Cho

Language Acquisition
of Highly Proficient Consecutive Bilinguals


by Grace Cho




















Bal Sharma
SLS380 Bilingual Education
Fall2013 Final Paper
December 16, 2013

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Introduction
As there is an increasing number of immigrants coming to America, land of
dreams, there are more and more people facing big to small cultural shocks as well as
language barriers. To these people, a very simple task like buying a meal from
McDonalds or setting up a doctors appointment could be a very complicated chore as
they usually feel quite intimidated and unfamiliar to perform daily activities using
English, the new language they just began to learn. Contrary to popular belief, not all
newcomers to the United States just naturally pick up English right away. Many of
them invest much effort, time, and money to increase their English language ability.
Although it varies among individuals, English as second language learners do
eventually become better in English, and in the field of bilingualism, they are categorized
as consecutive bilinguals. In this paper, my studies through readings and data-based
research, delve in the language acquisition of highly proficient consecutive bilinguals in
order to help ESL learners develop their language skills more efficiently, as well to
benefit English language educators including myself. Moreover, as I, also am a
consecutive bilingual of Korean and English, I believe I can well relate and apply this
research findings to my language acquisition process.
Myself as a Consecutive Bilingual
I was ten years old when I encountered English language barrier for the very first
time in my life. Until then, I had been raised in Korea receiving regular Korean public
school education. The only English I knew at the time, as far as I remember, was the
English alphabet and counting numbers in English.

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My family moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia due to my fathers occupation and I
attended an American-based International school there. My language acquisition journey
was pretty tough, as I was a very introverted, shy child who was afraid of making
mistakes and being made fun of. Despite my comparably slow language improvement,
my parents did not give up on me. Although English was not a familiar language to them
as well, they still strived to become better in the language by learning and practicing,
hoping that would foster my interest and motivation towards English. They also provided
me with much outside help, buying me all the English books I wanted to read and paying
for private English tutors. They also did the same for my Korean language maintenance,
as they didnt want me to lose my Korean heritage.
During that time, I also met this one ESL teacher who had made a huge impact in
my life. Her name was Ms.Ghazali, and I had never met anyone so enthusiastic and
motivational like her before. Not only was she great academic-wise, putting all her effort
to improve my English, but she also helped me gain confidence and self-esteem. I believe
that having met her was a big catalyst in my English language improvement and I know I
will never forget about her.
From my personal experience, I strongly believe that family support and
motivation play a big part in ones language acquisition. In relation to this, my research
question is: How does an individual become a successful, well-balanced bilingual? As
mentioned before, the studies for this research would come very handy not only for future
bilinguals and educators but also for myself, since I still strive to become as proficient as
possible in two languages.

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Literature Review
Parents Role in Language Acquisition
Parents input can be one of the biggest factors that contribute to individuals
language acquisition in the context of bilingualism. There has been a study conducted
with families with bilingual children, addressing this question; Why do some children
exposed to two languages from early on fail to speak those two languages? (Houwer,
2000). For the study, Houwer collected questionnaire data from different bilingual
families in which at least one of the parents spoke a language other than the majority
language. The questionnaire asked about the home language use of a family consisting of
at least one parent and one child between the ages of six and ten years old. And the
results showed that the children in these kinds of families all spoke the majority language,
but it wasnt the same for the minority language. The author claims that the findings from
this survey has shown that successfully raising children to speak two languages very
much depends on the parental language input patterns (Houwer, 2000). This means that
the language choice patterns can be planned ahead of time and modified to suit families
needs. He suggests that the parents input in language learning process is vital in raising
bilingual children in families. Therefore, in order to raise a successful, well-balanced
bilingual child, the role of the parents is very important in families and they also need to
be very strategic and knowledgeable about the bilingual approach for the child.
Furthermore, it is also important that parents are aware of the common
misconceptions towards bilingualism, if they plan to support bilingual education for their
children. Despite the fact there are many advantages when one grows to become a
bilingual, there are many worries and concerns in relation to this.

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There are four key points brought up as common misconceptions from parents of
children growing bilingual. They include, language delay, language confusion, language
learning and use of technology, as well as language intelligence (King & Lyn, 2006).
To go further on these topics of misconception towards bilingualism, first and
foremost, language delay refers to the failure in children to develop language abilities on
the usual developmental timetable. In bilingual contexts, parents worry that children
would not be able to function well in two different languages and cause delay in their
language process. Second, language confusion means children will be confused in
differentiating and performing in two languages. Furthermore, in relation to language
learning and use of technology is brought up as a concern because parents worry that the
exposure of too much technology in childrens language development would affect them
negatively. However, language learning does not always have to depend on technology,
as languages are acquired in the most efficient way through human-to-human real life
communication and interaction. Lastly, in relation to language intelligence, children do
not need to super intellectual to become bilingual.
Some state that the language mixing patterns in bilingual children indicate the
sign of confusion and language delay, but research proves that the ability to switch back
and forth between languages, sometimes called code-switching, is a sign of mastery of
two linguistic systems, and that children as young as 2 years old can code-switch in
socially appropriate manners (Lanza,1992) It is vital that parents are knowledgeable of
these wrong beliefs and also of the fact that parents use of their first language is
important in providing children a rich linguistic environment (Lanza, 1992).

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Motivation and Language Acquisition

Language acquisition and learners motivation go hand in hand. There are
motivation in many different forms and in fact, there is no agreement on the exact
definition of motivation (Bialystok, 2001). In relation to second language learning and
bilingualism, motivation works in different components of various ways including
individual differences, situational differences, social and cultural factors, as well as
cognition (Bialystok, 2001). Reward systems were the backbone of the approach for
motivating individuals to show the desired behavior (Williams & Burden, 1999) and this
can work well in the context of language acquisition. There is this theory called The Self
Determination Theory I want to add to my findings. The self-determination theory is one
of the most influential theories in motivational psychology and the theory distinguishes
between two kinds of motivations which are intrinsic and extrinsic (Grosjean, 1982). As
the word suggests, intrinsic refers to ones motivation to perform a particular activity to
satisfy his or her internal desire such as to feel accomplished, pleased and satisfied. On
the contrary, as for extrinsic motivation, the individual expects an extrinsic reward such
as good grades or praise from others. Either intrinsic or extrinsic, I believe it is crucial
that second language learners have some kind of motivation, in order to become
proficient in the language they are learning. Here is another statement that views
motivation as very positive in individuals language acquisition:
Motivation is vital in language learning. It makes language learners
positive about their own learning. It also creates the drive in them to
acquire the targeted language, enjoy the learning process, and experience

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real communication. Moreover, experience of success and satisfaction
has a strong connection with motivation. By realizing their improvement
and achievement, students always gain the feeling of success. (Ebata, 2008)
In the research study data that will be presented in the next pages, we can notice that all
successful consecutive bilinguals have had, and still have a big motivation to learn and
maintain the languages they speak and become bilingual.
Data-based Research and Analysis
Hypothesis
With my personal experience and abundant literature findings on the topic, I posit
that parent support and motivation play significant role in ones language development,
in becoming well-balanced, successful bilingual. With this assumption, I will be
conducting interviews with 6 different people, who are all consecutive bilinguals of
Korean and English. These are the questions the interviewees will be given:
1. When did you first start learning English?
2. What was your motivation/reason for learning English?
3. Did you try anything in particular to maintain your first language while learning
English?
4. Did your parents have any role in your language acquisition process?
5. Do you still strive to improve the languages you use? If so, how?
6. Do you regard yourself as a balanced bilingual? Why or why not. If not, what
language do you feel more comfortable with?

Methodology

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For the interview, I recruited 6 Korean and English bilinguals (3 males, 3 females)
in their twenties, whom consider themselves highly proficient in both languages. Not to
have this description so vague, I want to add that they are proficient enough in both
languages that they are able to take university-level classes in both languages, and they
can read, listen, speak, and write at an advanced level in both languages. Actually, this
was not my intended purpose, but during the interview sessions, I have realized that all
the interviewees were consecutive bilinguals, whom have been exposed to their second
language (English) after the age of 10.
Data Collection and Discussion
First and foremost, as for the motivational factors, as I have mentioned before, all
the interviewees have stated that they have had strong motivation in learning English and
they have also said that as adult language learners now, they still strive hard to maintain
the languages they use. Some of their motivations were similar but some were also very
different, as they differed by intrinsic and extrinsic reasons.
For the interview question #2, What was your motivation for learning English?,
Kang said,
Mostly for self satisfaction. I know it sounds weird, but I just feel so good when
I can converse with others in English. Actually, I enjoy learning languages in
general, like Japanese and Chinese. It just feels so good.
In her statement, we can definitely observe that she is a self-directed language learner and
her own drive for wanting to become better in one language developed her into a
successful bilingual.
On the other hand, Jae said,

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The reason I learned English was because I got adopted by my stepfather and
had to move to America at the age of 13. I had no choice but to learn English for
survival.
Similarly, Chan has stated,
The reason for me to learn English was to translate things in Korean for my
mom when we first moved to Toronto. Also, I wanted to associate with people at
school because I felt so isolated.
Although the reason for Jae and Chan to learn English was due to environmental change,
they were able to acquire native-like English eventually and this well proves that the
individuals need in using one language in a new environment also leads to language
improvement.
Surprisingly, despite the fact that they are all highly proficient bilinguals in both
languages, no one hand tried anything in particular to maintain their 1st language, Korean,
when they first started learning English, and actually some even forced themselves to
forget their first language hoping that would boost their English language acquisition. As
for the question #3, Did you try anything in particular to maintain your first language
while learning English? Lee said,
I did something completely opposite. I didnt try to maintain my Korean skill,
because the language structure was very different with English. So to facilitate
learning English, I wanted to literally forget about, you know, Korean. I only used
English and I think I spoke in English for like 8 years straight without speaking
Korean at all. I didnt make any Korean friends, and I just hung out with
American people and just kept speaking English over and over.

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Also, Kim said,
I didnt really go out of my way to.. you know, maintain my first language which
is Korean, because my priority was learning English as quickly as possible. So I
tried my best to not use Korean at all, unless it was really necessary.
With these responses, we can infer that the emphasis of first language maintenance when
first being introduced to a second language is always not as important as we believe. The
responses were quite similar among every interview, in which I found very interesting.
As for #4. Did your family have any role in your language acquisition process?,
the results varied by different individual unlike what I have hypothesized.
Nam said,
Learning English was a lot easier for me especially since because my dad was
already very good in English even though we had lived in Korea all the time. Also,
speaking Korean and English, my parents were very critical in me learning and
speaking both languages, and becoming bilingual like I am now.
On the contrary, Chan said,
I dont really think that my family played a major role in my English learning
experience just because I do believe that I acquired most of my knowledge at
school by interacting with other American English speaking friend, and taking
ESL classes and studying a lot grammar and vocab on my own, by reading as
many books as possible and such. So my answer is no, I dont think my family
played any role in my language acquisition process.
Last but not least, as for #6, Do you regard yourself as a balanced bilingual?
Why or why not. If not, what language do you feel more comfortable with?, the common

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findings I have found were that all interviewees believe that they are more confident in
one language than the other in certain aspects like academic writing, professional speech
and such. No one had stated that they think they are perfectly balanced bilingual in all
aspects of language. This is what Kim has stated for this question and this is also what
basically everyone else had in mind too.
I do think of myself as a balanced bilingual, and thats mainly because I tell
people that Im originally from Korea and English is not my first language. Their
reaction is always like Oh you dont have any accent., I thought you were from
here. Cant believe English isnt your first language!. So, I do feel that unless I
tell them that I am from a foreign country, they cant really figure out I am. So for
that reason, I do think that I am a balanced bilingual. But personally when I think
about it, I think I am definitely more expressive when speaking Korean. And I
feel more comfortable speaking Korean than when I am speaking English.
It was also very interesting how others thought of her impacted her thoughts on her own
language capabilities.
So in summary, through the interview, I have found out that the importance of
parents role in bilingual education is different from an individual to individual. I think
this also has to do something with individual differences and attitudes towards learning
language. Moreover, as mentioned before, motivation did play a big role in everyones
English language acquisition process, and motivation is what still keeps them striving to
be more proficient in both languages.

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Conclusion and Implications
As observed throughout my paper, in order for an individual to become a
successful, well-balanced bilingual, he or she needs to be self-motivated to process the
learning and acquiring of a new language more effectively. Moreover, parent support can
come handy for some individuals, although its not the case for every individual. Not
only for language acquisition, but learning of any subject I believe, can be boosted when
collaborated with the learners effort and motivation from self and others. Consecutive
bilinguals should try to consistently remind themselves of why they are learning a second
language as well as reach out for help when necessary. I, as a future language instructor
and a parent, will try to implement such findings in my future English language teaching
and bilingual education.

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References
Annick, D. H. (2000). Parental language input patterns and childrens bilingual use.
University of Antwerp.
Ellen, B. (2001). Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition. York
University
Francois, G. (1982). Life with Two Languages: Introduction to Bilingualism. Harvard
University Press.
Kendall, K., & Lyn, F. (2006). Raising Bilingual Children: Common Parental Concerns
and Cuurent Research. Georgetown University.
Makiko, E. (2008). Motivation Factors in Language Learning. Digital Hollywood
University
Marion, W., & Robert, B. (1999). The Modern Language Journal: Students Developing
Conceptions of Themselves as Language Learners. 83: 193- 201
Marsha, L. (1992). Raising Bilingual Children. The Ambassador, The American School
in Japan Alumni & Community Magazine.

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Reflection
Writing this paper was not easy, I have to say. It took a very long time for me to
narrow down my interests to one single topic in the beginning, and even after having
written some pages, I realized I didnt want to continue with the topic. (My first topic was
focused on raising a bilingual child from parents perspective.) However, after changing
my topic and processing the interview, I was more motivated to write my paper.
As a consecutive bilingual striving to improve the languages I use myself, it was
fun researching for how individuals foster their language acquisition. Moreover, Ive also
realized how much I enjoy collecting data through interview and analyzing them.
Although most people I interviewed were close friends of mine, I think I got to know
more about them through the interview. It was also interesting to see how people outside
the field of second language studies view this subject and bilingualism.
Furthermore, while writing this paper, I felt the importance of actually knowing
how to write. I have taken several WI courses at UH as well as the mandatory English
class we had to take as undergraduates, but writing this paper was quite difficult as
mentioned above. From selecting the relevant readings to support my paper to organizing
my content, there was no section I felt very confident for. But of course, now that I have
finished writing this paper, I have a better idea of how to write a research paper by
following the guidelines, reading other peoples papers, and by receiving helpful
feedbacks in terms of content material and punctuation.
Overall, this was a good experience for me to practice writing and an opportunity
to find out what I am more interested in and like doing, in terms of different ways to

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research. I have also learned endurance throughout my process since this project did not
only involve writing itself. Have a good break and thank you for a wonderful semester!