ISL WEEK 1

FROM: Brown (2000). Principles Of Language Learning & Teaching. (pp 20-29) & (pp 67-69)

Behaviouristic approaches

Nativist approaches Functional approaches

THEORY OF 1ST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Embodied by Skinner

When consequences is rewarding, behaviour is maintained, if not, itll be weakened

Behaviouristic approaches

His theory: operant conditioning

Verbal behaviour: control by its consequences

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NATIVIST APPROACH

Approaches to the study of child language asked some of those deeper questions

We are born with genetic capacity that predisposes us to a systematic perception of language around us

Language acquisition device (LAD) consisting of 4 innate linguistic properties

Ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the environment

Ability to organize linguistic data into various classes that can later be refined

Knowledge that can only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible & that the other kind os not

The ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system so as to construct the simplet possible system out of the available linguistic input

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NATIVIST APPROACH

Child linguistic development is not process of developing fewer & fewer incorrect mistakes than later stages

Child language acquisition were free to construct hypothetical grammar of child language

Pivot grammar the early grammar of child language

Parallel distributed processing (PDP)/connectio nism neurons in the brain forms multiple connections

Childs/adults linguistic performance may be consequence of many levels of simultaneous neural interconnections

3 Important Contributions To Our Understanding1st Language Acquisition Process

Freedom from restrictions of the so called"scientific method to explore the unseen, unobservable, underlying, abstract linguistic structures being developed in child.

Systematic description of the child linguistic repertoire as either rule-governed/operating out of parallel distributed processing capacities.

The construction of a no. of potential properties of universal grammar.

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FUNCTIONAL APPROACH
researches began to see lang. was one of manifestation of cognitive & affective ability

generative rules were abstract, formal, explicit & quite logical

Cognition & language development

Social interaction & language development

coordinate bilinguals

who have two meaning systems

BILINGUALISM
compound bilinguals who have one meaning system from which both language operate

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INTERFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Speakers apply knowledge from their native language. It can occur in any situation when someone does not have a native level command of a language, as when translating into a second language Language Interference (Linguistic Interference, Cross-Linguistic Interference or Transfer) The grater the differences between the two languages, the more negative the effects or interference re likely to be Interference : It will inevitably occur in any situation where someone has an imperfect command of a second language

INTERFERENCE IN ADULTS

Adults approach the second language systematically ; they attempt to formulate linguistic rules with the information they have : i) from the native language ii) from the second language iii) from teachers and classmates

interference from the first language dos not imply that interference is the most important factor and adult second language acquisition

adults learning a second language manifest some of the same errors found in children learning ther first language

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ORDER OF ACQUISITION

The Younger The Better - Myth

We tend to believe that children are better at learning foreign languages ; nevertheless,concerning literacy,vocabulary,pragmatics,schematic knowledge and syntax, adults are probed to be superior learners

ISL WEEK 1

FROM: Ellis (1997). Second Language Acquisition. (pp 3-13)

The way in which people learn a language other than their mother tongue

What Is The Scond Language Acquisition ?

The way in which people learn a languagenaturally as a result of living in a country where it is spoken/learn in classroom

What Are The Goals Of Second Language

-One of the the goals of SLA is the description of L2 Acquisition. Another is explanation; identifying the external and internal factors that account for why learners acquire an L2 in the way they do -One of the external factors is the social milieu in which learning take place. -Another external factor is the input that learners receive, that is, the samples of language to which a learner is exposed. -Learners possess cognitive mechanism which enable them to extract information about L2 from the input-to notice, for example, that the plularity in English. Final set of internal factors explain why learners vary in the rate they learn an L2 and how successful they ultimate are. -The goals of SLA, then, are to describe how L2 Acquisition proceeds and to explain this process and why some learners seem to better at it than others.

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Issues In The Description Of Learners

Learners make errors of different kinds

L2 learners acquire a large number of formula chunk,which they use to perform communicative functions that are important to them and which contribute to the fluency of their unplanned speech.
Whether learners acquire the language systematically.

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

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ISSUES IN THE EXPLANATION OF L2

One issue to do with it is that needs to be described

Another issue concerns what it means to say that a learner has acquired a feature of the target language

There is another problem in determining whether learners have acquired a particular issues

A thied problem in trying to measure whether acquisition has taken place concern learners overuse of linguistic forms

A hypothesis that L2 acquisition involves different kinds of learning

The systematic nature of L2 acquisition also requires explanation

Learners must engage both item learning and system learning.

One is that learners follow a particular developmental pattern.

The case studies, then, illuminate the kinds of issues that pre-occupy SLA

An explanation of L2 Acquisition must account for both item and system learning and how the two interrelate.

Other explanations emphasize the importance of external as opposed to internal factors.