This document discusses second language acquisition (SLA), exploring key terms, processes, and variations among learners. It addresses foundational questions about what is learned, how it is acquired, and why some learners succeed more than others, influenced by social and psychological factors. Various forms of language learning, including informal and formal contexts, are examined, alongside the distinctions between first, second, and foreign languages.

1. Chapter 1:
What is Second Language
Acquisition
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AGA INSTITUTE
Course:
Second
Language
Acquisition
(SLA)
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• Email: varyvath@gmail.com

2. Learning Outcomes
Define and distinguish a few SLA key
terms;
Briefly examine different perspectives
to answer the three foundational
questions “What, How and Why”;
Discuss the ways in which the second
language acquisition processes of
individuals may vary.
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3. Introductory Discussion Questions
What do we know about second
language acquisition (SLA)?
What are the similarities and
differences between First and Second
language acquisition?
How do people learn a second, or a
third, or a fourth language?
What are the implication for
foreign/second language teaching?
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4. What is SLA?
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SLA
• the study of individuals and
groups who are learning a
language subsequent to
learning their first one as
young children
• and to the process of
learning that language

5. What is the study of SLA?
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It is the study of
how second
languages are
learned
It is the study of How
learners create a new
language system with
only limited exposure
to a second language
It is the study of Why
most second language
learners do not
achieve the same
degree of proficiency
in a second language
as they do in their
native language
It is the study of Why some
individuals appear to achieve
native0like proficiency in a second
language as they do in their native
language
It Is also concerned with the nature
of the hypotheses (whether
conscious or unconscious) that
learners come up with regarding
the rules of the second language

6. What is Second Language Acquisition
(SLA)?
The additional
language
• is called a second
language (L2) (the
third, fourth, or tenth)
Target language (TL):
• any language that is the aim or
goal of learning;
• the language being learned (Gass,
Behney & Plosky, 2020)
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The study of any new discipline involves familiarizing oneself with the
specific terminology of that field (Gass, Behney & Plosky, 2020)

7. What Is Scope Of SLA?
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Informal L2 Learning:
• takes place in naturalistic contexts.
• Ex. A child from Japan is brought to the
USA and “picks up” English in the course
of playing and attending school with native
English-speaking children.
• L2 learning that involves a mixture of these
settings and circumstances.
• Ex. A student from the U.S. takes Chinese language
classes in Taipei or Beijing while also using
Chinese outside of class for social interaction and
daily living experiences.
Formal L2 Learning:
• takes place in classrooms.
• Ex. A high school student in
England takes a class in
French.

8. Three basic questions help us
understand the ‘process’ of SLA
(1) What
exactly does
the L2 learner
come to know?
(2) How does
the learner
acquire this
knowledge?
(3) Why are some
learners more
successful than
others?
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9. What is SLA?
SLA has emerged as a field of study primarily from
within … to answer the what , how , and why questions
Linguistics Psychology
Applied
linguistics’
subfield
Psycholingu
istics
Sociolinguis
tics
Social
psychology
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10. An Asian fable of the three blind men
describing an elephant:
 one, feeling the tail, says it
is like a rope;
 another, feeling the side,
says it is flat and rubbery;
 the third, feeling the trunk,
describes it as being like a
long rubber hose
 While each perception
is correct individually,
they fail to provide an
accurate picture of the
total animal because
there is no holistic or
integrated perspective.
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What is SLA?

11. Linguists
emphasize:
linguistic performance (The use of language
knowledge in actual production) of learners at various
stages of acquisition.
linguistic competence (underlying knowledge
that speakers/hearers have of a language);
the characteristics of the differences and
similarities in the languages that are being
learned;
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12. • Psychologists and
psycholinguists
emphasize
and the representation of
language(s) in the brain
the mental or cognitive
processes involved in
acquisition,
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13. Sociolinguists
emphasize
and extend the scope of study to
communicative competence
(underlying knowledge that
additionally accounts for language
use, or pragmatic competence).
variability in learner linguistic
performance,
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14. • Social
psychologists
emphasize
and the interactional and larger
social contexts of learning.
group-related phenomena, such
as identity and social
motivation,
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15. MR. VATH VARY
What is a second language?
the specific areas of
vocabulary knowledge
we need
the level of
grammatical
complexity we have
to attain,
and whether
speaking or
reading skills are
more important.
The four different terms may significantly
affect what we learn.

16. What is a second language?
Second
language
• is typically an official or societally dominant language
needed for education, employment, and other basic
purposes.
• is often acquired by minority group members or
immigrants who speak another language natively.
Foreign
language
• is one NOT widely used in the learners’ immediate social
context used for future travel or other cross-cultural
communication situations, or studied as a curricular
requirement or elective in school, but with no immediate or
necessary practical application.
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17. What is a second
language?
Library
language
• is one which functions primarily as a tool for further
learning through reading, especially when books or
journals in a desired field of study are not commonly
published in the learners’ native tongue.
Auxiliary
language
• is one which learners need to know for some official
functions in their immediate political setting,
• or will need for purposes of wider communication,
although their first language serves most other needs in
their lives.
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18. What is a first language?
First language
Native language Primary language Mother tongue
languages which are acquired during early childhood
( normally before the age of about 3 years and languages are learned as part of
growing up among people who speak them)
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19. What is a first
language?
Multilingualism
Simultaneous
multilingualism
The ability to use more than 2 languages; it
also includes bilingualism.
Sequential
multilingualism
Acquisition of more than one language
during early childhood
learning additional languages after L1
has already been established
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20. Diversity in learning and learners
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• informal exposure to
speakers of other
languages;
• Immersion in a setting
where one needs a new
language to meet basic
needs, or formal
instruction in school,
• these learning conditions
are often profoundly
influenced by powerful
social, cultural, and
economic factors affecting
the status of both
languages and learners
What is learned in acquiring a second language and how it is
learned, are often influenced by whether the situation involves:

21. Diversity in learning and learners
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Linguists
distinguish
categories of
learners in terms
of identity and
relationship of
their L1 and L2
Psycholinguists
examine individual
aptitude for L2
learning,
personality factors,
types and strength
of motivation, and
different learning
strategies
sociolinguists
distinguish among
learners with
regard to social,
economic, and
political
differences and
learner experiences
in negotiated
interaction;
Social
psychologists
categorize learners
according to aspects
of their group
identity and
attitudes toward
target language
speakers or toward
L2 learning itself
why some L2 learners are more successful

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