This document discusses factors that affect second language acquisition. It examines both individual factors like age, personality, motivation, experiences, and cognition, as well as affective factors including self-esteem, inhibition, risk-taking, anxiety, and empathy. For individual factors, it suggests that younger learners generally acquire a second language more efficiently, while motivated older learners can also be successful. Outgoing learners with more life experiences tend to progress faster than introverted learners or those without experiences. Higher motivation and cognitive ability also contribute to stronger second language acquisition. Regarding affective factors, low self-esteem, inhibition to take risks, and anxiety can negatively impact learning, while empathy and a willingness to take chances

1. UNIVERSIDAD PEDAGÓGICA EXPERIMENTAL LIBERTADOR
INSTITUTO PEDAGÓGICO DE CARACAS
DEPARTAMENTO DE IDIOMAS MODERNOS
PROGRAMA DE INGLÉS
CÁTEDRA DE LINGÜÍSTICA
FACTORS AFFECTING
SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
Teacher: Mirna Quintero Student: Francisco de Barnola

2. INDIVIDUAL FACTORS
1.Age
2.Personality
3.Motivation
4.Experiences
5.Cognition

3. AGE
“You can't teach an old dog new tricks”
(Idiomatic Expression)
Second language acquisition
is influenced by the age of
the learner.
Children with solid literacy
skills in their own language,
seem to be in the best
position to acquire a new
language efficiently.
Motivated, older learners can
do it, but usually struggle to
achieve native-speaker-
equivalent pronunciation and
intonation.
•

4. PERSONALITY
"I know one thing, that I know nothing“
(Socrates)
Introverted or anxious learners
usually make slower progress,
particularly in the development
of oral skills. They are less
likely to take opportunities to
speak.
More outgoing students will not
worry about the inevitability of
making mistakes. They
will take risks, and thus will
give themselves much more
practice.

5. EXPERIENCES
Learners who have acquired
general knowledge and
experience are in a stronger
position to develop a new
language than those who
haven't.

6. MOTIVATION
•Intrinsic motivation has been
found to correlate strongly with
educational achievement. Clearly,
students who enjoy language learning
and take pride in their progress will do
better than those who don't.
•Extrinsic motivation is also a
significant factor. ESL students, for
example, who need to learn English in
order to take a place at an American
university are likely to make greater
efforts and thus greater progress.

7. COGNITION
How much wood
would a woodchuck
chuck, if a
woodchuck could
chuck wood?
In general, it seems that
students with greater
cognitive abilities will make
the faster progress. Some
linguists believe that there is
a specific, innate language
learning ability that is
stronger in some students
than in others.

8. AFFECTIVE FACTORS
Affective factors are emotional factors which
influence learning.
1.Self-Esteem
2.Inhibition
3.Risk Taking
4.Anxiety
5.Empathy

9. SELF-ESTEEM
Self-esteem refers to a personal
evaluation and judgment of
worthiness that is expressed in the
individual's attitude toward him or
herself or toward his or her
capabilities.
Low motivation, low self-esteem,
and debilitating anxiety can
combine to 'raise' the affective filter
and form a 'mental block' that
prevents comprehensible input from
being used for acquisition. (Krashen
cited by Schütz, 2007)

10. INHIBITION
Inhibition in a person arises
as he/she tries to defend or
protect their self-image. If
the learner perceives the
mistakes that he/she makes
in the second language as a
threat to their emotional
well-being and self
perception, then acquisition
will not occur or will occur
much more slowly.

11. RISK TAKING
One of the characteristics
that has been found to
exist in "good" language
learners is the willingness
to guess. If the learner is
less inhibited, he/she is
more willing to take a
chance on producing a
"correct" utterance in the
second language.

12. ANXIETY
Anxiety is associated with the
feelings of uneasiness, self-
doubt, worry or fear that a
person feels under certain
circumstances. A threatening
environment does not promote
language acquisition. Factors
such as an emphasis on
competition between students
or forcing students to produce
in the second language before
they are ready can cause
anxiety.

13. EMPATHY
Empathy refers to an individual's
ability to put him/herself in the
other's shoes. When a learner is
acquiring a second language, he
or she is also acquiring, in a
sense, a new personality, and a
new culture. Is the ability of a
learner to open him or herself to
new cultural experiences and
adopt these experiences as their
own is essential in the language
acquisition process..

15. REFERENCES
Schütz, R. (2007) . Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language
Acquisition [Document Online] Available : http://www.sk.com.br/sk-
krash.html [Consulted : 2012, June, 30]
Inter American University of Puerto Rico (n.d.) Psycholinguistic and
Affective Factors. [Document Online] Available :
http://ocw.inter.edu:8080/eduCommons/ingles/english-fundamentals-of-
second-language-acquisition/modules/unit-6-psycholinguistic-and-
affective-factors [Consulted : 2012,June, 30]
Universidad de Jaen. (n.d.) . Factors affecting L2 learning [Document
Online] Available: Factors affecting L2 learning [Consulted : 2012,June,
30]