Definition of Second Language Acquisition
Cited from Hoque (2017) second language acquisition is the process of acquiring other language in addition to mother language or native language. According to Krashen (1981) language acquisition is quite similar with the process of children use in acquiring first and second language and this is require meaningful interaction in the natural communication of the target language - where speakers do not concern about the form of their speech but with the message being conveyed and understood. The statement above also stated by Saville – Troike (2006), Second Language Acquisition (SLA) refers to the study of individual and groups of people who learn a language subsequent to learn first one as young children and to the process of learning the language.
Stefansson (2013) stated Second Language Acquisitions (SLA) is the study of how the language learners acquire a second language (L2) as additional language to their first language (L1). Then, SLA is also referring to the any language after first language, it can be referred to whether it is second, third, or fourth language. The Collins Dictionary is defining Second Language as the language that the person acquire after their native language. The scope of second language acquisition is including informal L2 learning which means it takes place to the naturalistic context and formal L2 learning which takes place
in the classroom (Saville – Troike, 2006). For addition, informal L2 learning is when the learner acquire the language by being culturally active participation in the society, meanwhile formal L2 learning is in the classroom environment. Thus, Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is the language that acquire after first language, second language can be referred to the second, third or fourth language that acquired. Then, there are different ways to acquire the second language, which are informal and formal L2 learning.
Key Terms Related to Second Language Acquisition
Cambridge Dictionary defined term is the word or expression that used to relate to the particular subject which often to describe something official or technical. Ananiadou (1994) stated term is the word that conceive the linguistics, characters, and systems. The terms commonly appear in the academic book, research, and etc. Additionally, key term is the encyclopedia-like description of the good number of the term used in the academicals literature (Vanpatten & G. Benati, 2015). Then, it can be said that key term is the set of words commonly used in a literature. As well as other academicals literature, Second Language Acquisition also has essential key term that related to it. Understanding the term related to the academic literature like second language acquisition is important since it will help the reader organize their thought and apply it into their life. Moreover, second language acquisition is the study that discuss about the process of acquire other language in addition to the mother language nor native language. Hence, knowing and understanding the key term is important for candidate of English Language teacher since they might face the problem related to language acquisition.
The students commonly learn second language acquisition key term through a book entitled “Introducing Second Language Acquisition by Muriel Saville-Troike”. This book is categorized into content-area reading. Content-area reading refers as the subject matter reading and disciplinary reading that called as reading to learn. Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2013) classified the words into 3 tiers which are; a) Tier 1: the words that are frequently used and commonly used by children, b) Tier 2: the words that are high utility academic areas which found in across content areas, c) Tier 3: the words in this tier consist of content-specific vocabulary which often used in textbook or glossaries. Then, this book is classified in tier 3 which means it contain of content-specific vocabulary or low frequency domain specific words.
In second language acquisition, there are several key terms that the students have to know, such as; language acquisition, informal l2 learning, formal l2 learning, linguistic competence, linguistic performance, native language, mother tongue, and etc. (Saville – Troike, 2006). Then, understanding the key term of second language acquisition brought the fruitful result for the students while studying since they know the concept of the terms. However, the students commonly learn the term in the textbook, which is difficult to comprehend by the students. Therefore, this research will be conducted since it will help the students learn the term interestingly and easily.
Second Language Acquisition Subject for English Education
Gass & Selinker (1994) stated that Second Language Acquisition or also known as SLA is the study that relative to the young field. The scope of second language acquisition related to how the students create the new language system with the limited exposure to the second language, it is study about what is learned and what is not learned, study related to the learner achievement in degree of knowledge and proficiency in second language (L2). Then, it also investigates why only some of the learner can achieve native-like proficiency and etc. Gass & Selinker (1994) also stated that understanding how second languages are learned and is not learned is important since “When we explore human language, we are approaching what some people call human essence, special qualities according to the mind which are, as far as we know, unique to [humans]” (Chomsky, 1968).
As stated above it means that as prospective English teacher, it is needed to study about second language acquisition since the teacher might face the situation that will be appear in the classroom situation regarded to the language acquisition. Second language acquisition (SLA) course is everlasting course of undergraduate level for teacher preparation program in TESOL (Teaching English to Speaker of Other Languages) (Gorsuch & Beglar, 2004). Therefore, in English Education study program, second language acquisition course should be learned by the students since it learn about the process how the students acquire their language. It can be said that second language acquisition is essential to learn for the candidate of teacher. Then, in English Education study program at Jambi University, second language acquisition is one of the compulsory subjects. Students in English Education program at Jambi University have been learned second language acquisition in recent years.
In second language acquisition, there are several cases and terms that students should learn and know in order to prepare them as prospective English teacher.
According to Lessard-Clouston (2018) the terms in Second Language Acquisition allow the readers to reflect to their prospective classroom and it also outlines Second Language Acquisition helps the teachers understand the role of being teacher and the learners in the class. Then, SLA also introduces to the prospective teachers about major concept and issues in the field (Lessard-Clouston, 2018). However, the students that enrolled in Second Language Acquisition class are still lack of understanding of the terms in Language Acquisition. Therefore, this research will be conducting to improve the situation where the students are still lack of understanding of the SLA terms, which is important for them.