ABSTRACT
A Acculturation
Acculturation is the process an individual needs to go through in order to become adapted to a different culture. For this to take place there will need to be changes in both social and psychological behaviour. Where the target culture involves a different language, a key part of the acculturation process will involve language learning. Research has concentrated on the acculturation of immigrant workers to their host country. The fact that many of the learners in this category fail to master the target language is associated with their isolation and lack of social contact with the host population. This lack of progress and the FOSSILISATION of their language SKILLS has been linked to pidginisation (Schumann, 1976). Acculturation is not generally associated with foreign language learning because this can take place without any direct contact with the target country Where pupils do have contact with the target language and culture, for example through a pupil EXCHANGE, some of the features of acculturation could be seen to have relevance for foreign language learning.
