Psychological barriers in the acquisition of second language: a non-native perspective
List of Authors
  • Md. Kawser Ahmed

Keyword
  • Acquisition, barriers, cultural, motivation, psychological

Abstract
  • Acquisition of second language (L2) learners especially non-native learners face several affective barriers. Affective barriers popularly known as psychological barriers pose a great obstacle potentially in the acquisition of second language. Anxiety, lack of confidence and limitation of adjustment to the changed environment make second language learners unnerving and ambivalent. Non-native learners feel shaky, overlapping and ambiguous in the perception and the production of second language. Likewise, teachers’ disinterest to promote learners rather positively enhances the scope of psychological crisis. Practically, learners do have a potential weakness on linguistic knowledge like four skills of English language and understanding the needs of students. The focus of this paper will be upon the identification of valid factors which in human psychology create obstruction to achieve mastery over language. In addition, realistic presentation of non-native learning context, affective conflict and constraints of motivation often lead to maximizing psychological barriers. In fact this paper will specifically deal with cross cultural viewpoints-native or non-native with analytic discussion.

Reference
  • 1. Dewaele. J.-M. (2013). The link between foreign language classroom anxiety and psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism among adult bi- and multilinguals. Modern Language Journal, 97, 670-684.
    2. Dewaele, J.-M., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4, 237-274.
    3. Dörnyei, Z., MacIntyre, P. D., & Henry, A. (Eds.). (2015). Motivational dynamics in language learning. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
    4. Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    5. Ellis, R. (2004). Individual differences in second language learning. In A. Davies & C. Elder (Eds.) The handbook of applied linguistics (pp. 525-551). Oxford: Blackwell
    6. Eysenck, M. W. (1979). Anxiety, learning, and memory: A reconceptualization. Journal of Research in Personality, 13(4), 363-385.
    7. Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.
    8. Gardner, R. C., & MacIntyre, P. D. (1993). On the measurement of affective variables in second language learning. Language Learning, 43(2), 157-194.
    9. Izard, C. E. (1993). Four systems for emotion activation: Cognitive and noncognitive processes. Psychological Review, 100(1), 68-90.
    10. Jack C., Richards and Theodore S., Rodgers. (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    11. Koba N. et.al, ‘Using the community language learning approach to cope with language anxiety’, The Internet TESl Journal, viewed on October 10, 2005,
    12. Krashen, Stephen D. (1988). Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Prentice-Hall International.
    13. Larsen-Freeman, D., & Cameron, L. (2008). Complex systems and applied linguistics. Modern Language Journal, 92, 644-645.
    14. Littlewood,W.(1984). Foreign and Second Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    15. MacIntyre, P. D. (1999). Language anxiety: A review of the research for language teachers. In D. J. Young (Ed.), Affect in foreign language and second language teaching: A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere (pp. 24-45). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
    16. MacIntyre, P. D. (2017). An overview of language anxiety research and trends in its development. In C. Gkonou, M. Daubney, & J.-M. Dewaele (Eds.), New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications (pp. 11-30). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
    17. Rod, Ellis. (1985).Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Turula, A. ‘Language anxiety and classroom dynamics: a study of adult learners’, Forum English Teaching, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of English Language Programs, vol. 40, no.2, viewed 4 October, 2005, < http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol40/no2/p.28.htm.>