespective of socio-economic
status, parents engaged with various learning activities (except reading)
roughly equally. The socio-economic factors examined in this study, i.e.,
family income and maternal educational qualifications, were found to have a
stronger effect on children’s language/literacy than on social-emotional
competence. Socio-economic disadvantage, lack of maternal educational
qualifications in particular, remained powerful in influencing competencies in
children aged three and at the start of primary school.
Additionally the influence of gender, age and social class was also
researched by Yen Ju Hou in 2015 in the journal titled An Investigation of
Social Factors in Children’s Foreign Language Learning—A Case Study of
Taiwanese Elementary School Students.
The study was conducted to investigate Taiwanese children’s
English learning motivation/attitude and the impacts of social factors of age,
gender and social class on their English learning. The research is a case study
and done in short term. Participants were 520 students from 6 elementary
schools near Tainan City, divided into two groups as Urban Group (N = 271)
and Rural Group (N = 249) based on their schools’ location. All were
arranged to fill out a questionnaire dealing with their background and English
Universitas Sumatera Utara
9
learning motivation/attitude. The data were processed by SPSS 17.0 for
descriptive, correlation, ANOVA, and predictive analyses.
In the study, social class was found to be positively predictive of
students’ motivation, including instrumental orientation and integrative
orientation, as well as motivational intensity. Students from urban areas had
higher socio-economic status. The findings revealed that they not only had
more chances to attend extra English programs out of campus but also were
more motivated to learn English than students from rural areas. On the
contrary, students from rural areas were with lower socio-economic status.
However, they were very potential. They had higher means in attitude and
motivational intensity toward English learning, though the differences did not
reach significant levels.
But this research did not answer its own major question. The
research did not touch how age, gender, and social class. It only discussed
motivation and attitude, without stating the kind of motivation (external
motivation and internal motivation). So, the content did not fit the title.
Contrary, Onovughe (2014) discussed the social factors that
influence the achievement of children in learning English very well. In his
journal Sociolinguistics Inputs and English as Second Language Classrooms,
he discussed how parent’s occupation, age, gender and religion influence the
children’s achievement in English. The method used was a survey research.
The subjects of study of this study consisted of all secondary school students
Universitas Sumatera Utara
10
in Akure Local Government of Ondo State. The sample was two hundred and
forty (240) students in senior secondary school classes selected from six
secondary schools randomly. The senior secondary school class was chosen
because the students have internalized the rudiments of the English Language
to a large extent (Onovughe, 2014:160). Questionnaires were used for data
collection. It deals with the demographic and socio-linguistic background of
the students. He employed One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), t-test
and Pearson Product Moment correlation statistics for the data analysis.
Onovughe (2014) found that parents’ occupations have input on
students’ use of English. What this simply denotes is that parents who are
educated and whose socio-economic status can be classified as middle or
high are most probably speaking English at home and since the society is a
microcosm of the large world, the effect will be conspicuously seen in their
children performance.
Onovughe (2014) also found that gender and students’ use of
English has no strong relationship. The assumption was because; both female
and male learners of English have equal chances of learning and acquiring
tools of language. The most important one is that both male and female
students should strive and be encouraged to use English language at home
and in classrooms.
It was also revealed that students’ age does not significantly impact
on secondary school students’ use of English. One of the possible reasons for
Universitas Sumatera Utara
11
this result could be credited to the fact that these students are no longer so
young.
In his paper, Onovughe (2014) revealed that religion has nothing to
do with language acquisition and learning although religion is a major factor
in education. Religion is a tool of peace, stability and security. It should
never decide how and what language learners learn especially the English
language.
2.2 Language Acquisition Theory
In order to fully appreciate the influence of sociolinguistics on
second language learning and second language use, it is important to
establish common ground in the field of second language acquisition as a
point of departure (Geeselin and Long, 2014). Two different senses of SLA
need to be distinguished. The term is frequently used to refer to the learning
of another language (second, third, foreign) after acquisition one’s mother
tongue is complete. That is, labels the object of enquiry. The term is also used
to refer to the study of how people learn a secon language (Ellis, 2005). In
this research, SLA will be labelled as the object of inquiry and the field of
study.
The field of second language acquisition can be characterized by
its rapid development and its multiple perspectives (Geeslin and Long, 2014).
There are many competing theories that describe the process of acquiring a
second language, the types of knowledge that learning a second language
Universitas Sumatera Utara
12
entails, and the degree to which this knowledge is influenced by factors
external to the second language grammar. Despite this apparent discord, there
are several issues that arise across theories, and these will need to be
considered before exploring theories that address social factors.
2.2.1 Behaviorism
In the middle of the last century, it was believed that the environment
was primarily responsible for human behavior. This theory, called
Behaviorism, explained that learning (and all other behavior) took place as a
child responded to stimuli in the environment. When children responded
appropriately to such stimuli, positive associations were made and habits
were formed.
It is J.B Watson (1920) who was inspired by Russian physiologist
Ivan Pavlov’s studies of animal learning. Pavlov knew that dogs release
saliva as an innate reflex when they are given food. But he noticed that his
dogs were salivating before they tasted any food—when they saw the trainer
who usually fed them. The dogs, Pavlov reasoned, must have learned to
associate a neutral stimulus (the trainer) with another stimulus (food) that
produces a reflexive response (salivation). As a result of this association, the
neutral stimulus could bring about a response resembling the reflex. Eager to
test this idea, Pavlov successfully taught dogs to salivate at the sound of a
bell by pairing it with the presentation of food. He had discovered classical
conditioning.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
13
Watson wanted to find out if classical conditioning could be
applied to children’s behavior. In a historic experiment, he taught Albert, an
11-month-old infant, to fear a neutral stimulus—a soft white rat—by
presenting it several times with a sharp, loud sound, which naturally scared
the baby. Little Albert, who at first had reached out eagerly to touch the furry
rat, began to cry and turn his head away when he caught sight of it. In fact,
Albert’s fear was so intense that researchers eventually challenged the ethics
of studies like this one. Consistent with Locke’s tabula rasa, Watson
concluded that environment is the supreme force in development. Adults can
mold children’s behavior, he thought, by carefully controlling stimulus–
response associations. And development is a continuous process, consisting
of a gradual increase in the number and strength of these associations.
Another form of behaviorism is B. F. Skinner’s (1904– 1990)
operant conditioning theory. According to Skinner (1957), language learning
took place through imitation. An accurate imitation of adult speech was
rewarded by a positive response and an association was developed and
strengthened. He also argued that the frequency of a behavior can be
increased by following it with a wide variety of reinforcers, such as food,
praise, or a friendly smile. It can also be decreased through punishment, such
as disapproval or withdrawal of privileges. As a result of Skinner’s work,
operant conditioning became a broadly applied learning principle.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
14
2.2.2 Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory
Piaget (1971) did not believe that children’s learning depends on
reinforcers, such as rewards from adults. According to his cognitivedevelopmental theory, children actively construct knowledge as they
manipulate and explore their world.
Piaget’s view of development was greatly influenced by his early
training in biology. Central to his theory is the biological concept of
adaptation (Piaget in Siregar, 2013). Just as structures of the body are adapted
to fit with the environment, so structures of the mind develop to better fit
with, or represent, the external world. In infancy and early childhood,
Piaget (in Siregar, 2013) claimed, children’s understanding is
different from adults’. For example, he believed that young babies do not
realize that an object hidden from view—a favorite toy or even the mother—
continues to exist. He also concluded that preschoolers’ thinking is full of
faulty logic. For example, children younger than age 7 commonly say that the
amount of a liquid changes when it is poured into a differently shaped
container.
According to Piaget, children eventually revise these incorrect
ideas in their ongoing efforts to achieve an equilibrium, or balance, between
internal structures and information they encounter in their everyday worlds.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
15
In Piaget’s theory, as the brain develops and children’s experiences
expand, they move through four broad stages, each characterized by
qualitatively distinct ways of thinking.
Table below provides a brief description of Piaget’s stages. In the
sensorimotor stage, cognitive development begins with the baby’s use of the
senses and movements to explore the world. These action patterns evolve into
the symbolic but illogical thinking of the preschooler in the preoperational
stage.
Next comes the concrete operational stage, when cognition is
transformed into the more organized reasoning of the school-age child.
Finally, in the formal operational stage, thought becomes the complex,
abstract reasoning system of the adolescent and adult. Piaget’s theory can be
drawn as follows:
Universitas Sumatera Utara
16
Period
Table 2.1
Piaget’s Development Stages
Outstanding
Language Equivalet
(age in year)
Characterisics
Sensorimotor
1. Egocentrism
(0-2)
2. Organized
1. Language is absent
by
sensory and motor
until the end of
period
abilities
Pre-operational
(2-7)
1. Increasing
symbolic ability
1. Egocentric speech
2. Socialized speech
2. Beginning of
representation
Concrete Operations
1. Reversibility
1. Beginning
(7-11)
2. Conservation
verbal
3. Classification
understanding
of
2. Understanding
related to concrete
object.
Formal Operations
(Over 11)
1. Develops logicomathematical
structures
2. Hypothetico-
1. Language
freed
from the concrete
2. Verbal
ability
to
express the possible
deductive reasoning
Adapted from Developmen through The Lifespant, 2007
Universitas Sumatera Utara
17
2.2.3 Socio-cultural Perspective
The socio-cultural perspective attempts to reconcile features of
second language learning that happen outside the mind with features inside the
mind. This approach was made renowned by J. Piaget (1955) and L.S.
Vygotsky (1962), who have competing general theories of cognitive
development based on the ideas of Constructionism, or the philosophy
whereby all human knowledge is constructed by the learner. Vygotsky’s
approach is regarded as a socioconstructivism since he believed that conscious
social interaction is the key to individual cognitive development, whereas
Piaget’s ideas are regarded more as cognitive constructivism since he believed
the individual learns by way of developmental stages. They both believe,
however, that language and language learning are mediated through social and
cultural factors.
Vygotsky’s approach suggested ways in which an invigilator can
mediate and arrange effective learning in conversation. The invigilator, or a
‘more knowledgeable other’ (MKO), draws out the learner’s ability by
locating their ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD), or “the distance
between the a student’s level of development as revealed when problem
solving without adult help, and the level of potential development as
determined by a student problem solving in collaboration with peers and
teachers” (Vygotsky in Thorton, 2009). In this way, as children interact with
others, at play at school and at home, they develop models of communication.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
18
For Piaget, the processes of ‘Assimilation and Accommodation’, as
complimentary (Atherton in Thorton, 2009). Therefore, people learn language
by developmentally increasing their schemata about language.
The confluence of Vygotsky and Piaget’s constructionist ideas has
led to the present day preference of communicative language learning or
approaches to language learning through conversational interaction. There are
many SLA approaches that has have been developed from interaction in
conversation. Swain’s Output theory (Swain in Thorton, 2009), for example,
suggests learners realize what abilities they are missing in conversation when
they notice differences in conversation with others. This helps them construct
or reconstruct their own language production. This theory advocates that
speakers can notice the differences between themselves and another speaker in
conversation, which may also be used to develop rules about language
discourse and how these rules apply to other linguistic situations.
2.3 Social Approaches to Second Language Acquisition
Sociolinguistics is perhaps the branch of linguistics least concerned
with theory construction. Charles Ferguson (1997), one of the founders of the
field, reflects that from its earliest days, sociolinguistics was problem driven
rather than theory driven. Sociolinguistic approaches to SLA have also been
lacking in the kinds of overarching theories beloved of syntacticians and
cognitive psychologists. What is clear from work conducted in the field of
Universitas Sumatera Utara
19
sociolinguistics is the unifying focus on social aspects of language. In other
words, sociolinguistics views language use as a social activity that allows
speakers to relate to one another in a variety of ways and accomplish a range
of communicative tasks (Geeslen and Long 2014: 43). Some theories on SLA
research are:
2.3.1 Sociocultural Theory
Sociocultural Theory is one of the best-known social approaches to
language learning. Social theory is the manner in which cognitive processes
and language are viewed. Under this framework, human thinking or mental
activity is seen as having an external or social origin, and language is viewed
as a tool that is used for social purposes.
This theory views learning as the process of internalizing
information gained through social interactions in order to reach a state of selfregulation, and this process can be repeated in any context where a difficult
task is encountered. The process of internalizing information gained through
social interaction is called appropriation (Geeslin and Long, 2014). Based on
this theory, children learn language by taking the knowledge of language into
their own consciousness and develope their skills during social interaction.
This theory argues that appropriated knowledge and skills allow children to
control their own mental activity which, in turn, allows them to complete the
acquisition of language by themselves.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
20
In doing reserch, researchers often present learners with a task that
is just beyond their current level of language development so that their
behavior during the problem-solving activity can be directly observed.
2.3.2 The Identity Approach
The Identity Approach to second language acquisition adopts a
distinct perspective on the relationship between the learner and the external,
social environment. Under this approach learners are connected to the learning
context via social identity(ies). Norton (in Geeslin and Long, 2014), defines
identity as : how a person understands his or her relationship to the world,
how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how the person
understands possibilities for the future. Two principles central to this approach
are: (1) the social identity of language learners is complex and dynamic, and
(2) socially structured relations of power affect learners’ opportunities to
interact with speakers of the target language community.
Because the Identity Approach is concerned with growing
participation in a target language community, many studies tend to be
longitudinal in nature (at least one year in length). This longitudinal approach
is consonant with studies that attempt to document how identities change over
time. Additionally, the complexity of individual and social relationships, as
well as how power is structured in society, makes it important to capture a
detailed account of the experiences of the participants.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
21
2.3.3 Language Socialization Approach
The Language Socialization Approach to second language
acquisition is centrally concerned with learners’ development of linguistic,
cultural, and communicative competence (Duff & Talmy, 2011). From the
outset it is noted that acquiring knowledge of the second language under this
approach is seen from a much broader perspective, in that acquisition involves
knowledge of culture such as “stances of morality or respect” as well as social
knowledge, or “how certain types of language practices produce and reflect
social stratification, hierarchy, and status marking” (Duff & Talmy, 2011).
Other social aspects that are examined by researchers adopting a Language
Socialization Approach include ideologies, epistemologies, identity, and
affect. Thus, social aspects related to both the learner and the learning context
are investigated within this approach.
Language Socialization researchers generally employ ethnographic
methods of data collection. This means that researchers spend a significant
amount of time in the field to acquaint themselves with the norms and
practices of the community. Over time, researchers gather data from a variety
of sources, including recorded interviews, audio and/or video of a variety of
social interactions, physical resources related to the study site, and
observations recorded in field notes.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
22
2.4 Conceptual Framework
Social Factors on Children’s Achievement
Of Acquiring L2
Behaviorism Theory
Parents’
Economic Level
Parents’
Education Level
Learning
Environment
Parents’
Occupation
Correlation between Social Factors and L2
Domination/Reason of Dominant
Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework
Universitas Sumatera Utara
THEORETICAL CONCEPT
2.1 Previous Related Research
It is believed that social factors give significant influences on the
acquisition of second language. Law at.al (2010) found that the children’s
school entry performance is clearly associated with socio-economic status –
the greater the disadvantage the lower the child’s score. Furthermore, the
child’s communication environment and language are important influencing
factors on the child’s school entry scores, the more advanced the child’s
language and the more supportive the child’s communication environment,
the higher the child’s school entry score. The research was quantitativequalitative.
The study used a large complex dataset from the Avon Longitudinal
Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as ‘Children of the
Nineties’. The subjects of this study was the children born to mothers in and
around the area of Bristol which used to be known as Avon. The children
were born between April 1991 and December 1992. In the time since
recruitment, mothers have completed questionnaires regularly about a wide
range of developmental, social, medical and environmental aspects of their
child and about family life as have the children too as they grew older. Since
the children were seven years of age they have been invited to a number of
6
Universitas Sumatera Utara
7
‘Focus’ clinics at which a range of direct assessments have taken place. Data
had also been collected from the children’s schools and also supplied by the
Department for Education. The project focuses on the early questionnaires
completed by mothers during the child’s pre-school years and data collected
from children’s schools at school entry. 4941(51.3%) were boys and 4688
(48.6%) were girls. The research was longitudinal, so the data taken was then
more accurate.
The same finding came from Butler (2013). He found that
socioeconomic is highly correlated with language learning. He studied 572
elementary level students in China. The data were taken through survey. It
was a short term research. To analyze the data, he used ANOVA. In his
paper, by examining parental SES and children’s EFL learning, he suggested
at least the following three SES-related factors that seem to be closely related
to learners’ second/foreign language learning: (1) resource availability and/or
access to learn the target language (TL); (2) beliefs about the success of
learning the TL; and (3) the role or status of the TL in a given context.
Besides, numerous studies have established a link between poverty
and children’s cognitive abilities and social-emotional competence. Hartas
(2011) utilized a national longitudinal sample from the Millennium Cohort
Study; the study examined the relationship between home learning and
parents’ socio-economic status and their impact on young children’s
language/literacy and socio-emotional competence. A series of univariate
analyses of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to examine the main and
Universitas Sumatera Utara
8
interaction effects of learning activities at ages three and five and
socioeconomic
factors
(i.e.
family
income,
maternal
educational
qualifications)
The findings consistently shows that, irrespective of socio-economic
status, parents engaged with various learning activities (except reading)
roughly equally. The socio-economic factors examined in this study, i.e.,
family income and maternal educational qualifications, were found to have a
stronger effect on children’s language/literacy than on social-emotional
competence. Socio-economic disadvantage, lack of maternal educational
qualifications in particular, remained powerful in influencing competencies in
children aged three and at the start of primary school.
Additionally the influence of gender, age and social class was also
researched by Yen Ju Hou in 2015 in the journal titled An Investigation of
Social Factors in Children’s Foreign Language Learning—A Case Study of
Taiwanese Elementary School Students.
The study was conducted to investigate Taiwanese children’s
English learning motivation/attitude and the impacts of social factors of age,
gender and social class on their English learning. The research is a case study
and done in short term. Participants were 520 students from 6 elementary
schools near Tainan City, divided into two groups as Urban Group (N = 271)
and Rural Group (N = 249) based on their schools’ location. All were
arranged to fill out a questionnaire dealing with their background and English
Universitas Sumatera Utara
9
learning motivation/attitude. The data were processed by SPSS 17.0 for
descriptive, correlation, ANOVA, and predictive analyses.
In the study, social class was found to be positively predictive of
students’ motivation, including instrumental orientation and integrative
orientation, as well as motivational intensity. Students from urban areas had
higher socio-economic status. The findings revealed that they not only had
more chances to attend extra English programs out of campus but also were
more motivated to learn English than students from rural areas. On the
contrary, students from rural areas were with lower socio-economic status.
However, they were very potential. They had higher means in attitude and
motivational intensity toward English learning, though the differences did not
reach significant levels.
But this research did not answer its own major question. The
research did not touch how age, gender, and social class. It only discussed
motivation and attitude, without stating the kind of motivation (external
motivation and internal motivation). So, the content did not fit the title.
Contrary, Onovughe (2014) discussed the social factors that
influence the achievement of children in learning English very well. In his
journal Sociolinguistics Inputs and English as Second Language Classrooms,
he discussed how parent’s occupation, age, gender and religion influence the
children’s achievement in English. The method used was a survey research.
The subjects of study of this study consisted of all secondary school students
Universitas Sumatera Utara
10
in Akure Local Government of Ondo State. The sample was two hundred and
forty (240) students in senior secondary school classes selected from six
secondary schools randomly. The senior secondary school class was chosen
because the students have internalized the rudiments of the English Language
to a large extent (Onovughe, 2014:160). Questionnaires were used for data
collection. It deals with the demographic and socio-linguistic background of
the students. He employed One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), t-test
and Pearson Product Moment correlation statistics for the data analysis.
Onovughe (2014) found that parents’ occupations have input on
students’ use of English. What this simply denotes is that parents who are
educated and whose socio-economic status can be classified as middle or
high are most probably speaking English at home and since the society is a
microcosm of the large world, the effect will be conspicuously seen in their
children performance.
Onovughe (2014) also found that gender and students’ use of
English has no strong relationship. The assumption was because; both female
and male learners of English have equal chances of learning and acquiring
tools of language. The most important one is that both male and female
students should strive and be encouraged to use English language at home
and in classrooms.
It was also revealed that students’ age does not significantly impact
on secondary school students’ use of English. One of the possible reasons for
Universitas Sumatera Utara
11
this result could be credited to the fact that these students are no longer so
young.
In his paper, Onovughe (2014) revealed that religion has nothing to
do with language acquisition and learning although religion is a major factor
in education. Religion is a tool of peace, stability and security. It should
never decide how and what language learners learn especially the English
language.
2.2 Language Acquisition Theory
In order to fully appreciate the influence of sociolinguistics on
second language learning and second language use, it is important to
establish common ground in the field of second language acquisition as a
point of departure (Geeselin and Long, 2014). Two different senses of SLA
need to be distinguished. The term is frequently used to refer to the learning
of another language (second, third, foreign) after acquisition one’s mother
tongue is complete. That is, labels the object of enquiry. The term is also used
to refer to the study of how people learn a secon language (Ellis, 2005). In
this research, SLA will be labelled as the object of inquiry and the field of
study.
The field of second language acquisition can be characterized by
its rapid development and its multiple perspectives (Geeslin and Long, 2014).
There are many competing theories that describe the process of acquiring a
second language, the types of knowledge that learning a second language
Universitas Sumatera Utara
12
entails, and the degree to which this knowledge is influenced by factors
external to the second language grammar. Despite this apparent discord, there
are several issues that arise across theories, and these will need to be
considered before exploring theories that address social factors.
2.2.1 Behaviorism
In the middle of the last century, it was believed that the environment
was primarily responsible for human behavior. This theory, called
Behaviorism, explained that learning (and all other behavior) took place as a
child responded to stimuli in the environment. When children responded
appropriately to such stimuli, positive associations were made and habits
were formed.
It is J.B Watson (1920) who was inspired by Russian physiologist
Ivan Pavlov’s studies of animal learning. Pavlov knew that dogs release
saliva as an innate reflex when they are given food. But he noticed that his
dogs were salivating before they tasted any food—when they saw the trainer
who usually fed them. The dogs, Pavlov reasoned, must have learned to
associate a neutral stimulus (the trainer) with another stimulus (food) that
produces a reflexive response (salivation). As a result of this association, the
neutral stimulus could bring about a response resembling the reflex. Eager to
test this idea, Pavlov successfully taught dogs to salivate at the sound of a
bell by pairing it with the presentation of food. He had discovered classical
conditioning.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
13
Watson wanted to find out if classical conditioning could be
applied to children’s behavior. In a historic experiment, he taught Albert, an
11-month-old infant, to fear a neutral stimulus—a soft white rat—by
presenting it several times with a sharp, loud sound, which naturally scared
the baby. Little Albert, who at first had reached out eagerly to touch the furry
rat, began to cry and turn his head away when he caught sight of it. In fact,
Albert’s fear was so intense that researchers eventually challenged the ethics
of studies like this one. Consistent with Locke’s tabula rasa, Watson
concluded that environment is the supreme force in development. Adults can
mold children’s behavior, he thought, by carefully controlling stimulus–
response associations. And development is a continuous process, consisting
of a gradual increase in the number and strength of these associations.
Another form of behaviorism is B. F. Skinner’s (1904– 1990)
operant conditioning theory. According to Skinner (1957), language learning
took place through imitation. An accurate imitation of adult speech was
rewarded by a positive response and an association was developed and
strengthened. He also argued that the frequency of a behavior can be
increased by following it with a wide variety of reinforcers, such as food,
praise, or a friendly smile. It can also be decreased through punishment, such
as disapproval or withdrawal of privileges. As a result of Skinner’s work,
operant conditioning became a broadly applied learning principle.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
14
2.2.2 Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory
Piaget (1971) did not believe that children’s learning depends on
reinforcers, such as rewards from adults. According to his cognitivedevelopmental theory, children actively construct knowledge as they
manipulate and explore their world.
Piaget’s view of development was greatly influenced by his early
training in biology. Central to his theory is the biological concept of
adaptation (Piaget in Siregar, 2013). Just as structures of the body are adapted
to fit with the environment, so structures of the mind develop to better fit
with, or represent, the external world. In infancy and early childhood,
Piaget (in Siregar, 2013) claimed, children’s understanding is
different from adults’. For example, he believed that young babies do not
realize that an object hidden from view—a favorite toy or even the mother—
continues to exist. He also concluded that preschoolers’ thinking is full of
faulty logic. For example, children younger than age 7 commonly say that the
amount of a liquid changes when it is poured into a differently shaped
container.
According to Piaget, children eventually revise these incorrect
ideas in their ongoing efforts to achieve an equilibrium, or balance, between
internal structures and information they encounter in their everyday worlds.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
15
In Piaget’s theory, as the brain develops and children’s experiences
expand, they move through four broad stages, each characterized by
qualitatively distinct ways of thinking.
Table below provides a brief description of Piaget’s stages. In the
sensorimotor stage, cognitive development begins with the baby’s use of the
senses and movements to explore the world. These action patterns evolve into
the symbolic but illogical thinking of the preschooler in the preoperational
stage.
Next comes the concrete operational stage, when cognition is
transformed into the more organized reasoning of the school-age child.
Finally, in the formal operational stage, thought becomes the complex,
abstract reasoning system of the adolescent and adult. Piaget’s theory can be
drawn as follows:
Universitas Sumatera Utara
16
Period
Table 2.1
Piaget’s Development Stages
Outstanding
Language Equivalet
(age in year)
Characterisics
Sensorimotor
1. Egocentrism
(0-2)
2. Organized
1. Language is absent
by
sensory and motor
until the end of
period
abilities
Pre-operational
(2-7)
1. Increasing
symbolic ability
1. Egocentric speech
2. Socialized speech
2. Beginning of
representation
Concrete Operations
1. Reversibility
1. Beginning
(7-11)
2. Conservation
verbal
3. Classification
understanding
of
2. Understanding
related to concrete
object.
Formal Operations
(Over 11)
1. Develops logicomathematical
structures
2. Hypothetico-
1. Language
freed
from the concrete
2. Verbal
ability
to
express the possible
deductive reasoning
Adapted from Developmen through The Lifespant, 2007
Universitas Sumatera Utara
17
2.2.3 Socio-cultural Perspective
The socio-cultural perspective attempts to reconcile features of
second language learning that happen outside the mind with features inside the
mind. This approach was made renowned by J. Piaget (1955) and L.S.
Vygotsky (1962), who have competing general theories of cognitive
development based on the ideas of Constructionism, or the philosophy
whereby all human knowledge is constructed by the learner. Vygotsky’s
approach is regarded as a socioconstructivism since he believed that conscious
social interaction is the key to individual cognitive development, whereas
Piaget’s ideas are regarded more as cognitive constructivism since he believed
the individual learns by way of developmental stages. They both believe,
however, that language and language learning are mediated through social and
cultural factors.
Vygotsky’s approach suggested ways in which an invigilator can
mediate and arrange effective learning in conversation. The invigilator, or a
‘more knowledgeable other’ (MKO), draws out the learner’s ability by
locating their ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD), or “the distance
between the a student’s level of development as revealed when problem
solving without adult help, and the level of potential development as
determined by a student problem solving in collaboration with peers and
teachers” (Vygotsky in Thorton, 2009). In this way, as children interact with
others, at play at school and at home, they develop models of communication.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
18
For Piaget, the processes of ‘Assimilation and Accommodation’, as
complimentary (Atherton in Thorton, 2009). Therefore, people learn language
by developmentally increasing their schemata about language.
The confluence of Vygotsky and Piaget’s constructionist ideas has
led to the present day preference of communicative language learning or
approaches to language learning through conversational interaction. There are
many SLA approaches that has have been developed from interaction in
conversation. Swain’s Output theory (Swain in Thorton, 2009), for example,
suggests learners realize what abilities they are missing in conversation when
they notice differences in conversation with others. This helps them construct
or reconstruct their own language production. This theory advocates that
speakers can notice the differences between themselves and another speaker in
conversation, which may also be used to develop rules about language
discourse and how these rules apply to other linguistic situations.
2.3 Social Approaches to Second Language Acquisition
Sociolinguistics is perhaps the branch of linguistics least concerned
with theory construction. Charles Ferguson (1997), one of the founders of the
field, reflects that from its earliest days, sociolinguistics was problem driven
rather than theory driven. Sociolinguistic approaches to SLA have also been
lacking in the kinds of overarching theories beloved of syntacticians and
cognitive psychologists. What is clear from work conducted in the field of
Universitas Sumatera Utara
19
sociolinguistics is the unifying focus on social aspects of language. In other
words, sociolinguistics views language use as a social activity that allows
speakers to relate to one another in a variety of ways and accomplish a range
of communicative tasks (Geeslen and Long 2014: 43). Some theories on SLA
research are:
2.3.1 Sociocultural Theory
Sociocultural Theory is one of the best-known social approaches to
language learning. Social theory is the manner in which cognitive processes
and language are viewed. Under this framework, human thinking or mental
activity is seen as having an external or social origin, and language is viewed
as a tool that is used for social purposes.
This theory views learning as the process of internalizing
information gained through social interactions in order to reach a state of selfregulation, and this process can be repeated in any context where a difficult
task is encountered. The process of internalizing information gained through
social interaction is called appropriation (Geeslin and Long, 2014). Based on
this theory, children learn language by taking the knowledge of language into
their own consciousness and develope their skills during social interaction.
This theory argues that appropriated knowledge and skills allow children to
control their own mental activity which, in turn, allows them to complete the
acquisition of language by themselves.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
20
In doing reserch, researchers often present learners with a task that
is just beyond their current level of language development so that their
behavior during the problem-solving activity can be directly observed.
2.3.2 The Identity Approach
The Identity Approach to second language acquisition adopts a
distinct perspective on the relationship between the learner and the external,
social environment. Under this approach learners are connected to the learning
context via social identity(ies). Norton (in Geeslin and Long, 2014), defines
identity as : how a person understands his or her relationship to the world,
how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how the person
understands possibilities for the future. Two principles central to this approach
are: (1) the social identity of language learners is complex and dynamic, and
(2) socially structured relations of power affect learners’ opportunities to
interact with speakers of the target language community.
Because the Identity Approach is concerned with growing
participation in a target language community, many studies tend to be
longitudinal in nature (at least one year in length). This longitudinal approach
is consonant with studies that attempt to document how identities change over
time. Additionally, the complexity of individual and social relationships, as
well as how power is structured in society, makes it important to capture a
detailed account of the experiences of the participants.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
21
2.3.3 Language Socialization Approach
The Language Socialization Approach to second language
acquisition is centrally concerned with learners’ development of linguistic,
cultural, and communicative competence (Duff & Talmy, 2011). From the
outset it is noted that acquiring knowledge of the second language under this
approach is seen from a much broader perspective, in that acquisition involves
knowledge of culture such as “stances of morality or respect” as well as social
knowledge, or “how certain types of language practices produce and reflect
social stratification, hierarchy, and status marking” (Duff & Talmy, 2011).
Other social aspects that are examined by researchers adopting a Language
Socialization Approach include ideologies, epistemologies, identity, and
affect. Thus, social aspects related to both the learner and the learning context
are investigated within this approach.
Language Socialization researchers generally employ ethnographic
methods of data collection. This means that researchers spend a significant
amount of time in the field to acquaint themselves with the norms and
practices of the community. Over time, researchers gather data from a variety
of sources, including recorded interviews, audio and/or video of a variety of
social interactions, physical resources related to the study site, and
observations recorded in field notes.
Universitas Sumatera Utara
22
2.4 Conceptual Framework
Social Factors on Children’s Achievement
Of Acquiring L2
Behaviorism Theory
Parents’
Economic Level
Parents’
Education Level
Learning
Environment
Parents’
Occupation
Correlation between Social Factors and L2
Domination/Reason of Dominant
Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework
Universitas Sumatera Utara