Comparison and Contrast of the Acculturation Model and the Socio-educational Mod

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Abstract:This paper deals with the main contents and characteristics of two foreign language learning models: the Acculturation Model and the Socio-educational Model. Their similarities and differences are compared and analyzed. The discussion of the two models has some important implications for our foreign language learning.

Key words:the Acculturation Model the Socio-educational Model learning environment

Ⅰ Introduction

Schouten (1979: 4) claims that in second language learning, too many models have been built and taken for granted too soon, and this has stifled relevant research. He believes that theorizing should only follow extensive and rigorous empirical research. In the following, I will introduce two of the models of the second language acquisition: the Acculturation Model and the Socio-educational Model.

Acculturation is defined by Brown (1980: 129) as "the process of becoming adapted to a new culture". And it is an important part of the Second Language Acquisition. Schumann (1978: 34) also states that the Second Language Acquisition is just one aspect of acculturation and the degree to which a learner acculturates to the target language group will control the degree to which he acquires the second language. The Acculturation Model Theory, which was established by Schumann in 1978, initiates an interpretation of the SLA power mechanisms as well as the phenomenon of pidginization in the L2 learners' interlanguage from the perspectives of social and psychological factors, thus providing a theoretical guidance for L2 learners to further understand the SLA law and create favorable external and internal environments for second language acquisition.

The socio-education model is proposed by Gardner in 1985, and the most influential in the area of second language acquisition theory. While Gardner identified a number of factors which are involved when learning a second language, it was earlier work by Gardner and Lambert, which laid the foundations for the model. Gardner proposed four features of second language acquisition: the social and cultural milieu, individual learner differences, the setting and context. In Gardner's model, the most influential in second language acquisition are the four individual differences:intelligence,language aptitude,motivation,and situational anxiety. In this theoretical model, Gardner states that motivation is the core driving force of the second language acquisition. Because language learning is depend on motivation in a number of factors. Highly motivated learners in the learning activities tend to show a more positive attitude, they want to achieve the aspirations of learning objectives has become even more strongly, for which they will pay more in learning. In other words, the learner's motivation is stronger, the more efforts made by them, the more benefit from it. Motivation includes four areas, "objectives, efforts, the aspirations to achieve the objectives and the positive attitude showed in the corresponding activities" (Gardner, 1985:50).

The basic viewpoint of this model is that the language acquisition is different from the other school courses of study. The theory states that the social environment of cultural values affects individual differences in intelligence, language skills, motivation and scenes of anxiety and these individual differences directly affect language learning, leading to differences in the results of the study. And the guiding ideology is that language learning in schools and other courses of study is not the same, it is the acquisition of another cultural association with the skills and characteristics of behavior. Therefore, the result of learning a foreign language is affect on the learners' attitude and faith to the target language.

ⅡThe comparison and contrast of the acculturation model and the socio-educational model

1.Similarities

①The learning environment

These two models attach importance to the cultural and social elements in the input or the content of language contact of the learning environment, compared to the emphasis on the linguistic elements. No matter the language input in the regular classroom environment in the Social-education model or from natural language environment in the acculturation model, it have to go through the learners'mental processing, that is, it can absorb and export though the learner's cognitive and emotional role. And Krashen (1985:2) thought that if input is understood, and there is enough of it, then the necessary grammar is automatically provided. And he also stated that humans acquire language in only one way- by understanding message, or by receiving the so called comprehensible input, and then the learners can go from the current step to the next level along the natural order, and learning step by step. The acquisition of grammar together with the culture can better help the SLA and the application of the language learned.

②Affective factors of learners

Besides the outside learning environment, the two models both stress the individual features of the learner, for example, the affective factors, mainly formed or influenced by the social and cultural background. These two models are both regarded the affective factor as one of the most important key factors in Second Language Acquisition. For instance, the Acculturation Model contains emotional variables: shocking language, culture shock, motivation and ego permeability; the Socio-educational Model contains motivation and situational anxiety.This shows that the Language Acquisition and emotional factors are closely related, and the success of the Language Acquisition and positive emotional factors are inseparable.

Among the affective factors, motivation is one of the important factors. Motivation factors may vary from person to person, and they are affected by the social and linguistic environment, nature and objectives of the study, but the importance of motivation is undeniable in language acquisition. Garden (1985:10) holds that motivation comes from attitude, which does not have direct influence on learning, but they lead to motivation which does: "motivation in the present context refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning plus favorable attitudes towards learning and language". And he also remakes that motivation involves four aspects, a goal, effortful behavior, a desire to attain the goal and favorable attitudes towards the activity in question. And these four aspects are not unidimentional (Gardner, 1985:50). In the same way, Schumann also stated the important of psychology in foreign language acquisition; he put the motivation in a very important position in the Acculturation Model.

In China, there are many empirical studies on the affective factors by investigating the English majors or non-English majors, for example, Li (2008) conducted a research on the motivational regulations of EFL students in China, finding out that they adopted 8 regulations to improve their motivation to sustain their efforts and improve their performance in SLA. The regulation strategies to regulate the motivation are also featured by the Chinese social and cultural environment,such as the task accomplishment, the desire to honor the teachers and the desire to be appreciated by the classmates.

2.Differences

①The natural and class learning environment

These two models are discussing the different language learning environment. The Acculturation Model discussed the natural language environment in the process of language acquisition. Learning a second language in the natural environment can help improve spoken fluency of language and social relevance, and the learning goal is to obtain information. Learners'awareness of cultural differences, motivations, attitudes, and other emotional factors are more obvious on the impact of language learning; and intelligence and language ability have a little impact of language acquisition. For instance, Ellis (1985: 252) states that acculturation is determined by the degree of social and psychological distance between the learner and the target language culture. Such, we could learn that the language is mainly acquired in the social environment, according to the Acculturation Model. Learners in natural settings often resort to conscious learning and may deliberately seek out opportunities to practice specific linguistic items they have studied, as Lennon's (1989) study of advanced German learners of English in Britain demonstrates(cited in Ellis, 1994:215). An empirical study by Schinke-Llano(1990:216),for instance,claims that“second” language acquisition results on native-like use of the target language, while “foreign"language acquisition does not(cited in Ellis, 1994:215).The Socio-educational Model used to explain the classroom environment language learning process. Learning foreign language in the formal classroom environment,the learners are mainly acquiring language knowledge, learning language forms, stressing the accuracy of language; and the learners'emotional and cognitive ability of language have a greater influence on second language acquisition. For instance, professor Yang and professor Zhang (2007:91) summered that Gardner thought that in the Socio-educational Model, classroom teaching plays a leading role in the foreign language acquisition, and it affected by the four elements, which is the learners'intelligence,language learning skills, motivation and scenes of anxiety.

But it is pity that the learners in a classroom setting often fail to develop much functional language ability (Ellis, 1994:228). Renaud (1986) provide evidence of the limited success of FSL lessons taught to groups of immigrants, commenting that formal instruction the vast majority of the subjects have attained proficiency;levels which at best can be described as minimal’(page199) (cited in Ellis, 1994:228).

②Culture and individuality

Although the two models stress the social and cultural influence on to the individual affective factors, but the degree and focus are different. These two models are focusing on the different aspects in learning foreign language. The Acculturation Model believes that the culture plays the decisive role in learning foreign language. Acculturation is determined by the degree of social and psychological between the learner and the target language culture (Ellis 1985: 252). Yang and Zhang (2007:73) also holds that the second language acquisition is decided by the learners' social distance and psychological distance between the culture of the native language and the target language.

The Socio-educational Model holds that the learners' attitudes and faiths towards the target language play the decisive role in learning foreign language. Yang and Zhang (2007:73) also holds that the language acquisition is different from the learning of the other curricula, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry or history, which are only a part of the culture unit. But in the meanwhile, the second language has an obvious characteristic of the culture. So, the learning result is determined by the learners' attitudes and faiths to the target language in some degree.The study done by Xu, Liu, and Jiang (2001) applied the acculturation model to investigate the special cultural and political influence on the police college students. This study showed that the students in the department with higher political awareness demand had better language proficiency. While the study of Li and Gao, a longitudinal study on second-year English majors in a comprehensive university, attested the learning motivation and self-identity changes of the individual learner influence the students language performance by applying a social- educational model. These two researches show the correction of these two models.

ⅢConclusion

In the process of learning the Acculturation Model and the Socio-educational Model, I learned more theories about the second language acquisition. In this paper, I was compared and contrasted the Acculturation Model and Socio-educational Model in terms of their similarities and differences. The similarities are: firstly, these two models are both related to the learning environment; secondly, these two models are both regarded the affective factor as one of the most important key factors in Second Language Acquisition. And these two models are both regarded the motivation as one of the important factors.The differences are: firstly, these two models are discussing the different language learning environment, that is, the natural and class learning environment; secondly, these two models are focusing on the different aspects in learning foreign language, that is, culture and individuality.We can learn from their essence, get inspiration, and gradually perfect SLA theory, and use them in our teaching.

References:

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