Second Language Acquisition

for Teachers
Lecture course
Edit H. Kontra
Department of English Applied Linguistics

In today’s lecture
 About the course
 What is SLA?
 Learner beliefs
About the course
 Weekly 1 hour (= 50 min.)
 Attendance will be checked
 Written exam
 Requirements: Lecture plus readings
 Reading pack (electronically):1 article / topic

Recommended texts:
 Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
 Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (1999). How languages are learned. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Definitions: SLA
(Review)
 Second language = additional language

i.e. any language other than the first language (mother tongue)
can be third, or fourth language as well

Second vs. Foreign Language

 Second language: the language plays an institutional and social
role in the community; e.g.: English in the USA, Britain or Nigeria.

 Foreign language: the language plays no major role in the life of

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the community and is primarily learnt in the classroom.

Acquisition

Krashen, 1981
 Acquisition: subconscious process of picking up the language
through exposure
vs.
 Learning: conscious process of studying a language
 No clear, operational definition.
Unless otherwise stated, researchers use the terms interchangeably.

Definition
 SLA is the study of the way in which people learn a language other
than their mother tongue (L1), inside or outside of a classroom.

Questions in SLA research:

 What do L2 learners acquire?
 How do learners acquire an L2?
 What differences are there btw. learners?
 What effects does instruction have on SLA?

What do you answer?

Research:
Questions for research arise from observations:
 How do learners create a new language system with only limited
exposure to a second language?
 What do learners learn, and what do they not learn?
 Why do most L2 learners not achieve the same degree of
proficiency in an L2 as in their native language (L1)?

Areas of study SLA draws from and impacts on:

 linguistics
 sociology

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 psychology
 psycholinguistics
 sociolinguistics
 discourse analysis
 conversation analysis
 education

What SLA is not:

 SLA is not about pedagogy unless the pedagogy affects the course
of acquisition.
 Knowledge about SLA sheds light on the field of language
teaching.

 Methodologies must be based on a firm basis, i.e.:

understanding how language learning does and does not take place.
ê
Learner Beliefs
Definition: Preconceived notions about languages and language learning
 “a set of conceptual representations which signify to its holder a
reality or given state of affairs of sufficient validity, truth or
trustworthiness to warrant reliance upon it as a guide to personal
thought and action” (Cabaroglu & Roberts, 2000, p. 388).

Pajares (1992): “Belief is based on evaluation and judgment;

knowledge is based on objective fact” (p. 313).
 Beliefs have a profound influence on SLA

Teacher beliefs
 deeply rooted in Ts’ own experiences as language learners;
 often too solid to be changed by methodology training;
 solidity of beliefs over time as well as across students groups with only some
variation on individual items;

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  some trainee beliefs consonant with current thinking in foreign language
pedagogy, others represent highly conservative views and classroom
practices;

If there is a mismatch between

learners’ preconceived ideas about learning
and teachers’ teaching approaches and/or instructional activities
learners may lose confidence in the instructional approach & ultimate
achievement can be limited
(Horwitz 1987)

Research
Peacock (2001)
 146 Trainees in Hong Kong;
 Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) (Horwitz, 1985)
 longitudinal study
 importance of pre-existing (sometimes erroneous) beliefs
 E.g.: after 3 yrs of training Sts still believed that learning an L2 meant
learning a lot of grammar rules and vocab.

ELTE Students (Kontra, 2014)

Instrument: BALLI by Horwitz
Cross sectional study btw. 2010-2012
Data collected in September and December
Modest change observed in some areas. E.g.:
 It is easier for children than adults to learn a foreign language.
Sept: agreement in the 4.39 - 4.22 range
significantly lower in December: 3.68 - 3.58
 It is o.k. to guess if you don’t know a word in the foreign language
first cohort: M=3.66;
significantly higher in Dec. 2011 (M=4.13) & Dec. 2012 (M=4.31)

Why should teachers know about SLA?

 Pedagogical decision making must reflect what is known about the
process of learning, which is the domain of SLA.

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E.g.:
 teachers’ expectations
 goal setting
 assessment of students’ performance
The goals of SLA research
1 Describe
 learner language
 development over time (longitudinal studies)

2 Explain
 External factors: input, context
 Internal factors: L1, previous knowledge, aptitude, strategies,
motivation, etc.

Thank you for your attention.

References (Set texts: *)
Cabaroglu, N., & Roberts, J.(2000). Development in student teachers’ pre-existing beliefs during
a 1-year PGCE Programme. System, 28(3), 387-402.
*Kontra, E.H. (2014). Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about language learning. In V. Ruttkay & B.
Gárdos (Eds.), Proceedings of the 11th Conference of the Hungarian Society for the
Study of English (pp. 719-730). Budapest, Eötvös Loránd University. Retrieved from
http://www.eltereader.hu/media/2014/12/HUSSE_Proceedings_of_the_Hungarian_Societ
y_for_the_Study_of_English_2013_Conference.pdf
Mantle-Bromley, C. (1995). Positive attitudes and realistic beliefs: Links to proficiency. The
Modern Language Journal, 79(3), 372-386.
*Pajares, M. F.(1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct.
Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307-332.
Peacock, M. (2001). Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about second language learning: A longitudinal
study. System, 29, 177-195.