Second language acquisition. External linguistic factors and the role of input

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics, grade: 20 out of 20, Islamic Azad University, language: English, abstract: This essay pays special attention to the external linguistic factors that offer assistance to second language learners in acquiring a target language. External factors relate to the environment in which learning takes place. This involves considering the role played by the social situation in which learning takes place and the language the learner is exposed to input. The role of input is undoubtedly crucial in the process of second language learning. I is universally accepted that in order to acquire an L2, learners need to be exposed to the target language. The concept of input is perhaps the single most important concept of second language acquisition, and no individual can learn a second language without some sort of input. The importance of the input has been advocated by a variety of learning theories. Theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) attach different importance to the role of input in language acquisition process but they all acknowledge the need for language input. In many approaches to SLA, input is considered as being a highly essential factor while in other approaches it has been neglected to a secondary role.

Mohammad Javad Moafi was born in Behshahr, Mazandaran, Iran on September 19, 1975. Moafi graduated in the field of translation from Azad University, Qom Branch, Iran in 1998. Moafi has been engaged in teaching and translating ever since. Moafi did his MA in translation at Sheikh Baha'i University in Isfahan, Iran in 2010. Moafi received his PhD in Applied Linguistics from South Tehran Branch of Islamic Azad University in 2019. He has been lecturing at various universities in Qom, Iran including University of Science and Technology (Red Crescent Branch), Hazrate Masoumeh University, University of Religions and Denominations, University of Islamic Teachings (Ma'aref), Islamic Art School, International Institute for Islamic Studies, Language and Culture Institute of Al-Mustafa International University and Baqer Al-Oloum University Language Center. He has also been teaching IELTS/TOEFL at Qom University, Gooyesh English Institute and Manzumeh Daneesh English Institute. He is interested in translation studies, philosophy, psychology, sociology, religious and cultural studies as well as gender studies. Dr. Moafi has been translating for different centers. He was the simultaneous interpreter at the International Conference on Family Law, Tehran, Iran in 2009. He was the translator of the first and second volumes of the book 'I Talk With God About Everything' (Memorable Days & Lovely People) in 2012 and 'Bam Is Alive' in 2006 at the request of Teachers Training Center of Children and Teenagers affiliated with Islamic Propagation Organization. He was the translator of 'Dordaneh' which was a biography of Grand Ayatollah Bahjat at the request of his bureau in 2010, 'The Sky of Piety' which was a biography of Grand Ayatollah Najafi in 2015, and 'The Shrine of Love' which was a travel log of the Sacred Shrine of Imam Hossein (P.B.U.H.) from Qom to Karbala in 2015. He has translated the documentary 'Mahe Guyan' which was a story on Hojjatolislam Ebrahimi's martyrdom at the request of Channel One of IRIB, Iran in 2008. He is also the writer of the Persian book 'New Techniques in Language Learning' as well as editor of the translation of the book 'NTC's Common American Phrases in Everyday Contexts' Published in Qom, Iran in 2017. He is currently the official translator of the scholarly journal of Research Quarterly in Islamic Ethics.