Background to second language acquisition research and language teaching

Second Language Learning and Language Teaching by Vivian Cook (2008)

Keywords
Second language: ‘A language acquired by a person in addition to his mother tongue’ (UNESCO)
Contrastive analysis: this research method compared the descriptions of two languages in grammar or pronunciation to discover the differences between them; these were then seen as difficulties for the students that needed to be overcome
Second and foreign language: broadly speaking, a second language is for immediate use within the same country; a foreign language is for long-term future use in other countries

Interesting points
-‘Language is at the centre of human life. We use it to express our love or our hatred, to achieve our goals and further our careers, to gain artistic satisfaction or simple pleasure, to pray or to blaspheme. Through language we plan our lives and remember our past; we exchange ideas and experiences; we form our social and individual identities. Language is the most unique thing about human beings.’
-‘Knowing another language may mean: getting a job; a chance to get educated; the ability to take a fuller part in the life of one’s own country or the opportunity to emigrate to another; an expansion of one’s literary and cultural horizons; the expression of one’s political opinions or religious beliefs; the chance to talk to people on a foreign holiday. A second language affects people’s careers and possible futures, their lives and their very identities.’
-Children who learn a second language can understand better in their first language.
-‘People who speak a second language are more creative and flexible at problem solving than monolinguals.’
-‘The majority of an English class will be conducted in English’ (MEXT, 2003) in Japan. MEXT stands for Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, science and Technology.

Meaning of ‘language’ (Cook, 2007)
-Lang1: a representation system known by human beings-‘human language’
-Lang2: an abstract entity-‘the English language’
-Lang3: a set of sentences-everything that has been or could be said-‘the language of the Bible’
-Lang4: the possession of a community-‘the language of French people’
-Lang5: the knowledge in the mind of an individual ‘I have learnt French as a foreign language for eight years’

Useful links
www.hoddereducation.com/viviancook.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/index.htm