Second language acquisition (SLA) is an academic field examining how individuals learn languages beyond their first, with roots dating back to the late 1960s. It encompasses various approaches, including linguistic, psychological, and social perspectives, focusing on internal and external factors that influence language learning. The document emphasizes the importance of recognizing similarities between languages to aid both learners and teachers in effectively addressing structuring challenges in language acquisition.

1. SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
By Natasha Velásquez Manrique

2. WHAT IS SLA?
• “Second Language Acquisition is the scholarly field of inquiry
that investigates the human capacity to learn languages other
than the first, during late childhood, adolescence or
adulthood, and once the first language or languages have
been acquired” (Ortega, 2009)

3. BRIEF HISTORY
• SLA began in the late 1960s.
• During the 1980s and 1990s, SLA expanded considerably in
scope and methodology.
• At the end of the twentieth century, it had finally reached its
coming of age as an autonomous discipline.
• It continues growing.

4. SLA APPROACHES
According to Saville-Troike (2006, pp. 24):
• Linguistic
• Psychological
• Social

5. LINGUISTIC
• There have been two foci for the study of SLA from a linguistic
perspective since 1960: internal and external.
• Internal focus:
• Have been based on the work of Noam Chomsky.
• It refers to the linguistic competence.
• External focus:
• It emphasized the use of language (performance).

6. PSYCHOLOGICAL
• There have been 3 foci in the study of SLA from a
psychological perspective:
• Languages in the brain:
• There is a critical period for language acquisition which has a
neurological basis.
• Learning processes:
• It has been heavily influenced by computer-based Information
Processing (IP) models of learning.
• L2 is a complex skill. It tries to answer the question of how.
• Processability and Conectionism.
• Learner differences:
• It has been concerned with the question of why some learners
are more successful than others.

7. SOCIAL
• Some of the frameworks can be considered linguistic or
cognitive.
• They all emphasize the importance of social context for
language acquisition and use.
• There are 2 foci for the study of SLA from this perspective:
• Microsocial focus:
• Language acquisition and use in immediate social context of
production, interpretation, and interaction.
• Macrosocial focus:
Language acquisition and use to broader ecological contexts,
including cultural, political, and educational setting.

8. THE LINGUISTICS OF THE SECOND
LANGUAGE ACQUSIITION
• Early approaches to SLA:
Internal focus:
• Contrastive analysis
• Error analysis
• Interlangage
• Morpheme Order Studies
• Monitor Model
• Universal Grammar

9. External focus:
• Systemic Linguistics
• Funtional Typology
• Function-to-Form
• Mapping
• Information Organization

10. CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
• According to Saville-Troike (2006, pp. 34):
• This is an approach to the study of SLA which involves
predicting and explaining learner problems based on a
comparison of L1 and L2 to determine similarities and
differences.
• It was influenced by Struturalism and Behaviorism.
• The concept of transfer: This means the transfer of elements
acquired in L1 to the target L2.

11. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
TRANSFER
• The transfer is called positive when the same structure is
appropriate in both languages. Example:
• Spanish plural –s morpheme on nouns to English.
• The transfer is called negative when the L1 structure is used
inappropriately in the L2, as in the additional transfer of
Spanish –s to a modifier in number agreement with the noun.
For example:
• Lenguas modernas to languages moderns.

12. • The easiest L2 structure are those which exist in L1 with the
same form, meaning and distribution and are thus available
for positive transfer; any structure in L2 which has a form not
occurring in L1 needs to be learned, but this is not likely to be
very difficult if it has the same meaning and distribution as an
“equivalent” in L1.

13. How can your hypothesis help
students to learn?
• This hypothesis can help students to learn based on the fact
that many people ignore that there are many structures in
other languages that are similar to our native language. If we
use these similarities we can learn a language faster and also
improve it easily.

14. How can your hypothesis help
teachers?
• The process of CA involves describing L1 and L2 at each level,
analyzing roughly comparable segments of the languages for
elements which are likely to cause problems for learners.
• This information provides a rationale for constructing
language lessons that focus on structures which are predicted
to most need attention and practice, and for sequencing the
L2 structures in order of difficulty.

15. Sources
• Ortega, Lourdes. (2009). Understanding Second Language
Acquisition. New York: Routledge
• Saville-Troike, Muriel. (2006). Introducing Second Language
Acquisition. United States of America: Cambridge University
Press.