What is a second language?
I have broadly defined the scope of SLA as concerned with any phenomena involved in learning an L2. Sometimes it is necessary for us to make further distinctions according to the function the L2 will serve in our lives, since this may significantly affect what we learn. These differences may determine the specific areas of vocabulary knowledge we need, the level of grammatical complexity we have to attain, and whether speaking or reading skills are more important. The following are distinctions commonly made in the literature:
• A second language is typically an official or societally dominant language needed for education, employment, and other basic purposes. It is often acquired by minority group members or immigrants who speak another language natively. In this more restricted sense, the term is contrasted with other terms in this list.
• A foreign language is one not widely used in the learners’ immediate social context which might be used for future travel or other cross cultural communication situations, or studied as a curricular requirement or elective in school, but with no immediate or necessary practical application.
• A library language is one which functions primarily as a tool for further learning through reading, especially when books or journals in a desired field of study are not commonly published in the learners’ native tongue.
• An auxiliary language is one which learners need to know for some official functions in their immediate political setting, or will need for purposes of wider communication, although their first language serves most other needs in their lives.
Other restricted or highly specialized functions for “second” languages are designated language for specific purposes (such as French for Hotel Management, English for Aviation Technology, Spanish for Agriculture, and a host of others), and the learning of these typically focuses only on a narrow set of occupation-specific uses and functions. One such prominent area is English for Academic Purposes (E A P).
