Exploring second language acquisition and acculturation through autobiographical texts: A qualitative study of second language learners/authors (Eva Hoffman, Richard Rodriguez, Natasha Lvovich, Poland, Russia)

This qualitative study examined early stages of second language (L2) learning and acculturation experiences through autobiographical texts (as well as interviews conducted with its authors), such as Eva Hoffman's Lost in Translation, Richard Rodriguez' Hunger of Memory , and Natasha Lvovich's The Multilingual Self, and juxtaposed them against relevant second language acquisition theories and constructs. The research has shown that despite the authors/learners' initial culture shock they became successful language learners, and their published books attest to that. The study also revealed that the participants' share in common their negative reactions to the sounds of English, an interesting affective factor, which has not been previously identified in L2 literature. Moreover, the participants share a remarkable bond with their respective families, and their concern for their family's well being appears to be one of the dominating themes in their lives.; Although the authors/learners' experiences appear to coincide in a number of ways, I have also found instances, which clearly set them apart. Using Rodriguez, Hoffman and Lvovich's membership in a number of linguistic and cultural affiliations as an example, we have ample evidence to suggest that language learners are able to maintain more than one language and culture, without necessarily giving up one to acquire the other. This outcome clearly contradicts the position advocated by uni-linear socio-cultural models, which emphasize the inability of minority learners to partake simultaneously in multiple sociolinguistic units.