Introduction : Describing and Explaining L2 Acquisition

Introduction : Describing and Explaining L2 Acquisition

What is “second language acquisition”?

At first sight, the meaning of the term “second language acquisition” seems transparent, but, in fact, it requires careful explanation.

In here, Second → refer to any language that is learned subsequent to the mother tongue. Whether you are learning a language naturally as a result of living in a country where is is spoken, or learning in in classroom through instruction, it is customary to speak generically of “second language acquisition”.

In conclusion, “second language acquisition” can be defined as the way in which people learn a language other than their mother tongue, inside or outside the classroom, and “second language acquisition” as the study of this

What are the goals of SLA?

SLA has not focused on communicative aspects of language development but on the formal features of language that linguist have traditionally concentrated on. One example might be the pronunciation of an L2; how learners’ accents change over time. Another might be the words learners use; how learners build up their vocabulary.

The goals of SLA :

1.      The description of L2 acquisition

2.      Explanation → identifying the external and internal factors that account for why learners acquire an L2 in the way they do

Some factors which influence L2 acquisition are:

1.      External factors

a.    The social milieu in which learning takes place

Social conditions influence the opportunities that learners have to hear and speak the language and the attitudes that they develop towards it

b.    The input that learners receive

Language learning cannot occur without some input. A question of considerable interest is what type of input facilitates learning

2.      Internal factors

Learners possess cognitive mechanisms which enable them to extract information about l2 from the input-to notice.

Finally, the goals of SLA , then, are to describe how L2 acquisition proceeds and to explain this process and why some learners seem to be better at it than others.

Two case studies

A case study is a detailed study of a learner’s acquisition of an L2. The two case studies which we will now examine were both longitudinal. They are

1.    A case study of an adult learner

Richards Schmidt, a researcher at the University of Hawaii, studied We’s language development over a three-year period from the time he first started visiting Hawaii until he eventually took up residence there.

2.    A case study of two child learners

J was a ten-year-old Portuguese boy. R was an eleven-year-old boy from Pakistan. Both learners were learning English in a language unit in London. The goal was to prepare students for transfer to local secondary school

Methodological issues

Schmidt was concerned broadly with how Wes develop the ability to communicate in an L2, examining his grammatical developmental, his ability to use English in  appropriate ways, and how he learned to hold successful conversations. Rod’s goal was narrower. He was concerned with how J and R acquired the ability to perform a single language function (request)

Schmidt defines ‘acquisition’ in terms of whether the learner manifests patterns of language use that are more or less the same as native speakers of the target languages. Both Schmidt and Rod point out that the learners made considerable use of fixed expressions or formulas. SLA  researchers recognize the need to investigate how the relationship between form and function in learners’ output compares with that of native speaker

Issues in the description of learner language

Both of these studies set out how to describe how learners’ use of an L2 changes over time and what this shows about the nature of their knowledge of the L2

1.    Learners make errors of different kinds

2.    L2 learners acquire a large number of formulaic chunks

3.    Learners acquire the language systematically

Issues in the explanation of L2 acquisition

What can account for those descriptive? We can begin with the hypothesis that L2 acquisition involves different kinds of learning. On the one hand, learners internalize chunks of language structure. On the other hand, they acquire rules. In other words, learners must engage in both item learning and system learning