Explore the nature of language learning, some basic similarities and differences between L1 and L2 learning, and “the logical problem of language acquisition.” Discuss some basic similarities and differences between L1 and L2 learning and “the logical problem of language acquisition.” Examine the conceptual framework: linguistic, psychological, and social perspectives on SLA

1. Chapter 2:
Foundations of SLA
MR.VATH VARY
AGA INSTITUTE
Course:
Second
Language
Acquisition
(SLA)
• Tel: + 855 17 471 117
• Email: varyvath@gmail.com

2. Expected Learning Outcomes
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
• Explore the nature of language learning,
some basic similarities and differences
between L1 and L2 learning, and “the logical
problem of language acquisition.”

• Discuss some basic similarities and differences
between L1 and L2 learning and “the logical problem
of language acquisition.”

• Examine the conceptual framework:linguistic,
psychological,and social perspectives on SLA

3. The world of second languages
3
Monolingualism
refers to the ability
to use only one.
Multilingualism
for the ability to
use two or more
languages
Bilingualism
for the ability to
use two
languages
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4. The world of second languages
4
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• In fact it is difficult to find a
society that is genuinely
monolingual. Not only is
bilingualism worldwide, it
is a phenomenon that has
existed since the beginning
of language in human
history.
• There are many more
bilingual or multilingual
individuals in the world
than there are
monolingual.
• It is probably true that no
language group has ever
existed in isolation from
other language groups, and
the history of languages is
replete with examples of
language contact leading to
some form of bilingualism.

5. The world of second languages
5
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Vivian Cook
distinguished
• Monolingual
competence
(monocompetence” in
Cook’s terminology),
refers to knowledge of
only one language.
• Multilingual
competence
(“multicompetence”)
refers to “the compound
state of a mind with two
[or more] grammars
 Those who grow up in
a multilingual
environment acquire
multilingual
competence in the
natural course of using
two or more languages
from childhood with
the people around
them, and tend to
regard it as perfectly
normal to do so.

6. The world of second languages
6
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• By the year 2000, the four most commonly used languages were
Chinese, English, Spanish, and Hindi, which were acquired by over
2 billion as L1s and almost 1.7 billion as L2s, as shown in Table 2.1

7. Why learn L2s?
7
Invasion/
conquest
economy/
business
Religion
Immigrati
on
Educati
on
Occupation/
Social
advanceme
nt
Culture and
access to
technologies
or literatures
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8. The world of second languages
8
The numbers of L1 and L2 speakers of different
languages can only be ‘estimated’ because …
1. Linguistic information is often not
officially collected
2. Answers to questions seeking linguistic
information may not be reliable
3.There is lack of agreement on definition of
terms and on criteria for identification
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9. The nature of
language
learning
The role of social
experience
The role of
natural ability
9
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10. The Role of Natural Ability
10
1
• Children begin to learn their L1 at the same
age
2
• Children master the basic phonological and
grammatical operation in their L1 by the age of
about five or six,
3
• Children can understand and create novel
utterances
4
• There is a cut-off age for L1 acquisition,
beyond which it can never be complete.
5
• Acquisition of L1 is not simply a facet of
general intelligence.
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11. The role of social experience
11
1
• Appropriate social experience, L1 input
and interaction, is a necessary condition
for acquisition. (Not all of L1 acquisition can
be attributed to innate ability)
2
• Children will never acquire such language-
specific knowledge unless that language is
used with them and around them, and they
will learn to use only the language(s) used
around them, no matter what their linguistic
heritage.
3
• American-born children of Korean or Greek
ancestry will never learn the language of
their grandparents if only English
surrounds them, for instance, and they will
find their ancestral language just as hard to
learn as any other English speakers do if
they attempt to learn it as an adult.
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12. L1 versus L2 learning (page 17)
12
Initial State
• the underlying knowledge about language structures
and principles that is in learners’ heads at the very
start of L1 or L2 acquisition
Intermediat
e State
• covers all stages of basic language development.
• This includes the maturational changes which take
place in what I have called “child grammar,” and the
L2 developmental sequence which is known as
learner language (also interlanguage)
Final State
is the outcome of L1 and L2 learning.
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13. 13
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A brief comparison of L1 and L2 learning
is divided into three phases (page 17)
Intermediate
states
Final states
Initial states

14. Initial states
14
• Innate capacity is
the starting point for
L1 acquisition as all
children are born
with to learn
language.
• A major component
of the initial state for
L2 learning must be
prior knowledge of
L1.
• Is innate
capacity for
language
acquisition
remains beyond
childhood? ‘No’
• L2 learners have
resources of L1
competence, world
knowledge, and
established skills
for interaction,
which can be both
an asset and an
impediment.
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15. Intermediate states
15
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• As children
(cognitive
development)
mature, so do their
L1 abilities
(Maturation).
• However, Processes
other than
maturation must be
involved to explain
development in SLA.
• It addresses ‘how’
question.
• Processes involve
Cross-linguistic
influence, or
transfer) of prior
knowledge from
L1 (vocabulary,
pronunciation,
grammar, and all
other aspects of
language structure
and use) to L2
Learners takes:
• L1 as a guide
during this
stage;
• Prior knowledge
from L1 to L2
involved in
interlanguage
development
with two types
of transfer
• Positive transfer: when an L1 structure or rule is used in an L2
utterance and that use is appropriate or “correct”in the L2; and
• Negative transfer (interference): when an L1 structure or rule is used in an
L2 utterance and that use is inappropriate and considered an “error.”

16. Intermediate states
16
Necessary
conditions
• The role of input and interaction is
absolutely necessary for either in L1 or
esp. L2 to reach a fairly high level of
proficiency
• Children also require direct, reciprocal
interaction with other people, listening to
radio, watching television and written
text
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17. Intermediate states
17
Facilitating
conditions
 Identifying and explaining facilitating conditions
essentially addresses the fundamental why
question of SLA: why are some L2 learners more
successful than others?
• Feedback: including correction of L2
learners’ errors
• Aptitude: including memory capacity and
analytic ability
• Motivation, need and desire to learn
• Instruction or explicit teaching in school
settings
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18. Final states
18
• the outcome of L1
or L2 learning
• Children acquiring
their L1 achieve
native linguistic
competence
L2 learners reach “near-
native” or “native-like”
level of competence or
high proficiency.
• Instead, L2 learners
achieve multilingual
competence
• Many L2 learners
cease at some point
to make further
progress toward the
learning target,
known as
fossilization.
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19. The logical problem of language
learning
19
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• How is it possible for children
to achieve the final state of
L1 development with general
ease and complete success,
given the complexity of the
linguistic system which they
acquire and their immature
cognitive capacity at the age
they do so?

20. The logical problem of language learning
20
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• Children’s
knowledge of
language goes
beyond what could
be learned from the
input they receive
(poverty-of-the-
stimulus
argument)
• Constraints
and
principles
cannot be
learned
• Universal
patterns of
development
cannot be
explained by
language-
specific input
• Most linguists and psychologists assume this
achievement must be attributed to innate linguistic
knowledge underlying language acquisition

21. Frameworks
for SLA
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Scholars have formulated
systematic theories and
models to address the basic
questions:
1. What exactly does the L2
learner know?
2. How does the learner
acquire this knowledge?
3. Why are some learners
more successful than
others?

22. Frameworks
for SLA
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Scholars have formulated
systematic theories and
models to address the basic
questions:
1. What exactly does the L2
learner know?
2. How does the learner
acquire this knowledge?
3. Why are some learners
more successful than
others?

23. Structural linguistics and behavioral psychology
23
• L system consisted of a finite
set of patterns or structures
which as a model for the
production of an infinite
number of similarly
constructed sentences.
• Emphasized the description of
different levels of production in
speech: phonetics,phonology,
morphology,syntax,semantics,
and lexicon
Structuralism
(Bloomfield 1933)
• stressed the notion of
learning as a habit
formation resulting
from S-R-R:
• stimuli from the
environment (linguistic
input), responses to
those stimuli, and
reinforcement if the
responses resulted in
some desired outcome.
Behaviorism
(Skinner 1957)
• an approach to
language teaching
which emphasized
repetition and habit
formation
• Teachers focus their
teaching on
structure
Audiolingualism
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24. Linguistic:Internal focus (Cognitive)
24
• The first linguistic framework which
evolutionized linguistic theory and had a
profound effect on both the study of L1 & L2.
Chomsky
• argued convincingly that the behaviorist
theory of language acquisition is wrong
because it cannot explain the creative
aspects of linguistic ability.
• claimed that children must have some
innate capacity for language.
Transformational-
generative grammar
• sets the goal of study as
accounting for speakers’
internalized, underlying
knowledge of language,
with its own potential to
create and understand
original utterances in a
given language (linguistic
competence)
Transformational-
generative grammar
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25. Linguistic:Internal focus (Cognitive)
25
• Followed Chomsky’s Transformational-
Generative Grammar.
• UG claims that all human inherits a
universal set of:
• Principles: ‘unvarying’ properties of
all languages of the world;
• Parameters: Limited options in
realization of universal principles
which account for grammatical
variation between languages of the
world
Principles and
parameters Model
• Revised specification of what
constitutes “innate capacity”
in language acquisition to
include more abstract notions
of general principles and
constraints that are common
to all human languages as
part of Universal Grammar .
Principles and
parameters Model
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26. Linguistic:Internal focus (Cognitive)
26
• followed Chomsky’s Principles and
Parameters model
• Chomsky argued that the core of human
L is the lexicon (the word store) and
distinguished:
1. Lexical category: content words:V, N, adj, adv)
2. Functional category: grammatical words: Conj,
Prep, determiners, auxiliaries
 as well as more emphasis on the acquisition
of feature specification as a part of lexical
knowledge.
Minimalist
program
• Parametric variation
is located within the
lexicon, esp. functional
ones, which are
characterized by a
bundle of functional
features that vary
from L to L, causing
the various surface
differences in: word
order,morphology
Minimalist
program
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27. Linguistic:Internal focus (Cognitive)
27
• Recent development within Chomsky’s
generative linguistic theory:
• that continues to view language
components: lexicon and morphology as
separate, but recognizes the need for some
interface in their processing.
• Linguistic interface:
• greatly enhances the importance accorded
different types of meaning: lexical,
grammatical,semantic,and
pragmatic/discourse linguistic
interfaces
• Differences in how
components
interface in
different languages
may account for
some transfer
phenomena in SLA.
linguistic
interfaces
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28. Linguistic:External focus (Functionalism)
28
Prague School of
Eastern Europe
(early 20th century)
emphasize:
• the information
content of
utterances, and in
considering
language primarily
as a system of
communication
Some emphasized
similarities and
differences
among the
world’s languages
and relate these
to sequence and
relative difficulty
of learning
Some emphasized
acquisition as
largely a process
of mapping
relations between
linguistic
functions and
forms, motivated
by communicative
need;
Some
emphasized
the means
learners have
of structuring
information in
L2 production
and how this
relates to
acquisition
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29. Psychological:Cognitive and humanistic
29
• The location and
representation of
language in the
brain
• Lenneberg (1967)
argued that there is
a Critical period
for language
acquisition which
has a neurological
basis.
Neurolinguistics
• Information Processing (IP):
Processing itself (of language
or any other domain) is
believed to cause learning.
• Processability: extends IP
concepts of learning and
applies them to teaching
second languages.
• Connectionism: focuses on
increasing associations
between stimuli and
responses. Frequency of
input causes learning.
learning
processes (how)
• Affective: attitude,
motivation, and
anxiety
• Biological: age
and sex
learner
differences (why)
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30. 30
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Social
perspectives
emphasize the importance of
social context for language
acquisition and use.
Microsocial
• relate to language acquisition
and use in immediate social
contexts of production,
interpretation, and interaction.
Macrossocial
• relate language acquisition
and use to broader
ecological contexts,
including cultural,political,
and educational settings.

31. Social: Microsocial
31
• include exploration of systematic
differences in learner production
which depend on contexts of
use,
• and consider why the targets of
SLA may be different even within
groups who are ostensibly
learning the “same” language
Variation Theory:
• based on the notion that
speakers usually
unconsciously change their
pronunciation and even the
grammatical complexity of
sentences they use to sound
more like whomever they are
talking to
Accommodation
Theory:
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32. Social:Microsocial
32
• views interaction as the
essential genesis of
language.
• It not only facilitates
language learning but is
a causative force in
acquisition.
Sociocultural
Theory
• emphasizes L2
production and
interpretation within a
virtual community,
interaction among its
participants, and often
both formal and
functional goals
Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC)
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33. Social: Macrosocial
33
• Extends the notion of what is
being acquired in SLA beyond
linguistic and cultural factors to
include social and cultural
knowledge that is required for
appropriate use,
• and leads us to consider
second language learners as
members of groups or
communities with sociopolitical
as well as linguistic bounds
Ethnography of
Communication
• offer broader understandings of
how such factors as identity, status,
and values determine social and
psychological distance between
learner and target language
populations and affect the
outcomes of SLA.
• The closer learners feel to the
target language speech
community, the better they will
‘acculturate,’the more successful
their SLA will be
Acculturation Theory
and Social Psychology
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FURTHER READING MATEIALS

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