Applying Cognitive Development on Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

―Language Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target \nlanguage- natural communication- in which speakers are concern not with the form of \ntheir utterances but with messages they are conveying and understanding.‖ Stephen \nKrashen. \nSecond language acquisition (SLA) is the process by which people learn a second \nlanguage in addition to their native language(s). The term second language is used to \ndescribe the acquisition of any language after the acquisition of the mother tongue. \nThe language to be learned is often referred to as the ‗target language‘ or L2, \ncompared to the first language L1. \nCognitive learning theory has focuses on unobservable change in mental knowledge. \nCognitivsim or mental change, as psycholinguists say, should no longer be ignored as \na rejection of the behaviorist views. Cognitive abilities of SLA vary from one person \nto the other; presumably the recent studies suggested a synthesis in which the process \nof language acquisition may interact with cognitive development to produce an \nimprovement in acquired language. \nSLA is often viewed as part of Applied Linguistics; it is typically concerned with the \nlanguage system and learning processes, whereas applied linguistics may focus more \non the experiences of the learner particularly in the classroom. The cognitive \ndevelopment of the second language acquisition is developed in this research through \nstudent –directed projects, presentations and classroom discussions to supplant the \ntraditional lecture format. \nThe purpose of this research is to combine these vital strands of investigation into \nclose dialogue that will be applied on a group of university students studying a course \nof Sociolinguistics in Al Alsun Faculty, English Department. Results will be recorded \nto show the improvement of the second language (English Language) on this group \nviewable in their presentations and performances.