The Road to Fluency

[Tony Wright]

At 08:51 PM 10/28/99 EDT, LeBlaSmith at aol.com wrote:

><< mastery certainly
>may never occur if the leaner only approaches the task of second language
>"acquisition"/aquaintance with the notion of merely using the L2 as a
>T O O L with which to act upon his environment to one degree or another. >>
>
>Then there are those who believe that mastery can BEST occur if the learner
>approaches the acquisition of L2 as a tool with which to act upon their
>environment.  Why else do humans learn language?????   What other reason is
>there?

Some of the literature on L2 acquisition (Schumann ?, et al.?) refers to a
typology of motivation for second language learning.  "Integrative
motivation" to learn the L2 is based on the desire to become truly become a
member of the culture associated with the L2, i.e., to really fit in with
the new culture as an American, a Canadian, a Kosovar, etc.

This is contrasted with merely "instrumental" motivation to learn an L2,
i.e., needing to learn a language to get a better job, to get a degree,
etc.  The L2 is merely a tool to get something practical which the learner
wants.

It is claimed that outcomes of attempts to learn an L2 will be different
depending on which or in which balance these types of motivation are
present in the learner.  This theory is quite controversial, of course,
like most everything in linguistics.

--Tony Wright