Original scientific paper
Research into the Process of Learning and Acquiring English as a Foreign Language at the Department of English, Zagreb University
Mirjana Vilke
Abstract
In the recent years it has been widely recognized that many extralinguistic factors, most of them of a psychological or social nature, determine the linguistic development of an individual in the primary (L1) as well as secondary (L2) acquisition of language. A complex network of interacting factors are at work in any learner trying to acquire a foreign language in any situation. It is the language teaching theorist's job to contribute to an understanding of this multilevel process of language acquisition and to make this knowledge accessible to the classroom teacher. Our primary concern throughout the years has been the role of the L1 (Croatian) in learning L2 (English), as well as the learners' age, which must be considered in designing teaching strategies. A considerable amount of work has also gone into analysing the affective factors present in the process of studying English in this particular socio-cultural environment. This paper will present our results in investigatíng Selinker's concept interlanguage, the applicability of the natural order hypothesis and Lenneberg's critical/sensitive period hypothesis, as well as some of the results of our long-term research into the process of acquiring English by young school learners. Finally,
the basic principles of the schemata of teaching English in our schools will be presented.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
120349
URI
Publication date:
15.9.1997.
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