THE ROLES OF NON-NATIVE PARENTS AND FIRST LANGUAGE (L1) IN THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (L2)

Abstract

This paper provides different perspectives and evidence on how interactions to non-native parents would influence the language development of child L2 learners of English. The discussion itself is an extension of recent debates of a relevant issue with supports from research data obtained in a project that longitudinally explores the naturalistic acquisition of the second language by Indonesian child L2 learners of English in England. Two different types of main data are involved in the study; a comprehensive language exposure study through Utrecht Bilingual Language Exposure Calculator (UBiLEC) and a twelve-month longitudinal data collection of everyday language production. Data from UBiLEC and the entire language corpus from research participants are analyzed to reveal important information about whether parental input and L1 play any role in shaping the language development of the children. Findings from the study indicate that exposures to parent's non-native language do not necessarily accelerate or delay a child's language growth. Further, the study reflects that similar L2 errors produced by parents at home can be traced in the language production of the research participants. It was also revealed that L1 plays an important role in the production of L2 errors.

Keywords: L2 Acquisition, Non-Native Input, Child L2 Learners