SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Dr. Comfort Pratt

Definition Acquiring a language subsequent to the

mother tongue

Why do people learn a second language?

THEORIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Behaviourist Theory♣ Remember Skinner’s model of language

behavior ♣ Proponents – Nelson Brooks (1960) and

Robert Lado (1964)♣ Language development is viewed as the

formation of habits

BEHAVIOURIST THEORY

Stimulus-Response-Reward chain There are three crucial elements in

learning

BEHAVIOURIST THEORY♣ Manifested itself in SLA in the form of

mimicry and memorization of dialogs and sentence patterns

BEHAVIOURIST THEORY

Assumed that L2 learners would start off with the habits

formed in the first language and transfer them to the L2

L1 habits would interfere with habits needed for the second language

Often linked to the CAH

BEHAVIOURIST THEORY

Researchers

BEHAVIOURIST THEORY

Do L2 learners draw on what they already know?

BEHAVIOURIST THEORY

Researchers found the behaviorist theory an inadequate explanation for L2 acquisition.

INNATIST THEORY Remember Chomsky’s LAD Lydia White (2003), Vivian Cook (2003) Due to the presence of the LAD, L2

learners are able to eventually know more about the language than they could have learned if they had to depend entirely on the input they are exposed to.

INNATIST THEORY

Theorists

KRASHEN’S HYPOTHESES1. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

KRASHEN’S HYPOTHESES

2. The Natural Order Hypothesis

KRASHEN

3. The Monitor Hypothesis

KRASHEN

4. The Input Hypothesis

KRASHEN

5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis

COGNITIVIST DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY

Proponents - Cognitive and developmental psychologists

Language learning is a cognitive process

INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL

Proponents- Cognitive psychologists such as Norman Segalowitz (2003)

Building up of knowledge that can eventually be called on automatically

At the beginning stages, learners pay attention to main words.

Process new input Can process more information later

INFORMATION PROCESSING

More proficient – more aspects Limited mental activity The skills become proceduralized and

automatized Restructuring Retrieval

CONNECTIONISM Proponent - Nick Ellis (2002) Humans don’t possess a neurological

module for language learning Attributes greater importance to the role

of the environment. Emphasis on frequency Exposure Stronger network Activation Chunks

COMPETITION MODEL

Proponents – Elizabeth Bates & Brian Whinney (1981)

Language acquisition occurs without an innate brain module specifically for language.

L2 acquisition requires learners to learn the relative importance of the different cues

Language form, language meaning, and language use

Learners receive competing cues Learners come to understand how to use the

cues

INTERACTION HYPOTHESIS Proponents – Evelyn Hatch (1978), Michael

Long (1983, 1996), Teresa Pica (1994), Susan Gass (1997)

Conversational interaction is an essential condition for L2 acquisition.

Speakers modify their speech and interaction patterns in order to help learners understand the information.

Comprehensible input Modified interaction is necessary for

language acquisition.

INTERACTION HYPOTHESIS Interactional modification can be done in

3 ways: Comprehension checks Clarification requests Self-repetition or paraphrase

NOTICING HYPOTHESIS Richard Schmidt (1990) Nothing is learned unless it has been

noticed. Awareness precedes acquisition.

INPUT PROCESSING

Bill VanPatten (2004) Inability of many L2 learners to process

input. Learners have limited processing capacity They tend to give priority to meaning. They use the context to understand.

PROCESSABILITY THEORY

Jütgen Meisel, Harald Clahsen, and Manfred Pienemann (1981)

Sequence of development for features is affected by how easy they are to process.

Ease of processing depends to a large extent on the position of the features in a sentence.

SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Vygotsky Views thinking and speaking as tightly

interwoven Learning occurs when the learner

interacts with an interlocutor within his or her zone of proximal development (ZPD)

ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

THE END!