Self-study Answer Key for All Chapters

Chapter 1

1. 1-B, 2-C, 3-D, 4-A

2. competence
3. performance

Chapter 2

1. Page 8 of Chapter 2 lists seven possible reasons.

2. phonemes
3. 1-C, 2-A, 3-B
4. L1-innate capacity
L2-L1, world knowledge, interaction skills, possibly innate capacity
5. Input is necessary for both L1 and L2; social interaction is necessary for L1.
6. Select from among the following:
a. Children begin to learn their L1 at the same age, and in much the same way,
whether it is English, Bengali, Korean, Swahili or any other language in the
world.
b. If children had to actually learn the abstract rules of language, then only the
smartest would ever learn to talk, and it would take several years more to learn
L1 than it actually does.
c. Children master the basic phonological and grammatical operations in their L1
by age five or six, regardless of what the language is.
d. Children can understand and create novel utterances; they are not limited to
repeating what they hear around them.
e. There is a cut-off age for L1 acquisition, beyond which it can never be
complete.
7. The internal focus seeks to account for speakers’ internalized, underlying knowledge of
language. The external focus emphasizes language use, including the functions of
language which are realized in learners’ production at different stages of development.

Chapter 3

1. Language is (a) systematic, (b) symbolic, and (c) social in the following ways:
a. Languages consist of recurrent elements which occur in regular patterns of
relationships. Language is created according to rules or principles which
speakers are usually unconscious of using if language was acquired in early
childhood.
b. Sequences of sounds or letters do not inherently possess meaning. These
symbols of language have meaning because of a tacit agreement among the
speakers of a language.
c. Each language reflects the social requirements of the society that uses it.
Although humans possess the potential to acquire an L1 because of their
neurological makeup, that potential can be developed only through interaction
with others in the society. We use language to communicate with others about
the human experience.
2. 1-C, 2-D, 3-A, 4-B
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3. 1-E, 2-C, 3-F, 4-B, 5-A, 6-D
4. fossilization
5. Performance is actual use of language in a specific instance, whereas competence is
the underlying knowledge of language we possess.
6. communication
7. a-IUO, b-FUO, c-NUO, d-FUO, e-IUO, f-NUO

Chapter 4

1. 1-B, 2-C, 3-A

2. speak; audio input
3. 1-B, 2-C, 3-A
4. Learners must notice or pay attention to input to make it available for processing. This
kind of ‘noticed input’ is called intake.
5. output
6. Connectionist
7. integrative; instrumental

Chapter 5

1. 1-C, 2-A, 3-B

2. 1-A; It is more common to pronounce final ‘ing’ as ‘ing’ when it precedes a vowel or a
pause in speech, and more common to pronounce it ‘in’ when it precedes consonant
sounds.
1-C; The student may be fully aware of the grammatical rule, but be unable to
pronounce the consonant cluster in the final syllable of ‘walks’ (/ks/).
2-B; The child may use her language monitor more around her teacher.
2-C; Writing and speaking, being different cognitive activities, may be processed
differently by this student.
3-B; The child is unconsciously aware of a social difference between speaking with her
classmate, a peer, and her teacher, a figure of authority.
3. Sociocultural
4. Zone of Proximal Development
5. Acculturation
6. additive; subtractive
7. formal; informal

Chapter 6

1. interpersonal; academic
2. listening and reading; speaking and writing
3. Second language communicative competence involves (1) both knowledge of linguistic
elements (2) and the (3) knowledge (4) that is required for appropriate L2 use in
different contexts. In this chapter, we have surveyed the integrated roles of linguistic
(5) [ ], cognitive (5) [ ], (2) and social (3) knowledge in the interpretation (6) [ ] (2) and
expression of meaning; (7) we have looked in more depth at components of language
(3) knowledge (4) that must be accounted for in academic (8) [ ] (2) and interactional

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 competence; (2) and (7) we have explored (9) what (3) knowledge accounts for learner
ability to participate in L2 activities (2) and how (10) it is acquired.
(1) Reference: both
(2) Conjunction: and
(3) Lexical: repetition of knowledge
(4) Reference: that
(5) Ellipsis: omission of knowledge
(6) Ellipsis: omission of of meaning
(7) Lexical: repetition of we have __ed
(8) Ellipsis: omission of competence
(9) Reference: what
(10) Reference: it
4. vocabulary: needed to recognize words and to understand what they mean.
morphology: needed to interpret complex lexical elements, as well as to perceive
grammatical information that is carried by inflections.
phonology: needed to recognize spoken words, to segment speech into grammatical
units, and to relate written symbols to their spoken form.
syntax: needed to recognize how words relate to one another, and how they are
constituted as phrases and clauses.
discourse: needed to interpret stretches of language that are longer than a single
sentence.
5. Content knowledge is background knowledge about the topic that is being read about
or listened to; new information is perceived and interpreted in relation to this base.
Context knowledge includes information learned from what has already been read or
heard in a specific text or situation, as well as an understanding of the writer or
speaker’s intentions and an overall understanding of the discourse pattern being used.
It allows prediction of what is likely to follow, and how the information is likely to be
organized.
Culture knowledge includes an understanding of the wider social setting of the text.
Because this knowledge is usually taken for granted by the writer or speaker, and the
instructor in a classroom setting, this knowledge is rarely discussed explicitly. For that
reason, it may not be available to L2 learners who did not grow up in that culture.
6. Five possible answers are listed on page 161 of this chapter.

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