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Why are some of us such fluent speakers of our mother tongue/second language while others struggle to even form coherent sentences?
What factors contribute to the differences in speech performance and production ability development?
What can we do to boost this performance and development of our second language?
According to “A Multidimensional Perspective on Individual Differences in Multilingual Learners’ L2 Chinese Speech Production” by Sun and Zhang (2020), we can answer these questions from a combination of three angles – cognitive, affective and socio-cultural.
🧠 Cognitive factors 🧠
- Age of acquisition
In Singapore, many of us start learning a second language (i.e., L2), typically our mother tongue, from a young age. Learning our L2 from young gives us more time to attune to speech sounds in our L2, acquire vocabulary, and learn grammar structures. However, early exposure to L2 has to be complemented with frequent practice for better L2 acquisition. Starting young + practising repeatedly = better success at acquisition!
- Cognitive fluency (or processing speed)
Sometimes, when speaking, we find ourselves feeling stuck or unable to say what we want to express, and this may be because of impeded language processing.
To improve cognitive fluency which then boosts automatic speech production, learners can practice cognitively demanding tasks e.g. solving a word puzzle. Educators can do scaffolding activities (i.e., break up learning into chunks with tools to deal with each part) for beginners and impromptu speech for advanced learners.
❤ Affective factors ❤
- Motivation
We can divide motivation into two types:
| Intrinsic motivation
This comes from within us. For instance, some of us may be better at our L2 because we have a genuine interest in it. |
Extrinsic motivation
This refers to factors outside of us. For example, those who are not interested in the language can still be good at their L2 because they are motivated to learn it for tests purposes in school. |
Since motivation behind L2 learning varies across learners, it would be beneficial for parents to recognise their child’s learning motivation rather than try to cultivate a specific motivation in them as that can be tricky.
- Anxiety
Some of us may face trouble with L2 speaking or development because of:
| Fear-related anxiety
We may worry about being judged or seen as slowing down the conversation flow when speaking. |
Test-related anxiety
We may feel pressured to perform well in L2 ability tests. |
We know that an intense level of anxiety can be crippling for learners but did you know: if moderate anxiety levels are maintained, it can actually help facilitate learning!
- Speaking self-efficacy (or confidence in speaking)
Sometimes, some of us may speak our L2 poorly because we feel unconfident about using it.
Self-confidence in L2 speaking ability can be enhanced by learning anxiety reduction strategies, frequent practice, self-encouragement and even receiving compliments from others.
- Willingness to communicate (WTC)
Lastly, it may be good to be aware that learners who speak less in their L2 may simply be unwilling to communicate about a particular topic instead of having poor L2 performance or ability. To improve their WTC, it might be helpful to find out the topics that interest them before engaging in those topics to elicit more L2 speech production.
👩🏻🤝👩🏻 Socio-cultural factors 👩🏻🤝👩🏻
- Cultural interest
Some of us may have better progress in L2 learning because of the interest we develop in the culture of the L2 we are learning. For example, if we really enjoy movies and music of our L2, it could contribute to improvements in our vocabulary, fluency and authenticity.
- L2 communities and classes
Besides cultural interest, our L2 development may also be better supported when we hold positive feelings towards L2 communities and enjoy our L2 classes. This is because we would probably be more willing to make friends who speak the language, more open to interacting and learning in these social environments and thus encounter more communication opportunities.
Overall, learners can be encouraged to develop positive attitudes towards the society, culture and classes of the L2 they are learning as it may subtly benefit their L2 ability development as well.
🗣 Multilingualism 🗣
Finally, some of us may have better L2 learning because our first language (L1) is relatively similar to the L2 that we are learning. For instance, a Mandarin speaker, it might be easier to learn Cantonese than Korean. Mandarin and Cantonese are more similar as they are tonal languages and have similar grammatical structure. The more similar they are, the easier the language transfer!
Living in a multilingual society like Singapore, it is likely that many of our children would pick up a second or even third language. The journey may not be easy as there are many factors that can contribute to second language learning, development and performance as we have seen above and there is no hard and fast rule to successful L2 acquisition. However, by taking these factors into consideration when guiding our children in learning their L2, it could help improve their chances of success and together with perseverance, they would be on their way to become proficient L2 speakers!
This blogpost was written by our intern Kelly and edited by our lab manager Fei Ting.
BLIP Lab is currently recruiting families with children from ages 0-4 years for our upcoming Baby Talk-a-thon!
Sign up here: https://ntuhss.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_868i1NIkpvf00QK
More information about our Talk-a-thon: https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/blip/baby/talkathon/
Original article:
Sun, P. P., & Zhang, L. J. (2020). A multidimensional perspective on individual differences in multilingual learners’ L2 Chinese speech production. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 59. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00059