Factors influencing the learning of a second language. An analysis of the language profiles of two subjects (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics, grade: 1, University of Malta (Linguistics), course: ENG 2030 Second Language Acquisition of English, language: English, abstract: Although the study of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) started already in the late 1960s, there is still a lot of incongruency on the subject. Each person seems to differ in his/her respective SLA process, which makes it hard or even impossible to come to an overall truth about how SLA works. Although studies conducted in the last decades might not have led to any overall conclusion, they have verified and falsified different theories, showing that they do not hold true in every case.

From the myriad of different theories and resulting studies, a few will be discussed in connection to the SLA processes of two subjects, which are presented in this case study. In the first part of the paper, the language profiles of each of the two subjects will be analyzed, taking various theories into account and trying to come to an understanding of what have been the causes and effects of their respective language profiles. In the second part, both profiles will be compared. In the conclusion, the most important assumptions will be revised, and a final statement will be drawn.