SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

What is second language acquisition?

‘Second’ vs ‘third’ LA: language acquisition

The term ‘second’ is generally used to refer to any language other than the first language.

‘​ Second’ vs foreing language acquisition

In the case of SLA, the lg 9lays an institutional and social role in the community (e.g.
functions as a recognized means of communication among members who s9eak some other
language as their mother tongue). In contrast, foreign language learning takes 9lace in
settings where the language 9lays no major role in the community and is 9rimarily learnt only
in the classroom.

Naturalistic vs instructed second language. acquisition

A distinction will be made between naturalistic and instructed second LA, according to
whether the language is learnt through communication that takes 9lace in naturally occurring
social situations or through study, with the hel9 of ‘guidance’ from reference books or
classroom instruction.
Klein similarly distinguishes ‘spontaneous’ and ‘guided’ acquisition. He argues that the
learner focuses on communication in naturalistic second language acquisition and thus
learns incidentally, whereas in instructed second LA the learner typically focuses on some
as9ect of the language system.

Competence vs performance
According to Chomsky, competence consists of the mental representations of linguistic rules
that constitute the speaker-hearer's internal grammar. Performance consists of the use of
this grammar in the comprehension and 9roduction of lg. Communicative competence
includes knowledge the speaker-hearer has of what constitutes a99ro9riate as well as
correct language behaviour in relation to 9articular communicative goals. That is, it includes
both linguistic and 9ragmatic knowledge. Communicative 9erformance consists of the actual
use of these two ty9es of knowledge in understanding and 9roducing discourse.

Usage vs use
Usage is ‘that as9ect of 9erformance which makes evident the extent to which the lg user
demonstrates his knowledge of linguistic rules’. We study usage if we focus attention on the
extent to which the learner has mastered the formal 9ro9erties of the 9honological, lexical,
and grammatical systems. Use is that as9ect of 9erformance which ‘makes evident the
extent to which the lg user demonstrates his ability to use his knowledge of linguistic rules
for effective communication’. We study use if we examine how learners convey meaning
through the 9rocess of constructing discourse.

‘Acquisition’
First, some researchers distinguish between ‘acquisition’ and ‘learning’. The former refers to
the subconscious 9rocess of ‘9icking u9’ a language through exposure and the latter to the
conscious 9rocess of studying it.
Also some researchers consider a feature has been acquired when it appears for the first
time, while others require the learner to use it to some 9redetermined criterion level of
accuracy, usually 90 per cent. Thus, a distinction can be made between acquisition as
‘emergence’ or ‘onset’ and acquisition as ‘accurate use’.

General questions in second language acquisition research

1) What do second language learners acquire?

This question was motivated by the recognition that learners often failed initially to produce
correct sentences and instead displayed language that was markedly deviant from target
language norms.
Researchers collected samples of learner language and tried to describe their main features.
For ex., the language samples that learners produced were inspected for errors and these
were then classified. Alternative, recordings of learners communicating with native speakers
or other learners were transcribed, specific grammatical features such as negatives or
interrogatives were identified in the data, and descriptions of the ‘rules’ which could account
for the learners’ productions were developed. The aim of this research, then, was essentially
descriptive -to document what kind of language learners produced, to try to establish
whether it manifested regularities of some kind or other, and to find out how it changed over
time.

2) How do learners acquire a second language?

Two questions. The first was ‘What contribution do external factors make to L2 acquisition?
This involved considering the role played by the social situation in which learning took place
and how the language the learner was exposed to (the input) accounted for acquisition as
evident in the language the learner produced (the output).
The second question was ‘What contribution do internal factors make to L2 acquisition?
Explanations were sought in the mental processes that the learner used to convert input into
knowledge. Some processes account for how the learner makes use of existing knowledge
(of the mother tongue, of general learning strategies, or of the universal properties of
language) to internalize knowledge of the L2. They serve as the means by which the learner
constructs an ​interlanguage​ (a transitional system reflecting the learner’s current L2
knowledge). Other processes account for how the learner makes use of existing knowledge
to cope with communication difficulties. For ex. sometimes the learner does not know the
word needed to communicate an idea clearly and has to resort to paraphrase or word
coinage (​communication strategies)

3) What differences are there in the way in which individual learners acquired a
second language?

While much of the work that has taken place in SLA research is based on the assumption
that learner language provides evidence of universal learning processes, there is also a long
tradition of research that has recognized that learners vary enormously in their rate of
learning, their approach to learning, and in their actual achievements. The study of ​individual
learner differences s​ eeks to document the factors that contribute to these kinds of variation.
4) What effects does instruction have on second language acquisition?

Classroom learning would proceed most smoothly if teachers stopped interfering in the
learning process and left learners to learn in the same way as children acquired their mother
tongue. This research has been motivated in part by a desire to address issues of general
theoretical interest to SLA research and also by a desire to improve the efficacy of language
pedagogy. The classroom affords an opportunity to control very precisely the nature of the
input that learners are exposed to.

A framework for exploring second language acquisition

It is possible to identify a number of different areas of SLA that have been investigated.
The first area of work concerns the descripcion of the characteristics of learner language.
Four aspects of learner language have received attention: 1) errors, 2) acquisition orders
and developmental sequences, 3) variability, and 4) pragmatic features relating to the way
language is used in context for communicative purposes.

The second area concerns learner-external factors relating to the social context of
acquisition and to the input and interaction which the learner experiences.

The third area, learner-internal mechanisms, concerns how acquisition takes place and how
learners use their resources in communication. They relate to 1) the transfer of knowledge
from the learner’s L1, the universal processes involved in converting input into intake and
restructuring existing L2 knowledge systems, 3) the utilization of innate knowledge of
linguistic universals,​ and 4) the processes for using L2 knowledge in performance.

Finally, there is the question of individual learner differences and what causes them.
Learners set about the task of acquiring L2 in different ways. They differ with regard to such
general factors as motivation and aptitude, and also in the use of various strategies. The
study of these general factors and learner strategies helps to explain why some learners
learn more rapidly than others and why they reach higher levels of proficiency.

The four areas all interrelate, so not surprisingly many investigations have covered more
than one. For ex., the errors that learners make (area 1) reflect the operation of internal
processing mechanisms (area 3) and may also be influenced by the social context in which
learning takes place (area 2) and the learner’s preferred learning style (area 4).

Learner language
This area of SLA is central because it provides the data for constructing and testing theories
of L2 acquisition.

Errors

One of the first ways in which researchers tried to investigate L2 acquisition was through the
analysis of learner errors.
Much of the early work on learner errors focused on determining the extent to which L2
​ r of ​creative construction (​ the construction of
acquisition was the result of L1 ​transfer o
unique rules similar to those which children form in the course of acquiring their mother
tongue). The presence of errors that mirrored L1 structures was taken as evidence of
transfer, while the presence of errors similar to those observed in L1 acquisition was
indicative of creative construction. Dulay and Burt analysed errors produced by Spanish
learners of English in order to determine which errors were interlingual (indicative of
transfer), and which ones were intralingual (indicative of creative construction).
According to the results of error analyses, L2 learning took place in the same way as any
other kind of learning - it involved procedures such as imitation, repetition, and
reinforcement, which enabled learners to develop ‘habits’ of the L2. The study of learner
errors showed that although many errors were caused by transferring L1 ‘habits’, many more
were not; learners often contributed creatively to the process of learning. They also indicated
that learners appeared to go through stages of acquisition, as the nature of the errors they
made varied according to their level of development.

Errors analysis, however, as practised in the sixties and seventies, was an imperfect
research tool. It could not show when learners resorted to avoidance and, as it ignored what
learners could do correctly, it only looked at part of the learner language. However, the study
of learner errors can still serve as a useful tool and is still undertaken, often as a means of
investigating a specific research question.

Acquisition orders and developmental sequences

The language that learners produce provides evidence that they acquire different
morphological features in a fixed ​order​ and also that they pass through a ​sequence o
​ f
developmental stages in the acquisition of specific syntactical features.

There is also evidence to support the existence of a general ​pattern of development​. This
general pattern may begin with a ​silent period, ​particularly in children. Many of the initial
utterances that learners produce are ​formulas.​ Gradually learners begin to produce more
creative utterances, although to begin with these are often propositionally reduced and
morphologically simple. Slowly learners master the basic syntax of the L2, learning the major
permutations in word order found in the target language. At this stage some morphological
features are also acquired, but many do not appear until much later, if at all.

Evidence for a definite order in the acquisition of specific grammatical features was provided
by the ​morpheme studies. ​These investigated a set of grammatical functors in English (for
ex., plural -s, past tense -ed, etc..) and claimed to show that there was a natural order of
acquisition that was not influenced by the learner’s age or first language. The claims they
made about an order of acquisition were based on the rank order of accuracy with which
learners performed the different functors in output collected at a single point in time. The
assumption was that learners must have acquired those features they performed more
accurately before those they performed less accurately. The morpheme studies have been
criticized on the grounds that this assumption is not justified.

Longitudinal studies of learner language afforded evidence of ​developmental sequences.

Early work demonstrated that learners with different language backgrounds followed a
remarkably similar path of development when trying to produce structures such as English
negatives and interrogatives. The learners appeared to construct a series of transitional
rules before they mastered the target language rules.
Some of the most powerful evidence for developmental sequences has come from studies of
the L2 acquisition of German. This project found that some grammatical features of German
were not acquired in any definite sequence, but that others were. Word order rules were
clearly developmental. Learners passed through a well-defined sequence.

There is now general acceptance in the SLA research community that the acquisition of an
L2 grammar, like the acquisition of an L1 grammar, occurs in stages. However, it should be
noted that although general developmental sequences have been attested in learners in
different situations and with differing backgrounds, variations in the specific order in which
particular features occur have also been found.

An important issue concerns the effect that formal instruction has on the acquisition of
grammatical features. However, there is growing evidence to indicate that grammar
instructio does work, providing learners are ready to assimilate the new target rule into their
mental grammars, although instruction does not appear to enable learners to ‘beat’ a
developmental sequence.

Variability

Learner language appears to be inherently variable. Learners frequently use one structure
on one occasion and a different structure on another. Teachers are very familiar with
learners who use a feature such as 3rd person -s correctly at one time only to omit it at
another.
A key issue is the extent to which this variability is systematic. Much of it undoubtedly is.
Learners alternate their use of linguistic forms according to ​linguistic context. F ​ or ex. they
are less likely to omit copula ‘be’ if it is preceded by a pronoun subject than if it is preceded
by a noun subject. Learners also vary according to ​situational context, ​in particular according
to who they are speaking to. A similar ​stylistic continuum ​has been found in learner language
as in native speaker speech. Learners are more likely to use correct target language forms
in situational and tasks that call for a​ careful style​ (i.e. formal language use) and more likely
to use transitional, learner forms in their​ vernacular style ​(i.e. in informal, everyday language
use). Learners may make deliberate use of whatever linguistic knowledge they possess in
order to distinguish different functional or semantic meanings that are important to them.
There is less agreement as to whether some of the variability in learner language is
non-systematic. I argue that when learners acquired new forms they are likely to first use
these in free variation with existing forms. Later they will either drop an ‘old’ form or use the
two forms systematically in some way.
There is also no agreement as to how important variability is for understanding processes.
Whereas Tarone and I see it as providing crucial evidence about the ways learners set about
constructing an L2 grammar, Gregg argues that it is an uninteresting and trivial phenomenon
because it only reflects performance and sheds no light on the learner’s competence.

Pragmatic features

Pragmatic​ is the study of how language is used in communication. It covers a wide range of
phenomena including deixis (i.e. the ways in which language encodes features of the context
of utterance), conversational implicature and presupposition (i.e. the way language is used
to convey meanings that are not actually encoded linguistically), illocutionary acts (i.e. the
use of language to perform speech acts such as stating, questioning, and directing),
conversational structure (i-e. the way in which conversations are organized acrss turns), and
repair (i.e the conversacional work undertaken to deal with miscommunication of various
kinds). Pragmatic is particularly concerned with appropriateness, both with regard to what is
said in a particular context and how it is said.
Learners have to learn when it is appropriate to perform a particular language function and
also how to encode it. Thomas distinguishes ​sociopragmatic failure,​ which occurs when
learners produce socially inappropriate behavior and ​pragmalinguistic failure, ​which occurs
when learners do not express themselves in a linguistically appropriate manner.

ELLIS ----> ​PÁGS. 35-49

LEARNER-EXTERNAL FACTORS

- External factors relate to the environment in which learning takes place.

- Behaviourist theories of learning view external factors as of central importance.
- Mentalist theories, however, emphasize the role played by learner internal factors.
- Cognitive theories of language acquisition tend to be interactional in the sense that they
emphasize the joint contribution of external and internal factors.

SOCIAL FACTORS

- Social factors probably have an indirect rather than a direct effect on L2 learning.
- Social factors shape learners’ attitudes which determine learning outcomes.
- The impact of social factors on learning outcomes has been studied in relation to L2
proficiency rather than developmental patterns.
- The social factors that influence L2 acquisition are likely to differ according to social
context.
- A key distinction is that between a natural and an educational setting.
- ​Natural settings​ can be distinguished according to whether the L2 serves as a native
language for the majority. (EG: learners of L2 in the USA), whether it serves as an official
language when the majority speaks some other language (EG: L2 English in India), or
whether it is used by linguistically heterogeneous groups in international settings (EG: L2
Eng in a business meeting in Japan)
- ​Educational settings ​can be distinguished according to whether involve segregation (IE:
the learners are taught the L2 or taught through the medium of the L2 separately from the
majority group), mother tongue maintenance (IE: an attempt is made to ensure that a
minority group’s L1 is taught and used in the educational setting), ​submersion​ ​(IE: the L2
learner is taught in classes where L1 speakers are dominant), ​immersion ​(IE: learners with
a high-status L1 are taught through the medium of the L2 in classes containing only such
learners, usually by bilingual teachers) or foreign language classrooms (EG: English
language classrooms in Japan)
- One way in which social context affects learning outcomes in these different settings is by
influencing the learners’ choice of ​reference group (Beebe has argued that learners are
‘active participants in choosing the target language models they prefer in majority language
settings)
- The general findings are that younger learners do better that older learners, females
outperform males, etc.
- According to Shumann’s model, social factors determine how much contact individual
learners have with the L2.
- According to Gardner’s Socio-educational Model of L2 learning, the social and cultural
milieu in which learner grow up determines the attitudes and motivational orientation that
learners hold towards the target language, its speakers, and its culture- which in turn
influence the sorts of learning behaviours learners engage in, and thereby learning
outcomes.

INPUT AND INTERACTION

- It is self-evident that L2 acquisition can only take place when the learner has access to
input in the L2. This input may come in written or spoken form.
- In the case of spoken input, it may occur in the context of interaction (IE: the learner’s
attempts to converse with a native speaker, a teacher or another learner) or in the context of
non-reciprocal discourse (EG: listening to the radio or watching a film)
- Behaviourist theories emphasize its importance, claiming that the whole process of
acquisition can be controlled by presenting learners with input in the right-sized doses and
then reinforcing their attempts to practice them. (according to this view there is little room for
any active processing by the learner)
- However, it has been shown that interaction can provide learners with ‘scaffolding’ that
enables them to produce structures that would be beyond them, if left to their own resources.
- Researchers who emphasize the importance of input and interaction suggest that learners
acquire a language through the process of learning how to communicate in it.
- Krashen has proposed the ​Input Hypothesis​, according to which learners acquire
morphological features in a natural order as a result of comprehending input addressed to
them.
- Long has argued that input which is made comprehensible by means of the conversational
adjustments that occur when there is a comprehension problem is especially important for
acquisition.
- Classroom interaction: Tasks that involve a two-way exchange of information have been
shown to promote extensive meaning negotiation.

LEARNER-INTERNAL FACTORS

- These factors are covert and can only be inferred by studying learner output and learners’
reports of how they learn.

LANGUAGE TRANSFER

- L1 transfer usually refers to the incorporation of features of the L1 into the knowledge
systems of the L2 which the learner is trying to build.
- Both translation and borrowing- the use of the L1 to deal with some communication
problem- are examples of communication transfer, as are code-mixing (the use of both the
L1 and L2 in the construction of the same sentence) and code-switching (the alternative use
of the L1 and L2 within a discourse)
- Initially, transfer was understood within a behaviourist framework of learning. It was
assumed that the ‘habits’ of the L1 would be carried out into the L2. In cases where the
target language differed from the L1 this would result in ​interference or negative transfer.​
- In cases where the patterns of the L1 and the target language were similar, ​positive
transfer w ​ ould occur.
- Transfer often did not take place when there were differences between the target and
native language. Also, many of the errors that learners made appeared to reflect intralingual
processes (IE: they were the result of processes based on the learner’s existing knowledge
of the L2) rather than interference.
- There is recognition of the fact that transfer may not always manifest itself as errors, but
also as avoidance, overuse and facilitation.
- Transfer may also be affected by ​markedness​. According to one definition of markedness,
a marked linguistic structure is one that can be used with fewer constraints than a related
unmarked one. EG: the adjective ‘old’ is less marked than ‘young’. You can use it in
questions and statements: How old are you? He is very old =/ young
- Learners seem more likely to transfer unmarked native language features that marked
ones

COGNITIVE ACCOUNTS OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

(Learners may use their L1 as both a means of learning a L2 and a means of

communicating)
- The former consists of the mechanisms that learners use to ​1) ​notice features in the input,
2) ​compare these features with those that are currently part of their mental grammars or
interlanguages, and ​3) ​integrate the new features into their interlanguages.
- The latter consists of conscious or potentially conscious attempts on the part of the learner
to employ their available linguistic resources, for example by developing their ability to use
the L2 fluently or by compensating for inadequate knowledge when communicating a
particular message.
- In addition to transfer, learners use a variety of processes to learn a L2. A number of
different theories of SLA have provided accounts of them
- The best known is ​interlanguage theory. ​The term interlanguage refers to the interim
grammars which learners build on their way to full target language competence.
- Interlanguage theory has undergone almost constant development, but one common
theme is the notion of hypothesis testing. IE: the idea that learners form hypotheses about
what the rules of the target language are and then set about testing them, confirming them if
they find supportive evidence in the input and rejecting them if they receive negative
evidence. This process takes place on a subconscious level.
- Interlanguage theory has also identified overgeneralization (IE: the extension of a L2 rule to
a context in which it does not apply in the target language) and simplification (IE: the
reduction of the target language system to a simpler form).
- “In Ellis, I suggest that interlanguage development entails three concurrent phases,
involving: ​1) ​innovation (IE: the acquisition of new forms), ​2) ​elaboration (IE: the
complexification that takes place as the learner discovers the contextual uses of a form) and
3) ​revision (IE: the adjustments that are made to the entire system as a result of innovation
and elaboration)
- Closely related to variationist accounts of interlanguage are ​functionalist models.​ ​These
suggest that variability is a reflex of different modes of language use.
- Functionalist accounts also emphasize the importance of the form-function networks that
learners are believed to construct.
- According to the ​Competition Model,​ l​ anguage acquisition involves attending to both form
and function.
- According to this model, learners assign ‘weights’ to different form-function mappings and
the process of acquisition involves adjusting these weights until they match those found in
the input
- In another approach, researchers have sought to identify ​the o ​ perating principles​ ​which
learners use to convert input into a form which they can store. Andersen has identified a
number of macro-principles found in L2 acquisition. The one-to-one principle, for example,
states that ‘an interlanguage system should be constructed in such a way that the intended
underlying meaning is expressed with one clear invariant surface form or construction’.
- ​Multidimensional Model ​advanced by Meisel, Clahsen and Pienemann ----> It accounts
for the developmental properties of interlanguage in terms of a number of processing
operations, which are organised hierarchically according to the order in which they are
evident in learners’ production. Thus, initially learners rely on non-linguistic processing
devices (EG: formulas and lexical items that are not assigned to grammatical categories)
and then move through a series of stages until they are able to carry out more complex
grammatical operations.
- Andersen’s ​Adaptive Control of Thought Model​ sees language acquisition as a process
of proceduralizing ‘declarative knowledge’ (IE: knowledge stored as facts). This takes place
through ‘practice’
- McLaughlin proposes a ​Cognitive Theory​ based on information processing. Learners
routinize linguistic information that is initially only available for use through controlled
processing and this frees them to attend to new information in the input. Also, learners
restructure their rule-based representations of the L2 at certain critical points in the learning
process.
- All these theories are based on the assumption that learners form mental representations
of ‘rules’ and that these rules guide the learner in using the L2 in performance.
- However, according to a ​Parallel Distributed Processing Model​ , knowledge takes the
form of a network of interconnections between ‘units’ that do not correspond to any particular
linguistic construct. Learning consists of the modification of the strengths of these
connections as a response to input stimuli and is complete when the network corresponds to
that found in native speakers. The criterion of success is whether the model produces similar
stages of development to those that have been observed in natural language acquisition.
- In addition to acquiring knowledge of the L2, learners also need to develop control over
existing knowledge. The acquisition of ‘control’ is specially considered in work on L2 ​speech
planning​.
- Speech planning has been considered in terms of temporal variables, such as speech rate
and pause length, and hesitation phenomena.

LINGUISTIC UNIVERSALS AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

- Mentalist theories of L2 acquisition emphasize the role of innate knowledge. This takes the
form of a language acquisition device which helps the learner to discover the rules of the
target language grammar. This device contains knowledge of linguistic universals.
- Some linguistics have studied individual languages in great depth in order to identify the
principles of grammar which underlie and govern specific rules. For example, the Phrase
Structure Principle states that all languages are made up of phrases consisting of a head
and a complement.
- Principles like this, can govern clusters of features. In this way, the presence of one feature
in a language implies the presence of other, related features.
- One of the key arguments advanced by those claiming a role for linguistic universals is that
of the ​logical problem of acquisition.​ ​ According to this, the input to which the learner is
exposed underdetermines linguistic competence, IE: learners are enable to discover some of
the rules of the target language purely on the basis of input because it does not supply them
with all the information they need. It follows that they must rely on other sources of
information. These sources are knowledge of linguistic universals (in the case of L2 learners,
knowledge of their L1)
- A second key argument concerns the ‘unlearning’ of a wrongly formulated rule. It is claimed
that in certain cases unlearning can only take place if the learner is supplied with negative
feedback in the form of overt corrections, such as those that occur in many language
classrooms.

THE LANGUAGE LEARNER

GENERAL FACTORS AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

- The ways in which learners differ are potentially infinite as they reflect the whole range of
variables relating to the cognitive, affective, and social aspects of a human being.
- The factors can be divided into those that are fixed and immutable and those that are
variable, influenced by social setting and by the actual course of L2 development.
- Age is an example of a fixed factor, in the sense that is beyond external control. The
controversy centres around whether there is a ​Critical period f​ or L2 acquisition and, if so,
when it ends.
- There is general agreement, however, that older learners enjoy an initial advantage in rate
of acquisition.
- It has also been claimed that ​language learning aptitude​ c​ onstitutes a relatively
immutable factor. This refers to the specific ability for language learning which learners are
hypothesized to possess. Different modules or studies measured such skills as the learner’s
ability to perceive and memorize new sounds, to identify syntactic patterns in a new
language etc.
- ​Motivation​ is an example of a factor that is clearly variable. The strength of an individual
learner’s motivation can change over time and is influenced by external factors.
- Motivation can be causative (IE: have an effect on learning) and it can be resultative (IE: be
influenced by learning). It can be intrinsic (IE: derive from the personal interests and inner
needs of the learner) and it can be extrinsic (IE: derive from external sources such as
material rewards)
- Motivation affects the extent to which individual learners persevere in learning the L2, the
kinds of learning behaviours they employ (EG: their participation) and their actual
achievement.
- One factor that has attracted considerable attention is ​cognitive style​. ​This is the term
used to refer to the way people perceive, conceptualize, organize and recall information.
One of the dimensions of cognitive style that has attracted the most attention in SLA is ​field
dependence/independence.
- Field dependence learners operate holistically, whereas field-independent learners are
analytic.

LEARNERS STRATEGIES

- Learner strategies are conscious or potentially conscious; they represent the learner’s
deliberate attempts to learn.
- A distinction is often drawn between learner strategies that are cognitive (EG: relating new
concepts to other information in memory), those that are ​metacognitive​ ​(EG: organising a
personal timetable) and those that are social (EG: seeking out opportunities to converse with
native speakers)