Running head: 2ND LANGUANGE ACQUISITION 1 2ND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 6 2nd Language Acquisition Name Institution The learning process of a second language is meticulous and painstaking to most people. The second language acquisition refers to all the practices that the learners do to acquire the second (or third and fourth) language. It mainly focuses on the non-conscious nature of the process of learning the new language. The learner is faced with numerous challenges in acquiring new vocabulary while linking them to their primary language. This paper shall analyze literature on the second language acquisition. The Asian Americans are some of the most successful populations in America in terms of education. Yang (2004) notes that these Asian Americans have performed so well that they can be considered the “model minority”. He looks at the census of 2000 where 25.2% of the Asian Americans above the age of twenty-five years had a bachelor’s degree or higher qualifications. The statistics greatly contrast to only 15.5% of the overall population with similar academic credentials. However, he notes that a look at the Southeast Asian American population gave only 5.9% to 14.8% of these qualifications. The children of these Americans from Southeast Asia also faced numerous challenges. They had limited English skills, widespread alienation from mainstream schools and systemic communication between parents, students, and teachers. The children and parents also find it challenging to communicate because of the cultural confusion. They find it very challenging to distinguish between their traditional cultural practices and the American values because of the multi-cultural environment. The children from these minority communities often find numerous obstacles while learning a second language in their multi-cultural setting. Learning a second language might require the unlearning of the first language. Fillmore (2005) describes this process as a “subtractive bilingualism” in his article “When learning a second language means losing the first.” He illustrates that children from linguistic minority families in diverse societies like America need first to learn the language of the community. They cannot utilize the educational opportunities they are offered entirely without a proper understanding of English, which is the societal language. However, the condition and timing that they encounter the English language can significantly affect their retention and continued use of their mother tongue. These factors are also critical in influencing their development of the second language. Children at a young age are more likely to lose the vocabularies of their primary language to accommodate the learning of the second language. Fillmore (2005) conducted a nationwide survey in the US usi ...

1. Running head: 2ND LANGUANGE ACQUISITION
1
2ND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
6
2nd Language Acquisition
Name
Institution
The learning process of a second language is meticulous and
painstaking to most people. The second language acquisition
refers to all the practices that the learners do to acquire the
second (or third and fourth) language. It mainly focuses on the
non-conscious nature of the process of learning the new
language. The learner is faced with numerous challenges in
acquiring new vocabulary while linking them to their primary
language. This paper shall analyze literature on the second
language acquisition.
The Asian Americans are some of the most successful
populations in America in terms of education. Yang (2004)

2. notes that these Asian Americans have performed so well that
they can be considered the “model minority”. He looks at the
census of 2000 where 25.2% of the Asian Americans above the
age of twenty-five years had a bachelor’s degree or higher
qualifications. The statistics greatly contrast to only 15.5% of
the overall population with similar academic credentials.
However, he notes that a look at the Southeast Asian American
population gave only 5.9% to 14.8% of these qualifications. The
children of these Americans from Southeast Asia also faced
numerous challenges. They had limited English skills,
widespread alienation from mainstream schools and systemic
communication between parents, students, and teachers. The
children and parents also find it challenging to communicate
because of the cultural confusion. They find it very challenging
to distinguish between their traditional cultural practices and
the American values because of the multi-cultural environment.
The children from these minority communities often find
numerous obstacles while learning a second language in their
multi-cultural setting. Learning a second language might require
the unlearning of the first language. Fillmore (2005) describes
this process as a “subtractive bilingualism” in his article “When
learning a second language means losing the first.” He
illustrates that children from linguistic minority families in
diverse societies like America need first to learn the language
of the community. They cannot utilize the educational
opportunities they are offered entirely without a proper
understanding of English, which is the societal language.
However, the condition and timing that they encounter the
English language can significantly affect their retention and
continued use of their mother tongue. These factors are also
critical in influencing their development of the second
language.
Children at a young age are more likely to lose the vocabularies
of their primary language to accommodate the learning of the
second language. Fillmore (2005) conducted a nationwide
survey in the US using 1100 interviews to determine the

3. language shift among the pre-school children from the
language-minority backgrounds. The language minority families
whose children attended exclusive Spanish programs were the
control group. The families whose children attended bilingual or
English-only schools became the study group. He found out that
50.6% of the study families reported a negative change in the
use of the first language in their pre-school children. A negative
change was characterized by the inclusion of English words in
their vocabulary. The sample compares to only 10.8 percent of
the control families. Fillmore’s findings suggest that the young
children are more likely to lose their primary language while
learning the second language. The costs of this loss can be
costly to these children, their families, and societies.
The loss of language is an involuntary battle between holding
on to the traditional cultural identity and incorporating to the
American system. Hinton (2001) shows that there has been a
looming debate about the two sides for decades. Abandoning the
primary language to incorporate the second language is a sign
of patriotism to the child. However, it is critical for these
children to hold onto their traditional values for the
preservation of their cultures. An essential form of cultural
preservation is through language identity. The study analyzes
the biographies of the immigrant students to analyze their
struggles in learning the language. It notes that most places do
not teach bilingual languages as children grow up learning only
their primary language. However, some students acquire the
second language from sources such as the media (television
shows like Mister Roger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street) and
friends.
As the child continues to learn the new language, they begin to
lose touch with the primary language. Hinton (2001) explains
this process as the primary language attrition. The attrition has
numerous manifestations. The children may reach a point where
they only understand the primary language in a basic way
because of the passive knowledge they receive. These children
may not speak or understand the language. Others may speak it

4. articulately but find it challenging to write or read it. They may
also begin to mix the English language with the primary
language for use at home. The mixed language may become the
mode of communication at home. However, the language that
the student has more knowledge in will dominate the
conversation.
The language loss represents more than the loss of linguistic
diversity. Vonnahme, (1997) argues that the language loss may
mean a loss of unique insights into the human mind. He claims
that each language a unique tool for incorporating knowledge
and values of a community’s speech, and synthesizing and
analyzing the world. The language of an individual is their
source of confidence and pride, or self-abasement and
embarrassment. Vonnahme further argues that the primary
language for bilingual students is their source of self-abasement
and embarrassment. He studied a large group of the language-
minority population through long-term observation and
conversations with elementary school children, and interviews
with parents, bilingual young adults, and children from
bilingual parents. The parents were predominantly Chinese
while the elementary children ranged from Korean/African-
American, Siberian, Russian and Romanian. The researcher
found out that the process of losing a language was harmful to
the individual and the social group. Language and identity are
so connected that to separate them means the destruction of the
other. Therefore, this can explain the loss of identities among
the minorities especially in a country like the United States.
In conclusion, the process of learning a second language is
usually challenging for the immigrant populations. These
populations are faced with a conundrum of maintaining the
traditional cultures and being absorbed into the demands of the
new society. A language is a critical tool in the maintenance of
the cultural identity. However, people are more prone to lose
their primary languages as they acquire the second languages.
The probability of losing the primary language is increased with
factors such as age and social environment. The children will

5. begin using the second language more while they involuntarily
lose their knowledge of the primary language. The loss of the
language is not only a loss of diversity but also a loss of unique
perspectives of observing and synthesizing the world.
References
Fillmore, L. W. (2005). When learning a second language means
losing the first. The new immigration: An interdisciplinary
reader, 289-308.
Hinton, L. (2001). Involuntary language loss among immigrants:
Asian-American linguistic autobiographies. Georgetown
University Round Table on Languages And Linguistics 1999,
203.
Vonnahme, H. E. (1997). Language Loss of Minority Students
in Bilingual Education (Doctoral dissertation).
Yang, K. (2004). Southeast Asian American Children: not the
“Model Minority”. Future of Children, 14(2), 127-133.