This document summarizes key topics in second language acquisition (SLA) including: 1. SLA draws on linguistics, psychology, and first language acquisition to understand how people learn a new language. 2. Learners' first language influences their second language development through transfer of features and in the formation of an interlanguage. 3. Variation exists between a learner's competence and performance due to processing constraints and other factors like communication demands.

1. SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
Archibald, 2011

2. SLA: multidisciplinary field
1. Linguistics – gives us an accurate description of
what people are trying to learn (L2) and what
we already know (L1)
3. Psychology – privides us with the learning
theory to account for how people acquire
knowledge.
5. L1 Acquisition – offers findings that can be
applied to SLA.

3. Main
question
in SLA

4. Second
question in
SLA

5. Factors to consider in L2
Acquisition
 The L1 – second language learner production
always resembles their L1 in one way or another.
(TRANSFER).
 The INTERLANGUAGE – contains features of
the L1 as well as the L2.
 The FINAL STATE – what is to be acquired
(Communicatice competence).
 VARIATION in performance – competence
(linguistic knowledge the learner has) vs.
performance (actual language used by the
learner)

6. Communicative competence

7. Variation: Example
I didn’t like that movie so I told her I no want to
go there.
QUESTIONS:
Why is there such variation?
Have these learners acquired the English negation
or not?

8. Variation: some explanations
 When learners are only focusing on the form of
the L2 utterance, they may be able to produce it
accurately.
HOWEVER,
 When there are other factors such as
communicating a complex thought, errors may
occur
A matter of PROCESSING?
 Need to shift processing from controlled to
automatic (because of fixed processing capacity in
humans).

9. Interlanguage Grammars
General question:
What is the structure of an interlanguage?
Investigate the mental representations of
interlanguage grammars within the different
domains of linguistic theory.

10. L2 phonology
 The L2 learner will have to learn to perceive and
produce some new sounds when learning an L2.
 Segmental phonology
 Prosodic phonology

11. L2 Phonology: Question
 Why are some sounds easier to acquire than
others in an L2?
 What is the role of the L1?
The role of
Markedness – The Markedness Differential
Hypothesis.
 Investigates L2 acquisition by comparing the
relative markedness in the L1 and the L2.

12. L2 Syntax
 Two facets of syntactic structure that L2 learners
must acquire: the null subject parameter and
verb movement.
THE NULL SUBJECT PARAMETER
 Languages with overt subjects vs. languages in
which the subject can be omitted.
 Languages with null subjects also:
 Allow declarative sentences with flexible word order
 Speakers of null subject languages are more likely to
permit that trace sequences).

13. L2 Syntax
VERB MOVEMENT
Some languages do not allow verb movement,
while others do.
For example,
English does not allow it, but French does.

14. L2 Morphology
 Is the developmental sequence in L2 learning the
same as it is in L1 learning?
Developmental Order in L1
Developmental Order in L2

15. Factors affecting SLA
 Does the onset age of L2 acquisition cause
different levels of final proficiency?
 Is there an optimal time or a “critical period” to
acquire an L2?
 Discussion focuses in the area of phonology
 Fairly certain predictions:
 People who start learning the L2 before the age of 7, will
have native like L2 speech.
 People who start learning after the age of 14 or 15 will have
non-native speech.
 It is much more difficult to predict knowledge or
ability in the area of syntax, sociolinguistics, etc.

16. Individual differences
 Question asked: if learners have a particular
quality “x”, does this make them better second
language acquirers?
Three main points that need to be well explained:
5. How doe we define “x”?
6. What does it mean to be a “better” acquirer?
7. What aspect of communicative competence are
we referring to?

17. Affective factors: motivation
 Will a person that is more motivated be more
successful at acquiring an L2?
 Two types of motivation:
 INSTRUMENTAL (having a specific goal or reason to
learn the L2).
 INTEGRATIVE (wanting to learn more about a
culture or to fit in better).
Some findings:
The degree of integrative motivation, correlates with
the degree of success in learning a target language.

18. Cognitive factors
 The mechanics of how an individual learns
something new.
 Contrast between field dependence and field
independence.
Some SLA conclusions:
 field-independent learners do better on tests that
focus on analytic tasks such as providing the
correct grammatical form in a given sentence.
 Field-dependent learners do better in tasks that
involve synthesizing their knowledge. (better
communicative commpetence – more concerned
with getting the message across than with the
correctness)

19. The l2 classroom
Three relevant characteristics of
a second language classroom:
 Modified input (teacher talk)
 Modified interaction (recast)
 Focus on form (instructions
about the language and
explicit correction).

20. Bilingual education
 Minority language maintenance programs
 French immersion