The document discusses research on transitional constructions and acquisition order in second language acquisition. It covers the development of negation and interrogation, comparing L1 and L2 acquisition order. Studies show learners acquire certain structures in a predictable sequence, regardless of first language or environment. For example, negation develops from using "no" before verbs to using auxiliaries with "not". Interrogatives develop from lacking auxiliaries to controlled subject-verb inversion. Both child and adult L2 studies found similar acquisition orders to L1, though some structures are acquired earlier in L2. Writing develops in the same order as speaking. Simple questions are acquired before embedded ones, and reflexives follow predictable stages.

1. Transitional Constructions
&
Acquisition Order
Master’s Program English as a Second Language
February 26,2019
Dr. Dulcinia Núñez
EDUC 550
Second Language Acquisition
Yadira Aponte Alicea, María Díaz Alicea,
Roxanne M. Feliciano Ramos, Raymond Rivera, Verónica Rodríguez Cáceres

2. Objectives
Discuss the terms and research related to the following terms:
Transitional
Constructions
- Development of
Negation
- Development of
Interrogation
Acquisition Order
- Child Studies
- Adult Studies
- Writing Vs. Speaking
- Comparing with L1
acquisition
- Simple and Embedded wh-
questions
- Reflexive pronouns
- Variability
- Research methodology

3. Introduction
• Studies of acquisition order seek to determine the order in which learners
acquire language structures.

4. Transitional Constructions
Yadira Aponte

5. Transitional Constructions = Interlanguage
• Are the language forms learners use while they are still learning the grammar of
a language.
• L2 learners like L1 pass through sequences of developments .
• In a given language, many of these developmental sequences
are similar for both.
• It is not always the case that L2 features which are heard or read
most frequently are easier to learn.
• Even among L2 learners from different L1 backgrounds and
different learning environments, many of these developmental
sequences are similar.

6. The Development of Negation
• The acquisition of negative sentences by L2 learners follows a path that looks
nearly identical to the stages of L1 language acquisition.
• The difference is that L2 learners from different language backgrounds behave
somewhat differently within those stages.
• Stages of forming negative sentences:
• Stage 1 – Using “no” before the verb or noun
• Stage 2 - Using “don’t”
• Stage 3 – Using “are”, “is” and “can” with “no”
• Stage 4 – Using auxiliary verbs with “not” that agree with tense,
person and number

7. The Development of Negation
Stages of forming negative sentences
Stage 1
•I no sit on this
table
•I don’t sit on
this table
Stage 2
•I no know it
•I don’t know it
Stage 3
•You no have
this back
•You can’t have
this back
Stage 4
•Not is no
•Not is isn’t

8. The Development of Interrogatives
• The developmental sequence for questions by L2 learners is similar in most
respects to L1 language acquisition.
• The developmental sequence for questions, while very similar across learners,
also appears to be affected to some degrees by L1 influence.
• Stages of forming interrogatives
• Stage 1 – Virtually no auxiliaries
• Stage 2 – Some auxiliaries plus modals
• Stage 3 – Inversion of questions not in control
• Stage 4 – Inversion of questions under control

9. The Development of Interrogatives
Some intermediate steps in the acquisition of questions
Virtually no
auxiliaries
• Who that?
• Who is that?
Some
auxiliaries
plus modals
• What’s that is?
• What is that?
Inversion of
questions not
in control
• Where are they?
• Where they are?
Inversion of
questions
under control
• How do you do?
• How are you?

10. ACQUISITION ORDER
Veronica Rodriguez

11. Are language
structures
learned in the
order that they
are taught?
Drills or memorized
dialogues, yet not in
normal conversations
Ex. Adding the –s verb
*She likes him.

12. The natural
order in
which
learners
acquired
English
Consciously vs.
subconsciously or
automatized
Learners will produce such
structures only when have
acquired enough of the
English Rules.

13. L 2 Research
• Roger Brown’s longitudinal study:
• 4 yrs. Study
• Participants were children
• L1 English
• 14 grammatical morphemes learned in a similar order
• Regardless: environment or positive reinforcement
• Concluding by this “ …children work out rules for the speech they hear, passing from levels
of lesser to greater complexity, simply because the human species is programmed at certain
period in its life to operate in this fashion on linguistic input”

14. Implications of
Brown’s study
in L2
Might there also be a
common order of
acquisition for certain
L2 structures?
Is there an
acquisition order for
certain English
structures which is
characteristic of L2
learners?

15. Investigated Grammatical
Morphemes
*Noun & verb
inflections
*articles
*auxiliaries
*Copulas
*prepositions
*word order

16. Child studies
1st published study (pilot)
• 8 grammatical morphemes
• Participants: 6-8 yrs. Old
• Spanish speakers
• Different places across the states,
with different amount of English
exposure.
(3 groups)
• Structure Conversation
Structure Conversation
• Ex. Why is he so fat?
• He eats a lot.
• Speech produced is natural.

17. “
”
The acquisition sequences obtained
from the three groups of children
were strikingly similar.
FINDINGS
Even though each group was at a different level of proficiency.

18. Adult studies
1st. Published adult
study
• Bailey, Madden & Krashen
• Similarly in sequence
acquisition
• 8 structures
• 23 participants
• 12 language backgrounds
• Study in NY as ESL
Please review graph chart in
pages 206, 208 and 210

19. Writting Vs. Speaking
-Comparing With L1 Acquisition
-Simple and Embedded Wh- Questions
Roxanne M. Feliciano

20. Writing Vs. Speaking
• The acquisition of language sequencing was first examined by Krashen,
Butler, Birnbaum, and Robertson in 1978
• They asked their ESL students to write a description of a cartoon.
• They examined seven structures and obtained a series of results.
–They concluded that certain structures in native writing are identical
to those observed in oral production.

21. Comparison with L1 Acquisition
• There are some similarities related between L1 and
L2 acquisition.
• In their studies Dulay and Burt focused on 9
morphemes, and compared their findings with
Browns.
– They found that L1 ad L2 acquisition order varied
in some aspects.
Irregular
past
tense
The
article
The
copula
The
auxiliary
-They are acquired
earlier in L2 than in
L1.

22. Comparison with L1 Acquisition
• Krashen pointed out that the acquisition order for
just the five morphemes studied are acquired in
similar order for L2 and L1 learners.
Bound Morphemes:
Can only appear as
part of a larger word.
Free Morphemes:
Can stand alone
-s Eats
-ingSmiling

23. Simple and Embedded Wh- Questions
- In 1977 Dulay and Burt studied
the order in which wh- sentences
were acquires.
- They focused their group on
Spanish and Keres speaking
children.

24. Simple and Embedded Wh- Questions
• Simple questions precede their correct form in embedded context.
First we learn What’s that?
Secondly we learn What are those?
Lastly we learn I don’t know that.
• The child learns What’s that? as one single word, and will later have
difficulty dividing it.

25. Reflexive Pronouns
• Dulay and Burt studied the
acquisition of reflexive
pronouns in Spanish speakers.

26. Reflexive Pronouns
- This demonstrates the learner’s creative way of learning reflexive
structures.
- They treat reflexive as possessive contractions.
- They learn the female pronoun first.
- They learn themselves later because they fail at pluralizing –self.

27. *
*

28. References
Heidi Dulay, M. B. (1982). Language Two. San Francisco: Oxford University Press.