This chapter starts by giving both a perspective of the definition of monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism and numbers of the amount of speakers of the most dominant languages around the world. It also gives a list of possible circumstances that lead to motivation and it includes an explanation of L1 and L2 learning processes pointing out the initial, intermediate and final states of each case. On top of that, the chapter includes information about the frameworks used for the study of SLA (linguistic, psychological and social) with their corresponding foci.
I am multilingual because I can use three languages even though I am still learning them (as many people say, “You never stop learning”). Since I am keen on learning new languages, I acknowledge the importance of speaking more than one language in a globalized world where interacting with people from other cultures can enrich your knowledge and can bring benefits to your professional life and to the health of your brain.
As Muñoz (2014) states, “The bilingual brain is used to handling two languages at the same time. This develops skills for functions such as inhibition (a cognitive mechanism that discards irrelevant stimuli), switching attention, and working memory.” Muñoz (2014) also adds, “These skills make up the brain’s executive control system, which looks after high-level thought, multi-tasking, and sustained attention.”
My motivation arises from the following circumstances mentioned in Saville-Troike (2006, p. 10): “(…) A need or desire to contact speakers of other languages in economic or other specific domains (…) a need or desire to pursue educational experiences where access requires proficiency in another language; a desire for occupational or social advancement which is furthered by knowledge of another language; an interest in knowing more about peoples of other cultures and having access to their technologies or literatures.”
Regarding the linguistic, psychological and social frameworks, I think that all of these three perspectives are important when studying SLA as they provide a bigger picture of the process of acquiring a second language when they are integrated. As Saville-Troike (2006, p. 3) states, “Ultimately, a satisfactory account of SLA must integrate these multiple perspectives (…). As in the fable of the elephant, three different perspectives are presented here: linguistic, psychological, and social. I make no presumption that any one perspective among these is ‘right’ or more privileged, but believe that all are needed to provide a fuller understanding of the complex phenomena of SLA.”
References
Muñoz, M. A. (2014). Does being bilingual make you smarter? Retrieved January 4, 2017, from https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/does-being-bilingual-make-you-smarter
Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing Second Language Acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Reflective journal "Theories of Second Language Acquisition" 