University of Mindanao

Matina Campus
Professional Schools

Case Analysis
PDAL 502: Language Acquisition

Submitted to:
Mary Ann E. Tarusan, Ph.D
Graduate Studies Professor

Submitted by:

Russel J. Aporbo, MEng Applied Linguistics

Graduate School Student
 Case Analysis
This case analysis explores the case of Jonas Becker, a German of origin, 22 years
old, who started learning English language on his fifth grade. He was able to visit
different countries as part of his exposure under United Evangelical Mission of
Germany. He visited Philippines when he was 19 and he stayed for six months and lived
in US for 2 years as recipient for the UEM scholarship for his Master’s degree. His
exposure to these English speaking countries also helped him achieve native-like
proficiency as speaker of English as a Second language.
Generally, the purpose of this analysis is to describe the processes of the case
regarding second language acquisition. Specifically, the study seeks to answer the
following questions:
1. What are the challenges of learning English as a second language?
2. What are your strategies of learning English as a second language?
3. How do you cope with the challenges with the challenges of learning English as a
To frame this study into a wide array of pragmatic discipline, I presented theories
and related empirical studies that support the existence of second language learning
and acquisition to elaborate the participant’s responses on the questions provided.

The most renowned framework of the principles of language learning is Brown’s

three domains of language learning namely cognitive, linguistic and socioaffective
domain. His concept of language teaching has been considered the most influential and
comprehensive work in the field of Applied Linguistics and Language Pedagogies.
Brown’s theory will be used to elucidate the guide questions of this analysis
When asked about the challenges of learning English as a second language, Jonas
unhesitatingly responded, “the challenges are learning vocabulary, articulation of the
words in the beginning, understanding why it is useful to learn English, struggles in school
to understand the benefits of knowing how to speak English”
Since German language is his mother tongue, evidently the acquisition of English
vocabularies and articulation of English words are his struggles on the early production
stage of second language acquisition. As stated by Brown (2000), learning a language
also involves learning a complex system of cultural customs, values and ways of
thinking, feeling or acting. The speaker is introduced on the new sets of beliefs which
are far different to his own language and culture. The individual begins to speak using
short words and sentences, but the emphasis is still on listening and absorbing the new
language. There will be many errors in this stage. Moreover, crosslinguistic influences
are evident on his emergent stage of acquisition, speech becomes more frequent, words
and sentences are longer, but the individual still relies heavily on context clues and
familiar topics. Vocabulary continues to increase and errors begin to decrease,
especially in common or repeated interactions. The differences between L1 and L2 were
responsible for the L2 difficulties experienced by non-native speaker, in this case-Jonas
Becker.
 As he also mentioned, that at first stage of learning the target language, he was not
able to understand the importance of learning English. Thus, it’s difficult for him to
learn the features – vocabularies, articulation and even the production of English
language. Under the Cognitive domain of Brown’s principles of language teaching and
learning, there must be meaningful learning on the part of the student as he acquires the
target language. Realistic context should be provided in the use of the target language in
order to lead to a better long term retention. Students should learn language faster by
associating sounds, words, structures and discourse elements with which meaningful in
their daily lives. However, if he is motivated intrinsically to learn the language, he could
have found it beneficial and necessary to learn the target language, and consequently,
could have acquired it easily.
When it comes to his strategies of learning English, I supposed Jonas could have
found easier what strategy to use when he has aided by his second language teacher to
identify his learning styles and preferences in their language class.
By practice in language pedagogy, learner strategies should be identified first as any
set of operations, steps, plans or routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining,
storage, retrieval and use of information (O'Malley et al., 1983; Brown et al., 1983), that
is, what learners do to learn and do to regulate their learning (Rubin, 1987).
Learning strategies are defined as “specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques --
such as seeking out conversation partners, or giving oneself encouragement to tackle a
difficult language task -- used by students to enhance their own learning” (Scarcella &
Oxford, 1992). When the learner consciously chooses strategies that fit his or her
learning style and the L2 task at hand, these strategies become a useful toolkit for active,
conscious, and purposeful self-regulation of learning. Learning strategies can be
classified into six groups: cognitive, metacognitive, memory-related, compensatory,
affective, and social. Language learning styles and strategies are among the main factors
that help determine how –and how well students learn a second or foreign language.

When asked “What are your strategies of learning English as a second language?” He
responded “Travelling abroad –US and Philippines, taking English class in school, reading
English books and listening to audiobooks, watching English movies”. When asked “How
do you cope with the challenges with the challenges of learning English as a Second
Language?”, Jonas responded “constantly trying to improve , to keep enjoying learning the
new language, get a teacher/mentor to help with your problems and talk to friends using
English language”

If classified according to what Rebecca Oxford’s (1998) notion, these strategies used
by Jonas Becker in learning English as a second language can be cognitive,
metacognitive, and social strategies. These strategies can be considered as strategic
investment in which success in learning is dependent on the time and effort a learner
spends in mastering the language (Brown 2000). Having exposed oneself to places or
speakers of English language is such a great avenue to develop accuracy and fluency of
the target language. Having also different reading and audio materials also aids the
acquisition of the target language. These strategies made the speaker’s proficiency
automatic. Automaticity as subconscious process is road to language fluency. As
elaborated by Brown and form behaviorist’s perspective of language learning, constant
practice and constant use of the language makes the speaker ability to communicate
effectively. This supported by Stephen Krashen in his claim that "Language acquisition
does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require
tedious drill. Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural
communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances
but with the messages they are conveying and understanding."

To conclude, Jonas’ awareness of learning the target language helps him successfully
acquire English as he is totally aware of his goals and purposes of acquiring the
language. His intrinsic motivation to expose himself to different avenues helped him
acquire the native-like fluency and accuracy of the target language.
4. What are the challenges of learning English as a second language?

The challenges encountered are

- learning vocabulary
- articulation of the words in the beginning
-understanding why it is useful to learn English
-struggles in school to understand the benefits of knowing how to speak english

5. What are the strategies of learning English as a second language?

- Travelling abroad –US and Philippines
-Taking English class in school
- Reading English books and listening to audiobooks
-watching English movies
-
6. How do you cope with the challenges with the challenges of learning English as a
Second Language?
Constantly trying to improve , to keep enjoying learning the new language
get a teacher/mentor to help with your problems
talk to friends using English language