A Critical Examination of the Beliefs about Learning a Foreign Language at Primary School

Schumann (1975,1978) hypothesised that affective variables such as the ability
to empathise, to 'place and modify one's behaviour in the direction of the other
person' (Schumann, 1978: 170) and ego-permeability were as important or even
more important than neurological maturational arguments in explaining
differences between children and adults in second language acquisition. In this
respect children were said to be at an advantage over adults in whom:

"...the development of firm ego boundaries, attitudes and motivational
orientations which is concomitant with social and psychological maturation
places constraints on the initiating factors..." (Schumann, 1975: 232)

In adults affective variables are thus claimed to block or inhibit cognitive
processes from operating on the available target language input. Schumann's
'acculturation theory' emphasised successful integration into the target culture
as an important factor in second language acquisition. His theory was based on
the case study of a 33-year old Costa Rican male acquiring English in
the USA and who 'pidginized' at a very early stage as he 'kept a social distance'
and 'failed to acculturate and adapt to the target culture'. This led Schumann to
the conclusion that 'the learner will only acquire the second language to the
degree that he acculturates' (Schumann, 1978: 29). Children, for both social
and psychological reasons, are said to be more open to both language and
culture as they do not see a new language as a threat to their identity.

Along similar lines, around the argument Ofculture shock', Brown (1980)
suggested four stages of acculturation through which the second language
learner proceeds. The successful second language learner was said to

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