3. INTRODUCTION: DESCRIBING AND EXPLAINING L2
ACQUISITION
Many people think that they have to learn a
second language, as means of obtaining an
education or securing employment.
In learning second language some people find
some problems in mastering it.
4. WHAT IS `SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION`?
• It is the systematic study of how people
acquire a second language (L2)
• It is a recent phenomenon
• It belongs to the second half of the twentieth
century.
5. Definition:
L2 acquisition is the way in which people learn a language
subsequent to their mother tongue,
for instance, naturally as a result of living in a country where it is
spoken or through instructions in a classroom, and
Second language acquisition (SLA) as the study of this.
6. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF SLA?
To understand how learners acquire an L2 an SLA
researcher may ask learners who have been successful in
learning a L2, with observes how their language change
from time to time, and watches how their overall ability
to communicate develop or how they become more
fluent in their use of an L2.
7. The language acquisition of learners
can be described by looking at their
pronunciation, vocabulary, and
grammar
8. The question one has to ask is how learners acquire
a second language?
So one of the goals is the description of L2
acquisition, one collects and analyses samples of
learners language (the language learners produce
when they have to use an L2 in speech or writing).
9. Another goals is explanation one figures out
internal and external factors which play a role for
learners who acquire an L2:
a) Internal factors like cognitive mechanisms
and knowledge
b) External factors like the social milieu and
the input
10. a) Internal factors like cognitive mechanisms and
knowledge
Internal factors relate to cognitive mechanisms
which enable them to extract information about
the L2 from the input such as
aptitude, attitude, interest, motivation and
personality.
11. b) External factors like the social milieu and the
input
External factors relate to factors outside of
individual which give him/her opportunity to
acquire input of language and practice it such as
social condition.
12. TWO CASE STUDIES
Definition:
A case study is a detailed study of a learner s acquisition of an
L2. These studies are longitudinal (samples of the learner s
speech or writing are collected over a period of time).
13. TWO CASE STUDIES
The first case study is a study of an adult learner
learning English in surroundings of daily
communication.
The second case study is a study of two children
learning English in a classroom.
14. A CASE STUDIES OF AN ADULT LEARNER AND A CASE STUDY OF
TWO CHILD LEARNERS
Teachers or instructors of second language (l2) have
responsibility to help their students in mastering L2. It is
important for teachers and learners to understand how second
language acquired and learnt and what factors can determine the
successful of learners
15. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES
The second study is more typical of SLA because
researchers have to focus on some specific aspects of
Language rather than on the whole complex
phenomenon.
One has to make a distinction between their
knowledge and what learners can do.
One possibility to measure whether acquisition has
taken place or not is to consider the overuse of linguistic
forms.
16. There are some interesting issues in
describing and explain L2 acquisition. It
means to say that a learner has acquired a
feature of target language, and whether
learners have acquired a particular feature.
17. ISSUES IN THE DESCRIPTION OF LEARNER
LANGUAGE
Learners make errors of different kinds.
L2 learners acquire a large number of formulaic
chunks
These studies, suggest that learners do acquire
aspects of an L2 systematically and they follow
particular developmental routes, with some
features being acquired before others
18. ISSUES IN THE EXPLANATION OF L2 ACQUISITION
Learners internalize chunks of language structure, but
they acquire rules, so, learners must engage in both item
learning and system learning.
Learners simply needed more time to learn, but also
possible that L2 learners , unlike children acquiring their
L1, just stop learning.
