Social Styles and the Second Language Acquisition of Spanish-Speaking Kindergartners

Abstract

Previous studies that have examined the relationship between personality factors and second language acquisition have yielded contradictory findings. However, when these studies are divided according to whether they examined natural communicative language as compared with formal tested language, it becomes clear that certain personal characteristics are consistently related to successful language learning. The present study examines seven such characteristics in connection with success at acquiring certain communicative language skills among thirteen Spanish-speaking kindergartners who began the school year with almost no English. The question of motivation to be a part of the target language group and preference for English speakers as playmates and friends is also discussed on the basis of sociometric evidence. Contrary to previous conclusions (e.g., WongFillmore 1976), the faster learners did not seek to befriend or identify more with English speakers than did the slower learners. Faster learners, however, were more talkative, responsive, and gregarious than slower learners. Implications of these findings for teachers and researchers are discussed. This study attempts to discover some of the reasons why young children from similar backgrounds will acquire a second language at markedly different rates and with varying degrees of success. Studies by Wong-Fillmore (1976), and Cathcart, Strong, and Fillmore (1979) have already shown that, within a given time period, in any group some children will become able to communicate comfortably, some will learn enough to get by, and some will acquire hardly any skills in the second language. Recently, much second language research (reviewed in Long 1982) has suggested that language learners who can maintain communicative interactions with native speakers experience the optimal conditions for improving their skills in the new language. The focus of most of this