Reflective Blog 1

Exploring L1 and L2 Learning with Emphasis on the Impact of Exposure

Some aspects that affect the learning process are age and exposure time. Most L2 learners are adults, and L1 learners are babies. It appears that this relates to the amount of exposure to the language. As written by Lightbown and Spada in How languages are learned: “L1 learners spend thousands of hours in contact with the language or languages spoken around them.” The fetus starts to hear during the third trimester. As soon as the baby is born it has already been exposed to the L1. The baby can already make a distinction between their mother’s voice and other people's. They also notice specific phonetic sounds that their L1 possesses. For L2 learners their exposure to the language is much more limited. Young L2 learners seem to be prone to hearing the language more as they might hear it in the classroom, in the playground, or on television. Adult L2 learners usually learn in a classroom a few hours a week and that’s all. With so little exposure time it is difficult to become fluent. For immigrant adults, it might be easier to learn considering they are constantly surrounded by the new language. They will most likely require speaking the L2 at work, at the store, and during all interactions outside of their home. If the learner never gets to practice and rarely hears the language being spoken, then they have little chance of succeeding. 

 

As an L2 learner of English, I found that once I was in a situation where I was often exposed to the language the learning became so much easier. Until high school, the only exposure to English that I had was maybe 1-2 times a week during the classes at school. I also listened to some music in English and traveled a few times a year. Everything else around me was French. I made friends with some anglophones and started hearing it more and more. After a few years, I became more comfortable and started speaking to them in English. I made a lot of mistakes, but they always helped me. For college, I decided I wanted a challenge, so I chose an English school. From that point on, I was exposed to English so much more. I became fully bilingual and lost my French accent. Today, my work, my school, my friends, the books that I read, and the movies and TV shows I watch, all of it is in English.   

As a teacher or a learner, one important angle to seek is the welcoming of mistakes. As a learner, it can be very scary to practice in the beginning process. As a teacher, it is crucial that the student knows that mistakes are part of the learning process, and they can be used as a learning tool.   

References

Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2021). How languages are learned (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.