Snow (1993) has noted that most of the people in the world are at least somewhat bilingual; many others are multilingual. In other words, most people have learned at least one language in addition to their native language. Lambert (1990) has introduced an important distinction in bilingualism, one that has implications for the field of second language learning.
Specifically, Lambert (1990) states that there are two kinds of bilingualism. The first is additive bilingualism in which an individual acquires proficiency in a second language with no loss in his or her first language; in other words, both languages are associated with prestige and respect much as are people in Quebec, Canada who speak both English and French.
The second kind of bilingualism is subtractive bilingualism where the new language replaces the first language. Lambert points out that in the United States and Canada, second language learning is often subtractive in the sense that linguistic minority groups are pressured to develop high-level skills in English at the expense of their first language. What needs to be seen with respect to subtractive bilingualism is that, often, what is also being suppressed beneath the first language are elements of the native speaker's culture.
In other words, their are sociocultural elements to second language acquisition. Sociocultural influence is also seen in the difference between knowing the varied elements of a language, (e.g. grammar, syntax, phonetics, etc.) and knowing how to actually converse in the language.
Thus, second language learning is affected not only by linguistic elements central to the learning of any language but also by sociocultural influences. This paper examines the literature on the sociocultural elements of second language acquisition as they relate to teaching a foreign language and to the role of the second language teacher. The emphasis is upon the communicative approach,...