PhD in Philosophy, Petrova Yulia Andreevna

Bashanaeva Khadizhat Ruslanovna

Rostov State University of Economics (RIPE)

The second language acquisition hypothesis in English learning and English Speaking Population in the world.

In the past thirty years, the term language acquisition became very popular among psychologists and linguists. It is the process by which we learn to speak, write, or even use sign language in meaningful ways to communicate. Professor Chomsky defined language acquisition device, as “an area in our brains that makes learning language a natural event” [8]. In the term of Professor Stephen Krashen’s formulation (a linguist and educational researcher) of language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill. Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding [7]. We have two different ways of developing ability in another language: we can acquire language, and we can learn language. Language acquisition occurs subconsciously. Different researches suppose the view that both children and adults can subconsciously acquire language, both in oral and written language. Acquisition is sometimes referred to as “picked up” a language. It is a situation when someone says, I was in England for one month, and I picked up some English, which means that a person acquired it. We acquire language when we understand messages. The Comprehension Hypothesis is the centerpiece of language acquisition theory. It attempts to answer the most important question in the fields of language acquisition and language education – “How do we acquire language?”

The answer is simple: We acquire language when we understand messages of other people or when we understand what we read. While people differ in many important ways, they do not differ in the way they acquire language.

English is a common foreign language, which people learn as the second language almost in any part of our world. It plays an important role in the field of education nowadays [1]. In many countries children are taught and encouraged to learn English as the second language. In countries where English language is not an official one, such as the Netherlands, Sweden, we may find a lot of educational material in science and technology, written in English. Students learn English at universities and attend English causes. At the most prestigious and world-famous universities, students study almost all their subjects in English in order to make the material more accessible to international students.

English Speaking Population (the statistical data).

English-speaking countries: the United Kingdom (97.74%), Australia (97.03%), the United States of America (94.2%), Canada (85.63%).

English as the second language: Ghana (66.67%), Germany (64%), Belgium (59%), the Philippines (56.63%), Nigeria (53%), Croatia (49%), France (39%), Italy (34%), South Africa (31%), Thailand (27.16%) etc. [6].

The level of knowledge of English language is lower in the Middle East except the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, where the percentage of English speaking population is considerably higher, compared to other countries in this region. It can be explained by a high level of the economy of the country, and the knowledge of English as an international language. For the last decade, Poland (33%), Czech Republic (27%), and Hungary (20%) increased the percentage of English Speaking Population, because, the knowledge of English language - is an important step on the way of creating an innovation model of economy, wherein these countries would like to succeed [2; 154].

Poor knowledge of English language is a major comparative disadvantage of Latin American countries. Such countries as: Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile have shown some improvement for the last decade but they still do not have enough English speaking population for participating in the international business of the world. Some countries as: Mexico and Guatemala, is noted by low level of English language than in other Latin American countries.

English language has become increasingly important in the world in all spheres of life, including higher academic achievements in science, engineering, health care, nursing, medicine, and pharmacy, education, economy, politics, tourism etc. [5; 35]. Furthermore, a large number of graduate students move to English-speaking countries such as: the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia, where they have a good opportunity to continue their study at universities. In a new world regime the need for communication and dialogue has become more urgent than ever before [3; 23]. In a new age of technology, English Speaking Population are expected to grow, with the help of electronic space educational causes abroad, migration, travel, media awareness and usage, cultural exchange and wireless Internet, which will also enlarge the percentage of “English learners” all over the world.

References:

1. Abbot, Gerry, (1981), Editorial, World Language English

2. Cogo, Alessia, & M. Dewey ,(2012), Analysing English as a Lingua Franca: A corpus-driven investigation. London: Continuum

3. Jenkins, J. (2005). ELF at the gate: The position of English as a Lingua Franca. Humanizing Language Teaching, 7(2). Retrieved from http://www.hltmag.co.uk/mar05/idea.htm

4. Richards, Jack C. and Rodgers, Theodore S. (1989), Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. A Description and Analysis, Cambridge University Press.

5. Mahmoud, M. M. A. (2013b). Using learners’ local culture to develop English language skills: Developing English language listening and reading comprehension skills by using Islamic- Arabic-culture-based content. Saarbrücken, Germany: Lambert Academic.

6.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population

7. http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/krashen_sla.pdf Stephen Krashen “Second language acquisition. Theory, Application, and some conjectures”, Cambridge University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-1-107-92109-2.

8. http://study.com/academy/lesson/chomskys-language-acquisition-device-definition-lesson-quiz.html