Early SLA

Early SLA Studies
SLA emerged in the 1940s and 1950s. First topic

of study: Contrastive Analysis.
Journals on language learning (as opposed to
language teaching) began to be published at this
time.
University of Michigan important. English
Language Institute, Charles Fries, Director, 1941.
Language Learning, University of Michigan, 1948.
Betty Wallace Robinett, Editor.
SLA emerges at a moment of transition for some
scholars, from language teaching, to language
learning. 1
Contrastive Analysis, History
Sir William Jones, India, 1786.
Proposed that Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek shared a
common source. Cf. Proto Indo-European / “proto”
language studies.
Methodologically, Jones searched Sanskrit, Latin,
and Greek for ways the languages were similar
and different. In comparing and contrasting these
languages, Jones engaged in the first documented
study of “contrastive analysis.”
2
Contrastive Analysis, History
Proto Indo-European
P.I.E. *pater- *mater- *swesor- *bhrater- *dhugheter *sunu- *widhewa
Modern Englishfather mother sister brother daughter son widow
OLD ENGLISH faeder modor sweostor brothor dohtor sunu widuwe
GERMAN Vater Mutter Schwester Bruder Tochter Sohn Wittwe
LATIN pater mater soror frater ------ ------ vidua

GREEK pater meter ------ phrater thugater huios ------
RUSSIAN ------ mat' sestra brat ------ syn vdova
SANSKRIT pitar matar svasar bhratar duhitar sunu widuwe
SPANISH padre madre ------ ------ hija hijo viuda

FRENCH pere mere soeur frere ---- veuve 3
Contrastive Analysis
Meanwhile, back at the University of Michigan,
contrastive analysis relative to SLA was defined as:
“A scientific description of the language to be
learned, carefully compared with a parallel
description of the native language of the learner”
(Lado, 1957, p. 1).
Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across cultures
. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
4
From the beginning, particular interest was given to
areas where the first language seemed to
“interfere” with the target language, hence
“interference.”
“Individuals tend to transfer the forms and
meanings, and the distribution of forms and
meanings of their native language and culture to
the foreign language and culture” (p. 2).
5
1.Examine how Contrastive Analysis works: areas
of analysis
2.Examine the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis
3.Consider the purpose of Contrastive Analysis
4.Engage in Contrastive Analysis
5.Examine the eclipse of Contrastive Analysis;
consider the epistemological orientation of
Contrastive Analysis.
6
Lado’s table of contents. How to compare two …
•sound systems
•grammatical structures
•vocabulary systems
•writing systems
•cultures
How indeed?
7
Contrastive Analysis – Sound Systems
1.presence or absence of sounds (phonemes)
Spanish lacks / v /, / ð /, / z /, / š /, / ž /, / ǰ /.
2.classification of sounds (phonemes, distinctive; v.
allophones, nondistinctive)
English: [pʰæt] v. [pæt]
same or different?Same
Hindi: [pʰəl] v. [pəl]
same or different?
Different: [pʰəl] = “fruit”; [pəl] = “moment”
8
2.classification of sounds (phonemes, distinctive; v.
allophones, nondistinctive)
In Japanese phonetics, would we write
/ l / and / r /, or
[ l ] and [ r ] ?
Why? Because these sounds are
nondistinctive in Japanese, they are allophones of
the same phonemes, hence the bad Hollywood
stereotypes of Japanese speech:
[lays] and [rays] = “lice” and “rice.”
9
3. distribution (location in word) of sounds
English and French both have the phoneme
/ ž /.
“pleasure” / “jamais”
How is the sound distributed (located)
differently in each language?
In English words, / ž / never occurs syllable
initial (distinguished from words borrowed from
French, like “Jacques”).
10
4.vowel length
German does not distinguish between
/ ɪ /, the lax, high-front vowel: “bit” and
/ i /, the tense, high-front vowel: “beat.”
5.Other sound differences discussed by Lado:
stress
rhythm
intonation
pitch
“tones”
6. Other sound contrasts? 11
Contrastive Analysis – Grammatical Structures
1.Word order
Where do we place the adjective in English
and French?
The red house
La maison rouge.
2.case, tense, gender, inflections (morphology)
How do we make plurals?
baby babies (English)
enfant enfants (French)
anak anak-anak (Malay; “reduplication”)
12
Contrastive Analysis – Grammatical Structures
3.functions: question formation, classifiers, etc.
“five cigarettes” English
“lima batang rokok” Malay (five small cylindrical
things cigarette)
13
Contrastive Analysis – Vocabulary Systems
Cognates
Cognate are words that have a common origin and
have similar forms / meanings across languages.
“Cognate” derives from Latin cognatus, from co
(with) +gnatus, natus, past participle of nascor “to
be born.” Literally it means “related by blood,
having a common ancestor, or related by an
analogous nature, character, or function.”
night (English) and nacht (German)
shalom (Hebrew) and salaam (Arabic): “peace”
14
Contrastive Analysis – Vocabulary Systems
“False Friends”
Pairs of words in two languages that look and/or
sound similar, but differ in meaning. They may be
cognates (but also may not be); if so, meaning has
diverged:
“attendre” French, to wait
“attend” English, to participate
“nova” English, spectacular star; Chevy
“nova” Spanish, not a good name for a car
Other examples?
15
Contrastive Analysis – Writing Systems
1. Languages may use the same writing system.
Roman alphabet: English, Malay, others?
2. Or the same writing system with minor
differences.
There are a few diacritics in the French roman
alphabet: è, é, ç
16
There are a
great many
diacritics in
the
Vietnamese
roman
alphabet.
17
3. Language may add (or subtract) letters to / from
the Roman alphabet.
Icelandic adds the Ð / ð (eth) and Þ / þ (thorn)
for the voiced / less interdental fricative.
18
4. Languages
may use
different
alphabets.
English and
Cyrillic are
somewhat
different.
19
Khmer is dramatically different, but still an alphabet.
20
5. Chinese is not
an alphabet,
but a
logographic
system, in
which each
symbol
represents an
idea.
21
Contrastive Analysis – Culture
Different rhetorical structures – ways of organizing
thoughts / expository material per culture /
language.
Contrastive rhetoric: Kaplan, R. (1966). Cultural
thought patterns in intercultural education.
Language Learning 16(1): 1–20.
22
Contrastive Analysis – Hypothesis
Lado’s and others’ contrastive analyses (note: he
doesn’t give us any data; this is not a “study” as
defined by this class) led him to formulate the
“contrastive analysis hypothesis”, CAH:
“Those elements that are similar to [a learner’s]
native language will be simple for him [or her], and
those elements that are different will be difficult”
(Lado, p. 2).
This is the “strong” version of the CAH:
Contrastive analysis has predictive power.
Through contrastive analysis, we can predict areas
of difficulty (and vice versa) for our students.
23
Contrastive Analysis – Purpose
Predicting areas of difficulty will allow teachers to
facilitate second language learning through
informed attention to materials, tests, classroom
activities and so on – “to find [and address] the
hurdles that really have to be surmounted in the
teaching” (Lado, p. 3).
Exercise: In groups, do a contrastive analysis of
English with another language. Include contrasts
for each of the topic areas we have discussed:
sound systems writing systems
grammatical structures cultures
vocabulary systems 24
Contrastive Analysis – Eclipse
Contrastive analysis fell out of favor for 3 reasons:
1. Teachers did not know that languages of their
students and, and could not do extensive
contrastive analyses.
How many languages spoken in a typical public
school classroom?
25
Contrastive analysis fell out of favor for 3 reasons:
2. The strong version of the CAH didn’t work.
When the CAH was tested empirically, its
predictive value was proved inaccurate.
What would CAH predict about native English
speakers learning to pronounce French words?
Specifically, about words beginning with / ž /?
Recall that in English words, / ž / never occurs
word-initial.
Answer: it would be difficult for native English
speakers to pronounce words that begin / ž /.
Is this true? Do we have trouble w/ “Jacques”? 26
3. CAH fell victim to an epistemological shift in SLA
research. Of the two ways of understanding
language acquisition (behaviorism v. nativism),
which best fits CA?
“Before any of the questions of how to teach a
foreign language must come the much more
important preliminary work of finding the special
problems arising out of any effort to develop a
new set of language habits against a
background of different native language habits”
(foreword by Fries).
27
which best fits CA?
“Before any of the questions of how to teach a
foreign language must come the much more
important preliminary work of finding the special
problems arising out of any effort to develop a
new set of language habits against a
background of different native language habits”
28
which best fits CA?
“The basic problems arise not out of any
essential difficulty in the features of the new
language themselves but primarily out of the
special ‘set’ created by the first language habits”
29
which best fits CA?
“The basic problems arise not out of any
essential difficulty in the features of the new
language themselves but primarily out of the
special ‘set’ created by the first language habits”
30
which best fits CA?
“Research in the psychology of language and in
language learning in psychology has not as a
rule made any conscious systematic use of
assumptions of importance of the native
language habits in foreign language learning”
(Lado, p. 2).
31
which best fits CA?
“Research in the psychology of language and in
language learning in psychology has not as a
rule made any conscious systematic use of
assumptions of importance of the native
language habits in foreign language learning”
(Lado, p. 2).
Answer: Behaviorism. CA is deeply rooted in
the belief that (second) language learning is a
process of habit formation.
32
which best fits CA?
Extending theories of first language acquisition
to the process of second language acquisition,
early SLA scholars adopted Skinnerian
behaviorism as their epistemological orientation.
As thinking in first language acquisition shifted
to language learning as a process of rule
formation, interest waned in CA in SLA – how to
facilitate the development of new language
habits.
33
Contrastive Analysis – Weak Version
Contrastive analysis remains an influential construct
in SLA, in its weak version: using comparisons
of languages to explain (not predict) areas of
difficulty for learners.
Next: Error Analysis and new ways of
understanding SLA.
34
Review
Interest in SLA emerged during a moment of
transition for some scholars, from language
teaching, to language learning.
The field also emerged during a moment of
epistemological transition among scholars of
first language acquisition, from behaviorism to
nativism.
And from a view of language acquisition as a
process or habit formation to language
acquisition as a process oflanguage
rule formation.
learning
language teaching nativism
behaviorism rule formation 35
Error Analysis
Contrastive Analysis Error Analysis
Corder, S.P. (1967). The significance of learner’s er
rors.
International Review of Applied Linguistics, 5,
161–170.
1. Locate Corder’s argument
2. Define error analysis
3. Identify innovative concepts in error analysis
4. Examine a taxonomy of errors
5. Consider the purpose of error analysis
6. Engage in error analysis.
7. Understand the eclipse of error analysis. 36
Error Analysis
Contrastive Analysis Error Analysis
Corder, S.P. (1967). The significance of learner’s
errors. International Review of Applied
Linguistics, 5, 161–170.
To begin, note how Corder locates his argument
relative to the transitions we have discussed:
37
Error Analysis
“Both linguistics and psychology are in a state at the
present time of what Chomsky has called ‘flux
and agitation.’ What seemed to be well
established doctrine a few years ago is now the
subject of extensive debate. The consequence
of this for language teaching is likely to be far
reaching and we are perhaps only now
beginning to feel its effects. One effect has
been perhaps to shift the emphasis away from a
preoccupation with teaching toward a study of
learning. [T]his has shown itself as a renewed
attack upon the problem [of] the acquisition of
the mother tongue” (p. 163). language learning 38
Error Analysis
“The most widespread hypothesis about how
languages are learned [is] behaviourist” (p. 163).
“The new hypothesis [on the other hand] states
that a human infant is born with an innate
predisposition to acquire language; that he must
be exposed to language for the acquisition
process to start; that he possesses an internal
mechanism of unknown nature which enables
him from the limited date available to him to
construct a grammar of a particular language”
(p. 164). nativism
behaviorism
39
Error Analysis
“No one expects a child learning his mother-tongue
to produce from the earliest stages only forms
which in adult terms are correct or non-deviant.
We interpret his ‘incorrect’ utterances as being
evidence that he is in the process of acquiring
language … The best evidence that a child
possesses construction rules is the occurrence
of systematic errors, since, when the child
speaks correctly, it is quite possible that he is
only repeating something that he has heard. …
It is by reducing the language to a simpler
system than it is that the child reveals his
tendency to induce rules”(p. 165).
rule formation 40
Error Analysis
Corder extends the trajectories of first language
acquisition to second language acquisition.
“If the acquisition of the first language is a fulfilment
of the predisposition to develop language
behaviour, then the learning of the second
language involves the replacement of the
predisposition of the infant by some other force”
(p. 164).
“I propose therefore as a working hypothesis that
some at least of the strategies adopted by the
[SL] learner are substantially the same as those
by which a first language is acquired”
SLA (pp. 164–
5). 41
Error Analysis: Introduction
In error analysis (EA), scholars approach errors as
evidence that learners are actively engaged in
hypothesis testing / inducing rules.
The study of errors by teachers / researchers can
facilitate learning by identifying where learner
are on their way to full competence in the target
language.
In EA, errors are treated productively, as evidence
of learner engagement. Cf. contrastive analysis,
where errors “are ascribed to interference from
the habits of the mother tongue” and are treated
as hurdles to be overcome. In EA, on the other
hand, they are “signs that the learner is 42
Error Analysis: Central Concepts
Mistakes versus Errors
Mistakes are slips of the tongue; they are “products
of chance circumstances” (p. 166); they occur in
the realm / at the level of performance (parole)
Errors are products that “reveal [learners’] under-
lying knowledge of the language to date, or as
we may call it [their] transitional competence” (p.
166).
Note: performance and competence. Mistakes
happen when we mis-speak. Errors are artifacts
of our competence in language at a given time –
from them, we can infer something of learners’
deep underlying understanding of the language 43
Built-in syllabus
The order in which learners need to learn things –
the “learner-generated sequence” (p. 166).
Note the contrast with the “instructor-generated
sequence” (p. 166).
We will return to this concept in Dulay and Burt and
morpheme acquisition studies. #
44
Transitional Competence
In the process of language acquisition, learners’ use
“a definite system of language at every point in
[their] development, although it is not the adult
system in the one case [i.e., in first language
acquisition], nor that of the second language in
the other [i.e., SLA]. The [learners’] errors are
evidence of this system and are themselves
systematic” (p. 166).
We may call learners’ “underlying knowledge of the
language to date [their] transitional competence”
(p. 166). #
45
Interlanguage
Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International
Review of Applied Linguistics, 10(3), 209–231.
Interlanguage : the “language system that the
learner constructs out of the linguistic data to
which [s/he] has been exposed” (LF&L, p. 60).
At any given moment, the learner will have been
exposed to unique and specific data; will have
induced U / S rules; and will control a U / S
competence in the language. As they learn
more, they progress along the “interlanguage
continuum.”
No TL Full TL 46
Interlanguage
continuum.”
No TL Full TL 47
Interlanguage
continuum.”
No TL Full TL 48
Interlanguage
continuum.”
No TL Full TL 49
Interlanguage
Halted progress is called “fossilization”: linguistic
items, rules, or subsystems which speakers …
tend to keep in their IL, no matter what the age
of the learner or amount of explanation and
instruction” (Selinker, p. 215).
No TL Full TL
50
Error Analysis: Taxonomy
I. Interlingual errors
1. First language interference (CA re-emerges)
“Is the book of my friend.”
Perhaps interference from a +PD language.
II. Intralingual errors
2. Overgeneralization
“I wonder where are you going.”
Overgeneralization of sub – aux inversion for
question formation to incorrect context. #
51
3. Simplification
“I studied English for two year.”
Removal of perceived redundant morphology –
the plural “s.” [This is a hallmark of pidgin
languages.]
4. Communication based
“Look at the “fire flowers”! (fireworks)
Communication is achieved through creative
word coinage, but resulting word is nonstandard.
#
52
5. Induced errors
“She cries as if a baby” (She cries like a baby).
The teacher has defined “as if” to mean “like,”
but does not explain the grammatical differences
between the two:
as if is a subordinating conjunction that joins two
clauses: “She cries as if she is hurt.”
like is a preposition that should only be followed
by a noun phrase: “She cries like a baby.” #
53
I. Interlingual errors
1. First language interference (CA re-emerges)
“Is the book of my friend.”
2. Overgeneralization
“I wonder where are you going.”
3. Simplification
“I studied English for two year.”
4. Communication based
“Look at the fire flowers! (fireworks)
5. Induced errors
“She cries as if a baby” (She cries like a baby). 54
Error Analysis: Purpose
Purpose of error analysis for the teacher:
Error analysis tells the teacher “how far toward the
[target language] the learner has progressed
and, consequently, what remains for him [or her]
to learn” (p. 167).
Purpose for the learner:
Error analysis “is a way the learner has of testing
his [or her] hypotheses about the nature of the
language he [or she] is learning. The making of
errors then is a strategy employed both by
children acquiring their mother-tongue and by
those learning a second language” (p. 167).
55
Error Analysis: Process
During a sunny day, a cowboy go in the desert with
his horse. he has a big hat. His horse eat a
flour. In the same time, Santa Clause go in a
city to give some surprises. He has a red
costume and a red packet of surprises. You
have three robbers in the mountain who sees
Santa Clause with a king of glaces that it
permitted us to see at a long distance. Every
robbers have a horse. They go in the way of
Santa Clause, not Santa Clause but his pocket
of surprises. After they will go in a city and they
go in a saloon.
A French speaker learning English 56
Error Analysis: Process
This year Christmas comes soon! Santa Claus ride
a one horse open sleigh to sent present for
children, on the back of his body has big packet.
it has a lot of toys. in the way he meet three
robbers. They want to take his big packet.
Santa Claus no way and no body help, so only a
way give them, then three robbers ride their
horse dashing through the town. There have
saloon, they go to drink some beer and open the
big packent. They play toys in the Bar. They
meet a cow boy in the saloon.
A Chinese speaker learning English
57
Error Analysis: Eclipse
Contrastive analysis – Lado, 1957
Error analysis – Corder, 1967
EA fell out of favor in the early 1970s for 2 reasons:
1. EA did not explain errors. It was often
impossible to discern the cause of the error –
interlingual, or intralingual? Teacher induced, or
overgeneralization?
2. Scholars began to demand greater rigor in
empirical research in SLA, and the “untestable”
nature of EA (i.e., impossibility of precisely
defining the cause of the error) rendered it
unsatisfactory.
58
Error Analysis: Eclipse
Interlanguage remains as a very productive area of
inquiry in SLA – this is our next main discussion.
CA EA Interlanguage
59

Early SLA

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Early SLA Studies

SLA emerged in the 1940s and 1950s. First topic

Modern Englishfather mother sister brother daughter son widow

OLD ENGLISH faeder modor sweostor brothor dohtor sunu widuwe

GERMAN Vater Mutter Schwester Bruder Tochter Sohn Wittwe

LATIN pater mater soror frater ------ ------ vidua

SANSKRIT pitar matar svasar bhratar duhitar sunu widuwe

SPANISH padre madre ------ ------ hija hijo viuda

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