SL6610 Troy Influence and Impact of American Dialect in Second Language Acquisition Essay Write the rest of the essay (at least 20 pages) on topic: America

SL6610 Troy Influence and Impact of American Dialect in Second Language Acquisition Essay Write the rest of the essay (at least 20 pages) on topic: American Dialects, just follow the first part which I attached.APA format American Dialects
Siyang Wang
SL 6610
Dr. Feng
Abstract:
This paper contains brief descriptions and findings from various articles that analyze the
influence/ impact of the American dialect in second language acquisition. Some of the articles
describe the factors that cause dialect to have such an impact on language acquisition. Most of
the articles focus on the impact of African American English and how it results in lower language
acquisition, especially for African American students. One of the articles ventures the history of
the AAE and tries to analyze the reason why it is so impactful to the student’s dialect. The article
concludes that there are contributing factors such as schooling and environmental factors such as
parenting that influence performance. The next article seeks to understand the relationship
between dialect and literary skill such as reading and comprehension of a second language. The
analysis offered a stronger association of dialect and literary skill in terms of comprehension,
reading, writing, and openness to vocabulary.
Key words: Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Linguistic, African American English
(AAE), Standard American English (SAE).
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Introduction
Wolfram and Schilling describe dialect as a specific version of a language that is
localized to a place or a group of people. In American English, there are quite a number of
regional dialects such as Appalachian, New Yorkese, African American English also known as
Black English, and Standard American English among others (Wolfram & Schilling, 2015).
When it comes to Second Language Acquisition (SLA), some factors influence the pace within
which a student can achieve proficiency of the language. Various aspects of linguistics
including dialectology, socio-linguistics and comparative linguistics that dictate the grammar,
syntax and phonetics of a language. Another factor is dialect and the ability of the student to
comprehend various dialects of the language that they are learning and achieve intelligibility.
Thus, second language acquisition has become a very fundamental principle in modern day
interactions due to increase in multilingualism. Across the globe, it is estimated that the number
of people that belongs to multilingual are more than the Monolingual. The spread of the
multilingual culture is due to the needs of globalization and the need to share cultural
experiences. In this context, therefore, the scholars seek to explore the limitations that lie with
the assumption that there is a single dialect of any given language, in this case, American
English. This is because that assumption is used as the baseline to determine a learner’s ability to
comprehend and communicate in the said language. Such an assumption as stated by Eisenstein
poses a great limitation to the analysis of the intelligibility of language and dialect variance
especially for learners within the urban environment. This is because urban areas are filled with a
diverse representation of speakers that offer a wide range of social and regional dialects
(Eisenstein, 2013). It is clear that comprehension of English as a second language by non-native
speakers is greatly influenced by the period of exposure to the language. This also includes
exposure to dialects. In this context, therefore, the discussion below is a literature review of
American dialect in relation to linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (SLA).
Linguistic and Second Language Acquisition
According to Wolfram and Schilling, second Language Acquisition (SLA) refers to the
study of how students learn a Second Language (L2) after achieving proficiency in the First
Language (L1) (Wolfram and Schilling, 2015). The study can be done in a classroom setting or
in a more informal setting such as a playground or cafeteria. There are a few principles that are
associated with most especially the Instructed Second Language Acquisition. These principles
include; the development of a rule based or well formulaic base for the language, paying great
attention to meaning and form in the language, developing knowledge both explicit and implicit,
ensuring second learner input and practice as well as understanding and appreciate individual
learner differences and finally assessing the learners for proficiency. Linguistic, on the other
hand, has to do with descriptive word for the scientific study of a language together with its
structure such as the syntax and grammar (Ellis, 2013).
With America being among the top ten countries that have attracted the largest number of
foreigners most of them being students (see the figure below 1), American English is a language
native to the United States with over 25.6 million speakers and it is one of the most preferred
second language acquisition by immigrants or foreigners. The American Dialect is very diverse
ranging from some of which include New Yorkese, the Baltimore accent, Chicano, Philadelphia,
American Standard and African American English (See figure 2 below) (Eisenstein, 1989).
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When analyzing these different dialects of American English for research purposes, it is
important to pay attention to various factors or influence of a dialect such as phonology,
vocabulary as well as varieties in the dialects. Without neglecting the influence of minorities of
language to the formation of American English, it is important to understand the language was
‘started’ in the early 17th century. Since then, the language has grown to the point where now the
every city in the United States has its own dialect and mannerisms of pronunciation.
Figure 1: Number of student foreigners in USA
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Figure 1: Various American Dialect
Interaction between Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
When describing the linguistic approach to Second Language Acquisition, Ramat in his
study noted that there is a difference in approach because linguistics considers information on
language distinct and unique to itself. The two approaches of exploring SLA through linguistics
are typological approaches and universal grammar. Topological approaches can be defined as
standard principles for all languages across the world (Ramat, 2011). These are derivative
principles that consider a survey of various languages and through deduction evaluate and apply
aspects that are universal. The application of this principle in SLA is mainly through the interlanguages of learners. Ramat went ahead to describe inter-languages as transitions dialects that
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second language learners develop to conserve their first language. The second approach is the
theory of universal grammar, which focuses on an individual’s competence with their linguistics
(See figure 3 below). Noam Chomsky who was an American linguist and professor, in article that
was written Barman Noam proposed this theory of universal grammar back in the year early
1950s (Barman, 2012). He argues that in the case of children, they are able to learn language
through creative play and word formation instead of staunch memorization techniques. When
using the universal grammar theory there are various aspects of SLA that are considered;
i.
ii.
iii.
Individual variation, which highlights that they are variations in the way as
well as pace and eventually proficiency that each person can handle at a time.
This aspect has for a long time influence the conversation on the influence of
age on language acquisition. The issue of age with be addressed later in this
essay with regards to the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) (Barman, 2012).
Strategies competencies have been regards for a while now as very important
elements of communication.
Affective factors, which prioritize the learner’s attitude towards the new
language. This is because research has shown that feeling of anxiety do not
facilitate effective learning, because anxiety causes a competition for mental
resources, resulting in less attention paid to the learning process.
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Figure 3: Language learning theories
The interaction between SLA and linguistics is part of a shift in the study of second
language acquisition as an interdisciplinary whole that incorporates cognitive psychology,
education and sociology to name a few that describe in detail the detailed process of learning a
language (Barman, 2012). Therefore, in challenging the boundaries of research in this area
factors such as aptitude, native language, age, and sociolinguistic context have been studied in
relation to second language acquisition.
An experiment that was conducted by Edwards and his colleagues simply tested whether
there was a direct influence of AAE on the children’s speed and accuracy while pronouncing
words in SAE. The black kids were required to read out loud contrastive words that the
pronunciation was different in both dialects and non-contrastive words that their pronunciations
was the same in both dialects (Edwards et al…, 2014). The experiment focused to understand the
influence of dialect on the learning acquisitions of African American children that interact in
both dialects. Edwards and his colleagues focused on possible importance of dialect differences
to early reading achievement. These scholars aimed at not only observing kids learning
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acquisition but they also focused on behavioral effects of dialect-related differences of black kids
in decoding.
To work towards the objectives of Edwards and his colleagues study, the method of
research included segmenting various students of English as a 2nd language and exposing them
to tape recording of monologues to see how much of the Spoken English they could comprehend.
The research groups included middle class, working-class and lower-middle-class learners. The
students were picked from public universities and had a relatively decent exposure to New
Yorkese and African-American English. The tape recordings were monologues made in the three
dialects spoken in New York mentioned (Edwards et al…, 2014). The students were tested on
their ability to comprehend the three dialects, the dialect variance and speaker judgments, where
the students were asked to characterize the voices in the monologue based on the dialect.
From the Edwards and his colleagues’ research, the results illustrated that AfricanAmerican English for all groups possessed a great intelligibility problem for English Second
Language learners in New York City. The results of the working class was enough despite their
considerable exposure to African-American English showed that they still found it challenging to
comprehend as compared to the other dialects (Edwards et al…, 2014). This was in line with
what Eisenstein found in his study that intelligibility problems experienced by the students
caused barriers when interacting with native speakers such that they were unable to communicate
their intent most of the times. Cited from an older study, the theory of isolation particularly for
the working class from the native English-speaking community due to the stereotypes associated
with dialects in New York was highlighted (Eisenstein, 2013). The learners in this study
validated this theory stating that due to the social linguistic stereotypes that they were subject to
when interacting with native speakers, they also developed negative stereotypes mainly towards
New Yorkese and African-American English. Furthermore, the results suggested that there is a
complexity that lies with African-American English that causes it to be such great influence on
English Second Language learners in New York. The intelligibility of English to these learners
may be also attributed to other linguistic perceptions as well (Ellis, 2013).
A bidirectional perspective of Second Language Acquisition and Linguistics would
include encouraging research on matters of SLA to look at linguistic models, structures and
concepts and vice versa. The intertwining of these two disciplines will be critical to claim or
refute linguistic findings. As concluded by Tomlinson, it is possible to view the relationship
between second language and linguistics in a bidirectional perspective creating a theory of
language (Tomlinson, 2013). The interaction of these two discipline over time has influence
common use perspective of language. It is therefore important viewing data from this two
discipline bi-directionally that we create a relationship between these two and dialect variation in
language learning.
The assumption that there is a single dialect of any given language, in this case, American
English is quite limited. This is because that assumption is used as the baseline to determine a
learner’s ability to comprehend and communicate in the said language. Therefore, it would be
impossible to neglect the challenges that non-natives experience while trying to learn English as
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a 2nd language in the New York region. The most prevalent of American dialect in New York are
African-American English, New Yorkese and the Regional Standard English (Eisenstein, 2013).
Of the three dialects, the African-American English for all cultural groups possesses a great
intelligibility problem for English Second Language learners in New York City. Speaking of
African-American English, several researches have suggested that there is a complexity that lies
with African-American English that causes it to be of such great influence on English Second
Language learners in New York. The intelligibility of English to secondary language learners
may be also attributed to linguistic factors such as phonology, syntax and semantics as well the
period of exposure to the language and the dialects (Ellis, 2013).
It is important to also understand the influence that a learners’ native background has on
the level and pace of comprehending various dialects of English, Supporting this theory is Kaur,
Jagdish who found that English Second language learners with similar language backgrounds
experienced similar difficulties in comprehension of the English language (Kaur, 2018).
Brown and his colleague in their study identified that achievement gap that is evident in
academic performance particularly among Black kids as they learn to pronounce English words
is a major concern for the education industry especially when the students are called read out
loud. The term achievement gap is often used in regards to minorities, for example, African
American, Hispanic or Native American children (Brown, et al, 2015). Black-White achievement
gap (Jencks & Phillips, 1998), is the name given to the great disparity observed between African
Americans students as compared to their Caucasian peers in terms of literacy acquisition and
more specifically when it comes to reading skills but has the same meaning. According to the
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2011, released statistics described
almost 84% of African American students in fourth grade as less than average or rather possess
basic reading proficiency levels. This poor performance in reading tests and assignments
translated to their other test subjects such as Mathematics (Washington, Terry & Seidenberg,
2013).
Brown and his colleagues also recognized that there are multiple factors that could
influence the challenges that a child from a minority household might experience which may be
due to their environment and culture. Difference in language background has been identified as a
significant factor in the school achievement and reading acquisitions that children experience in
school. Research has shown that the characteristics of the language that a child is exposed to are
very influential to their learning process. Therefore, if there are significant dialect differences
between the language that is spoken at home and school, the child might experience challenges
when learning (Brown et al, 2015). Moreover, there are two main influences that could affect the
students’ performance namely schooling and familial or home factors. Focusing on the American
dialects under discussion, the most prevalent among African American students is African
American English (AAE). Multiple research findings have concluded that children that are
exposed to and speak in AAE and then are required to learn in SAE (Standard America English)
are at disadvantage as compared to children that interact only in SAE throughout their lives
(Washington, Terry & Seidenberg, 2013). This presents a substantial amount of work for the
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African American children to learn to accommodate both dialects but still perform as good in
school as the other students. Moreover, the fact that despite these evident learning disadvantages
the AAE students have to take on learning with MAE, and the children at measured on the same
milestones consistently widens the gap (Ellis, 2013).
The variation in the phonetics as well as the structure of language influences greatly the
impact that AAE has on a child’s ability to understand SAE. The use of AAE as the dialect of
choice does not mean that a child is automatically going to fail. However, why is it that most
African American children that do speak AAE seem to be predisposed to poor reading and
academic performance? In the same breath, some of these children seem to have mastered the art
of code-switching their dialects depending on their immediate surroundings. Research findings
by Gatlin and Wanzek revealed that there was a consistent diverse correlation between the use of
dialect that included AAE, and student literacy outcomes (Gatlin & Wanzek, 2015). This simply
means that the more dialects that a student is influenced by or applies when learning a language,
the lower they score in terms of literacy. The study that was conducted by Washington also
discovered that ,the minority, for example African American students, who constituted 70% of
the research subjects, due to influence from the African American English dialect registered more
negative results in the literary outcome as compared to the other test subjects (Washington,2001).
The article by Brandy G and his colleague and Jeanne is a quick summary provides
meta-analysis of studied article to illustrate the following literacy outcomes;
➢ Evidences of phonological awareness, decoding and word identification for most
students, above-average comprehension and reception to vocabulary as well as
writing skills (Gatlin & Wanzek, 2015).
➢ Fluent reading and accuracy at stable rate as well as visible comprehension, and
(3) word identification, good listening and comprehension skills.
The four main criteria for choosing the articles considered in this Meta-analysis:
i.
ii.
iii.
The participant of the research were exclusively students enrolled in Grades K-6.
The participants of the research were strictly restricted to typically developing
native English speakers whose literary results could be measured and presented in
English. Typically developing means a student that’s does not receive special
tutoring or special education (Gatlin & Wanzek, 2015).
Studies that had sufficient information to allow calculation of effect sizes as well
as standard deviations for literary measures (Gatlin & Wanzek, 2015).
The total number of articles found was 1723. However, after application of the
coding criteria the study was able to retain only 15 articles attained from the
searches and the other two from the references lists, giving a 17 article total for
this analysis (Gatlin & Wanzek, 2015).
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Another article that compliments the objective and results of the one above by Julie A.
Washington, Nicole, and Mark S. Seidenberg that focused on the relationship that currently is
found between Black kids and the fact that they speak African American English, AAE
(Washington, Terry & Seidenberg, 2013). The article identifies the contributing factors to the
disparity in the acquisition of lit…
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