Second Language Acquisition/Learning
• Lecture # 30
Review of last lecture
•It is no wonder that parents take such joy in observing their children’s
first step in the acquisition of language. Consider the following
sequence between a mother and her 3-month-old daughter.
•First language acquisition (L1 acquisition) is the term most commonly
used to describe the process whereby children become speakers of
their native language and languages .
•L1 acquisition is remarkable for the speed with which it takes place.
The speed of acquisition has led to the belief that there is some
“innate” proposition in the human infant to acquire language. This is
usually called the “language faculty” with which each newborn child is
endowed.
•There are basically two approaches to the question of first language
acquisition:
①The behaviorist approach
②The innateness approach
Review cont…..
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1.
2.
3.
4.
A good deal of research on the acquisition of first
language focuses on children’s early utterances. The
establishment of stage of acquisition is probably the
best-known outcome of research on children’s
language.
Several stages have been identified:
Pre-language stage(3~10 months)
The one-word or holophrastic stage(12~18 months)
The two-word stage(18~20 months)
Telegraphic speech(2~3years old)
Today’s lecture
• Lets begin……
11.2 Second Language Acquisition
Q: Why we should master the second language?
A: This has been a time of the “global village” and the
“World Wide Web”, when communication between
people has expanded well beyond their local
speech communities. As never before, people have
had to learn a second language so as to obtain an
education or secure employment. At such a time,
there is an obvious
need to discover more about how
second languages are learned.
Second Language Acquisition(L2 acquisition, SLA) can
be defined as the way in which people learn a
language other than their mother tongue, inside or
outside of a classroom.
Second : For one thing, here second can refer to any
language that is learned in addition to the mother
tongue. Thus, it can refer to the learning of a third or
fourth language. Also, second is not used to contrast
with foreign. Whether we are learning a language
naturally as a result of living in a country where it is
spoken, or learning it in a classroom through
instruction, it is customary to speak generically of
second language acquisition.
11.2.1 Contrastive Analysis
•
To identify similarities and differences between
particular native language(NLs) and target
language (TLs), researchers conducted contrastive
analysis (CA) from the 1940s and the 1960s.
1. The main difficulties in learning a new language
are caused by interference from the first language.
2. These difficulties can be predicted by contrastive
analysis.
3. Teaching materials can make use of contrastive
analysis to reduce the effects of mother tongue
interference
11.2.2 Error Analysis
• An error refers to the production of incorrect
forms in speech and writing by a nonnative
speaker of second language, due to his
incomplete knowledge of the rules of that target
language.
• For example:
When a Pakistani learner of English says “I not
go”(=I will not go) because the equivalent
sentence in URDU is Mei Nei jaou ga……
•
Error analysis(EA) refers to the study and analysis of
the errors made by second and foreign language
learners. It developed as a branch of applied
linguistics in the 1960s, and achieved considerable
popularity in the 1970s.
• It may be carried out in order to
1. Identify strategies which learners use in language
learning;
2. Try to identify the causes of learner errors;
3. Obtain information on common difficulties in
language learning, as an aid to teaching or in the
preparation of teaching materials.
• Error analysis was therefore offered as an alternative to
contrastive analysis. Attempts were made to develop
classifications for different types of errors on the basis
of the different processes that were assumed to
account for them. A basic distinction was drawn
between intralingual and interlingual errors.
Intralingual errors
Interlingual errors
He is comes.
He comes from China,
Beijing.
caused by the learner’s
native language
(language transfer )
result from faulty or
partial learning of the
target language
11.2.3 Interlanguage
• For example: The Spanish speaker who says in
English “She name is Mary” is producing a form
which is not used by adult speakers of English,
does not occur in English L1 acquisition by
children, and is not found in Spanish either.
• Evidence of this sort suggests that there is some
in-between system while acquiring L2 which
certainly contains aspects of both L1 and L2, but
which is an inherently variable system with rules
of its own. This system is called an interlanguage
and is now considered to be the basis of all L2
production.
11.3
Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition
SLA theories acknowledge that there are some
individual differences in L2 acquisition,
especially some psychological dimensions of
differences. Here we will focus on four major
dimensions---language aptitude, cognitive style,
personality traits and learning strategies.
11.3.1 Language aptitude
• Language Aptitude was known as that people differ in
the extent to which they possess a natural ability for
learning an L2, which is thought to be a combination of
various abilities.
• According to Carroll’s Modern Language Aptitude
(MLAT), the components of language aptitude are:
1.Phonemic coding ability;2.Grammatical sensitivity;3.
Inductive language learning ability ;4.Rote learning
ability
• Learners who score highly on language aptitude tests
typically learn rapidly and achieve higher level of L2
proficiency than learners who obtain low scores.
11.3.2
Cognitive style: field dependence and field
independence
• Field dependence is measured by asking learners to
look at complex patterns and identify a number of
simple geometric figures that are hidden within them.
The purpose is to see whether they are able to break
up what they see (i.e. the whole) into parts and keep
these parts separate from the whole.
• The characteristics of field dependent language
learners are that they accept the L2 information exactly
as it is presented to them by the teacher. They do not
try to analyze or think about it themselves. They are
very reliant on in their L2 learning. They tend to be
seen as outgoing are interested in others and so would
be expected to develop good interpersonal
communication skills in the L2.
• Field independent learners, on the other hand, do
not assume that the L2 information that they are
given is necessarily correct. They tend to analyze it
and think about it themselves to determine
whether it is correct or not. They have a strong
sense of personal identify and often seem
insensitive to and distant from other people. They
might, therefore, be expected to be less interested
in developing communication skills in the L2.
• Field independence is typical of learners who think
about the input that they get. They would develop
a broader and deeper understanding of the
structure of the language than those who take all
L2 input at face value. Therefore, they have better
performances on structure tests.
11.3.3 Personality traits
Introversion VS Extroversion
The relationship between language proficiency
and extroversion seems to be true when
assessing proficiency and extroversion seems to
be true when assessing proficiency at using the
language, but not when assessing knowledge of
the language.
11.3.4 Learning strategies
•
Language aptitude, cognitive style, and
personality traits are the general factors that
affect the rate and level of L2 achievement.
Learning strategies are the particular approaches
or techniques that learners use to try to learn an
L2.
• Three major types of learning strategies have
been identified:
1. Cognitive strategies,
2. Metacognitive strategies,
3. Social/affective strategies.
• Cognitive strategies refer to the steps or operations
used in problem solving that need direct analysis,
transformation or synthesis of learning materials.
• Metacognitive strategies make use of knowledge
about cognitive processes and constitute attempts
to regulate language learning by means of planning,
monitoring and evaluating.
• Social/affective strategies concern the ways in
which learners choose to interact with other
learners and native speakers.
•
Good language learners are also very active, show awareness of
the learning process and their own learning styles and, above all,
are flexible and appropriate in their use of learning strategies.
strategies that involve formal practice(e.g. rehearsing a new
word) contribute to the development of linguistic competence
while strategies involving functional practice(e.g. seeking out
native speakers to talk to) aid the development of
communicative skills.
• The study of learning strategies is of potential value to language
teachers. If strategies that are crucial for learning can be
identified, it may prove possible to train students to use them. In
the next section we will examine this idea in a broader context
when we discuss the role of instruction in L2 acquisition.
11.4 Instruction and L2 Acquisition
One of the goals SLA is to improve language
teaching. Here we will consider three branches of
this research.
The first concerns whether teaching learners
grammar has any influence on their interlanguage
development. Do learners learn the structures they
are taught?
The second draws on the research into individual
learner differences. Do learners learn better if the
kind of instruction they receive matches their
preferred ways of learning an L2?
The third branch looks at the training of strategies
used by “good language learners”.
11.4.1 Form-focused instruction
• Instruction which draws attention to the forms
and structures of the language within the
context of communicative interaction is called
form-focused instruction.
• The grammar-translation method and the
audiolingual method both attempt to teach
learners grammar, and their only difference is
how this is to be fulfilled. More recently,
however, language pedagogy has emphasized
the need to provide learners with real
communicative experiences. Communicative
language teaching is based on the assumption
that learners do not need to be taught grammar
before they can communicate but will acquire it
naturally as part of the learning process.
11.4.2 Learner-instruction matching
• Learner-instruction matching involves an
attempt to ensure that the teaching style is
suited to the learner. It is based on the
assumption that learners have different learning
styles and that they will learn most effectively if
the instruction matches their particular learning
styles.
• Educational research which has investigated the
effects of such instruction is sometimes referred
to as aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI).
11.4.3 Strategy Training
• Most of the research on strategy training or learner training has
concentrated on vocabulary learning. Training students to use
strategies that concern different ways of making associations
with target words has generally proved successful.
• For example, the key word method requires learners to form two
kinds of associations. First, learners associate the target word
with a word which is the same or similar to an L1 word, e.g. the
Japanese word “ohio”, meaning “morning”, might be associated
with “Ohio”, a state in the United States. Second, the L1 word is
linked to a mental image that incorporates the meaning of the
target word, e.g. the learner thinks of a very cold morning in
winter in Ohio. It has been shown that these associations can help
to memorize the target word.
The idea of strategy training is attractive because it provides
a way helping learners to become autonomous, that is, of
enabling them to take responsibility for their own learning.
Summary of lecture
Why we should master the second language?
This has been a time of the “global village” and the “World Wide Web”,
when communication between people has expanded well beyond their
local speech communities. As never before, people have had to learn a
second language so as to obtain an education or secure employment. At
such a time, there is an obvious
need to discover more about how
second languages are learned.
Second Language Acquisition(L2 acquisition, SLA) can be defined as the way
in which people learn a language other than their mother tongue, inside or
outside of a classroom.
Second : For one thing, here second can refer to any language that is
learned in addition to the mother tongue. Thus, it can refer to the learning
of a third or fourth language. Also, second is not used to contrast with
foreign. Whether we are learning a language naturally as a result of living in
a country where it is spoken, or learning it in a classroom through
instruction, it is customary to speak generically of second language
acquisition
Summary
•
Language aptitude, cognitive style, and
personality traits are the general factors that
affect the rate and level of L2 achievement.
Learning strategies are the particular
approaches or techniques that learners use to
try to learn an L2.
• Three major types of learning strategies have
been identified:
1. Cognitive strategies,
2. Metacognitive strategies,
3. Social/affective strategies.