Gina's Social And Psychological Distance To Spanish Language, Culture And Speakers

Social Distance:

1. Social Dominance. Whose social group is more dominant?
From my piont of view in this case both native-English speakers and native-Spanish speakers have equal power. Due to Spanish is almost the second spoken language in The United States.

2. Interaction Pattern. How much do learners integrate, or do they do most things apart from the mainstream?
Gina's interaction with the target language can be greater, because the two groups interact each other daily, but they do have different points of view about certain topics such as lifestyles and culture.

3. Enclosure. To what extent does learner's group have their own resources for interaction, such as church, publications, clubs?
Certainly social distance can be greater in this point because the Latina culture expresses in a very different way. On the other hand they have their own institutions where they can interact among them.

4. Size. How large is the Group?
Gina's group is bigger than native-Spanish speakers.

5. Cohesiveness. How much does the group "stick together?
The two groups interact at every moment. For that reason the second language learner is exposed to the target language and culture many times.

6. Cultural Congruence. How are the cultural patterns and customs of the home culture and the target culture alike or different?
In this case cultural patterns and customs differ in critical points of view such as community life and traditions.

7. Attitude. What attitudes do the home and target cultural groups have toward one another?
From my piont of view nowadays there is a better understanding between both culture which is better in mastering a second language.

8.Intended Length of residence. How long does the learner intend to stay in the new country?

Psychological Distance:

1. Motivation. Does the learner want to learn the new language?
Gina is highly motivated in learning Spanish, so she has more possibilities to learn a second language.

2. Attitude. How does the learner feel toward the target culture group?
She wants to learn Spanish in a short period of time (a quarter).

3. Culture Shock. Is the learner suffering culture Shock?