Abstract
The pedagogy of language since time immemorial has majored on the use of pens and other printed materials. However, there occurred a separation of the teaching culture into two major categories; the "big C" and "little c" meaning, high and popular culture. Over the years of advancement in various pedagogy techniques have made this boundary separating the two cultures thinner and thinner. It is now blurred that one may not tell which teaching culture is applicable in various circumstances. The leading cause of this effect and changes are the sociocultural issues. The present-day evaluations on the humanities have caused a shift to a broader view to accommodate the anthropological and sociological approaches. This shift has also created an influence on the techniques through which teaching is conducted within the classroom setting. The current study focused on providing a comprehensive picture of various sociocultural problems affecting second language acquisition (SLA) pedagogy, and the depth to which the reported sociocultural issues are significant to SLA teaching and learning. The current study used a longitudinal research design to investigate the challenges experienced by 35 Maltese as a second language (ML2) adult learners. Interviews and reflective journals were the data collection tools. The results demonstrate that learning ML2 is a complex process. Learners experienced problems including their linguistic abilities, culture shock, personalities, memory and the teaching method. The current study was necessary in this field as there is a lack of literature on the challenges adult learners encounter when learning ML2. This study focused on providing a comprehensive picture of various sociocultural problems affecting ML2 pedagogy, and the depth to which the reported sociocultural issues are significant to ML2 teaching and learning and is relevant for any second language acquisition.
Author Information
Jacqueline Zammit, University of Malta, Malta
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