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    23 views80 pages

    Ebook Second Language Acquisition by

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    Su Mint
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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Seer Rete eh EN ie fe | Series Editor H.G. Widdowson eee ered readers new tothe formal stdy of language. Coes Perr ea ere) ‘Short readings with study questions ry A selection of annotated references Rees ee ey ron This structure is designed to allow diferent Pe ee ee Peer acne? Coe Reuter Ct eerie Petrone renin Pe reer crea See A ay Cheer ypeecinetmereiy beriegepeice careers Teer OSU a Cia o Oxford introductions to Language Study Series Editor H.G. Widdowson Second Language| PUK este) ) Rod Ellis CoD Ra uaa Tc Oxford Introductions to Language Study = 9 4» 5 3 9 < ‘Second Language Acquisition iii Published in this series Guy Cook: Applied Linguistics Rod Elis: Second Language Acquisition Claire Kramsehs Language and Culture ‘Tim MeNamara: Lamgnage Testing Peter Roach: Phonetics Herbert Schendl Historical Linguisties Thomas Scovel Psycholinguisties Bernard Spolsky: Sociolinguistics Peter Verdonk:Sttstcs HG. Wildowson: Fonguisties George Va: Pragmatics oxford Introductions to Language Study Series Editor H.G. Widdowson Rod Ellis OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS. , Contents {reat Clendon Ss Oxhond 0 Ostord New York a 7 Stcland Ranghk Benoe Ass CapeTown Chem Daressulaam Deki Hong King Ia Recs Rests Kesh Lumpur Macnd Melbourne Meso. Mths Survey ‘ i Saal Shang Tapes Tyo Tern 4 mtiadeta docafans ans obaaang “xtonpandonrno sci Uz ecquition sretrademartsof Oxon User Pew What is scord langage sequins : ssan p1naa7200N What arethe goals SLA? 4 Ocal Unry Pes 197 Twa cave studies 6 Fira ob Methodological isis " ‘Nowhmpresin 2093 Issues in te description of earner language B Issues in the explanation af 12 acquisition 8 Alegre No prt oth pbictan ny ee 2 Thonature of leamer language mot ti pr pms igo Developmental patterns 20 Libs tothe ELT igs Deparmenns Ord Unicon Prem atthe are above 3 Interanguage Behaviourist learning theory ‘uence onan a ee A mentalise theory of langage leaening A atte rkroin hi pt athe pi What s“interkanguage"? Wessel Ost ny Aconputarional mndel of L2 acquisition s ‘nately ————— = 4 Soci aspects of inteianguage Ttalterhenteyless shined Tneetlanguage as stliate comin ca Mader The acculeration mala 2 session a P71 Social Meni and insestnent 1 ea 4" 10 Discourse aspects of intertanguage Acquiring discourse rales The let inpurand interaction i 12 sequisition The ete 12 ation Sunsary ychotinguistic aspects of nterlanguage Ui renster Thereof consciousness in 12 acute Proxessingoperations ‘Communication strates Twoypes of computational model Lnguistc aspects of menanguage Typoloical universas: elative clauses Universal Grammar Lesrnahiliy The rita perio hypothesis Aeves to UG Marked CCapsitive sera init explanations Individual differences in 2 acquisition Lang Mosisanion earning states Instruction and L2 acquisition Form-fncuse insteaction Learner-ineruction marghing Serateay raining, Conclusion: multiple perspectives in SLA Readings srenion 4 Glossary Preface Purpose \What justification might chee befor series of inrodactions 0 language stady? After all, hingistcs i already well served with introductory texts expositions and explanations which are com prehensive and authoritative and excellent in thir” way Generally speaking, however, their way isthe essentially acd icone of providing detail niiacion inc thedseipline af lin guises, al hey tent» he enuthy and technical: appropriately Sos gis their parpune. Bu they can he giteaaunting to the fvie. Thete ala ved for 4 more penera and gradu ne dco 4 Tanga: teasitional text aehih willease pepe into an understanding ple ies, This intel ios is designed te serve this ied Their rpc, thercore, i nt ta supplant bu to supper the more academically oriented introctions to hngustins 10 prepare the conceptual grou. They are based on the hele that itisan advantage to haves broad map ofthe terrain sketched ont beforeaneconsidersite mare specific esturescan a smaller sale ‘Rencral cnntext in reference to which the dstal makes sense is Somtines the ase that suds are into ttl wih itbeing mace eae whet sa detail af Clearly general unde stondlg of Mes is ot sufficents there needs ts he closer scrutiny, Bur equally. cl leas unlesit sell tothe anger sie fed st besa hat the precondition sf nore patina ennui i th awareness of serio cas be mgepic and meaning tw provide thi linge wie af hilerent ats Kaa soy. As such it can serve as. preiinaryto (and precondition for the more specie and specialized enquiry which students af linguistics are required to undertake Thur the series no aly inten tbe help to such st dents. There ate many people whe take gn interest i Langa wwithowr being acadennically engaged in linguistics per se Such people may reeoize the importance of understanding langue fortheirenen fines enquiry or or theirowen practic purposes, for quite simply for making them aassee of something which fiqutes so centrally in their everyday lve. [linguists has eveah ing an relevant things to say about language, then this should presumably not he a privileged revelation, hut one accessible to people other than linguists. These hooks have heen so designed as to accommodate these boader interests too: they are meant to be inteeductions co language more generally as well ast linguists ssa discipline Design The haksin the series are all cut to the same basic pattern There se fo parts Survey Readings, Referenves, and Glssary Survey This fa stwomary overview of the main Features of the awa af language study concerned: its seope and principles uf enquiry, its basic concerns and key concepts, These are expressed and explained in ways which are intended co make shem as accesible ss possibleto penple who have no prior knowledge or expertise the subject. The Survey is writen to he readable and is unelatered by the customary scholarly rferenves. ln cis sense, it simple Bur it is nor simplistic. Lack of specialise expertise dies noe imply an inability to understand or evaloate teas. Ignorance mens lackaf knowledge, nor lack of iareligence. The Survey, therefore, is meant 1 be challenging, le draws a map ofthe subst aca in such aeay re atimlte thought, aa to invite etc pet pation i the exploration of kleas. This Kind of eoneepeual artogzaphy has its dangers of course: the selection a what is Significant andthe manner oft epeesentation will ot ee the Ting of exerghoae, particles ot, perhaps, 1 seme of those inside the discipline, But these surveys are written in the belief that there must bean alternative to. technical account on heane fhand and an ido’ nde om the other if linguistics seo he made relevant 0 people inthe wider world Readings Same people will he content to rex ana perhaps ee-read, the Simmary Survey, Orbs wll ean to pare the snject and so willuse the Survey asthe preliminary for more detate stay. The Readings provide the necessary transition, For here the reader i presented with texts extracted from the specialise erature. The prpose ofthese readings is quite dtferene from the Survey. Fis forge readers to focus thespevifis of what is said and how itis Sai in these source texts. Questions are provided to Further this purpose: they are designed to direct attention to points in each text, how they compare across texts, and how they deal with the Issues discussed in the survey, The ia is to give readers an intial favniliasty with the mone specialist idiom ofthe lingustics Hier ature, where the sees might note so really accesible, al 10 encourage them intr close critical reaing References One way of moving inte more detiled study is ehrough che Readings, Another's through the annocazed References in the third section of cach hook. Here there isa selection of works [books and arsicis! for forther reading. Accompanying com rents indicate how these deal in move detail with the fisted cessed in the different chapeers ofthe survey Glossary Certain erm in the Survey appear in bold These are terms use ina special or echnical sensei the discipline. Their meanings are made clear in the discon, ht they aze als explained in the Glossary at the end of each book, The Glossy is cease referenced ta the Survey a sherfore wrven atthe same dine as ai ines. Thiy enables readers t hocate the term and what i Signi n the more general discussion, thereby in flats using the Survey aya summary work of referee Use The eres has been designed soas oe Hsien use, Bach les separate and selfeantained, with nly the ave format in emnmn. The tour sections of the Formats csc hetes eat Fhe drawa upeon and combined in ditterent way as regio hy the needs or interests of iffrentweders, Se nay he cement vith the Survey andl the Glossary and ay set wane allow ap the saggested references. Some may nt wish tr venture into he Readings. Again, the Survey might be cansidered as appropriate preliminary reading for a course in appli linguistics teacher ‘education, and the Readings more appropriate for seminar ds ‘cussion during the course. In short, the notion of an intyhction will mean differen things to different people, but inal ases the concern ista provide access to specialist knowledge and stimulate am awareness ofits significance. This series a a whole has been Aesigned to provide this access and promote this awareness it respect to diffrent areas of langage sey SECTION 1 Survey Introduction: describing and explaining L2 acquisition What The systematic study of how people acquite @ second language (often referred eo as an L2 isa faely recent phenomenon, belong ing to che second half ofthe twentieth century Is emergence at this time is perhaps no accident. This has been a time of the "global village’ and the World Wide Wel between people has expanded! way beyond their local spec ‘communities. As never before, peuple have had ta learn a secon language, noe just as pleasing pastime, bur often as 2 means of “obganing am edcation vr searing employment, At such a in, there san abvieun noed ta discover more aut how second a suagesare learned [At fies sight, the meaning the erm secon language acai: tion’ seems transparent bu, in fet, requires cate explana tion, For one ching, in this context “second” can refer co any language that is earned subsequent tthe mother tong, Thos, «an reer tothe learning of a tit oe fourth language. Also, ‘ee fond” is not intended to contrast with “foreign. Whether you are learning 2 language naturally aa result of living in a country here itis spoken, of learning iin a classroom theough instruc tion, fe evtomary to speak generally of ood Tange acquisition LZ acquisition ple learn langage ntherthan ther mother tang, ise oF ut side ofa classroom, an "Second Language Acquisition” (STAD as theseudy of ths ‘second language acquisition’? hen, ca he fine as the way’ in wich pe What are the goals of SLA? Imogine thar you arean SLA rescarcher interest in fining out how Teannery aequire an 12. Hoss woul you set abut eng it? ‘One way might he simply to ask learners ha have fen sees ful in Tearing. a sevend language how they di it. This approach has be use and has provided some wake tsighty, Iss ever, somewhat limited in thar leenersrs probably noc aware for camer remember the actual keting prowess they engaged in. A better approach might be to fd oa what Fears aetaly Ldovas apposed to war they think they doy ohes they ty to earn an L2. One way of doing this is by collecting samples of learner Tanguage—the language that learners produce when they are called 1 0 use an L2 in speech oF writing-—and analyse them carefully. These Samples prove evidence of what the learners know about te language they are teyng to eat (che target lan guage). If samples ace collected at different points in ime if may also he possible tw find out how leatnen’ knowledge gradually ‘develops. What we might sec tw dy then t0 describe haw learner language changes overs Bur what exactly shold yon tuage? You may devide to fawus on how learners overall ability tercommanicare develops, how they hecesme more flint i their use of an L2. In general however, SLA has aot fase an these ok for in samples af learner an ‘ommunieativeaspeets of langage development but the for imal feature of language that linguists have traditionally conse trated on. OneeXample might he the pronunciation a an [sho earners’ accents change overtime. Another might be learners use; how learners buildup ther vocabulary. Most often, however, the favs has been the grammar of the L2. Researchers select» specifi grammatical structare, sich as plurals or relative clauses, and esplore hw learners ality ta pexlace this sre ture develops dime One of the goals oF SLAs thes isthe dessriptivn Wf L2 acai ion. Another separation evi the esternal and een factors thar account for why ames uive a 12 inthe way they a acute external actors these ia mien in which hearings rakes place. Social somiin inflaenve the sppetunticy that Fearmers have 1o hear and speak the language and the atcitudes that they develop cowards it. For example sane thing to earn language when you respect and ae respected by native speakers dthat language Iris entirely citer wh vu experience ow tility fom native speakers or when yo sinh to distance yoursel Feo them ‘Anoticr external fstoris the put hat learners receives that is she samples of language to shih einer exposed, Langage Jearning cannot accur without same mpt. A yustion af ans erable interests what ype ot inp facates leaning, Fr exam ple, do learners Ienctit mone from input that has bee imple for them or from the authentic language uf naivespeaker com 12 acauistion can be explained in part by these external fas tots bur we also need ro consider internal Factors, Learners pos Sess cognitive mechanisms which enable thems co extract fnformation ahout the L2 from the inpat-te notices for example, that plurality in English is conveyed by adding an ta noun or that the relative pronouns “who” and “which” substitute espes tively for human al nen-human sus, 12 learners bring an enormons amount of kanes ew the task of learning. L2. Hora start they have already earn lan auage (thie mother tema) and we can expect them to eraw en this hen they learn aa E3. They also ponses general nw ahout she worl which they van draw on ws help them understand 12 input, Finally learners possess comunivation strategies that can help them make effective use of their 12 kaowledge, For example even i they have nor learned the wor “art galler may be able ro communicate the idea of iby inventing their ww term {for example, ‘picture place’) leis ako possible that arners ate «yuinped with knowles hhow language in general works andlshae rs hel them 0 learnt Particular language. Let us conker 4 yrammatical example Learners of L2 English laced wit the sentence Joan wanted Mare ta help hersel may be ale to rule out automatically the possi thar de feflevive promonan “herself rotors to “ou rather thant “Mary suse they “know” hewe sich ellesive pronouns aeork tn language in general, Aesordingt this view, there ate iui com strainsson what is grammatically punsle in Language in general and knowing these makes the task of lasing 9 particalat L2 A Fal set of internal factors explain why learners vary in the rote they learn an 12 and how suwvesstil they ultimately are, For examples it has been suggested thae peopl vary in thie language aptitude |i, their natural disposition tor aes an 12}. same Finding teaser than others Thegnalsof SLA, thea, are teceserihe how L2 acquisition pe sews and to explain tis process and why some earners seem &0 bebetterarit than others. Toillastestemore specifically how SLA, researchers have st about trying to achieve these goals we will how examine rw case studies of L2 learners. Two case studies ‘ease study is detailed stad of learner's acquisition of an L2. Ie typically longitudinal, involving the calletion of samples of the larner’s speech oF writing wver a peril of time, sometimes years. The twe casestudies which we will now examine were both longitudinal. One isa an aul lence evening English in su rounklings where eserves asa means af daily comimenication and theuther of yo children learning English in classroom, Accase study of an adult learner Wes was a thirty-three yearold anst, a native speaker of Japanese. He had had ite formal instruction in English, having leteschool at fiteen. While he remained in Japan hiscontacts with native speakers were few and far berween. Ie was any when he began to visit Hawaii, in connection with his work, that he hat regular opportunities to use English. Wes thers anexarapleofa “naturalistic” Fearner—someone who learns the language a€ the same rime as learning te communicate in Righaed Schick, a searcher atthe University of Hawaii studied Woo langage development over a three-year petind from the time he fest started visiting Hawai vt he eventually took up residence there, Schinadt asked Wes to make recordings in English shen he went on trips back to Tokyo. He then made writen transcriptions of these monoleges sehich Listed betwee Dre and thre hors. bs addition, Schmit made recowings an Ernscriptions of inforinal omersaninns brween Wes and fends in Honotl ‘Among wher things, Sebmide was intersted i ow Wess knowledge of Eaghsh grammar dkseloped ener the three year, Ta this em he facts on 4 small uniber of grammatical es ures, sus as tho ane oF aviary fi, paral tor example, “Spouns'sthied person -s Gir eannpe, comes) and eegulae past rere flor esaimple, “jumped. He {Wes usc these featur in hisapooch sta time near the bein ‘ofhis staly an ata time neaetheatd What might constiture evidence chat Wes was acquiring the _grammar of English? Strong evidence woukd be Schmid could Show that Wes had learned to use the grammarial Features with the same level of accuracy as native speakers of English. In ft ‘Wes could already ese some of the femares with native-ike a curacy at the beginning of his studs. However, Schimide ss pected thar Wes had not re altho Wes cl sco using prearessive ie what € Was reited, i seared these. Far example Alleday Pa sitting table be alo supplied irin sentences when it was not requires Sa yesterday Uae pinay. Furthermore, there were very few vers which Wes used in both the simple form (for example, paint) and the progresive form (for example painting) He yenerally ancl exch ver with just one of these forms. Clearly, Wes didnot have the same nowleducof progresive-ang asa native speaker In fat, Wes a ltl or na nosed 38 the beginning of the study of most ofthe grammatical sructuees Schima investigate ‘Moreover, he was stil ar shar of native-speaker accuracy three years later Fes nouns, rarely puts on the thd passe singular 0 ‘ample, he continued «8 omits He paral never ieatehe t a past tee Te wll by sere, howese, 0 think of Wes as complete failure asa among lear, Noah he id on fart ch txrammar, he did develop in other ways, For example, a geneeal feature of Wes's use of English ws his use of frmutas--fned expressions such as Hil How's t?,"So, what’snew?-Whaddya wane", andl ‘I dann shy. Schmnalt noted thot Wes was ape at identifying these ised phrases and that he practised them con scious. They helped him develop Hlueney #n using Engl. fn fact, Wes achieved considerable sissy ya enmmunicator. He bres atingomplex husiness deals in English andeven able wo give talks about his paintings in English. He way al highly skilled at repairing communication breakdowns ime quite a skilled conversationalist, ery effective at next A.case study of two child learners Whereas Schmidt studied an adule learner in naturalistic sue soundings, investigated two child learners in a classroom con= text. Both were almost complete beginners in English a the beginning ofthe study. J wasa ten-year-old Portuguese ba lier ate his native language. He was an advengurins ana confident leamer, willie struggle ro communicate in Faglish, even whe The had very limited resources. wasn eleven-yearald boy From Pakistan, ypeaking thor unabe to eit Punjabas his native lan Initially, be lacked confidence, using his native language extensively and telying on his eer sister thal him comm cote in English Gradually, however, he Bovine more eanfent and independent Toh learners were learning English in a language unit in London. The uni catered eyclsively for L2 leaeners who had sccently arived jn Briain. The goal was to prepare students for transfer to local secondary schools. J spent almost four schol terms in the unit {about twelve months). R spent two whole school yeas inthe unit and, in fet, was il here when the study ‘ended. The instruction the tw learners received was very mie Ie insole both formal language instruction (ues atten to teach the learners spocifi language tems and rules) and more informal insrustion (ie. attempts to gee the students tase English communicatively). Initials a least the ew lamas al Tile exposure tothe target langage muti the clasgraon The focus of my say vas eins, Feats fl oat howe the two learners acquired the ability to perform requests for series and goods oner the prio of study. Request ca be SC oemedina varity of waysim Enh lor cxanpl Give me you pei Canthave your penil? Jy am belive ipl, 5 the aoe examples oF th abe ute compe when he speaker oes 4 win for taking the req My peri’ broken, Would you mind giving me your? to beaeand to perform request. olleted snp ofthe ro Kammer equests by vsting the lauroons ely and eri inadown any request heyprodiced "When Lanajsed sand Res equess found lea evidence of developmen aking place, Moree, the eo learners appeared Aeros Forename, whan I needa ct of icicle na Inathematce eso esi Bigcise ileal kn, Rust pint at a pce fan et theteacher know tha he wane fm opt sapein ying Sin Alin ater oth eens Bogan tow mperatv ern thei requests: Giver Some ie afer this they earned so we'Can have Can have one yellow book, please? The next stage oftheir development of requests was marked by 3 general extension af the linguistic devices they used. Forexample Rimade use af want statements Miss, want. (R wanted the teacher to give him the stapler) used go Yo Oceasionally, both learners used hints instead af dinet requests For examples when J wanted the teacher to give hinn a daterent coloured pice at paper he sd This paper isnot sort gon ro colour law Finally dhe learners began 0 use sa with range of ifeent| verbs i. not ant with have’) Can your pass me my pone? A number points emerge from this, Oris that bot haeners| were capable of sucessfully performing simple requests even when they knew ver ite English. Another both learner san ifested development in their ability or perlonm requests ener the period of su, In particular, they acquired alternative ways of Perfotming them. & third point iy that many af their requests Seemed formulaic in nature. That they used fixed expressions Tike*Can Thavea —_?'or Have you gota—P A fourth pane isthe bots earners progressed in much the same way despite the faerthae they ha efferent mative Lansing By she nul ofthe std, therefore, the we Iearner’ ability ro use requests had aveswn considerably. However, it was equally lear shat this abiley was Finite 04 nue of respeets Theit reauest endl to he very det i. they monly rok the form {oman with an inoperative vera threo, whereas native speakers wld tend ro use mone iret ress they make requests by asking questions ovine hits) The learners’ requests were generally very simple, They eaeely mia fied request and if they ido, relied more me lew exclusively of the ime modifier ‘please’ Ako, whereas native speakers of nish vary the way they perform st request with different askiresses fo ensure politeness, the evn Ieamrs used the same Fange of request serateiesierespective af whether they were take ing to the teacher or other students, to short despite ample ‘oppoetunity to master tequests the two Iearners were sil far sh ofnanve-like competenge ar thee ofthe sty {What do these case sins shu an? First they ease number oFinportant metiuygcal aes lating thew 2 aston shoul bestadied Sect they cane Foes eli tothe er tion lawner langage, hi they pin sonnet the problem researchers experience trying xplain 12 acgustion, Methodological issues SFist wan sonvermal ova th how. Wer svete the echopment iat ne Ents in iteationale appre sesgyand ho’ hk oh ac ons My nnd os narnower Twas stmusred wrth fons and Mitral the aby 0 potorm sie Tongae ftom Gregus). In thi rpc my. ty nore teal SLA, LGnguape i sucha complex phenomenon thar searchers hove tency psferedofocusntsome specif spect rather than on thewholeoft creed fetore ofthe target langage, Schmit ike many cher researchers, define “acini terms of whether the itamer manifests patterns of langage ane thot are more xe thesame as atv spesker of the tag language: I might tngoed, henever that thin onlates what lees ra with ‘Mar they as Foresamplee Wes mg esd to kno How to make pura even thn he os nt ways ld a plural noun ‘There another pr in deeming wheter earners have “acquired a pri fextare, Both Sc a pot hat theless imacansiderableune of Hue expressions fu witout having aied the ality to ase te Katore proc trl Forexampl, hth and Raced he pattern Can hve Kinds of enences It posible to ey they had aie cn they cou only ane tone Fixe expression? Mow esate sway ’ third prac ntrying to measure whether “acquton” has token place commer Karns anese af lng form Schmid swe that Wes kaw when tose te prec ae siveconcry hut he aso that Wes as hs hr nso tex cir nn ree, ater wn, Wes nl heh ‘hepuetn pessieith he wrong function, SLA rics fino and fonction in earners’ ous compares with that of native speaker " Issues in the description of learner language oho these static set out haw ta describe how kaamers’ asec an 12 changes aver tine ad what this show about the nature of their knowiedgeaf the 2. (One finding s that learners make enone of eferent kinds, Wes failed 0 use some grammatical fears at all and used others incorrectly. These ate errorsof omission anxloveruse and R alo ‘made grammatical erors in their requests In addition, they made sociolinguistic errors, That iy they failed tor use requests in a socially appropriate manner. Another finding is that 12 learners acquire large number of formulaic chunks, which they use eo perform communicative funetions that are important to them and which contribute to the fluency of their unplanned speech, An important issue in SLA is the foe that these forms play aot just n enhancing earners? Performance bur also in their acquisition of an L2, Does earning 2 formula like ‘Can havea "help learners ta discover hire ‘can’ works grammatically in the language? One of the must interesting issues rise by these ease sts is whether learners acquire the language systematically. Schmidt found thar the order of accuracy af the different grammatical lea tures that he investigated was the same at the beginning of his study asa che end Thus at both simes, Features lke progeessve ‘ng and ausiliary be (for example, He i painting were used accurately while features like past regular and possessive -s for example, ‘the woman's deess) were sed very. inacc rately. I found evidence eo suggest that both J and B follawed the same sequence of development in their acquisition af requests. These sties, hen, stygest that leaners do acquire aypeets of an 12. systematicaliy ans moreover, that they fallow particular developmettal routey. with some features being aquired hetore others. A key question is how nisersal these evelopment patterns are, Do all learners ear fallow ing the Issues in the explanation of L2 acquisition [what can account far these descriprive findings? We ean begin ‘withthe hypothesis tha L2 acquisition involves different kindof earning. Oo the one hand, learners internalize chunky of ane Sage truco, formuls) On th other hand thy aire Brie es the knowl that a given nga enue used 3 ‘ncular vontext with 3 pacar fonction). In other words, Termes useage in bt em leaning stam lean ‘When earners arn the expression “Can havea they are neapig in item Tearingthey arn the expression a6 a0 Seulpsed whole. When they lan hae can flowed by carey of verbs have’ rn’ help ete} andar itcamenpressa ‘are of functions ability, posit, permission, et) they ar nzazing in syster earving-they ae learning some kind of re forces, Learners nga or pes earning. An explana thon of L2 acquisition must account for both em and system easing and how te wo intra “Thesystematic nature of 12 acquisition also equres explana tions Why il We seem oar sone grammatical tens before cers? Why aid J ant R fst the dire ways oF making teauestin the parlor sequence they did) There ara umber of porible explanations. One that learners follow 3 particular evelopment paters hecose ther mental faculties rer tured such away that his ete way they Pave earn, These faculties, ie argued, regulate what learners tke Irom the inpot and how thy store the information in ther memorien Howerer a ve wil sc late, this manta acon of how U2 acquisition takes place norte only posible one. Other explanations em Dhasize the imporsance of extemal as apposed vo ineral factors ‘None ofthe chee leaner in the nwo case staies reached 9 nativespesker level of performance. Wes did not learn much arammar. Jad R learned fay ied ange of ues ad noe ara howe to vary tei ase of then ih accordance with social actors. Why way acyuiiton in Hearne wn dle? One pos ours, tat they ply ee er Time fear Bu it apse tha 12 femmes lik ch den airing hie Ly ot sop faring Perhaps eer ik eran Jan Rsrconiy moved olen an 4 that they are able ro sais their communicarive needs. After ally ‘eisnor necessary ta leara the hl gramonart language inlet rerget one’s meanings across. There ar uther explanatonns haw ever Perhaps all hace arners li not wish to belong tthe em nity of native speakers they had ntact wich an there hep finguistc “stance” beeen thoniselies and them. Perhaps ities blew acquire native-speaker snmpetence i earners start very young when their ray ate in yom sense, ope a sage. Perhaps L2 learners can ely acquire dificull linguistic features ithe receive direct meron i thet These case stale, then illuminate the kinds af ses that pre ‘occupy SLA, These isues il igure in subseauent chapters The nature of learner language ‘We have scen tha the main way of investigating 12 acquisition is by collecting description may focus on the kinds of ero k how these errors change overtime, or it may identity develo metal pat ticular grammatical featores such as past tense, or fe may examine the variability found in learner langage, Lt ts consider each 0 these threeress into nd describing samples of lesener language, The ers make and ns by describing the sages inthe aeguisiion of par Errors and error analysis A first sight it may sco rather exc acs in what learners et wrong rather thas on shat they pet right. However, thers ate good reasons for focusing an errors First they ae a emspioues feature of learner language, raising the important question of “Why do learners make errors? Seven tis vscel for teachers to know what errors learners make. Thied, paradoniealy its pos st making errors may actualy help leamers to learn when ‘cortec the eorsthey make Identifying errors The firs step in analysing lear erste entity them. This s infact easier sand than dam. Lowk atthe sample nf earner hi age below. Thisiva sramcriprion ofa story, hase on aseries at Pictures told y Jean, am adult French learner of English He told the story orally after having buon given the shane to write ia first Cam you alent all he ‘One day an Indian gentleman, » snake charmer, arrived in| Fngland by plane, He was coming from Bombay with «wo pieces of luggage. The big of them contained a snake. A man and litle boy was watching him in the ustoms area. The man Sad so the tle oy “Gand speak with this gentleman.” When the lle hoy was speaking with the eaveller the thief te the byigsitease and went out icky, When the vit saw that he {rie Help met Help me! A thief A thief? The piseman was in ‘his comer whistle hut it was to late. The two thieves escape with the big suitease, took their car and went in che traffic They passed near a 200 and stop in a forest Thete they had a bigsurprise. The basket contain a big snake, To identify ezors we have to campase the sentences learners pro- luce with what seem tobe the norinal of ‘earrest sentencesin the target language which correspond! with them. Sometimes this is fairly steaighetorwaed, For example, Jean says Aman anda litle hoy was watching him eignotdifcule to see that the correct sentence shoul be: Aman anda litle boy were watching him, By comparing the two sentences swe ean se that fea has ase "was" instead of “were'—an error in subject-verh agreement, Sometimesshowever, learners price sentences that are posible anget-fanguage sentences but noe prefered ones. Far example, Jean says went the tate Isthisan ersor? A native speaker would prohably preferto say: went ita the tai, hue the traffic is nor actualy wngrammatical Ar other times it is difficult co reconstruct the cones serene Inecanse we are not sure what the learaer meant e993. An ee ample is when Jean si The big of them contained a snake ‘One way oF reconstructing dhe eneretsentenee The bigger of them contain a snake According ths reconstruction, Jean has sed bi ina of Thehigome contained ase Theresa lather prem, How sn howe hes that when a earner proxuvesa deviant For itis or ust an accidental ship af the tongue? Afterall, native speakers often make sips when they fre tired or under some kind of pressure to communicate. We inced to distinguish erors and mistakes. Errors reflect aps in a Teamner’s knowledge; they occur because the learner does nor iknow what iscoreect, Mistakes reflect occasional lapsesin perfor mance; they occur because, ina particular instance, the learner tunable to perform what he or she knows. “There iv an example of an apparent mistake in Jean's speech, Early in the narrative he says ‘The bigot them contameda snake using the past tense of the verb umtain’ correctly, However, in the final sence hesays ‘The hashet utara snake making what seems to he a past tense error. Bur clearly Jean Irnoges what the past tense of ‘contain’ fs. hc has already wed ccorcectly nce, His failure to say ‘vantaine! in the last sentence, then, might be considered a mistake. How can we distinguish errors and mistakes? One way might be to check the consistency of leamers’ performance. Hf they con- sistently substitute ‘contain’ for “contained” this would indicate a Tack of knowledge—an error. However, if they sometimes Say “contain” and sometimes “contained this would suggest hae they ponsess knoswledge ofthe warrct fom and are just slipping Uup—a mistake. Another way might be to ask learners 10 tty te corroct their own deviant utterances, Where they are usable to, the deviations arc errs; where they are suecessil hey are mistakes. However, as we will se later, when we examine Var ots simples this earners may abilfy im leener Language its consistently uvea feature like past tense in some contests an con sisted faa to use iti Ferween an error and a mistake may nu he possible hers. Ulimatele, «clear datinetion Describing errors Onceall the ersorshave heen identi, they can be described and elassifed ino types. There sae several ays af dong tis, One way ist clasity errors into grammatical vatgores, We could sather al the errors relating to verbs and then ety che differ ene kinds of ver ereors i ur sampo—ereors in he past fens for example. Another way might het try todentifyueneral wave in which the leeners™ tangerlanguage arterances. Such ways include “omission” [i Jeaving out an item that is requeel foram uteranee to be coms ceed grammatical, ‘misinformation’ i.e using one form in place ot another grammatical form, anal “nr dering fic. putting the words in an utternce in the sorong wd) (Classitying eros i these ways ct help us di Tearning problem at any’ ane stage of their ds so, plot how changes incre patterns wscur or ime Aw analysis of foams errors eeveals that the mest common eammatical eatery af error fps tenses Jan Fas use the past teme on numer of occasions. The most commen pene Error Type is “nisinformation” [lor examine, the use of “Big? instead oF “bigger of was watching’ instead of "were warehing” sand, pechapscof inthe raffie instead a "into the traffic), A the rances differ frm the reconstructed elope a past tense errors are also misinformation ersors, Explai ‘entification and description of errors are preiminates to the mach more interesting tsk ot trying to explain why they eur. Frrors are, roa large extent, stemnatic andy to certain extents proictable. Thus, eai’s verb errors deserbad aban do hut invalte haphavard snbstittions of past tense verbs. We do hr fina hin using the prescht progressive form (oe exam, ‘entaining) in ple of the past temne For on seni excasions und the spe tors Ho sanmple, “enti on thers. Ins, we find evidence af regular replacements sing ingle form. Al ft Jean's past rene cera involve the ase of the simp Form of the verh, This ystemarvity gests that Jean as constructed ome kind fre lft rule diferent fromm that of the target Tanguae rears are not anlysgstematics manyof thea areal univenal “Thus the hind of pase ense ec Founel in Jean’ speed has bee nested in the spoveh af onan Fearn, In fey soa, if moral earners yo threwh 9 tag eninge where th subsite the simple for the verb fr the pase rene or “Ofcourse. not allervor.aresiniversa, Sonic errorsane commen only to kearners whe share the same maher tangie oF whose Imarher ranges manifest the same linguistic property. For ex ample, speakers of Banu languages in southern Africa Frequently {se the preposition “at to reer to direction as well as location, producing errs such as We went a Johannesburg last weekend This error appears to be explained hy the fact thar Basta lam guages cmploya single peepusition express lacation and dire thon where English hay re Gi. at at Errors then.can havedlifercnt sousces, Some rvs seme be universal etering learners attempts ro make the cask of ear ingand wsingthe 2 simpler. Learners comin eos amigo. For example, they lease our the articles“ andthe" ad leave the off plaal nouns. They ake wvergencratize tris that th Fd easy to learn and process, The waco eatin place of "ate san example of an overgeneralizationc#7 and overgeneraliatin are common inthe speech ofall 1 learn ers, irrespective oftheir 1. Other cers, however, tflet lea fers attempts to make ase of their LY knowlege, These are novin as transfer crs, sspestve ofthe type of error, how ever, leners are te sen actively involved in shaping the “gramoiae they ace lenin, Leamesscteae” thie own ful th errors of omission Where ihe purponcet the ever analysis help hearers earn an Lay there ma noe to evaluate errs, Some erorscan be consid ere sore crits that others because they are more libel to interfere with the ielaiity of what someone says. Teachers Some errs, known as bil enors, violate the overall struc ture ofa sentenee and for this reason may make w dificult to Process Jean, for example, a9 The policeman wasn this corner whistle hic is dificult ro understand hevane the basic structure of the sentences wrong. Other errors kan as focal emer, affect only a single constituent in the sentence (for example, the verb) and are, pethaps, less likely to create any processing probkins, Most fof Jean's errors arco this kind. This may he why his weal narra rivets quite cast fallow despite allshe error, Developmental patterns. \We have seen that many ofthe errors that L2 learners make are ‘universal all leaners, no matter whether they are learning nat ralistcally or im a claesroom, and irrespective of their LIy make fomission, avergeneralization, and transfer errors. We can alo explore the universality of L2 acquisition by examining the devel. ‘opmental patter leseners fall The early stages of 12 acquisition Ween Find out how a langue s armed aya natural, untutored processby investigating what karners do when exposes tothe 2 In communiative settings. Tn such circumstances, some 2 learners particularly if dey are children, undergo 2 lem period. Tha iy they make no attempt say anything to begin with. OF course, they may be learning alot about the language ast though listening to or reading ie The silent petiod may serve as a preparation for subsequent produc tion, Some learners alk to themselies inthe L2 even when they decline w tak ta other people ‘Whea leaeners da hein to speak inthe L2 their spec is ikely to manifest two partie characteristics. One ithe kind ot for. ralaic chunks which we saw i the case sds, Fixe esprey sions ike “How do you do? Taon't know, “Can Phase a My name iv” igure very prominently in easly 12 learning Thy provide larners withthe means of peering set lan guage functions such as prctings and requests These ready-made chunks of language cam give a mistaken impression of compe “The second characteristic of eaely L2 speech is propositional simplification. Learners find i dificult ro speak i Tall sentences fo they frequently eave wor out, For example, J wanted the teacher «ove hima blueceayon burt sail an: lve Me meaning I don’t have a blac erayn’,lnerestngly this recs Speech very similar tothe kind of speach chilren produce in the tary sages of learning their mother congue. The accurtence of this kind of basic language appears o he a universal of both st and second language acquisition Tn time, shough, learners do begin to learn the grammar ofthe 2. This raises other questions, One concerns the aegulton ode. Do learners acquire the grammatical structures ofan L2 ina det nite order? or example, do they learn a feature ike progeesive ing (as on painting’) before a feature lke past tense sd (ae in painted). We havealreauy'scen that learners co see to ind some _rammaticl features aster than ethers, soins quite pense that Acquisition follows a definge order, Another question concerns the sequence of aquisition of particular graniaatcal stratares, such as past tense, Do learners learn such seructures sn single step or dothey proceed through a numberof meri stages before they master the rarget structure? ‘The order of acquisition To investigate the order of aquisition, researchers choose a num> ber of grammatical structures to stud (for example, progeessive “ng, auxiliary be, and plural -s). They then collect samples of learner language and identify how accurately each Feature is vsed by diferent learners. This enahles them to arrive at an accuracy der. Thats they rank the features assuring to how accurately each feature is used by the learners. Some researchers then are tha che accuracy order must he the same 3s the ander af sey tion on theron thatthe more accurately Tearners eee to tse a particular feature the more likely they aee to have aequird that feature Researchers have shown that there is definite accuracy ander arn that this temains more a hss the same respective a he learners’ mother tongues, their as an whether or nt ths have received formal language instuctin. Ment of the learner the have staid pertarm proeessive ing, ausiiary fe, an paral mont aevuratelysuuesting that they soul tse eatin st. Artiles and iregulae past come next, The ust iil ser: tures ate gla past and thin person -s, Or the oss these finings it has heen sugsested thar there must hea natural Onler of cqsition tharal Keener oll Tihs claim fam important one. Ie raises eracial theoretical questions as to whether L2 acquisition ts the test of environ mental factors thar govern the input t0 which learners are ‘exposed, or of intemal mental factors which somichow diate how learners acquiee grammatical structures, We should note here, hossever shat not al esearch ae con ined thereiva universal "nanueal order, They have criticized the research on a nimber of grownals, Some have point out, fo ecample, that ir may he wrong to assume thatthe order of ave fey the same asthe arder of aquisition, They hase prac evidence tw show that sometimes learners hegin sin structure aeeurately early on only stare making errars with i Liter. It comet te concluded, they have argued, that learners have ‘cquieed a sructure simply because they can ane i aecaatelys Prine considered more fully helowe. Other researchers have shown thar the oer dows vary somewhat aevoring tothe learners fest language. For example, Schniefound thae Wes, hse fs lan uage was Japanese, performed pital ceurately ham iregular past nother words, Wes did no follow the-natural” order, Another problem is thar the research eats acquisition as fits 2 prowess of agctmilating finguintc seructusen, Acquisition iy seen as analogous te hing + sall wih one Brick sein place Fete another is placed on tap. Sukh 2 view i ast sein mistaken, as stiles af iniihoalsraminatival structures have made leat Fen the simplest structure salut mnanietingalcastes, Ter imscatigat this wwe need tncomser thesequeriee nf agusition, ‘ery poorly much lxs pres of Sequence of acquisition “When learners scquite 2 grammatical structure they do so gradu ally, moving through a series of stages en one to aequing the pativespesker rue, The acguisition oa paricalargearamatial| Srracture, there mast be sen a process inlng tans ‘onal constructions, yan example ofthis proces, let us niet how L2 learners aesuir regia past sine forms or example cate). Learners are Ukele to pase through the diflerent st shown in Table 1 Description Faample 1 Learners fil mark the ver for pascrime, “eae 2 Learners hein to prodice irregular past remse forms, ont! 5 Leamers overgeneraze the regular past tense frm, seated 4 Sometimes earners produce hybrid fram. “aed 5 Learners produce corecet egular past, sense farts, “atc TALE 2.1 Mager in the acquisition ofthe past tense feat Such sequences are instructive because they reveal thatthe use fof a correct structural form (for example, ate") Jey nor nese sarily mean that this farm fas boc “acguited Indeed this Sequence eaeners producing "eated" and “aed are, in fact, more ‘advanced than learners ar stage 2 who produce ate, Acquisition follows U-shaped course of development thats, inically earners may display a high level of accuraey only to apparently regress later betore Finally once again performing im accordance sith target langage norms Ie isclaethae this eens because earners reorganize their existing knowledge in order eo accommodate nnew knowledge. Thus, stages 2 and 5 only arise when learners have haga to acquire rola rf fas amped Fem ike fated” and “atl” representa uvergencralization othe rele ed past tense. Thiskind of reorganization, whieh is helieved toe Prevalent sn 1.2 avyuisitinn, t robin! 0 2 restructuring \s learners resracture their grammatical ystems, they may appest| to segress whereas in fact they are advancing. Sequences such as that for irregular past reveal how restructuring cvs and how it can lead ro U-shaped development Itisclear thar the aegusition of what looks like simple an ‘mace feature such as past tense is i fact highly comple affair. Not only are there general sages in the aeguisition of frrammacical features like past tense, av ilastrated in Table 2.4, but there may also he stages within stages. Thus, when learners begin couse past tense markers ithe regular markers asin ate? ‘or regular markery asin “pained, they donot ca 50 om al verbs at the same time. Learners fnd i easier to mark verbs for past tense ithe verb refers to events for example, ‘arive’) somewhat ‘more dificult wo mark verbs chat reterto activities (for example, ‘slep’), and most diffult ro mark verbs that refer to states (for example, wane, ‘The kind of verb also influences the kind of errors learners make, For example, with activity verbs learners are more likely to substrate a progressive form forthe past ens form: ier sha the weather was nice so-we swing in the acca Inconcrast, wit state verbs they substitute the simple fern ofthe verb Las night everything seem very get al peaceful Learners, then, passthrough highly comples stages of develop ‘ment. These stages arent shatply defined however Rather they are blurred a learners ocllate beewcen stages, Thus inthe cise ‘of pasttense at any one mea learner may mark some vers cor rectly for past ene ail to mark others at all and overpeneralize the regular -ed and the progressive ig forms with yer other vetbs. Despite the complexity of learners behaviour, however t iselear tha itis far fom random, Some implications The discovery of vane patterns in the way in which Kamer language changes overtime ion ofthe mont important Findings oF SEAS Te provides further suppoare for the comelusions eeheal From thestady af learner ersorynantcy that 12 aeyssiion isp tematic and, to lange extent, universal electing ways in which tnernal cognitive mechanisms control acquisition respective if she personal background of learners or the setting in which they learn “The work on developmental patterns is important for another reason. It suggests that some linguistic features (particularly sainmatical ones} are herent cierto lesen ghan oer. For Sfgmplcs the fat that learners master poral -= hetore third oon suggests that pals isin some sense easier to lear. Fis has implications for both SLA thoy and for language teaching (Of course it doesnot follow that because learners naturally learn one feature before another they mst ecesary do so. A fey question for both SLA and language teaching, then, wether the orders and sequeness of aegusition can be altered through formal inseration. We will examine atempts to inset fat this ina latersecton, Variat learner language trammanial forme although this fon dif fon that nol aves. We aa st err Yesterday the thet steal the suitease Yesterday the chief steal the suitease ‘orn error may alternate with the correttargt-language form: Yesterday the thet steal the suitcase Yesterday the thict stole the sitease Such was the case with Jean, whose oral narrative (sce page 16) displays the use of both corzect past tense forms (for example “arrived an ri" and erro forms or espe, whistle and ‘escape, AS we have already noted, {Ceoneain’) char acs in bu vorrot acetone foray i ferent poinesof the narrative These ascrvations i not inealidate the elainy char learner ere even one ver language is yystemati since tis possible dha variability is also systematic: That is, we may beable to explain, and even predic when eames use cnc farm and when another Inked, we havealready gen evidence-of systematic variability tearmets‘chaige of past tense marker [7600 pressive for, ‘or conret past tense frm) depend in parton whether the verb reters to an event, an activins a tate. Thue it appears That accovling 10 bngutle content. In one contest they useune form sehen ether coments they use erate form. Inthe above example, the ingaistc eantexe for the choice of past tense marker is created by the ver isl other examples, the crucial clement in the linguistic context involves some other constituent of the utterance, For examples learners may behave differently depending om awhether or nat an adver of frequeney for example, "every day” o¢“usually”) occurs ‘with am activity ver ike“play. ln sentences referring to past time whieh do nor havean adverb frequen they ae likely to use 3 progeessive marker leaeners vary in ir anew the Geveye plain all the time.) George played fontall However, in sentences with such an acerhy they are mane likely "wvase the se fran ofthe ver In Peru, George usually play football every day, = In Pera, ‘Geoage wally playelfonball everyday.) We cam se, then, that one linguistic form ca trigger the use of another foe, “The effects of linguistic context are also evident in earners use of the verb to be Learer sontines ae fll be or example, “is! ,sometimes contracted he Hor example," ean sometimes ‘omit he" entirely. The use ofthese Fhe forms determined ta ccnsierable extent by the linguistic camtene In one sta it 6 Found thac the tanger-langage variants fr esample. isan") were useal more consistently eth pronoun subjects while he wxas more likely 19 be omitted with noun subjects (or example, Teacher wor here Heamers als ser the fingstic forms they uss i aed ance with the etuationa eaten, In this rexpexts karmers are no Afferent from native speakers. When native speakers of English fretalkingt fiends for example, they tend en ypeak informally, sing cllaguial expressions My kid's real pain these days In contrase, whea hey age talking re sane they da not know very well hey rnd touse more fort lang [My daughter can be very troublesome these days, Learners ary thereof langage iia. They are moe ike to use the correct targetlangage forms in fora cnexts and ature of varality i the peeboingstie contex—eer ieamers have che opportunity ¢o plan their production, Til trate how this work wecan rar gain oer, Te aserpt on ge 16 i ofthe ona naretive that Jean produce ater he had Een given the chance write tout. The tamerint Below fo another oral narrnve which Jo pra this rine wih Prior opportunity plan compart fa mark very lea that verl oan ies highr prepara ire sel like "saw" an een? inthe planned area thon inthe planned ne. Socal, can sac ue Hy to mark verbs rely for past tense nthe plan shan in the unplanned nara tive. Ths true or both eplaeanditegulr vers but petal So for the later ntact the unplanned naratve he al 1 snark singe regular ver for past tena. ile tha Jes we Othe past terns strongly influence by he aval of plan ning time. Hes moe Tikels tose target languages fonme hen he hasene opm One evening. litle boy was going at home afer the lasso after the clas. He went cat thes with three packers. On| ‘of them the sll ene he geen, Hl ase that theman whereas passin hy this way sa ean he woul given thie packer tthe tte boy’ als he tk the sae way. I ay dark bur the moon was fll. Wher te fie: ho sae the man who fallow hiny he was aad. He ean quickle follewed be the ‘man. Jus bore that litle ba arrive his hoe the wa join him and gave him his packet. Then the litle boy was happy t0 receives packer. Learners, then, manifest considerable variability in their produc tion af an L2, A question some interests whether this varabi ity is simply @ matter of performance ur whether it eflets the underlying system they age trying ta vanstract, One view i that learners do build varie systems by eying to map particular form on to particle Functions Accharacteriste of any natoral langage is that forms realize meanings in a systematic way. Learner language is no diferent However, the particular form-tineton mappings which learners make do not always conform to those found inthe target lan age J, one of the learners discussed earlier (sce page 8h pO™ sessed! to forms for expressing negatives at one stage in his development, as shown in these two utterances Mariana no coming today Don'rsitin shat onechave The two forms aren + verb an ‘drt + ver. Earlier [seemed ro use these wo forms rill, but at this stage he displayed a measure of consiseney. "Nor + ver was used t make negative statements while don't © verb? was used im negative rests Leamers, semis try to make thee awailahle ingistc ers ‘work to maximum effect by mapping one meaning on to one form, The resulting systems are often very diferent feom the arget language system, With time, of course, they become more cargersike. Variability in learner language, then sclealy nor jus anon. Learners have access to 0 0 moe ingwistie forms fr realizing single grammatical stractace hut they do not employ these arbi trarly: Rather their chaice is determined by a varity of factors such as linguistic ste, the situational contest, andthe avail ability of planning Hine. Aegarding to une view, ghissystemaicty Fellcts a variable system of Form-fonction mapping. The ey Tom arses aye ahether al variability in earner langage fay tematic we wheter se inde ano, Gn this point there he boon ditferences nin Tr would scm thaeat ast sone variability is oe, Learners sont une thr oF mor for i fre vanaon, For example, Rother nthe som cone whic adresse ne en 2 wth snr amet pong ee No look my-card Don’ Took my eae Later, 3s we have seen, J went on dhe use these wo negative forms systematically This posible that free variation constitutes am essential stage in the acquisition of grammatical structures. Difterent kinds of va Uhlity may be evident at different stages of development Initially, we might propose, learners hegin hy acquieing a single form (for example the simple foem ofthe verb paint) and wse it fora variety of functions (Hor example, to refer to future, present, and past ime. Later, they acquire other verh forms but italy they use these interchangeably with the simple form. For exam ple, when learners Fist acquire the past tense form of a verh for {examples "pained hey ae likely to wse thsi free variation with the simpie form wl the ver. Faisy eapally they then start couse the forms systematiealy, for example sing painted in planned dlscourse and paint in unplanmed discourse, Finally. they lim inate non-target forms and use the tagget-Langage Form ter form the sani function as -nagive speakers, using “painted” consistently refer to posse Teisimportant ta recognize that this generalsequence of acyul sition applies to specific yrammatica features. Ths, its possible for individual learners tobe a aiferent stages inthe sequence Foe dlfferene grammatical features. For example, leaner may be at ‘the completion stage for past rensc hu atthe frce variation stage for the articles and the Not ll earners reach the completion stage for every geammat jeal structure. Many will continue to show non-target lang variability in a least some grammatical fexture. His forts Fe son thar eval fossization: ainy learners stop developing while sill short of target Aho, Kearns fe competence ‘may succeed in caching target Language nos sone tes OF language ase for example, planned liscese} ut nt ia ethers tfor examples unplanned dace ‘Summary In ths section, we have examined & number of properties of Farner language and. in so doing, tice the way in which SLA, hs evolved as. tek enguiey. Farle on, researchers focused on learners errars, developing procures for ently, descr ing, e

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