Introduction to the Study of language 1

Second language acquisition

Department of English and American Studies,
University of Vienna
Second language acquisition

1. What is second language acquisition?

2. Factors influencing 2nd language acquisition

3. Learner language

4. Theories of SLA

5. Communicative competence

6. Multilinguality

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1.What is second language
acquisition?

L1 vs L2 acquisition: same or different?

Similarities Differences

o A new language o One language already

o Age of learner
o Learning context

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1.What is second language
acquisition?
The systematic study of how people acquire an L2

Second Language Acquisition

L2, L3, L4 etc. acquisition vs.

acquired after the L1 learning
foreign lg./second lg

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1. What is second language
acquisition?
Second language acquisition is
the way in which people learn a language
other than their native language, inside or
outside of a classroom,
and SLA is the study of this.

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1. What is second language
acquisition?
Second language acquisition - SLA (L2A)
[es el’ei]

Third Language Acquisition - TLA (L3A)

Today: Most use SLA for acquisition/learning

of all languages after the first.

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2. Factors influencing SLA

o Social context
external
o Learning opportunities/context

o Motivation
internal
o Personal characteristics

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2. Factors influencing SLA

Social context

o Learner’s attitude tw. L2 and its speakers

o Social provision of learning situations and

opportunities

o Acculturation (J. Schumann)

o Discrimination may lead to fossilization

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2. Factors influencing SLA

Learning opportunities & contexts

o Amount of exposure

o Time: length vs. intensity

o Kind of exposure

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2. Factors influencing SLA

Motivation

o Attitude of learner tw. L2 and L2 community

o Integrative vs. instrumental motivation (Gardner)

o Learning success as a motivating factor

o Motivation can be a cause and a result (Dörnyei)

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2. Factors influencing SLA

Personal characteristics

o Age

o Personality: anxiety, extraversion/introversion

o Learning style

o Learning strategies

o Language aptitude

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3. Learner language

1950s:
Contrastive Analysis (errors = L1 transfer)
L1    L2

transfer errors:
(1) We went at Johannesburg last weekend.
(L1: Bantu language)
(2) I no have a red pen. (L1: Spanish)

but what about creative errors?

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3. Learner language

1960s-1970s:
Error Analysis (errors = clues to
interlanguage)
L1  Interlanguage  L2

creative errors
(3) She name is Maria.
(4) In the room there are three womens.

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3. Learner language

interlanguage
an in-between system used in the L2 acquisition
process that contains aspects of L1 and L2. It is
inherently variable and contains rules of its own.
In a room there are three womens … one is blond … blond
hair … there are three womens … one woman is the teacher
… and the other two womans are seat in the chair …

fossilization
describes a state where interlanguage has stopped
developing further and contains many forms that do
not match the target language

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4. Theories of SLA

4.1 Behaviourism
o language learning = imitation, habit formation,
positive and negative reinforcement;
o a general learning theory

4.2 Innatist perspective

o Innateness hypothesis (Chomsky)
o LAD = language acquisition device = innate
o Input  LAD  L1 grammar
o Universal Grammar (UG)

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4. Theories of SLA

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4. Theories of SLA
Naturalistic second language learning
innatist, SLA similar to FLA

S. Krashen (1980s):
Comprehensible Input Hypothesis
learners progress in their knowledge of the
language when they comprehend language
input that is slightly more advanced than their
current level. “i+1”
Monitor model:
acquisition vs. learning
 natural order
 comprehensible input
 monitor
 affective filter

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4. Theories of SLA

Interaction hypothesis
(Michael Long, 1980s)
o Crucial: Input (link to innatism)
o conversation with other speakers provides
optimal input
o Learner has opportunity to check for
comprehension, ask for clarification
o Negotiation of meaning

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4. Theories of SLA
4.3 Cognitive perspective
(cognitive psychology, e.g. Mc Whinney; since
1990s)
language learning:
o learner uses general cognitive strategies
o usage-based construction of language
competence
o frequency of lg items influences
entrenchment

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4. Theories of SLA
Noticing hypothesis (Schmidt, 1990s)
o conscious attention as precondition
o experiencing incongruence

Output hypothesis (Merrill Swain, 1995)

o Input alone is not enough: semantic
processing does not lead to grammar learning
o Learners have to produce L2 as well >> output
o Comprehensible output forces learner to use
syntactic/morphological encoding
>> Focus on form (Swain, Lapkin 1990s)

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4. Theories of SLA

4.4 Socio-cultural theory

(Vygotsky 1930s; Lantolf late 1990s)

o general learning theory

o individual cognition originates in social
interaction
o interaction (expert-novice; peers) provides
scaffolding and is essential to learning,
o ZPD (zone of proximal development)

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4. SLA Theories

Approaches to language teaching

A selection:
1. Grammar translation method
2. Audiolingual method
3. Communicative Language Teaching

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4. From theories to approaches

Approaches to language teaching are

based on specific assumptions about:

nature of language
Teaching
language learning process approach/method

factors enhancing learning

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5. Communicative competence

knowing “when to speak, when not, ... what to

talk about with whom, when where and in what
manner”

(Dell Hymes 1974: 227)

The general ability to use language accurately,

appropriately and flexibly.

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 5. Communicative competence

Grammatical Competence Sociolinguistic Competence

...an individual’s ‘communicative competence’ can only be understood in terms of the practices of which she has been a member, her social identities, the degree and kinds of
participation she has assumed (or has been allowed to assume) in them (Hall 1995, 219).

Discourse Competence Strategic Competence

Canale & Swain 1980

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5. Communicative competence

...an individual’s ‘communicative competence’

can only be understood in terms of the practices
of which she has been a member, her social
identities, the degree and kinds of participation
she has assumed (or has been allowed to
assume) in them (Hall 1995, 219).

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6. Multilinguality with English

2 important reasons:

1. Increasing mobility resulting in migration

2. The role of English as lingua franca

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6. Multilinguality

Multilinguality Multilingualism
«Interdependence »

o individual mind o community

o access to several o use of several codes
codes
o psycholinguistic o sociolinguistic
o Individual m. o Societal m.

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6. Multilinguality

SLA & TLA: same or different?

same trajectory for every language learned

or
qualitative differences in learning process

steady development
or
dynamic process

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6. Multilinguality

L1 L2 L3 L4 Ln L1 L2 L3 L4 Ln

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6. Multilinguality

o Cross-linguistic influence factors:

• Order of acquisition
• Typological distance
• Level of proficiency
• Age
• Change in input

o Language forgetting, deterioration,

attrition, loss

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6. Multilinguality

Dynamic Model of Multilinguality

(Jessner & Herdina 2002)

LS1 + LS2 + LS3 + LSn + CLIN + M =MP

LS = language system
CLIN = cross-linguistic influence
M = M(ultilingualism)-factor
MP = multilingual proficiency

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Recommended literature
Lightbown, P.M. & N. Spada. 2013. How languages are learned.
(4th ed.) Oxford Univerity Press.
Ortega, L. 2009. Understanding second language acquisition.
Routledge.
Saville-Troike, M. 2012. Introducing second language acquisition.
Cambridge University Press.

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