MODULE 3
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Purpose
To demonstrate how an educator’s understanding of principles of language acquisition may facilitate the learning of English by ESL students in the schools.
Materials
The following transparencies:
1. “Key Differences Between First and Second Language Acquisition”
2. “Social Versus Academic Language”
3. “Length of Time Required to Achieve Age-Appropriate Levels of Conversational and
Academic Communicative Proficiency”
Procedures
1. Note that the process of learning a first language is similar to the process of learning a second language. For secondary students learning English as a new language, many of the differences between first and second language acquisition have to do with when and why the second language (English) is being learned.
2. Display Transparency 1 (“Key Differences …”) and review the characteristics of first language learning in the first column. Ask participants to think about secondary
ESOL students and to suggest corresponding items for the second column. For example:
 learned at home//learned at school
 learned by very young children//learned by older children and adolescents
 learned in order to communicate with family//learned for school purposes
 largely an unconscious process//partly “acquired” (unconsciously and partly
“learned” (consciously)
 no time pressure to learn//pressure to learn both new language and content
 other
Note again that the processes of first and second language acquisition (filling in innate circuitry in the brain by figuring out rules based on comprehensible input and interaction) are very similar.
Show Transparency 2 (“Social versus Academic Language”). Ask participants to brainstorm the characteristics of these two types of language. For “social language” have them imagine they are at a cocktail party among friends making small talk.
Prompt them to describe some features of this social language: topics of discussion; vocabulary and expressions used. Record these in the social language column.
Expect such characteristics for social language as: simpler language (shorter sentences, simpler

vocabulary), face-to-face informal settings, familiar topics, rich contextual clues
(facial expressions), etc.
Elicit characteristics of academic language: technical vocabulary, longer sentences, lecture style talk with little situational context, new unfamiliar topics, fewer non-verbal clues, etc. Note that social and academic language are types of language and being comfortable in one type does not necessarily mean being comfortable in the other.
Fluency in conversational (social) English does not translate into proficiency in the academic English needed for success in school. This is a distinction crucial for educators working with language minority learners.
3. Display Transparency 3 (“Length of Time Required for …Conversational and
Academic Communicative Proficiency”). Note that these graphs represent findings of several researchers on social and academic language and school success. Elicit from participants what these graphs show. (Point out that, in general, conversational
(social) proficiency develops in about 2 years, while academic proficiency, needed for school success, generally takes 5 to 7 years.) Note also that English Language
Learners may be conversationally fluent, but still not necessarily proficient in the academic English needed for school success. Finally, note that social and academic
English proficiency can be learned concurrently.
Further reading
Jameson, Judith. 1999. “Language Learning in School”, Section 2 in
Enriching content classes for secondary ESOL students. Washington, D.C.: Center for
Applied Linguistics and Delta Publishing Co.
Meskill, Carla. 2002. Teaching and learning in real time: Media, technologies, and language acquisition. Houston, TX: Athelstan.
New York State Education Department. 2000. The teaching of language arts to limited English proficient/English language learners: A resource guide for all teachers.
Albany, NY: Author.
Nieto, Sonia. 2000. Language, culture, and teaching: Critical perspectives for a new century. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Steinberg, Danny, Hiroshi Nagata and David Aline. 2000. Language, mind and world. White Plains, NY: Longman.
Portions of this module are adapted from Enriching content classes for secondary ESOL students (pp 116-147, passim) by Judith H. Jameson, 1999. Washington, D.C. and
McHenry, IL: Center for Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems Co., Inc. Adapted with permission.