Seer eT eT att! ’ mit “vs 5a Series Editor H.G. Widdowson eee eed readers new tothe formal study of language. Each book contains four parts: Pera a ere) ees rd A selection of annotated references Reed Ce eee ey ron This structure is designed to allow diferent Poe eee eee au need Coe Re Wet eey tert Sree ed ee re ny people learn a language other than thelr mother tongue. itis designed to make the essentials of eo ee ee Perret aa ees Celeb ia mle ll | Oxford introductions to Language Study Series Editor H.G. Widdowson Second Language! PUK este] Rod Ellis COR ME CER a TcOxford Introductions to Language Study = 5; § 3 7 aS 7 come < ‘Second Language Acquisition inthe iiiPublished in this series Guy Cook: Applied Linguistics Rod Elis: Second Language Acquisition Claire Kramsehs Language and Culture ‘Tim MeNamara: Lamgnage Testing Peter Roach: Phonetics Herbert Schendl Historical Linguisties Thomas Scovel Psycholinguisties Bernard Spolsky: Sociolinguistics Peter Verdonk:Sttstcs HG. Wildowson: Fonguisties George Va: Pragmatics oxford Introductions to Language Study Series Editor H.G. Widdowson Rod Ellis OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS., Contents {reat Clendon Ss Oxhond 0 Ostord New York a 7 Stcland Ranghk Benoe Ass CapeTown Chem Daressulaam Deki Hong King Ia Recs Rests Kesh Lumpur Macnd Melbourne Meso. Mths Survey ‘ i Saal Shang Tapes Tyo Tern 4 mtiadeta docafans ans obaaang “xtonpandonrno sci Uz ecquition sretrademartsof Oxon User Pew What is scord langage sequins : ssan p1naa7200N What arethe goals SLA? 4 Ocal Unry Pes 197 Twa cave studies 6 Fira ob Methodological isis " ‘Nowhmpresin 2093 Issues in te description of earner language B Issues in the explanation af 12 acquisition 8 Alegre No prt oth pbictan ny ee 2 Thonature of leamer language mot ti pr pms igo Developmental patterns 20 Libs tothe ELT igs Deparmenns Ord Unicon Prem atthe are above 3 Interanguage Behaviourist learning theory ‘uence onan a ee A mentalise theory of langage leaening A atte rkroin hi pt athe pi What s“interkanguage"? Wessel Ost ny Aconputarional mndel of L2 acquisition s ‘nately ————— = 4 Soci aspects of inteianguage Ttalterhenteyless shined Tneetlanguage as stliate comin ca Mader The acculeration mala 2 session a P71 Social Meni and insestnent 1 ea 4"10 Discourse aspects of intertanguage Acquiring discourse rales The let inpurand interaction i 12 sequisition The ete 12 ation Sunsary ychotinguistic aspects of nterlanguage Ui renster Thereof consciousness in 12 acute Proxessingoperations ‘Communication strates Twoypes of computational model Lnguistc aspects of menanguage Typoloical universas: elative clauses Universal Grammar Lesrnahiliy The rita perio hypothesis Aeves to UG Marked CCapsitive sera init explanations Individual differences in 2 acquisition Lang Mosisanion earning states Instruction and L2 acquisition Form-fncuse insteaction Learner-ineruction marghing Serateay raining, Conclusion: multiple perspectives in SLA Readings srenion 4 Glossary Preface Purpose \What justification might chee befor series of inrodactions 0 language stady? After all, hingistcs i already well served with introductory texts expositions and explanations which are com prehensive and authoritative and excellent in thir” way Generally speaking, however, their way isthe essentially acd icone of providing detail niiacion inc thedseipline af lin guises, al hey tent» he enuthy and technical: appropriately Sos gis their parpune. Bu they can he giteaaunting to the fvie. Thete ala ved for 4 more penera and gradu ne dco 4 Tanga: teasitional text aehih willease pepe into an understanding ple ies, This intel ios is designed te serve this ied Their rpc, thercore, i nt ta supplant bu to supper the more academically oriented introctions to hngustins 10 prepare the conceptual grou. They are based on the hele that itisan advantage to haves broad map ofthe terrain sketched ont beforeaneconsidersite mare specific esturescan a smaller sale ‘Rencral cnntext in reference to which the dstal makes sense is Somtines the ase that suds are into ttl wih itbeing mace eae whet sa detail af Clearly general unde stondlg of Mes is ot sufficents there needs ts he closer scrutiny, Bur equally. cl leas unlesit sell tothe anger sie fed st besa hat the precondition sf nore patina ennui i th awareness of serio cas be mgepic and meaning tw provide thi linge wie af hilerent ats Kaasoy. As such it can serve as. preiinaryto (and precondition for the more specie and specialized enquiry which students af linguistics are required to undertake Thur the series no aly inten tbe help to such st dents. There ate many people whe take gn interest i Langa wwithowr being acadennically engaged in linguistics per se Such people may reeoize the importance of understanding langue fortheirenen fines enquiry or or theirowen practic purposes, for quite simply for making them aassee of something which fiqutes so centrally in their everyday lve. [linguists has eveah ing an relevant things to say about language, then this should presumably not he a privileged revelation, hut one accessible to people other than linguists. These hooks have heen so designed as to accommodate these boader interests too: they are meant to be inteeductions co language more generally as well ast linguists ssa discipline Design The haksin the series are all cut to the same basic pattern There se fo parts Survey Readings, Referenves, and Glssary Survey This fa stwomary overview of the main Features of the awa af language study concerned: its seope and principles uf enquiry, its basic concerns and key concepts, These are expressed and explained in ways which are intended co make shem as accesible ss possibleto penple who have no prior knowledge or expertise the subject. The Survey is writen to he readable and is unelatered by the customary scholarly rferenves. ln cis sense, it simple Bur it is nor simplistic. Lack of specialise expertise dies noe imply an inability to understand or evaloate teas. Ignorance mens lackaf knowledge, nor lack of iareligence. The Survey, therefore, is meant 1 be challenging, le draws a map ofthe subst aca in such aeay re atimlte thought, aa to invite etc pet pation i the exploration of kleas. This Kind of eoneepeual artogzaphy has its dangers of course: the selection a what is Significant andthe manner oft epeesentation will ot ee the Ting of exerghoae, particles ot, perhaps, 1 seme of those inside the discipline, But these surveys are written in the belief that there must bean alternative to. technical account on heane fhand and an ido’ nde om the other if linguistics seo he made relevant 0 people inthe wider world Readings Same people will he content to rex ana perhaps ee-read, the Simmary Survey, Orbs wll ean to pare the snject and so willuse the Survey asthe preliminary for more detate stay. The Readings provide the necessary transition, For here the reader i presented with texts extracted from the specialise erature. The prpose ofthese readings is quite dtferene from the Survey. Fis forge readers to focus thespevifis of what is said and how itis Sai in these source texts. Questions are provided to Further this purpose: they are designed to direct attention to points in each text, how they compare across texts, and how they deal with the Issues discussed in the survey, The ia is to give readers an intial favniliasty with the mone specialist idiom ofthe lingustics Hier ature, where the sees might note so really accesible, al 10 encourage them intr close critical reaing References One way of moving inte more detiled study is ehrough che Readings, Another's through the annocazed References in the third section of cach hook. Here there isa selection of works [books and arsicis! for forther reading. Accompanying com rents indicate how these deal in move detail with the fisted cessed in the different chapeers ofthe survey Glossary Certain erm in the Survey appear in bold These are terms use ina special or echnical sensei the discipline. Their meanings are made clear in the discon, ht they aze als explained in the Glossary at the end of each book, The Glossy is cease referenced ta the Survey a sherfore wrven atthe same dine as ai ines. Thiy enables readers t hocate the term and what i Signi n the more general discussion, thereby in flats using the Survey aya summary work of refereeUse The eres has been designed soas oe Hsien use, Bach les separate and selfeantained, with nly the ave format in emnmn. The tour sections of the Formats csc hetes eat Fhe drawa upeon and combined in ditterent way as regio hy the needs or interests of iffrentweders, Se nay he cement vith the Survey andl the Glossary and ay set wane allow ap the saggested references. Some may nt wish tr venture into he Readings. Again, the Survey might be cansidered as appropriate preliminary reading for a course in appli linguistics teacher ‘education, and the Readings more appropriate for seminar ds ‘cussion during the course. In short, the notion of an intyhction will mean differen things to different people, but inal ases the concern ista provide access to specialist knowledge and stimulate am awareness ofits significance. This series a a whole has been Aesigned to provide this access and promote this awareness it respect to diffrent areas of langage sey SECTION 1 SurveyIntroduction: describing and explaining L2 acquisition What The systematic study of how people acquite @ second language (often referred eo as an L2 isa faely recent phenomenon, belong ing to che second half ofthe twentieth century Is emergence at this time is perhaps no accident. This has been a time of the "global village’ and the World Wide Wel between people has expanded! way beyond their local spec ‘communities. As never before, peuple have had ta learn a secon language, noe just as pleasing pastime, bur often as 2 means of “obganing am edcation vr searing employment, At such a in, there san abvieun noed ta discover more aut how second a suagesare learned [At fies sight, the meaning the erm secon language acai: tion’ seems transparent bu, in fet, requires cate explana tion, For one ching, in this context “second” can refer co any language that is earned subsequent tthe mother tong, Thos, «an reer tothe learning of a tit oe fourth language. Also, ‘ee fond” is not intended to contrast with “foreign. Whether you are learning 2 language naturally aa result of living in a country here itis spoken, of learning iin a classroom theough instruc tion, fe evtomary to speak generally of ood Tange acquisition LZ acquisition ple learn langage ntherthan ther mother tang, ise oF ut side ofa classroom, an "Second Language Acquisition” (STAD as theseudy of ths ‘second language acquisition’? hen, ca he fine as the way’ in wich peWhat are the goals of SLA? Imogine thar you arean SLA rescarcher interest in fining out how Teannery aequire an 12. Hoss woul you set abut eng it? ‘One way might he simply to ask learners ha have fen sees ful in Tearing. a sevend language how they di it. This approach has be use and has provided some wake tsighty, Iss ever, somewhat limited in thar leenersrs probably noc aware for camer remember the actual keting prowess they engaged in. A better approach might be to fd oa what Fears aetaly Ldovas apposed to war they think they doy ohes they ty to earn an L2. One way of doing this is by collecting samples of learner Tanguage—the language that learners produce when they are called 1 0 use an L2 in speech oF writing-—and analyse them carefully. These Samples prove evidence of what the learners know about te language they are teyng to eat (che target lan guage). If samples ace collected at different points in ime if may also he possible tw find out how leatnen’ knowledge gradually ‘develops. What we might sec tw dy then t0 describe haw learner language changes overs Bur what exactly shold yon tuage? You may devide to fawus on how learners overall ability tercommanicare develops, how they hecesme more flint i their use of an L2. In general however, SLA has aot fase an these ok for in samples af learner an ‘ommunieativeaspeets of langage development but the for imal feature of language that linguists have traditionally conse trated on. OneeXample might he the pronunciation a an [sho earners’ accents change overtime. Another might be learners use; how learners buildup ther vocabulary. Most often, however, the favs has been the grammar of the L2. Researchers select» specifi grammatical structare, sich as plurals or relative clauses, and esplore hw learners ality ta pexlace this sre ture develops dime One of the goals oF SLAs thes isthe dessriptivn Wf L2 acai ion. Another separation evi the esternal and een factors thar account for why ames uive a 12 inthe way they a acute external actors these ia mien in which hearings rakes place. Social somiin inflaenve the sppetunticy that Fearmers have 1o hear and speak the language and the atcitudes that they develop cowards it. For example sane thing to earn language when you respect and ae respected by native speakers dthat language Iris entirely citer wh vu experience ow tility fom native speakers or when yo sinh to distance yoursel Feo them ‘Anoticr external fstoris the put hat learners receives that is she samples of language to shih einer exposed, Langage Jearning cannot accur without same mpt. A yustion af ans erable interests what ype ot inp facates leaning, Fr exam ple, do learners Ienctit mone from input that has bee imple for them or from the authentic language uf naivespeaker com 12 acauistion can be explained in part by these external fas tots bur we also need ro consider internal Factors, Learners pos Sess cognitive mechanisms which enable thems co extract fnformation ahout the L2 from the inpat-te notices for example, that plurality in English is conveyed by adding an ta noun or that the relative pronouns “who” and “which” substitute espes tively for human al nen-human sus, 12 learners bring an enormons amount of kanes ew the task of learning. L2. Hora start they have already earn lan auage (thie mother tema) and we can expect them to eraw en this hen they learn aa E3. They also ponses general nw ahout she worl which they van draw on ws help them understand 12 input, Finally learners possess comunivation strategies that can help them make effective use of their 12 kaowledge, For example even i they have nor learned the wor “art galler may be able ro communicate the idea of iby inventing their ww term {for example, ‘picture place’) leis ako possible that arners ate «yuinped with knowles hhow language in general works andlshae rs hel them 0 learnt Particular language. Let us conker 4 yrammatical example Learners of L2 English laced wit the sentence Joan wanted Mare ta help hersel may be ale to rule out automatically the possi thar de feflevive promonan “herself rotors to “ou rather thant “Mary suse they “know” hewe sich ellesive pronouns aeork tnlanguage in general, Aesordingt this view, there ate iui com strainsson what is grammatically punsle in Language in general and knowing these makes the task of lasing 9 particalat L2 A Fal set of internal factors explain why learners vary in the rote they learn an 12 and how suwvesstil they ultimately are, For examples it has been suggested thae peopl vary in thie language aptitude |i, their natural disposition tor aes an 12}. same Finding teaser than others Thegnalsof SLA, thea, are teceserihe how L2 acquisition pe sews and to explain tis process and why some earners seem &0 bebetterarit than others. Toillastestemore specifically how SLA, researchers have st about trying to achieve these goals we will how examine rw case studies of L2 learners. Two case studies ‘ease study is detailed stad of learner's acquisition of an L2. Ie typically longitudinal, involving the calletion of samples of the larner’s speech oF writing wver a peril of time, sometimes years. The twe casestudies which we will now examine were both longitudinal. One isa an aul lence evening English in su rounklings where eserves asa means af daily comimenication and theuther of yo children learning English in classroom, Accase study of an adult learner Wes was a thirty-three yearold anst, a native speaker of Japanese. He had had ite formal instruction in English, having leteschool at fiteen. While he remained in Japan hiscontacts with native speakers were few and far berween. Ie was any when he began to visit Hawaii, in connection with his work, that he hat regular opportunities to use English. Wes thers anexarapleofa “naturalistic” Fearner—someone who learns the language a€ the same rime as learning te communicate in Righaed Schick, a searcher atthe University of Hawaii studied Woo langage development over a three-year petind from the time he fest started visiting Hawai vt he eventually took up residence there, Schinadt asked Wes to make recordings in English shen he went on trips back to Tokyo. He then made writen transcriptions of these monoleges sehich Listed betwee Dre and thre hors. bs addition, Schmit made recowings an Ernscriptions of inforinal omersaninns brween Wes and fends in Honotl ‘Among wher things, Sebmide was intersted i ow Wess knowledge of Eaghsh grammar dkseloped ener the three year, Ta this em he facts on 4 small uniber of grammatical es ures, sus as tho ane oF aviary fi, paral tor example, “Spouns'sthied person -s Gir eannpe, comes) and eegulae past rere flor esaimple, “jumped. He {Wes usc these featur in hisapooch sta time near the bein ‘ofhis staly an ata time neaetheatd What might constiture evidence chat Wes was acquiring the _grammar of English? Strong evidence woukd be Schmid could Show that Wes had learned to use the grammarial Features with the same level of accuracy as native speakers of English. In ft ‘Wes could already ese some of the femares with native-ike a curacy at the beginning of his studs. However, Schimide ss pected thar Wes had not re altho Wes cl sco using prearessive ie what € Was reited, i seared these. Far example Alleday Pa sitting table be alo supplied irin sentences when it was not requires Sa yesterday Uae pinay. Furthermore, there were very few vers which Wes used in both the simple form (for example, paint) and the progresive form (for example painting) He yenerally ancl exch ver with just one of these forms. Clearly, Wes didnot have the same nowleducof progresive-ang asa native speaker In fat, Wes a ltl or na nosed 38 the beginning of the study of most ofthe grammatical sructuees Schima investigate ‘Moreover, he was stil ar shar of native-speaker accuracy three years later Fes nouns, rarely puts on the thd passe singular 0 ‘ample, he continued «8 omits He paral never ieatehe t a past tee Te wll by sere, howese, 0 think of Wes as complete failure asa among lear, Noah he id on fart chtxrammar, he did develop in other ways, For example, a geneeal feature of Wes's use of English ws his use of frmutas--fned expressions such as Hil How's t?,"So, what’snew?-Whaddya wane", andl ‘I dann shy. Schmnalt noted thot Wes was ape at identifying these ised phrases and that he practised them con scious. They helped him develop Hlueney #n using Engl. fn fact, Wes achieved considerable sissy ya enmmunicator. He bres atingomplex husiness deals in English andeven able wo give talks about his paintings in English. He way al highly skilled at repairing communication breakdowns ime quite a skilled conversationalist, ery effective at next A.case study of two child learners Whereas Schmidt studied an adule learner in naturalistic sue soundings, investigated two child learners in a classroom con= text. Both were almost complete beginners in English a the beginning ofthe study. J wasa ten-year-old Portuguese ba lier ate his native language. He was an advengurins ana confident leamer, willie struggle ro communicate in Faglish, even whe The had very limited resources. wasn eleven-yearald boy From Pakistan, ypeaking thor unabe to eit Punjabas his native lan Initially, be lacked confidence, using his native language extensively and telying on his eer sister thal him comm cote in English Gradually, however, he Bovine more eanfent and independent Toh learners were learning English in a language unit in London. The uni catered eyclsively for L2 leaeners who had sccently arived jn Briain. The goal was to prepare students for transfer to local secondary schools. J spent almost four schol terms in the unit {about twelve months). R spent two whole school yeas inthe unit and, in fet, was il here when the study ‘ended. The instruction the tw learners received was very mie Ie insole both formal language instruction (ues atten to teach the learners spocifi language tems and rules) and more informal insrustion (ie. attempts to gee the students tase English communicatively). Initials a least the ew lamas al Tile exposure tothe target langage muti the clasgraon The focus of my say vas eins, Feats fl oat howe the two learners acquired the ability to perform requests for series and goods oner the prio of study. Request ca be SC oemedina varity of waysim Enh lor cxanpl Give me you pei Canthave your penil? Jy am belive ipl, 5 the aoe examples oF th abe ute compe when he speaker oes 4 win for taking the req My peri’ broken, Would you mind giving me your? to beaeand to perform request. olleted snp ofthe ro Kammer equests by vsting the lauroons ely and eri inadown any request heyprodiced "When Lanajsed sand Res equess found lea evidence of developmen aking place, Moree, the eo learners appeared Aeros Forename, whan I needa ct of icicle na Inathematce eso esi Bigcise ileal kn, Rust pint at a pce fan et theteacher know tha he wane fm opt sapein ying Sin Alin ater oth eens Bogan tow mperatv ern thei requests: Giver Some ie afer this they earned so we'Can have Can have one yellow book, please? The next stage oftheir development of requests was marked by 3 general extension af the linguistic devices they used. Forexample Rimade use af want statements Miss, want. (R wanted the teacher to give him the stapler) used go YoOceasionally, both learners used hints instead af dinet requests For examples when J wanted the teacher to give hinn a daterent coloured pice at paper he sd This paper isnot sort gon ro colour law Finally dhe learners began 0 use sa with range of ifeent| verbs i. not ant with have’) Can your pass me my pone? A number points emerge from this, Oris that bot haeners| were capable of sucessfully performing simple requests even when they knew ver ite English. Another both learner san ifested development in their ability or perlonm requests ener the period of su, In particular, they acquired alternative ways of Perfotming them. & third point iy that many af their requests Seemed formulaic in nature. That they used fixed expressions Tike*Can Thavea —_?'or Have you gota—P A fourth pane isthe bots earners progressed in much the same way despite the faerthae they ha efferent mative Lansing By she nul ofthe std, therefore, the we Iearner’ ability ro use requests had aveswn considerably. However, it was equally lear shat this abiley was Finite 04 nue of respeets Theit reauest endl to he very det i. they monly rok the form {oman with an inoperative vera threo, whereas native speakers wld tend ro use mone iret ress they make requests by asking questions ovine hits) The learners’ requests were generally very simple, They eaeely mia fied request and if they ido, relied more me lew exclusively of the ime modifier ‘please’ Ako, whereas native speakers of nish vary the way they perform st request with different askiresses fo ensure politeness, the evn Ieamrs used the same Fange of request serateiesierespective af whether they were take ing to the teacher or other students, to short despite ample ‘oppoetunity to master tequests the two Iearners were sil far sh ofnanve-like competenge ar thee ofthe sty {What do these case sins shu an? First they ease number oFinportant metiuygcal aes lating thew 2 aston shoul bestadied Sect they cane Foes eli tothe er tion lawner langage, hi they pin sonnet the problem researchers experience trying xplain 12 acgustion, Methodological issues SFist wan sonvermal ova th how. Wer svete the echopment iat ne Ents in iteationale appre sesgyand ho’ hk oh ac ons My nnd os narnower Twas stmusred wrth fons and Mitral the aby 0 potorm sie Tongae ftom Gregus). In thi rpc my. ty nore teal SLA, LGnguape i sucha complex phenomenon thar searchers hove tency psferedofocusntsome specif spect rather than on thewholeoft creed fetore ofthe target langage, Schmit ike many cher researchers, define “acini terms of whether the itamer manifests patterns of langage ane thot are more xe thesame as atv spesker of the tag language: I might tngoed, henever that thin onlates what lees ra with ‘Mar they as Foresamplee Wes mg esd to kno How to make pura even thn he os nt ways ld a plural noun ‘There another pr in deeming wheter earners have “acquired a pri fextare, Both Sc a pot hat theless imacansiderableune of Hue expressions fu witout having aied the ality to ase te Katore proc trl Forexampl, hth and Raced he pattern Can hve Kinds of enences It posible to ey they had aie cn they cou only ane tone Fixe expression? Mow esate sway ’ third prac ntrying to measure whether “acquton” has token place commer Karns anese af lng form Schmid swe that Wes kaw when tose te prec ae siveconcry hut he aso that Wes as hs hr nso tex cir nn ree, ater wn, Wes nl heh ‘hepuetn pessieith he wrong function, SLA ricsfino and fonction in earners’ ous compares with that of native speaker " Issues in the description of learner language oho these static set out haw ta describe how kaamers’ asec an 12 changes aver tine ad what this show about the nature of their knowiedgeaf the 2. (One finding s that learners make enone of eferent kinds, Wes failed 0 use some grammatical fears at all and used others incorrectly. These ate errorsof omission anxloveruse and R alo ‘made grammatical erors in their requests In addition, they made sociolinguistic errors, That iy they failed tor use requests in a socially appropriate manner. Another finding is that 12 learners acquire large number of formulaic chunks, which they use eo perform communicative funetions that are important to them and which contribute to the fluency of their unplanned speech, An important issue in SLA is the foe that these forms play aot just n enhancing earners? Performance bur also in their acquisition of an L2, Does earning 2 formula like ‘Can havea "help learners ta discover hire ‘can’ works grammatically in the language? One of the must interesting issues rise by these ease sts is whether learners acquire the language systematically. Schmidt found thar the order of accuracy af the different grammatical lea tures that he investigated was the same at the beginning of his study asa che end Thus at both simes, Features lke progeessve ‘ng and ausiliary be (for example, He i painting were used accurately while features like past regular and possessive -s for example, ‘the woman's deess) were sed very. inacc rately. I found evidence eo suggest that both J and B follawed the same sequence of development in their acquisition af requests. These sties, hen, stygest that leaners do acquire aypeets of an 12. systematicaliy ans moreover, that they fallow particular developmettal routey. with some features being aquired hetore others. A key question is how nisersal these evelopment patterns are, Do all learners ear fallow ing the Issues in the explanation of L2 acquisition [what can account far these descriprive findings? We ean begin ‘withthe hypothesis tha L2 acquisition involves different kindof earning. Oo the one hand, learners internalize chunky of ane Sage truco, formuls) On th other hand thy aire Brie es the knowl that a given nga enue used 3 ‘ncular vontext with 3 pacar fonction). In other words, Termes useage in bt em leaning stam lean ‘When earners arn the expression “Can havea they are neapig in item Tearingthey arn the expression a6 a0 Seulpsed whole. When they lan hae can flowed by carey of verbs have’ rn’ help ete} andar itcamenpressa ‘are of functions ability, posit, permission, et) they ar nzazing in syster earving-they ae learning some kind of re forces, Learners nga or pes earning. An explana thon of L2 acquisition must account for both em and system easing and how te wo intra “Thesystematic nature of 12 acquisition also equres explana tions Why il We seem oar sone grammatical tens before cers? Why aid J ant R fst the dire ways oF making teauestin the parlor sequence they did) There ara umber of porible explanations. One that learners follow 3 particular evelopment paters hecose ther mental faculties rer tured such away that his ete way they Pave earn, These faculties, ie argued, regulate what learners tke Irom the inpot and how thy store the information in ther memorien Howerer a ve wil sc late, this manta acon of how U2 acquisition takes place norte only posible one. Other explanations em Dhasize the imporsance of extemal as apposed vo ineral factors ‘None ofthe chee leaner in the nwo case staies reached 9 nativespesker level of performance. Wes did not learn much arammar. Jad R learned fay ied ange of ues ad noe ara howe to vary tei ase of then ih accordance with social actors. Why way acyuiiton in Hearne wn dle? One pos ours, tat they ply ee er Time fear Bu it apse tha 12 femmes lik ch den airing hie Ly ot sop faring Perhaps eer ik eran Jan Rsrconiy moved olen an4 that they are able ro sais their communicarive needs. After ally ‘eisnor necessary ta leara the hl gramonart language inlet rerget one’s meanings across. There ar uther explanatonns haw ever Perhaps all hace arners li not wish to belong tthe em nity of native speakers they had ntact wich an there hep finguistc “stance” beeen thoniselies and them. Perhaps ities blew acquire native-speaker snmpetence i earners start very young when their ray ate in yom sense, ope a sage. Perhaps L2 learners can ely acquire dificull linguistic features ithe receive direct meron i thet These case stale, then illuminate the kinds af ses that pre ‘occupy SLA, These isues il igure in subseauent chapters The nature of learner language ‘We have scen tha the main way of investigating 12 acquisition is by collecting description may focus on the kinds of ero k how these errors change overtime, or it may identity develo metal pat ticular grammatical featores such as past tense, or fe may examine the variability found in learner langage, Lt ts consider each 0 these threeress into nd describing samples of lesener language, The ers make and ns by describing the sages inthe aeguisiion of par Errors and error analysis A first sight it may sco rather exc acs in what learners et wrong rather thas on shat they pet right. However, thers ate good reasons for focusing an errors First they ae a emspioues feature of learner language, raising the important question of “Why do learners make errors? Seven tis vscel for teachers to know what errors learners make. Thied, paradoniealy its pos st making errors may actualy help leamers to learn when ‘cortec the eorsthey make Identifying errors The firs step in analysing lear erste entity them. This s infact easier sand than dam. Lowk atthe sample nf earner hi age below. Thisiva sramcriprion ofa story, hase on aseries at Pictures told y Jean, am adult French learner of English He told the story orally after having buon given the shane to write ia first Cam you alent all he‘One day an Indian gentleman, » snake charmer, arrived in| Fngland by plane, He was coming from Bombay with «wo pieces of luggage. The big of them contained a snake. A man and litle boy was watching him in the ustoms area. The man Sad so the tle oy “Gand speak with this gentleman.” When the lle hoy was speaking with the eaveller the thief te the byigsitease and went out icky, When the vit saw that he {rie Help met Help me! A thief A thief? The piseman was in ‘his comer whistle hut it was to late. The two thieves escape with the big suitease, took their car and went in che traffic They passed near a 200 and stop in a forest Thete they had a bigsurprise. The basket contain a big snake, To identify ezors we have to campase the sentences learners pro- luce with what seem tobe the norinal of ‘earrest sentencesin the target language which correspond! with them. Sometimes this is fairly steaighetorwaed, For example, Jean says Aman anda litle hoy was watching him eignotdifcule to see that the correct sentence shoul be: Aman anda litle boy were watching him, By comparing the two sentences swe ean se that fea has ase "was" instead of “were'—an error in subject-verh agreement, Sometimesshowever, learners price sentences that are posible anget-fanguage sentences but noe prefered ones. Far example, Jean says went the tate Isthisan ersor? A native speaker would prohably preferto say: went ita the tai, hue the traffic is nor actualy wngrammatical Ar other times it is difficult co reconstruct the cones serene Inecanse we are not sure what the learaer meant e993. An ee ample is when Jean si The big of them contained a snake ‘One way oF reconstructing dhe eneretsentenee The bigger of them contain a snake According ths reconstruction, Jean has sed bi ina of Thehigome contained ase Theresa lather prem, How sn howe hes that when a earner proxuvesa deviant For itis or ust an accidental ship af the tongue? Afterall, native speakers often make sips when they fre tired or under some kind of pressure to communicate. We inced to distinguish erors and mistakes. Errors reflect aps in a Teamner’s knowledge; they occur because the learner does nor iknow what iscoreect, Mistakes reflect occasional lapsesin perfor mance; they occur because, ina particular instance, the learner tunable to perform what he or she knows. “There iv an example of an apparent mistake in Jean's speech, Early in the narrative he says ‘The bigot them contameda snake using the past tense of the verb umtain’ correctly, However, in the final sence hesays ‘The hashet utara snake making what seems to he a past tense error. Bur clearly Jean Irnoges what the past tense of ‘contain’ fs. hc has already wed ccorcectly nce, His failure to say ‘vantaine! in the last sentence, then, might be considered a mistake. How can we distinguish errors and mistakes? One way might be to check the consistency of leamers’ performance. Hf they con- sistently substitute ‘contain’ for “contained” this would indicate a Tack of knowledge—an error. However, if they sometimes Say “contain” and sometimes “contained this would suggest hae they ponsess knoswledge ofthe warrct fom and are just slipping Uup—a mistake. Another way might be to ask learners 10 tty te corroct their own deviant utterances, Where they are usable to, the deviations arc errs; where they are suecessil hey are mistakes. However, as we will se later, when we examine Var ots simples this earners may abilfy im leener Language itsconsistently uvea feature like past tense in some contests an con sisted faa to use iti Ferween an error and a mistake may nu he possible hers. Ulimatele, «clear datinetion Describing errors Onceall the ersorshave heen identi, they can be described and elassifed ino types. There sae several ays af dong tis, One way ist clasity errors into grammatical vatgores, We could sather al the errors relating to verbs and then ety che differ ene kinds of ver ereors i ur sampo—ereors in he past fens for example. Another way might het try todentifyueneral wave in which the leeners™ tangerlanguage arterances. Such ways include “omission” [i Jeaving out an item that is requeel foram uteranee to be coms ceed grammatical, ‘misinformation’ i.e using one form in place ot another grammatical form, anal “nr dering fic. putting the words in an utternce in the sorong wd) (Classitying eros i these ways ct help us di Tearning problem at any’ ane stage of their ds so, plot how changes incre patterns wscur or ime Aw analysis of foams errors eeveals that the mest common eammatical eatery af error fps tenses Jan Fas use the past teme on numer of occasions. The most commen pene Error Type is “nisinformation” [lor examine, the use of “Big? instead oF “bigger of was watching’ instead of "were warehing” sand, pechapscof inthe raffie instead a "into the traffic), A the rances differ frm the reconstructed elope a past tense errors are also misinformation ersors, Explai ‘entification and description of errors are preiminates to the mach more interesting tsk ot trying to explain why they eur. Frrors are, roa large extent, stemnatic andy to certain extents proictable. Thus, eai’s verb errors deserbad aban do hut invalte haphavard snbstittions of past tense verbs. We do hr fina hin using the prescht progressive form (oe exam, ‘entaining) in ple of the past temne For on seni excasions und the spe tors Ho sanmple, “enti on thers. Ins, we find evidence af regular replacements sing ingle form. Al ft Jean's past rene cera involve the ase of the simp Form of the verh, This ystemarvity gests that Jean as constructed ome kind fre lft rule diferent fromm that of the target Tanguae rears are not anlysgstematics manyof thea areal univenal “Thus the hind of pase ense ec Founel in Jean’ speed has bee nested in the spoveh af onan Fearn, In fey soa, if moral earners yo threwh 9 tag eninge where th subsite the simple for the verb fr the pase rene or “Ofcourse. not allervor.aresiniversa, Sonic errorsane commen only to kearners whe share the same maher tangie oF whose Imarher ranges manifest the same linguistic property. For ex ample, speakers of Banu languages in southern Africa Frequently {se the preposition “at to reer to direction as well as location, producing errs such as We went a Johannesburg last weekend This error appears to be explained hy the fact thar Basta lam guages cmploya single peepusition express lacation and dire thon where English hay re Gi. at at Errors then.can havedlifercnt sousces, Some rvs seme be universal etering learners attempts ro make the cask of ear ingand wsingthe 2 simpler. Learners comin eos amigo. For example, they lease our the articles“ andthe" ad leave the off plaal nouns. They ake wvergencratize tris that th Fd easy to learn and process, The waco eatin place of "ate san example of an overgeneralizationc#7 and overgeneraliatin are common inthe speech ofall 1 learn ers, irrespective oftheir 1. Other cers, however, tflet lea fers attempts to make ase of their LY knowlege, These are novin as transfer crs, sspestve ofthe type of error, how ever, leners are te sen actively involved in shaping the “gramoiae they ace lenin, Leamesscteae” thie own ful th errors of omission Where ihe purponcet the ever analysis help hearers earn an Lay there ma noe to evaluate errs, Some erorscan be consid ere sore crits that others because they are more libel to interfere with the ielaiity of what someone says. TeachersSome errs, known as bil enors, violate the overall struc ture ofa sentenee and for this reason may make w dificult to Process Jean, for example, a9 The policeman wasn this corner whistle hic is dificult ro understand hevane the basic structure of the sentences wrong. Other errors kan as focal emer, affect only a single constituent in the sentence (for example, the verb) and are, pethaps, less likely to create any processing probkins, Most fof Jean's errors arco this kind. This may he why his weal narra rivets quite cast fallow despite allshe error, Developmental patterns. \We have seen that many ofthe errors that L2 learners make are ‘universal all leaners, no matter whether they are learning nat ralistcally or im a claesroom, and irrespective of their LIy make fomission, avergeneralization, and transfer errors. We can alo explore the universality of L2 acquisition by examining the devel. ‘opmental patter leseners fall The early stages of 12 acquisition Ween Find out how a langue s armed aya natural, untutored processby investigating what karners do when exposes tothe 2 In communiative settings. Tn such circumstances, some 2 learners particularly if dey are children, undergo 2 lem period. Tha iy they make no attempt say anything to begin with. OF course, they may be learning alot about the language ast though listening to or reading ie The silent petiod may serve as a preparation for subsequent produc tion, Some learners alk to themselies inthe L2 even when they decline w tak ta other people ‘Whea leaeners da hein to speak inthe L2 their spec is ikely to manifest two partie characteristics. One ithe kind ot for. ralaic chunks which we saw i the case sds, Fixe esprey sions ike “How do you do? Taon't know, “Can Phase a My name iv” igure very prominently in easly 12 learning Thy provide larners withthe means of peering set lan guage functions such as prctings and requests These ready-made chunks of language cam give a mistaken impression of compe “The second characteristic of eaely L2 speech is propositional simplification. Learners find i dificult ro speak i Tall sentences fo they frequently eave wor out, For example, J wanted the teacher «ove hima blueceayon burt sail an: lve Me meaning I don’t have a blac erayn’,lnerestngly this recs Speech very similar tothe kind of speach chilren produce in the tary sages of learning their mother congue. The accurtence of this kind of basic language appears o he a universal of both st and second language acquisition Tn time, shough, learners do begin to learn the grammar ofthe 2. This raises other questions, One concerns the aegulton ode. Do learners acquire the grammatical structures ofan L2 ina det nite order? or example, do they learn a feature ike progeesive ing (as on painting’) before a feature lke past tense sd (ae in painted). We havealreauy'scen that learners co see to ind some _rammaticl features aster than ethers, soins quite pense that Acquisition follows a definge order, Another question concerns the sequence of aquisition of particular graniaatcal stratares, such as past tense, Do learners learn such seructures sn single step or dothey proceed through a numberof meri stages before they master the rarget structure? ‘The order of acquisition To investigate the order of aquisition, researchers choose a num> ber of grammatical structures to stud (for example, progeessive “ng, auxiliary be, and plural -s). They then collect samples of learner language and identify how accurately each Feature is vsed by diferent learners. This enahles them to arrive at an accuracy der. Thats they rank the features assuring to how accurately each feature is used by the learners. Some researchers then are tha che accuracy order must he the same 3s the ander af sey tion on theron thatthe more accurately Tearners eee to tse a particular feature the more likely they aee to have aequird that featureResearchers have shown that there is definite accuracy ander arn that this temains more a hss the same respective a he learners’ mother tongues, their as an whether or nt ths have received formal language instuctin. Ment of the learner the have staid pertarm proeessive ing, ausiiary fe, an paral mont aevuratelysuuesting that they soul tse eatin st. Artiles and iregulae past come next, The ust iil ser: tures ate gla past and thin person -s, Or the oss these finings it has heen sugsested thar there must hea natural Onler of cqsition tharal Keener oll Tihs claim fam important one. Ie raises eracial theoretical questions as to whether L2 acquisition ts the test of environ mental factors thar govern the input t0 which learners are ‘exposed, or of intemal mental factors which somichow diate how learners acquiee grammatical structures, We should note here, hossever shat not al esearch ae con ined thereiva universal "nanueal order, They have criticized the research on a nimber of grownals, Some have point out, fo ecample, that ir may he wrong to assume thatthe order of ave fey the same asthe arder of aquisition, They hase prac evidence tw show that sometimes learners hegin sin structure aeeurately early on only stare making errars with i Liter. It comet te concluded, they have argued, that learners have ‘cquieed a sructure simply because they can ane i aecaatelys Prine considered more fully helowe. Other researchers have shown thar the oer dows vary somewhat aevoring tothe learners fest language. For example, Schniefound thae Wes, hse fs lan uage was Japanese, performed pital ceurately ham iregular past nother words, Wes did no follow the-natural” order, Another problem is thar the research eats acquisition as fits 2 prowess of agctmilating finguintc seructusen, Acquisition iy seen as analogous te hing + sall wih one Brick sein place Fete another is placed on tap. Sukh 2 view i ast sein mistaken, as stiles af iniihoalsraminatival structures have made leat Fen the simplest structure salut mnanietingalcastes, Ter imscatigat this wwe need tncomser thesequeriee nf agusition, ‘ery poorly much lxs pres of Sequence of acquisition “When learners scquite 2 grammatical structure they do so gradu ally, moving through a series of stages en one to aequing the pativespesker rue, The acguisition oa paricalargearamatial| Srracture, there mast be sen a process inlng tans ‘onal constructions, yan example ofthis proces, let us niet how L2 learners aesuir regia past sine forms or example cate). Learners are Ukele to pase through the diflerent st shown in Table 1 Description Faample 1 Learners fil mark the ver for pascrime, “eae 2 Learners hein to prodice irregular past remse forms, ont! 5 Leamers overgeneraze the regular past tense frm, seated 4 Sometimes earners produce hybrid fram. “aed 5 Learners produce corecet egular past, sense farts, “atc TALE 2.1 Mager in the acquisition ofthe past tense feat Such sequences are instructive because they reveal thatthe use fof a correct structural form (for example, ate") Jey nor nese sarily mean that this farm fas boc “acguited Indeed this Sequence eaeners producing "eated" and “aed are, in fact, more ‘advanced than learners ar stage 2 who produce ate, Acquisition follows U-shaped course of development thats, inically earners may display a high level of accuraey only to apparently regress later betore Finally once again performing im accordance sith target langage norms Ie isclaethae this eens because earners reorganize their existing knowledge in order eo accommodate nnew knowledge. Thus, stages 2 and 5 only arise when learners have haga to acquire rola rf fas amped Fem ike fated” and “atl” representa uvergencralization othe rele ed past tense. Thiskind of reorganization, whieh is helieved toe Prevalent sn 1.2 avyuisitinn, t robin! 0 2 restructuring \s learners resracture their grammatical ystems, they may appest|to segress whereas in fact they are advancing. Sequences such as that for irregular past reveal how restructuring cvs and how it can lead ro U-shaped development Itisclear thar the aegusition of what looks like simple an ‘mace feature such as past tense is i fact highly comple affair. Not only are there general sages in the aeguisition of frrammacical features like past tense, av ilastrated in Table 2.4, but there may also he stages within stages. Thus, when learners begin couse past tense markers ithe regular markers asin ate? ‘or regular markery asin “pained, they donot ca 50 om al verbs at the same time. Learners fnd i easier to mark verbs for past tense ithe verb refers to events for example, ‘arive’) somewhat ‘more dificult wo mark verbs chat reterto activities (for example, ‘slep’), and most diffult ro mark verbs that refer to states (for example, wane, ‘The kind of verb also influences the kind of errors learners make, For example, with activity verbs learners are more likely to substrate a progressive form forthe past ens form: ier sha the weather was nice so-we swing in the acca Inconcrast, wit state verbs they substitute the simple fern ofthe verb Las night everything seem very get al peaceful Learners, then, passthrough highly comples stages of develop ‘ment. These stages arent shatply defined however Rather they are blurred a learners ocllate beewcen stages, Thus inthe cise ‘of pasttense at any one mea learner may mark some vers cor rectly for past ene ail to mark others at all and overpeneralize the regular -ed and the progressive ig forms with yer other vetbs. Despite the complexity of learners behaviour, however t iselear tha itis far fom random, Some implications The discovery of vane patterns in the way in which Kamer language changes overtime ion ofthe mont important Findings oF SEAS Te provides further suppoare for the comelusions eeheal From thestady af learner ersorynantcy that 12 aeyssiion isp tematic and, to lange extent, universal electing ways in which tnernal cognitive mechanisms control acquisition respective if she personal background of learners or the setting in which they learn “The work on developmental patterns is important for another reason. It suggests that some linguistic features (particularly sainmatical ones} are herent cierto lesen ghan oer. For Sfgmplcs the fat that learners master poral -= hetore third oon suggests that pals isin some sense easier to lear. Fis has implications for both SLA thoy and for language teaching (Of course it doesnot follow that because learners naturally learn one feature before another they mst ecesary do so. A fey question for both SLA and language teaching, then, wether the orders and sequeness of aegusition can be altered through formal inseration. We will examine atempts to inset fat this ina latersecton, Variat learner language trammanial forme although this fon dif fon that nol aves. We aa st err Yesterday the thet steal the suitease Yesterday the chief steal the suitease ‘orn error may alternate with the correttargt-language form: Yesterday the thet steal the suitcase Yesterday the thict stole the sitease Such was the case with Jean, whose oral narrative (sce page 16) displays the use of both corzect past tense forms (for example “arrived an ri" and erro forms or espe, whistle and ‘escape, AS we have already noted, {Ceoneain’) char acs in bu vorrot acetone foray i ferent poinesof the narrative These ascrvations i not inealidate the elainy char learner ere even one verlanguage is yystemati since tis possible dha variability is also systematic: That is, we may beable to explain, and even predic when eames use cnc farm and when another Inked, we havealready gen evidence-of systematic variability tearmets‘chaige of past tense marker [7600 pressive for, ‘or conret past tense frm) depend in parton whether the verb reters to an event, an activins a tate. Thue it appears That accovling 10 bngutle content. In one contest they useune form sehen ether coments they use erate form. Inthe above example, the ingaistc eantexe for the choice of past tense marker is created by the ver isl other examples, the crucial clement in the linguistic context involves some other constituent of the utterance, For examples learners may behave differently depending om awhether or nat an adver of frequeney for example, "every day” o¢“usually”) occurs ‘with am activity ver ike“play. ln sentences referring to past time whieh do nor havean adverb frequen they ae likely to use 3 progeessive marker leaeners vary in ir anew the Geveye plain all the time.) George played fontall However, in sentences with such an acerhy they are mane likely "wvase the se fran ofthe ver In Peru, George usually play football every day, = In Pera, ‘Geoage wally playelfonball everyday.) We cam se, then, that one linguistic form ca trigger the use of another foe, “The effects of linguistic context are also evident in earners use of the verb to be Learer sontines ae fll be or example, “is! ,sometimes contracted he Hor example," ean sometimes ‘omit he" entirely. The use ofthese Fhe forms determined ta ccnsierable extent by the linguistic camtene In one sta it 6 Found thac the tanger-langage variants fr esample. isan") were useal more consistently eth pronoun subjects while he wxas more likely 19 be omitted with noun subjects (or example, Teacher wor here Heamers als ser the fingstic forms they uss i aed ance with the etuationa eaten, In this rexpexts karmers are no Afferent from native speakers. When native speakers of English fretalkingt fiends for example, they tend en ypeak informally, sing cllaguial expressions My kid's real pain these days In contrase, whea hey age talking re sane they da not know very well hey rnd touse more fort lang [My daughter can be very troublesome these days, Learners ary thereof langage iia. They are moe ike to use the correct targetlangage forms in fora cnexts and ature of varality i the peeboingstie contex—eer ieamers have che opportunity ¢o plan their production, Til trate how this work wecan rar gain oer, Te aserpt on ge 16 i ofthe ona naretive that Jean produce ater he had Een given the chance write tout. The tamerint Below fo another oral narrnve which Jo pra this rine wih Prior opportunity plan compart fa mark very lea that verl oan ies highr prepara ire sel like "saw" an een? inthe planned area thon inthe planned ne. Socal, can sac ue Hy to mark verbs rely for past tense nthe plan shan in the unplanned nara tive. Ths true or both eplaeanditegulr vers but petal So for the later ntact the unplanned naratve he al 1 snark singe regular ver for past tena. ile tha Jes we Othe past terns strongly influence by he aval of plan ning time. Hes moe Tikels tose target languages fonme hen he hasene opm One evening. litle boy was going at home afer the lasso after the clas. He went cat thes with three packers. On| ‘of them the sll ene he geen, Hl ase that theman whereas passin hy this way sa ean he woul given thie packer tthe tte boy’ als he tk the sae way. I ay dark bur the moon was fll. Wher te fie: ho sae the man who fallow hiny he was aad. He ean quickle follewed be the ‘man. Jus bore that litle ba arrive his hoe the wa joinhim and gave him his packet. Then the litle boy was happy t0 receives packer. Learners, then, manifest considerable variability in their produc tion af an L2, A question some interests whether this varabi ity is simply @ matter of performance ur whether it eflets the underlying system they age trying ta vanstract, One view i that learners do build varie systems by eying to map particular form on to particle Functions Accharacteriste of any natoral langage is that forms realize meanings in a systematic way. Learner language is no diferent However, the particular form-tineton mappings which learners make do not always conform to those found inthe target lan age J, one of the learners discussed earlier (sce page 8h pO™ sessed! to forms for expressing negatives at one stage in his development, as shown in these two utterances Mariana no coming today Don'rsitin shat onechave The two forms aren + verb an ‘drt + ver. Earlier [seemed ro use these wo forms rill, but at this stage he displayed a measure of consiseney. "Nor + ver was used t make negative statements while don't © verb? was used im negative rests Leamers, semis try to make thee awailahle ingistc ers ‘work to maximum effect by mapping one meaning on to one form, The resulting systems are often very diferent feom the arget language system, With time, of course, they become more cargersike. Variability in learner language, then sclealy nor jus anon. Learners have access to 0 0 moe ingwistie forms fr realizing single grammatical stractace hut they do not employ these arbi trarly: Rather their chaice is determined by a varity of factors such as linguistic ste, the situational contest, andthe avail ability of planning Hine. Aegarding to une view, ghissystemaicty Fellcts a variable system of Form-fonction mapping. The ey Tom arses aye ahether al variability in earner langage fay tematic we wheter se inde ano, Gn this point there he boon ditferences nin Tr would scm thaeat ast sone variability is oe, Learners sont une thr oF mor for i fre vanaon, For example, Rother nthe som cone whic adresse ne en 2 wth snr amet pong ee No look my-card Don’ Took my eae Later, 3s we have seen, J went on dhe use these wo negative forms systematically This posible that free variation constitutes am essential stage in the acquisition of grammatical structures. Difterent kinds of va Uhlity may be evident at different stages of development Initially, we might propose, learners hegin hy acquieing a single form (for example the simple foem ofthe verb paint) and wse it fora variety of functions (Hor example, to refer to future, present, and past ime. Later, they acquire other verh forms but italy they use these interchangeably with the simple form. For exam ple, when learners Fist acquire the past tense form of a verh for {examples "pained hey ae likely to wse thsi free variation with the simpie form wl the ver. Faisy eapally they then start couse the forms systematiealy, for example sing painted in planned dlscourse and paint in unplanmed discourse, Finally. they lim inate non-target forms and use the tagget-Langage Form ter form the sani function as -nagive speakers, using “painted” consistently refer to posse Teisimportant ta recognize that this generalsequence of acyul sition applies to specific yrammatica features. Ths, its possible for individual learners tobe a aiferent stages inthe sequence Foe dlfferene grammatical features. For example, leaner may be at ‘the completion stage for past rensc hu atthe frce variation stage for the articles and the Not ll earners reach the completion stage for every geammat jeal structure. Many will continue to show non-target lang variability in a least some grammatical fexture. His forts Fe son thar eval fossization: ainy learners stop developing while sill short of target Aho, Kearns fe competence ‘may succeed in caching target Language nos sone tes OF language ase for example, planned liscese} ut nt ia ethers tfor examples unplanned dace‘Summary In ths section, we have examined & number of properties of Farner language and. in so doing, tice the way in which SLA, hs evolved as. tek enguiey. Farle on, researchers focused on learners errars, developing procures for ently, descr ing, e Infinitive and is therefore easier to use correctly). I earners dy not know word inthe rae from their L1 or use another target-Languaye word that isappee imate in meaning (for example, worm for silkworn), or ty to paraphrase the meaning ofthe word, or even construct an entirely new word (for example, “picture place’ for ‘art gallery". These strategies, with the obvious exception of those chat are LI based are also found in the language use of native speakers. There have heen a number of attempts to snstruct psyeholin suiste models to account fr the wse of communication strat ‘gies. Clans Fereh and Gabriele Kasper te example, proposed 3 rexel of speech predation which involves planning and at execution phase. Communivationstratesie resect as part the Planning phase. They are called upon when learners experience some kind of problem with an inital plan which prevents them fram executing it. They cas ether abandon the initial plan and anguase they may horraw”a word develop an entirely diferent one hy means ofa reduction strategy {such as switching to a different topic) or try ¢0 manga their ‘original communicative al by adopting some kind wf achieve iment erat sah a6 borrowing) As Slinker has pointed ut, conimonicaion sate kes com tute one the processes responsible for karner errors: We might texpest therfore, that the choie of communiatinn strategies tilleflet the learners stage of development, Presa pe fea tees might he expected to switch fem Ll-basal strates 12 based strategies a their knowledge of the 12 ckvelops, He wo ako be interesting to discover whether the use of eommunicatimn Serategcs hasany effect on L2 acquisition. For example, do learn= ers notice the gap (sce page 57} more readily 989 result of having to use a communication strategy? Or docs successful use of 3 ‘communication stray obviate the need fo lernersto learn the correct target Language forms? However, nothing i yet known bout this. Two types of computational model ln this chapter we have attempted ta peor inside the “black bos of the learner's brain in carder to wlentily some of the mental processes volved in constructing and using an nterlanguage. Of course, these processes cannot he viewed directly, They can only be inferred from the various behaviour leseners engage in. What dlistinguishes 3 cognitive account from a behaviourist one Is that amattempr is made t explain L2 sequin in trmts of mental processing. [As we have seen the prevailing metaphor for explaining these processes has len that of the computer. The “black ox” houses some kind of apparatus thar extracts information from the input’ works on it stores it and subsequently uses ein “par. However, the actual ype! apparatns involee ad the nature of the comparasion performed remain 2 mater oF some disagree ment. bn particular. eww radially different eypes of apyeatas have been proposed, One type involves the lea of Serial proses ing’. That is, informations provesse in series a sequential steps an resus the representation nf what has hee Feared as some kind wf re’ or strategy. This ste denminant version ofthe computational model in SLA and is evident ia much of the Preceding discussion. For example Fatch and Kasper's model of speech prodction presupposes that communication problems ane dealt with seqiential steps The alternative type af apparatus involves the ide of parallel ‘stnbuted processing. This credits the learaer with the ability to perform a number of mental asks atthe same time, for example, the ability to attend to both form and meaning while processing input, Mel based on parallel distributed processing reject the ‘whole notion of rule’. Instead, they sce mental structure as com sisting of elaborate sets of weighted connections between sepa Fate items. Forexample, instead of accounting forthe regular past tense in terms ofa general rule [added tothe hase form of the verb), we might envisage a mental network in which individual verbs ace connected more or less steonaly to -ed. Such a: model helps roexplain why some verbs are regularly used with eu, some are sometimes ust and some never. Nos surprisingly, parallel distributed processing is controversial asi constitutes anafront toone ofthe central precepts. lingistics, namely that language isrule- governed. Linguistic aspects of interlanguage In Chapter 6 we examined some of the cognitive structures involved in interlanguage development. To provide another per spective on L2 acquisition, we will nw consider how the nature ofthe object co be aequired—language—intlences development This es SLA Co the discipline of linguistics. Typological universals: relative clauses A good example of how linguistic enquiry can shed light om inter language development can be found in the study of relive clauses. Awe have scem languages vary in whether they have rel ative clause seruetures. Sse langues, lke English ard Araby have them, while other languages ike Chinese and Japanese, dio nnot. This linguistic diference influences the ease with which learners are able to lean relative clauses. Learners whose [1 includes relative clauses find chem easier to learn than learners Whose L1 does not and, consequently, they ae es likely to avoid Tearning them The linguistic properties of relative clauses affect L2 acquisi= tion in another way. In languages ike English, a relative clause ‘canbe attached to che end ofa mate clause: The police have caught the man who busnbea the bot ‘orthey can be embed inthe main cause “The man who bombeil she botet as been vaught by the police When earners of L2 English hogin to segue relative clauses they "ypieally begin with che ese eye. Tha the init structure nt 664 English (the fat that relative clauses may or may not interrupt the main clause) influences how acquisition proceeds, AN third effect of relative clause steucture on L2 acquisition can be identified, Linguists have shown thar languages are more likey te permit relative clauses with 3 subject pronoun (lor examples ‘who’ than with an abject pronoun (for example, “who fact, hierarchy of elarivization, knowns the acess Werar nv entified. This is illustted jn Table 7.1 tor which, unlike many other languages, permits the Full "ange of relative pronoun functions. The accessibility hierarchy is {mplicational in the sense thatthe presence ofa relative pronoun function ow inthe order in a particula language implies the pres tence ofall the pronoun functions above ie hut not those below i For example, any language tat permits the direct objec function will necessarily permit the subject function but may not allow the indirese object function Relative pronoun Example Function Subject, Te writer wha won the Booker prices ny lifelong friend, The seriter thom we met won the Booker prize The writer 10 whom Fintraduced you won the Booker prize. ‘The writer with whom awe had dinner won the Booker prize, The writer whose wife we met won the Booker prize. Object ofcomparative The writer who I have written more books than has won the Booker prize, Direct abjoct Indirect object Object of preposition Genitive vamLe 7.1 The accessibility hierarchy for relative clanses Drawing on the accesibilry hierarchy, SLA researchers have asked "Does the icraechy predic the order of acquisition of rela tive clauses?" There is some evidence that it does. For example, it has ben found thar the hierarchy predicts the Frequency with whieh learners make erorsin lative clauses, fewest erors being apparent in relative clauses with subject pronouns and most in clauses withthe abject of comparative fanetion, Hewever, rather mixed results have heen ubtained fr the gen rive function. This has led 10 proposals thar genitive eerie clauses are ot part of single hierarchy’ but rather constitute 3 since hierarchy of their wnen, Whereas genitive structures may be more dificult to learn than non-genitive structures overall, some genitive structures are more ditfcale than others, the it culty proving predictable an the hasis at a separate hierarchy for reniives. The accessibility hirarchy serves as an example of how SLA and linguistics can assist each other. On the ane hand lings facts cam he used to explain and even predict acquisition. On the other, the results of empirical studies of L? acquisition can be sed to refine our understanding linguistic facts. Universal Grammar SLA alo owes a considerable debe to another branch of lings: ries—that associated lonely with Noam Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar (U6). Chiisky argacs that langage is gO tered by a set of highly abwtract principles that provide para ‘ncters which ae given particular settings in different languages [Lets consider an example, A general principle of langage thar i permits coeefecence by means af some Form of reflesive Thus, in the English sentence: “The actress blamed hers the subject, ‘actress’, is co-referential with the reflexive, *hersel” in the sense that both words reer to the same person, However, reflexves also vary croslinguistialy. In the ease of English, 2 reflexive can only co-refer to subject within the same clause a in che example shove, Ths, English only permits lol binding “Longeistanee binding’ where the reflexive eorrfoes a subjcet iamorher clauses prohibited. This, this snore Fly knew the acess would Mame herself the rflesive us he unerstoad as refering to “actree and wot te “Favs However, other langage sich as Japan. pertlong-distance aswell as local hinding, Thus, the Japanese version ff the sentence above is ambiguous; the reflexive can reler #0 either the actress ore Eily What the significance of such Fingoistic information for 12 aequisiton? Cleaely, Japanese kearners of L2 English need te learn thar rflesives ia English permit oly local indings they have to reset the parameter. A number of suis have invest ed whether Japanese leaeners are abe to-do thn lone uh Stuy, Japanese earners of English of different proiciney levels were shown sentences ike the one abuveand asked tostate which ‘noun the reflexive referred to. Overall the more proficient learn ers were no better a this than the less proficient ones, suggesting that che learners operated in accordance with their LI setting of the paramecer and that no resetting for English was raking place Other studies, however, have provided evidence that Japanese learners can ‘reset this parameter, The results provided by research are, therefore, incunslusive The question of whether lamers whose L1 pesmi both kal and long-distance binding of reflexives can learn that langue Tike Fnglish peers only local binding may seem a rather tial matter. fn fet, thou, itconcerns an nau emsiderable thee «tical importance—theextent ta which Language other than our mother congue fly enable Learnability (Chomsky has claimed tha children learning their Lust ely on innate knowledge of lang ‘otherwise the task facing, them isan impossible one. His argument sthat the input to which children ate exposed s insufficient to enable them to discover the rules of the language they are trying ta learn. This isulfiiency is referred to as the poverty ofthe stimulus. For exarple 9 child learning English needs to dsover that sentences lke this are ungrammatial Sam kicked fpcely his toy car bbecanse Fngtivh des nor permit an adver herweut the verb and the dret objet. Can this he lesened solo the Basis of inp? The argument shat it cannot the input consstsonly pote vidoe (i. it provides information only ahout what is gram: ‘matical in the language) hecause learners can never be sure they will not hear a sentence where the adverb is hetwevn the verh and iret object. Negatve evidence lic. snput that prvi ret ev dence of whae is ungrammateal i 4 langwagel woul make it pss for hildre to find wur tha sentences lke the one ahve sreungrammatical, Hovweverschildeenrypwally revive only por inve evidences their parents donot generally correct their gram matical mistakes. Thus, if is argue the input seriously underdetermines Jearning, In other words, es no provide the information needa for learning to hesueessul In the case of LI acquisition, thon, there a logical problem How do children invariably leaen the full grammar of cheir mother congue when the information they need is not always available in the inpur? The anssver, acording to Chomsky is hat children must have prior knowledge of what is grammatically possible and impossible and that this part of thie biological «endowment. This knowledge, which in eather formalations ofthe theory was reerred to as che Language Acquistion Device (ee page 52}, is whar comprises Universal Grammar (UG Ie is aimed thar some errors, such asthe one involving adverh place ment, simply donot accurin LE asquistin because they are re Iribited by UG. Bur sthis also the casein L2 acquisition? Fo angwer this ques tion we need to consider whether adult 12 learners have contin ted access to UG or whether they rely on some other kind of learning mechanism. We will gin by considering whether access The ctitical period hypothesis “The enteat period hypothesis states tha there 4 peri during which language acquisition is cayy and complete (ie, native speaker ability i achieved) anc! beveond which is dificil and typically incomplete, The hypothess was geod av research which showed thar people wh los their Ingustic capabilities, For example asa result oan aveident, were able to regain shew totally hetore puberty (about the age of ewelee hue sere anahe to do yoatterwards leas subsequent supported by studiesos people who had been deprived ofthe opportunity evento assure an L1 as a child. For example, Genie was toally polated in the carly years of her lfeand consequently dis noe start learning la sage Fish} until the age of rhrecon. While sc ceveloped can siderable communicative aibey she fale! tr acguire many grammatical rules. In this respect she roscibled Wesy the Fapanese subject ofthe ease sud eeferte tein Chapter 1 There is considerable evidence to support the ela that 12 learners soho begin learning ‘8 adults aee-uitable to achieve nativespeaker eompetenue in ether grammar oF promunctatin, Stes of immigrant inthe United States show that ifthey arrive before pubercy they go.on te achieve much higher levels of gram= ‘matical proficiency than if they artive after. Sometimes they become indstinguishable from native speakers, However, the does not appeat 10 be a sudden cutoff age, beyond which fll competence is impossible. Rather the capacity t achieve full competence seems to decline gradually, hecoming complete by about the age of siteen, Interestingly, age of arrival is much better previctorsfulimate achievement ghan the number years ‘of exposuze to the taget langage. Inthe eas of pronunciation, ‘thecrucialage appears te he much earlier, possibly ay early asin. There is yame evidence that not al earners ace suhject so citi eal periads. Some are able 4 achieve native-speaker ality from an adult start. Fn ene case ly English was did oe tart learning Arabic until she was twenty-one years old hu oe oad to perform like a native speaker on variety of tests ater she hal lived in Cairo for ewenty-i yeas, However, the relative lack af success of most L2 learners in ‘comparson to L] learners suggests tha there may be radical di ferences inthe way fist and second languages are acquired, These sllfrences may Be of many kinds. Ii key for instance, that alferences inthe sal conditions in which Land L2 learners Fearn have some kind of impact, LI Ismet, for example not experince yociallitance. Iisaho possible shat [Land L2 aap sition daw oa diferent karhing mechanisns Foxanne most aul T2eamers no longer have access UG. Access to UG There is, in facts no agreement ay cw whether adult L2 learners haveaccesst0 UG. We will hretly examine a number oF theme ‘al positions 5 Complete access Iris that learners ei theie LI but subscgonty Karta vite the 12 parameter settings. An assumption is that fll target language compe tence is posible and thar there isn such thing as critical period. Learners lke Julie constitute evidence favour a this Psiion Noaccess The argument here is that UG is not available to adule L2 learners. They rely om general learning strategies According 0 this postion, Land 12 acquisition are Funndamentally differ ents Adult L3 learners will normally ot he able so achieve fll competence and thee interlanguages may manifest “imposs- ble’ rales (rules dha wen he prohibited by UG) 4 Partialaccess Another theoretical ponsibilty i that learners have aves to parts of UG bur aor ethers, Forexample they may have access to only those UG parameters operative in thir LI. However, they may beable to switch tothe 12 parameter sting with she help of direct instruction involving error carretian: In other words, L2 acquisition is partly regulated by UG and pactly by general learning strategie, 4 Dualaccess According to this position, aduleL2 learners make use af both UG and general lexeing strategies. However, the ase of gen ral earning strategies can black” the aperation of UG, cas ing learners eo proalce “impossible” errors and ty Fail to achieve full competence. This position asses that adult leamerscan aly he fully successful proving they rela Us, The existence of such contraditory posites sents that the re of UG nL acquisition instill uncerMarkedness Thisunsertinyregningsheconriatono linguist hoy to she sty of 12 atom sao eden in arc are ol Hs Aus enauey—the seid of manadnese suo natura or hase thin athcrstrutures lr eplataion ‘wos langues In Chomsky linguini mel see tins are those that are sumer by UG and highs thee ‘tie only minimal eden for acquisition Math sractaee ate thone tate ose UG fr examples hve aren av el ‘thst accident. In addition, atempt aves been ade ‘distinguish deres of marks in tbe dierent setts of parameter of UG, For example, local binding of retlner on Sided unmarked in elcomloneaieance ng umber of hypotheses tlting to markers have been Wha is meant hy describing the nterlacguage continuum asa What objections canbe levelled against this ew of the iter language commun > In wha other ways might the interlanguage continuum be characterized? Chapter 4 Social aspects of interlanguage Texts JoUN seu mann: The Pidgnization Process Model for Second Language Acquistion, Newbury House 197%, pages fon Here Schumann describes tw kinds of bad learning situa tions based on the factors contribuing to social distance (TL = target languages 2LL = second language learner) (One of the bad situations .. would be where the TL group views the 2LL group as dominant and the 2LL zroup views itsel in the same way: where bath gsoups desire preservation and high enclosure or the 2L1 group: where the 2LL grow ix both cohesive and large: where the two cultures are not congruents where the ‘wo groups hold negative attitades toward cach other, and where the 2LL group intends tv remain im the TH area for only a short time, This type of situation likely to Aevelop for Americans living in Riyadh Saudi Aeabia ‘The second bad situation. has all the charasterstcy ofthe first excepe that in dis cave the 2LL group would consid itsltsubordinate and woud ako be considered subordinate by the TL group. This has heen the traditional situation of Navalo Indians living inthe Southwest, and of American Indians in gem ral Which of these reba earning situations applies to Albert, the Costa Rica imine worker Schramm studied? (Can you tik of any other exe of these to Dad lear Can you think of any excepteons (hes 2U1 groups who are tn iad learning situations but who are successfil}? What expla nation can yon give for these exceptions? P Can you think of examples of good leaning situations? Texto BONNY N PEIKCE: Socal identity, investment, and n= suage learning’ in TESOL Quarterly 29, 1995, pages (5-16 Here Peirce describes some of the thearetial thinking that informed her study: of the acsuiston of English by adult ‘women smmnigrants in Canada Whereas humanist conceptions of the individual—and most Uefinitions of the individual in SLA rexeasch-—presuppone that every person has an essential unique, xed, and coherent are lintravertextrovert; morivatednmotivated: field. dependent! Fill independent), postrucuralism depicts the individual as diverse, contradictory, and dynamic; multiple rather than un cary, deventered rather than centered the conception of soval identity 26 site of struggle i an extension ofthe position that socal ident is mule and eon tradicrory. Subjectiviey i produced in a variety af sata sites all of which are stratured by relations of power in which the pe son takes up diferent subject positions—reacher, mother, mat axe, eritte—some positions of which may be in conflict with ‘others. In addition, the subjest ss not conceived of as passive hefshe is conceive af a hoth subject ofan slit eo relacions ‘of power within a parte site community and society: The subject has human agen Thus the subject positions that per som aes up within a particular discourse are ope to argue [Although a person may be positioned ina particular way within 4 given discourse the person mighe resist the subjevt portion or fven set up a cotnterdiscourse which pasitions the person it powertul rather than marginalized subject potion, Ca your think of same ofthe ‘muliple tdentitie’ that might characterize the hues of immigrant learners of English i contre ike Canadae What kinds of identity ave kel to promote tear 12 eam? > How do yon think Peirce wold explain Albert's failure to acquit such English? Chapter 5 Discourse aspects of interlanguage Text 10 STEPHEN KRASHEN: The Input Hypothesis: lesues and Implications, Longanaa, 1985, pages 2-3 In this text. Krashen argues that acquisition will take place stutomatically if earners. seceive “comprehensible input Krashen’s views bare had notable impact an SLA and alse ‘on language pedagogy ‘The Input Hypothesis claims that humans acquize language in ‘only one way-by understanding messages o by eceving ‘com prebensible input. We progress along the natural order «hy tanderstanding input tha contains structures a our nex stage’ Structures that are a bir beyond our curtent level of competence. (We move from i, our eurrent level, ta d+ Ie the next level along the natural order, by understanding input containing f+: We are able to ‘underseand langoage containing unacquired arammar withthe help of contest, which includes eatralinguy Xe information, our knowlege of the swoekl, anal previously sequired linguistic competence. The caretaker provides extrafin Ruistie context by Himiting spevel tthe chikl to the here and ow’. The beginning-langoage eacher provides coment via sual aids (pictures and objects) and discussion of falar cop ies. The Input Hypothesis has ew core2: Speaking is. es of asyuston and no its ane, Speech of uiding competence vin comprehensible pe 5 WV inputs waders, atl ther bs enoagh of te ese san grammar i stomattely pe Th ase ture along the natural tri wll he proved in ie ths To he mre press, np is the sential envionment nee sient The acre dos no simply aque hae he hear thee i significant contribution of he imermal ange Provesor(Chomsly"s Lange Acquistion Denies LAD} Net Ashe input the acguzer hearse pres for acquition; nd the LAD elf generates posse us aconding to innate po cedures... Moreover, no all comprehended input reaches the LAD. 7 " > To what exten is Krahen's Input Hypothesis ments sheone Krasen ofes na explanation here fr elahere ofthe frees by whic competent ipa res nae sty theres no reson forthe to ea ay mt lane froma ondhat tat pa thatthe do ntndestand Shep lad auton? ‘Speaking isthe result of acquisition and not its cause."Do you agree? What counter arguments can you think of? Texta1 MICHAEL LONG: ‘Native speakerinan-native speaker conversation in the second-language elasseaon in ML Clarke uid J. Handscambe eu: Ow TESOL 8s. TESOL 1983. ike Krashen, Long views comprehensible input as the snrce of aestsition, However, be difers from Krashen in emphasizing we particular way of achieving comprehen ble anput—meaning newotianion there is 9 Joial problem wich che idea char changing the input will aid acquisition. IF removal from the input oF sre tures and fecal ents the earner ds no understand is what involved in making spovch comprehensible, how lacs the learner ever advan? Where is the mput at che + 1 that 60 appear in the leener’s competence at the next stage of devel "Cleary there must be other ways in which input is made comprehensible than modiying the inp fall. One way 38 Kashen, Hatch and bers have argu. by ose of the i fusca exeralingoc context ln the ean 39 NBs fave heen shown todo when the incoring spect signal sn DMeguate Arter ayy a6 In careakerspech, rough Grieg even adatadut NSNNS conversation to the “here Endo" A third, move consistent wed method snd ping nt the inp sls te faerctonal snc of eo ferstton theough sich Keven sll and therscetton. Snfimarion and comprehension checks and clacaion weaves Feo pices of ever suggest tha his thin way of mak inginpatcompecensible the most mpnant ad os whe ted of all. Fall csc Rave hkl tts die Sion of NS-NNS camseratana hie fo sansa signify Inolifcatons from NSNS norms. Ineractional modifications in other words, ae pervasive, Seconds interactional mic tion refund in NS-NNS conversation even he np ma ications are ot or are few and minor Why does Long claim that simplified input of the kind found lu foreigner tall) dics mot assist acqusition? What evidence does hoe gine tr suppart this cain? Can you thik of any Can yore comsteuct a bref example af NS-NNS tellastrate bow the meractionlstrnctive of 2 fs mule nsing one of the devices or exam, cantons tion checks) that Long mets?Long stggests that both here and now” orientation in com versation and modifying the dnteractional structure. asst saequistion, but be clearly favours the latter. Why dor yous hank his Text 12 ste sw AINE Three factions af outpac in secon language tearning in G. Cook and By Seilhofer feds Principle and Practice n Applied Linguistics. Oxford Universiey Press 199s, pages 135-6 Whereas Krashen sees no role for speaking in 1.2 acquis. tion, other researchers, such as Merrill Swain. consider learner output an important mechanism of acquisition. "he output hypothesis claims chat producing language serves second language aquisition in several ways. One function of Producing che target language, inthe sense of practising’ i that ie enhances fluency. This seems non-controversia, particularly if itis noe confused with the adage that “practice makes per feet, We know that flueney and aveuracy are differnt dimen sions of language performance, aad although practice, may tenance fluency, t does nor necessarily improve aveuracy (Elie 1988; Schmide 1992), Other functions of output in second Language acquisition have heen proposed hat relate more to accuracy and fluency Firs, its hypothesized thar output promores “motiing, That is to say, an producing the earget language (vocally or subvor cally} learners may notice a gap between what they want to soy and what they ca say, leading them to recognize what they do not know, or know only partially. In other words, under some iecumstanees, the activity of producing the target language may prompt second language learners to consciously tecogige seme Df their linguistic problems; it may bring tw their attention something they need to discover abwut their L2 (Swain roy) This may trigger engninive processes which mighe generate fn rustic knowledge thae is new for learners, or which comvalidice Their existing knowledge (Swain and Lapki yuh A second way in which produ lang ge may serve the te learning process is through hypothesms testing, That fe acing output is one way of testing aby pothesis about com ei formedness. A. considerable chery or inguistic wel Kyrie anterior he ovo dade as HeShutcuon thar 9 keomr ho melted s hyper shout how the language, works. adh fsting it mi Sometimes this output invokes feedback which can lead learn crn mai or cproce thet out “hidly, a learners fet pom tht own tags language usc their tpt eres a metaingutcfntion enable them tocontrol and internalize linguistic knowledge, My apsumprion ft presen i that there is theoretical jusifction for consider. ing’ distinct metalingusie fonction of output. Seu hat exact fossa by these and ouput Think of coer example tol the the anton of snap ta Seam ppeae > What arguments might Krashen use to combat ican’ claims regarding the roe of oxtpnt on 1.2 aquisition? Text 13 RICHARD DONATO: Collective seaffaldingin second language earning’in J. Lantolf and G. Appel eds.) Vagotskizn Approaches to Second Language Research, Ables 1996, Pages 44-5, Donato documents ways in which learners talking among themselves are able to scaffold’ knoteledge which before band none nf them possessed. His research draws on Vygotsky's ideas about the role of inteypersonal interaction in learning (sce page 48 in the Survey). AL Speaker + and then FL say hmiversaire de marrage A Speaker 2 Teas Ay Speaker 3 Tiras or shod 1Ag Speaker 1 Tiras souveni .. ‘you remember AAS Speaker 3 Yea, bu isn't shat reflenive? Ta fis [AG Speaker 1 Ahy ti fus sonven AZ Speaker 2 Oli tes AW Speaker + Tires Ag Speaker 3 tires, tes, a Ato Speaker | Tes, tres Avi Speaker 5 tu Fes Ata Speaker + Tir Fes souvent Protovol_A is an artempt eo render “you reinembered into French, The compound pase tense formation of reflective [sc] verbs in French presents complex linguistic processing, since students are requited to choose the auxiliary étre instead of avoin, sleet the correct reflexive pronoun to ape with the su leet, form che pase participle, which in this case is an inne. dice form, and decide if, and how, the past participle will hhe marked for agreement with the subject rio student alone possesses the ability to construct the French past compourid tense of the relleive verb “to remem ber’. Each student appsars to control only a apocific aspect fof the desired) construction, Speaker 1, for extmple, prod. ves the correct past participle (Ar) but the incorrect aunihany veth. Speaker 2 recognizes the verb as rellesive (A$) hut fail select the appropriate ausiliary ce. Speaker 3, the cher hand, understands the choice of the auxiliary’ for re- Aesive compound past tense forms but does not include the sorrect Feflesive pronoun into his version of the utterance (A>) At this point in the interaction Speakers 1 and 2 synthesize che Prior knowledge that has been externalized during the inter. action and simulcaneously arrive at the correct construction (Agana The interesting poine here is that chee thre learners are able ro constet collectively a seaffold for cach other's performance Dunato shows hou a particular mterance canbe suctallycan structed. What else is edd to shone that this rests te 12 regs Donato’ protocol lastates the negotiation of foro rath ‘han the negotiation of snaning’ I esrb and sn iter actions can contribute to acquistion what changes need tbe made to the put and interaction bypotbeses? How does Donato's motion of “scafflding® differ fram Sweain’s ontpint hypothesis? v Chapter 6 Psycholinguistic aspects of interlanguage Toxt 14 RIC KELLUKSIAN: “Now you se ite yout done in 5. Gass and L Slinker feds Langage Transfer ir Language Learnung. Newbury House 1983, pages 113-4 Kellerman considers tw» constraints on language transfer. ‘The first he refers to asthe ‘perception of language distance ‘or the learner's ‘psychotypulvgy’. The second constraint ‘concerns the learner's perceptions of the markedmess of a LI structure or niger of rater This she ners oon af he rel tons feencen fe LT and 12. [Mhave nsx the general typolopial closeness of Lt to L2 would be captazed on by Kents ata rot of tcl immedi operant idea cognate forma and soca aos heh ngage Ass nator by pod of he operetta ee However cerainnereenc eros would fe asa to cad isto, parry enone of inna Ings i ference. 7 Conversely, if Lt and L2 were very different, the Lak of available cortespondnccs wall nthe fil sgt the necessary crowlingwal Heap. © What Languages do yon consider ‘ypolagially close” and “ypologieally distant yor wen laugease? your BT tat woe fos and sts > Gar yon think of any forms or strnctares swond anticipate cold be counate with th tures atypically close langage?Farlier 1 suggested that any occurrence of linguistic equivalence between 11 and 12, whieh thus provides the potential for trans fer berween 1.1 and £2, will nevertheless noe guarantee that facilitation will ake place, singe LI-inuced vonstrants ay act te limit theoretically posible TH. formy eo an attested suber The exact nature of what does constitute this subset wile a6 1 have already indicated, depend not only an what | have valled the learner’ pyychotypology but alu oma sevonnd conndeaining fhe tor, the transferability of the LT structure, that isthe. probe bility with which this seucture will be transferred felatve to ‘ther structures in the LI. Transferability is to be sen ay athe foretical nation, which derives from native speakers” own per ception of the structure of their language. It a feature is Perceived as infrequent, inegular, semantically oF structurally ‘opaque, oF in any other way exceptional, what we could in ‘other words call “psycholinguistically marked then its trans ferablity willbe inversely proportional to its degree uf marked esse He is important to. emphasize thatthe relative transferabibiry of scructures is determined hy the L1 and is thus independent of the natuee of the £2, though they [il wil ter act with the learner's perception of the Li-L2 dstance, (Cam yon identify structures in your Lt gebich you perceive ty tre ‘nmarkea! and thus potentially transferable: What aboot structures in your LE that yom perceive as ‘marked’? Hoe might the tw» constraining factors Kellerman eunsiders (ie (1) the learner's perception ofthe LI-L2 distance and (2) ‘the relative transferability of structures) interact? Text 15 RICHARD SCHMIDT: “The role of consciousness in second Tangwage learning'in Applied Linguistics 11,199, pes Arash views cragusition” (as upposed te stbconsci ing) as ws prowess. This text discusses differnt usta relating to the role of comscinnsness in 12 acpnton ne of dhe mare controversial ies in app Bere assng On the onc han there are many ho bce Prat raditional form of this views no cursent theary posits the Soma lg kag . aloe Sgr hs eae that ebony atte consis eve that iygnge leaning aes Face” (ger {a8s. 187) Krshen (198s 198). 1989) has cabraed a the onstous; and conscious ‘earning’ which is of Tile sein shut anpue pstcton snd spend ‘tid comton Held pin eta the ave oF en ringeaequisition’ distinction because it © Sohmide outlines three positions regarding the role of con: sciousness in L2 acquisition. Which position is compatible with a Vygotskian theory of L2 acquisition? Which positon: ddo you shink Swain adopts? 7 Which one de-you favour? Why? Text 16 CLAUS Fa XCM and GawKHF LE RASPrAS"Plans and srateges in foreign language commonicaton” iC. and G, Kasper (ed: nates Pnterlagrage Commaication. Longman 198 3, pages 6-7‘This text considers bow to classify communication strategies A first broad categorization of communication strategies can he ‘made on che hasis of ro fundamentally ferent ways in which learners might behave when faced with prslems in vam tation, Lamers can either sulee sich problems by adopting avaidanee bebaviour, trying to de away with the prublen. sor ‘wally by changing the vaminunicative gual, oe by relying an achievement bebaviowr, amempting tw tackle the. problems slretly by developing an akernative plan. On the basis these ‘swo ditferent approaches 10 problemsolving, we ean draw a Listinction heeween two major types of steatexiew reduction strategies, governed by avoidance Behaviour, and achievement strategies governed by achievement behavioue. © Can you think of examples of reduction and achievement compaencation strategies? > One ofthe achievement strategies Ferch and Kasper mention 1s ‘tnansfer, What i the differonce between “transfer as. communication strategy and as a learning process? Hos might these ten types of transfer be distinguished? barch and Kasper suggest that only achievement strategies sare likely to promote 1.2 acquisition. What do yo tink there reasoning sf Do vou agree® Chapter 7 Linguistic aspects of interlanguage Text a7 MICHAEL LowG:‘Maturational constraints on langua development’ in Studies Second Language Acquistion 125 19905 Panes 273-4 In has been suggested shat there are eriticl periods that won cr when learners are able ta achieve nativespeakes can petence sn 1.2. This text vunnsiders the duration of these ‘teal perivds for different aspects vf lan Contrary to resent assertions an the fteraure,shere is growing covience chat mataranonal costae are at work WSL lear ing. and that they are not confined to phonology. Studies show ing an initial rate advantage for adults over children and for Slee over younger childeen in early spntay and morphology Should be interpreted syst thae-—a short-lived rate advantage ‘They do not shove that older chr cr alse beter lear cea, On the contrary, starting ater age 6 appears eo make it Snpossible for many Karners and after age #2 for the remain Uden to achieve nativetike competence in phonollgys starting later than the vary teens, are prociely after age 1s, seems co create the some problems in morphology and. syntax Preliminary results Suggest that similar generalizations will eventually be found to hold fr lexis and collocation, and for Certain discourse and pragmatic ables. While the superioe long-term achievement of younger learn cers is consistent with the notion of maturational constraints on most dimensions of SLA, che apparent inability of old lear fers t0 attain nativerlike profcieney if they ben after a eeetain tage farther suggests thar there isa sensitive period for learning, ‘The precise limits of this period are sil unclear, The available lata suggest, however, that exposure nels to cur hefore age 6 to guarantee that an SL. phonology ean become naxiestke {given sufficient opportunity) before age cs it the morphology and syntax are to be native like, and somewhere between those ages forthe remaining linguistic domains. Thar isto sa, there is prohably not just one sensitive period for SLA, hut several fone for phonology, one for moepho-yntsx, and. so on. No doubt, a8 with sensitive periods in many aspects of human and ‘other animal development, there is some overlap due to the rela Yionships among sub-systems across linguistic domains, and some variation across individuals The easiest way eo falsity such claims would be wo produce learners who have demonstrably attained native-like proficiency despite having begun exposure well after che clasire of the hypothesized sensitive peri Why do yar think older children and aualts enjoy “a shoe faved adesantage” ver cron learning a 122 © What explants cae yo fer for the failure of adults to uchieve nauve-tike compotencesnnan 12Wohat explanation can you give forthe existence of different sensitive periods for phomaogy and morphassyntax? a yo kone any 12 leners wb be nut have achieved native profictoney? learning as adults Toxt 18 LypIa winttts ‘Second language acquisition and universal grammar” in Studies i Second Langage Acguisition 3 90, pages 127-8 In this text White considers how researchers can set about ‘investigating whether Universal Grammar (UG) ts stil ava able tw 12 acquisition, Ie is nor sufficient ro point ro general diferences hetween Lt and L2 acquisition to argue for non-availability of UG, or to eneral similarities to argue for its availability. UG is a claim abour knowledge in a particular domain, a claim that out knowledge of language is constrained by certain abstract but crucial principles. Therefore, the potential availahlity of UG in 12 acquisition mase be investigated within this same dornsin. If UG is no longer available to adults, and second language acai sition proceeds by means of general coitive abilities, L2 ler ets shoud not be ale w work aut abstract properties of the 12 whidh are underdetermined hy the anpur Jata. Where the inpur is insulfciently precise co allow 12 learners to indave "he eelevant properties of che grammar, they should ot be able to achieve full success. Thus, one form of evidence for the hypothesis that UG operates mt L2 acquisition will be evidence that L2 learners in fact attain the kind of complex snd subele knowledge which is atibutable to UG, However, LI knowledge isa confounding fctor. I a partic ular principle of UG operates im both the Ll and 12, and if (2 learners show evidence of observing this principle, this could be aetibted to transfer of LT knosvledg. Siar. L2 learns show evidence af applying LI parameter setings to the 12, 's actually neutral concerning the avalabifity noma oF his Hsin Thos the strongest angnments it favor of the eperation ‘oF UG (eomplete wr parcial) i 12 acquisition will be made in soses where eects of the LL can he minimized, In order to eliminate the Li as a souice of UGélke know: Tedge, owe situations can be isolated, one relevant to the oper: ation of principles and the other relevane to parameters. In the Ease of principles f UG is wor available, then E2 learners shoul hot be able to sont cue aspects of the 12 where bath ofthe Fob lowing hol: 4 some prinviple operates inthe L2 bur nor the Land the input underdetermines the 12 grammar Similarly, in the cage of parameters, L2 learners should not be able to acguire the L2 value of 8 parameter swhere 4 the LI and L2 have differen values for some parameter and bb che inpue underdetermines the L2 gamma If 12 learners successully aerve at the relevant properties of the L2 under such concltons, then there is support for the claim that UG is stil euly- accesible, rather than inaccessible or weakly accesible only via the LI Whar do yon think White means by ‘general differences between LI and 12 acsgusiton’? Can yon give examples? Why are these not suficient t demonstrate the nonexistence of UG L2 acquisition? © Inwhat way is the 11s confomning factor” in investigating theswailabrlity af UG in 2 acquisitions What is White's solar tin to this problem? > What des White meas by ‘the put wnderdetermnines the 12 grammay't Why is i necessary to investigate grammatical Dropertics where this tthe ease? Chapter 8 Individual differences in L2 acquisition Text 19 PET we 4Lans Indvidal Dafferences in Seconnl-Langnage Leamuing. Falwaed Ard 1989, poe 97 Skehan argues that different types uf agage apttede may be ineulved i different types of laegnage processThe major point is wo gonnest this apitude research with com temporary linguistics. Althowgh most linguist aim at the pars moniouy and elegant desription of language structure, this view hay remy come under some atack. In tenis of acguisiton Peers 1983) proposes thatthe ats of the linguist nes noe be andl are nor likely ty be the waits of the language lene. Learners, she proposes, frequently operate with chunks of laiguage on an “analyse only if you have 1 peineipe, Theve chunks ald pee tally Gn nguiste terms} he related fo one anothr and there stored and prodaced more conomicaly, hut a langage wer for learner} will not necessarily carryout nich anal 2) the see arate chunks function effectively in conveying, the meanings intended, and (hy the leaner is equipped with a memory system hich can coerae cis inefficiency and redundancy The aptitude research seems to embrace hth the linguistic and the “chunking” viewpoints, however, suggesting two diferent or mations to language development-—one Iiuistic, and one memory-based. One type of learner seems to have a language learning orientation which seresses the amalysability of language while the other, perhaps more expression-arientd 6 more apt tw ely on chunks of language and efficent memry, =. What ‘he aptitude research may have been reflecting is the existence f orientations to language an! language earnings. Whar exactly are the “hen contrasting orientations to law gage ad language learning” that Skehan basin rind? Look back atthe description of the components of language aptitude in the Survey (page 74). Can you relate the compe emt tothe two orientations Skeba refers to? What is your own orientation to language learning? Text20 GRAIIAAE CROOKES andl RICHARD SCL: ‘Motivation: Reopening he reseatch agenda in Language Een yg pane 480) ln this text the case for what i referred to as intrinsic te atin” sce pate 4 the Survey) 18 pat, prtisarly wher laguage teaching i ied. Hg READINGS We have refered o the mali of Seams af mova {epi of wha it mea to fe meted. When teacher hat ‘Eahereed Fehavor he case an py tid Subject mater st en general ts probaly ft Sy thar seachrs woald docribe a stuers ag marae if ho she Becomes predcvely engaged in learning asa, and sain that engagement, withour the ee for continual ncouragerent or tron They ae more soncened th mont an sic Ths echersaned we of he fxm mention as no Been sdopred by SL veigatrs, but 8 sry cls the co cop meation a hae fee subway eapaed ose SEA, prt ns and econo psc > Gros and Sch are reacting othe snk pycholecal What alternative view of meta da Cokes and Seo oie Gayest somo the sys in shih teacher atop Toxt21 REBECCA OXFORD: Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Kine, Newbury Howse 1990, pages 9 Learners employ learning strategies to assist them in their attempts to lear am 1.2. This text dents diferent types lf learn strategies All appropriate language leasing statesis are oriented toward the broad goal of communicative eampetence. Development a ‘communicative competence reuires realistic ingsraction ann learners using mieaningtal, vomtextsalived langage. Learningstrategies help learners participate actively in such authentic ‘communication. Soch strategies operate in both general and spe- cific ways to encourage the development af communicative eam tence Iris eay to see how language leaning strates stimulate the rowth of vomnunicative competence m general For instance, rmtacognitive Cheyond the cogitive' states lp earners eo regulate their owe cognition and to fovtsy plany acl evaluate their progress as they move toweaed communicative emmpetence fective strategies develop the selbuonfdence and perseverance need for learners to involve themselves actively in language learning, a requirement for attaining communicative compe tence. Social strategies provide inereased interaction and more empathetic understanding, two qualities necessary 10 eeach ‘communicative competence. Certain cognitive strategies, sch as analyzing, and particular memory strategies, like the keyword technique, are highly useful for understanding and recalling new information—important functions in the process of hecoming ‘competent in using the new language. Compensation strategies aid learners in overcoming knowledge gaps and continuing 10 ommunicare authentically: thus, these strategies help com rcatve competence to hlossom, What are the different kids of learning strategies Oxford mentions? Try’ to wntea clear definition of each type and to gweanexample ofeach, ‘Think about bow yor would perform a real-life tak ina for cig lamguage (for example, complaining about your raom to the manager of a hotel). What specific learning strategies ‘might you se a this task? Try to classify them according to Oxford's general types. Chapter 9 Instruction and L2 acquisition Text 22 PATSY rrearTRow Ns -Geting quality input in the secondoreign language classroom in. Kranich and SeMeCionnel-Gine eds}: Text and Contents rus Disciplinary Perspectives om Language Study. D.C Heath and Company 1991, pages 192-5 In this extract, Lightbouen describes tw experimental stad: ies voles form facnsed mstctin tebicb she carted a swith Iydaa White, Nina Spada, and bila Ranta In two experinwntal stale, we provided seachers in the inte sive ESL classes (in Quechee) with teaching materials Focusing fon two aspects of English thar the learners were far from mas tering, The aim of these studies way to explore the elfect of inerocacing more correct examples of target language structures together with some focused instruction and corrective feedback 0 that learners could see how their iterlanguage differed from target language rules. Tn the fist, we asked some intensive program teachers to teach students tha, even though adverb placement in English is relatively free, there is one postion where English Jocs nor nor tally allow adverhs in simple sentences: between the ver and direct object. Note thar this snot the casein French, where this position i allowed * Mary hus often flowers For her mother Marie achéte souvent des tours pour st mere After two weeks (approximately nine hours of instruction), of relatively brief daily aetviies involving. both “consciousness (through the presentation of examples, earrestive feed back on ert) and vommonicative activities where adverbs were used, students in the experimental group were dramatically hoe ter than a controf group who had nor had these lessons... Five ‘weeks later they were sill performing with a high level of accu racy. One year later, however, they had slipped hack to level not signifieanly different from the pretest performance In the second experimental study we prepared instructional packages for the reachers on the formation of English questions, both yesiuo and wh types. Fench has large sarcty oF ways {0 form grammatical questions. French-speaking learners of English might be expected to assume, once they abetily some Of the English question forme that both French anid Engl Permit, chat English has the same range of questions (with the Same pragmatic for 1s French,The design of she study was similar to that of the adverb stady reported above. The instruction inchuded etmseiousness Faising and communicative activites with apportunitiy for teachers to provide corrective feedback. And the results of the study were somewhat sinilae, That is, stadents performed sis nificantly hotter afer instruction than Fetore instruction 4m variety of tasky—oral and written—in which they either prov laced questions or indicated which of to gestions was Me correct (or whether bath were equally correct or incoeret). The dlffrence was that, six months later, the stints were still improving. Their accuracy in using questions and i judging the rammaticality of questions had ot slipped back 0. pre- Inseruction levels What do the two experiments that Lightbown describes show about the effectiveness of mstruciont Why do you think the effects of snstruction core offi the aseuf adverb postion? Why do you think the effets of struction proved danable in the case uf question formation? Hone coll ont test your ides? Text23 FRED ECKMAN, LAWRENCE RELL, 21M DIANE NELSON: “On the Rene sequisition of English as second language’ in Applied Linguistics 9, (988, pages sand 8-10 lization of relative clause instruction inthe Here isan account of a study that investigated whether 12 learners can generalize knowledge sows marked granmat ical strnctres to linked unmarked structures (sce page $4 0f the Survey) This paper reports an experimental stady intended to test dhe neralization of instewtion in sosond langoage learning. A {group of students an Bnglsh asa sccond Langage prexram served 3s subjects for special instruction in lative clave orn ation. The subjects were given # pre-test on combining tv at fences inte one sentence containing a relative clause where cither the subjust bec or obit oF prepunition ats the rel 1X anaes tivized noun phrase. Based on the pre-test results, four eal igroups were formed three of which served 3s experimental sroups and one as the contol group. Each experimental geoup fvas get struction om he Formation of only ane eype wel drive clause, The subjects wore then given a penttest ach of the pre: and posttests was sored on the basis of whether or nor the student produced the correct target sentence Only exrors relevant go the formation uf the tanget relative clause were counte ‘the majority of errors involved the structure of the eel tive clause sel. A frequent error type was the insertion of esumprive pronoun in the postion from which the ND was rel asvized. Another error type involved the failure to delete the felatvized NP from its original, pe-elanivized position. These errors are shown ia (a) and (b) respectively: 2 Tagget: Joan read the book shat Martin sold to Bil Error: Joan read the book shat Martin sol it to Bill bb Targets The teacher found the paper that Ale threw in the trash ean Error. The scacher found the paper thot Ales throw the paper in the trash ca “The number af erors per group, broken dossn by eelative élause structure, for hath the pre- and posttest are shown in the Table, Prevest Poseaest Subj. Ob. OP Subj, Obj. OP Subjece group 5496 Bs aN Object Group 53 now Direct abject Rrowp 3539 an Control group 2738 wow ABLE Lo Numberof errors per eromp by relative case simuctre> What do Keckmar etal. mean by ‘generalization af instruc Why are relative elarses an appropriate grammatical struc tre to test whether ‘xemeraication. of instruction? takes pla 1 What do the resus shown the Table show abn the effects ofthe instruction Whar ave the mplcstivns ofthis study for teaching? > Da yon find this sty convincing or do you have some reser Chapter 10 Conclusion: multiple perspectives in SLA Toxt24 KEVIN GREG: Second language acuistion theory: a case fora generative perspecive"in 8. Gas a J Schachter (eds) Linguistic Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition. ‘Cambridge University Press 198, pages sand 45, There is a debate in SLA about the vale of theory, Should SLA strive for a single theory hat can guide a program of research? Or should at accept a proliferation of théanes? Here is ome view Actually, inthe absence of formal theory, we get not only infor mal descripsion, but ako a proliferation of terminology, either Produced ad hoe (creative construction’, Krashen's “ouput fi ter’, Tarone's ‘capability continuuin, the various ‘competences’ feted my favorite invention is “semantic clout’) or imported "untinkingly rom other aliseiplnes adel this ae a lof fw charts and diagrams, In the absence af theory we run the sk DF getting mired in sterile taytnonnics chat however plausible or locally svefl, ee not esmtraine by any peineipe Although there is a geeat deal of SLA research going fon, what is mals harder to fad is a esearch primera kn SUA research i genera, there has heen lite sense of an overall king purpose beyond the xeneral ane of Binding out things Why do you think terminology proliferated in SLA® Da you think Gregg isrght ta criticize thst What dees Gregg mean by ‘a researc program’? Do you think hei right to compan that ths as been oss from SLAP bb Ofthe arions perspectives on SLA yoar ave examined in this Doak Gociohigestic,disunrse, poycbolingnstc, linguistic indwidnal differences, pedagogic) which one de think 1s best equipped te provide SLA with san overall gending purpose’?SECTION 3 References “The references which follow can be classified into intraductory level marked m=5}, moreadvanced and consequently more teh ical (marked mac}, and specialized, very: demanding (marked Chapter 1 Introduction: describing and explaining L2 acquisition Vivian cook: Second Language Learning and Langage Teaching, Ebeard Arnold 199 Aclearaecountafthe main areasot 12 acquisition of relevance te teachers. A useful feature isthe use of stmmaey buses ROD ELLIS: Understanding Second Lang ge Acgmiston. Oxford University This book constitutes general introduetion co the key ies in SLA and reviews research caeried ut i the 197 1986s, ‘nd early ROD F4418: The Std of Seeimal Language Aesstion, Oxford University Press 1994, “This provides an up-to-date and very detalles asoun a SLA. Bs length faxer Noo pages) makes it host ited Hor anes reterence. hawk. Features this hook ave tab that reviews research sais in particular arcasof enquiry ana an extensive glensaeySbsAN Gass and LAWRY SELINKEIE: Second Lonenage Acquisition: An Introductory Course. Lawrence Erlbaum This provides a review of the major areas and attempts to inte= arate these intoa single framework, There sa separate chapter on the L2 acquisition of vocabulary. The buxsk asa provides Points for Discussion’ offes 12 data for analysis, and includes a losin DIANE LAKSEN-PaHEaIAS and MICHAEL Lowe ‘An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. Longman 199 In dalton to reviewing the major issues in SLA, this book also provides two excelent chapters on research methodology in SLA, Each chapter is ako followed by comprehension and application ‘questions Patsy trenteaows and NINA seabA: Howe Languages are Learned. Oxford University Pros 1995 A very readable introduction to those isses in SLA whieh are nf lve interes to teachers BARRY ALCLAUGHLIN: Thoories uf Secomd-Langnage Learning. Fawaed Arnold 1987 This dfers from che other introductory books in that it focuses ‘onthe major theories in SLA. These ae explained clearly and cri sigue fairly BERNARD SPOLSKY: Conditions for Second Language Leaning. Ostori University Poss 1989 Spolky offers a yeneealdheory Wf 2 august in the form of 2 series ofconalitions whichae either neesary toro asta ot Txacquisition RICHARD TOWELLand ROGER HawKINs: Appaches ta Second Language Aegnsitian, Mulingual Matters 1994 [A.wellswritten introdotion that focuses on to prinipal asposts {OFSLA (UG andl sarabili ls uniqueness hes ithe attempt Aevelop a general met that incorporates oth af these asp Chapter 2 ‘The nature of learner language KATHLEEN BARDOYI-HARLIC and DUDLEY REYNOLDS: "The role of lexical aspect inthe acquisition of tense and aspect’in TESOL Quarterly 29.1995, pages 107-31 ‘An interesting account of how various factors shape the develop: nent of past rense markers based on the authors" own eesea This article informed the discussion ofthe acquisition of the past tense in the Survey SPF CoRDER: The significance af learners eras in be national Review of Applied Linguistics §, 1967, pages 161-9 Inthisseminal article, Conder lays out the rationale fr investiga inglearmers error. Str conta: “Error analysis"inS. Pe Cooder and P. Allen {ed}: The Fdinurgh Course ir Applied Linguistics, No.3 Oxford University Press 1974 “This provides » clear but technical asconne of the main prove dures involved in idenifying, describing, and explaining eters HEIDE DULAY, MAKIN auKY, and STEPHEN KRASHES Lanuge Tir, Ostord University Poss 198 ‘Overall this book presents t rather pasta view of 2 acquisition hha the chapteron errors (Chapter 7}isbalanealandinformative This hook aha provides a suninary ofthe catly esearch an vet sey ordersJACK RICHARDS: Error Analysis. Longman 19°74 ‘This contains a number of key articles including Carder's “The Significance of Learner Errors and Selinkers Tntrlangange’. A rnin las in the el HUMINE-TARONL: Variation de Tnteranuage: Fdward Arnold 1988 This provid a survey of the work on variability in Jearne la guage and also examines different theoretical ascounts of var ality RICHAKD TOWELL, ROGER HAWKINS, and NEVES bazercut: Systematic and nonsystematicvariahiley in advanced language learning in Studies on Second Lantgnage Agustin 1551995 Paes 439-69 Very technica, bur importane because it attempts ro show how thestayes of L2 acquisition reflect different types of variability. GORDON writs: The Meaning Makers. Hodderand Stoughton 198 Wells provides a very readable introdaction to the study of acquisition based on his own extensive esearch, Chapeers sand 5 dal with acquistional sequences Chapter 3 Interlanguage There are general accounts of interlangwage theory in Ellis 194}. Gass an Selinker (1994), and Larsen Freeman and Long (1991) see teferences for Chapter 1. A numberof cary articles ‘oninterlangnagecan be found in Richarl rayb—see references for Chapter Sony Combi: Error Analyse and baterkaneuage Osford University Pros 1981 {An invaluable collection of Corder’s papers which shovr some thing ofthe development of imerannge” a a theory ARAN DAVHES, CLIVE CRIPPAL and ANTHONY HOW ATH (eds Juterlanguage. sinburgh University Press 198 Aserof state-of-the-art” papers riginaly given ara conorenee in hanour of Pit Corder. They rellect the way imeslangiage they developed in the fen rs years rom ts hth TARRY SELINKER: “Tnterlnguge’ in Jternational Review of Applied Linguistics 10,1973, pages 209-31 This article is or easy 0 read, hut it gave SLA the rem intetan ssuage’ and i comsains a rich seam of theoretical eas that is sill being mined today. Chapter 4 Social aspects of interlanguage ErStan abene and wowann G1ess"Aecommodation thoory: a discussion in terms of second language nyu in International Journal ofthe Sociology of Language 46. 1984, pages $32 This article critiques the view of variability as a stylistic com tinoum, outlines Giles's accommodation theory, and applies 0 Liacquisition tb, DieKERSON: “The learner interlanguage asa sistem af variable rules'in TESOL Quarterly, 1975, pages 401-7 An intersting report of an empiccal study of Japanese learners variable use of (7 English that illustrates the “stylistic com BONNY praKCH Social idetigy.snvestment and Lguage learning’ in PESO! Quarterly 2[A powerfully argued paper in which the case fora sovially con steuctvist view of LZ acuisition i developed and ilastrated theough ease stds of adult earners, LOU SCHUMANN: The Pidgonisation Process: Model for Secon Language Acgusitn. Newhury House 1978 An aecount of afossilzal learner of Fngish together with an wut linc the acculturation model ELAINE TAKONE:*On the variability of nterlang systems°in Applied Linguists 4, 1983, pages 143-63 “Tarone argues the ease for viewing the learner's nterlanguage asa continuum of styles ranging from the careful tothe ‘vernacular Chapter 5 Discourse aspects of interlanguage k. Don Aro: Collective seaffolding in 12 harming in J. Lantolf and. Appel fs): Vsgutsbian Approaches to Second Language Research. Able 1994 An welbillatrated account of how leveners can cmsonseract rammatical yructuresand subsequently use them unassisted BVELYN HATCH (ed: Second Fang Nevwhary House 1978 ce Acquisition. Thiscollecrion contains Wagner-Gongh’sarticleon scaffoldingin learner discourse and Harch's own seminal article on how de couse shapes L2 aestion in children an adults, Hur Lys marcas Simplified input andsccond laa seis in R.Aiersen fs Pdnication and Creokcatin as Language Acgquisitinn, Newhars House 1983 Ace suntsey ofthe main types of nput medication foal in foreigner talk together witha icussion af hun they may assist UX seston STEPHEN KRASHIEN: The Iyput Hypothesis: Issues and Inplicatwns Laredo Publshing Company 1993, rashen presents his eral theory of L2 acyuisition in which the input hypothesis iscentral and also resicws clevane research, MICHAN LONG! Native speakerinon-native speaker comversation and the negotiation of comprehensible inper in Applied Singustics 5 1983, pages 136-44 [A detailed account ofthe different types of interactional moi Cation found in the negotiation of meaning Long. considers important for 2 acquisition MERRILL swAIN:‘Theee functions of outpurin second, language learning” in G. Cook and B Seidlhofer (eds. Principle and Practice m Applied Linguistics. Oxford University Press 195 ‘Swain outlines and illascates from her wn and others! research hw oupuc can ais 12 acquisition, NESSA WOLISON: Perspectives: Suetolingnistcs and TESOL, Newhury House 1983 This provides an acciune of various aspects of 12 learner dis cours, including a summary of er work on compliments Chapter 6 Peycholinguistic aspects of interlanguage Li transfer SUSAN GSS an LARRY SELINALR fos Fagg Transfer Fangaage Learning, Newbury House 184 “This contains vasety of seis om raster, incling those that reflec hchaviourist sinimalis, and ciitive positions, OF par ticular interest is Fri Kellerman’ ancl. A soci eit, withsome important articles omitted (including Kelleman’s) and ‘others added, was published by Jobo enjaminsin 1992 TERENCE OLIN: Latngasge Transfer Cambridge University ess 1989 An excellent review of the empitial researc on langage trans fer Irexamines the evidence fr transler at all lang phonology. lexis, geammar and discourse Therole of consciousness in L2 acquisition NICK ELLIS: Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages Academic Press 1994 collection of papers from the Fields of SLA, fis language aequi sition research, and cognitive psychology reBectng a wide range of views (ineluding Krashen’s and Sebiide’s}abyut implicit and explicit earning, IAN HurstHN and etcHaKe SCHMID E feds ‘Consciousness Second Language Learning ATLA Review 13.1994 Among. ther interesting paper, this vm includes Schnie's attempt impose some sense and order on he use ofthe teeny “eonscousiess in SLA. K. scHaiprands, FRovA: Developing hasic con versational ability a sevond language a case-study of am adule learner’ in R. Day (ed: Talking to Leurn Conversatnnrin Second Lang House 1X6 Acaqsition. Newry | fascinating case study wich uses information fram Schaid's shany to make a case For ‘noting! v9 cnsctn a cruel ment of 12 acquisition, Processing operations ROGEN ANDIRGE NS The One-to-One Pringinke imerlanguage construction” in Langage Learning $4, pages 77-95. 1984, This article describes and ilaserates me the operating prin ciples Andersen belcves toe inva in L2 acuta, JORGEN MEISEL, HAROLD CLARSEN, and MANTHED PIENEM ANN: "On determining developmental stages in natural second language acquisition” in Studies iy Secon Language Acquistion 3 pages 109-35, 1981 This reviews some of the main findings of the ZISA Project on developmental sages in the L2 aquisition of German and ot Tines dhe Mukidimensional Model THON HUDSON: Nothing dacs not equal ro: Problems with applying development sequence fringe to assesment and pedagogy” in Studies Secund Vatngeatge Acguistion 15. Toys, pakes 461-95 Hudson points out some af the problems with the multi dimensional noel and the esearch that supports it Pienemann, Johnston, and Meisel provide a reply inthe sane volume. ‘Communication strategies ELLEN BIALYSTOK: Communication Strategies: A Peychologieal Analysis of Second Language Use Blackwell 199 A review of research imo communication strategies together with Bialystok's own ghoorctcal mie! account fr them UAUS EERCH aU GARKILTE KASH thats HF Interlanguage Comannication Laman v98 Still probably the host book overall on communication strates contains thekey acl by Here aid Kasper an plans and comChapter 6 Linguistic aspects of interlanguage VIVIAN COOK: Chomsky's Universal Grammar, Blckowell 1988 A very clear introduction ea Chomsky’s theory of langage and a helpful hapcersn its relationship 2 acquisition LYNN EUBANK (ed: Point Chunterpoints Universal Grammar inthe Second Language, John Benjamins 1991 An interesting collection of papers because it juxtaposes the views ‘of UG believers and non-believers in SLA and hus provides real debate, Susan Gass and JACKIE ScHAcHLTER (eds: Linguistic Perspectiveson Second Language Acquistion, Cambridge University Press roy A mixture of theoretical articles and seports of empirical stadiey based on both eypological universal and UG. Tomas scovet:A Tome ta Speaks A Psyeholingistic Enguiry mao the Critical Period for Human Speech, Newhury House 1988 Abulanced look ata controversial issue anda pleasure to read Lybia wire: Universal Grammar and Second Language “Aegisition. John Benjamins 1989 Useful forthe reviow of SLA research based on UG. Chapter 8 Individual differences in L2 acquisition GRAHAM Chooxrs and RICHARD Sent Motivation: Reopening the Reseatch Aen in Language Learning 41, yg te pages $09-512 “This ariel challenges Gardner's theory of motivation by arguing thecase for viewing as inerinsicand dynam 1, DEL (ed Indl Differences and Universal in Langage Aptatnde. Newbury Hease 1981 Cones ipportant articles by Cart, who reviews his work on Tangwnge aptirude, and Wesche, who reports a study ivelv ing Jearner-matehing, R. GARDNER: Sacial Pyschology and Second Language Learning: The Role of Attitudes and Motivation, Fdward Arnold 198s Gardner reviews his years of work on instrumental and integea J. O'MALLEY and 4, CHLAMO: Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press 1999 A sold survey ofthe researc on learning strategie including the authors’ own research. Gia! om taining leaener in the use of strategic. REBECCA OXFORD: Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Kuow. Newbury Howse 1999 ‘This clases, defines, and illastraes a whole host of learning strategies and, as such, is useful asa reference book, PETER skestan: Individual Differences in Second language Leaening, Fdward Arnold 1989 Inaddition 1 language apritade, moxivation, and learning stat ees, this enjoyalsic hook also reviews research em learning tye aniety, personality and learner-instruction machinChapter 9 Instruction and 12 acquisition SUSANNE CARROLL and MIRILE swans *Paplicit and implicienegative feedback: An empirical study af the leasing tf linguistic generalizations in Stade Second Langa Asgisition 155199 4 pages 387-86 A sepa al the authors’ research inte the effects of negative fod back, ROD ELLs Instructed Second Language Acquisition, Blackwell 1990 An aecoune of how instruction can affect L2 acquisition both directly, through form-focused instruction, and indirectly through classroom interaction, SIGHT HARLEY: “Eunetional grammar in French immersion ligroom experiment” Applied Lingustics 19, pages This article provides an account of Harley's experimetal stay ‘ol form focused instuetion. Ialso provides am excellent account ‘oa functional approach to seaching grammar. XENWETH YLTENSTAM and MANFRED PIENEMANN (ed.): Modelling ad Ascessing Second Language Acquisition, Maltlingual Matters 1985 This book contains a variety of perspectives on the role of foem focused insertion, including Prenemana’s ieas aout “teach ability" and various esponses i PATSy Lien T BOWS and NINA SPAba fo. )The Role of Instetiom in Second Language Acquisition’ (Studies in Second Language Aesgistion 15.1993) Acollesion af theoretial and research pape dealing with fons focuses) instruction, including. papers by Teahey and White Spada and Lighthown, and VanPatten and Cadierno, sw which references ate made in the Survey J O'MALLEY The effects of raining inthe use of lesen strategis on acquiring English ava svi langage in AA. Wenden and I. Rubin (eds ester Sitges Language Fearing, Prentice Hall International 1988 An account af threescparate periments in strategy training, TERESA PicA:"Adult acquisition of English asa second language under different conditions of exposure” in Langage Learning 53,1983, ages 465-97 ‘A comparison ofthe acquisition of grammatical moepehemes in tutored, untutored, and mixed groups of learners JACK RICHARDS and TE KOGERS: Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press 1986 A clear description af « number af diferent teaching methous that inchades an aecoune of the Hhcores of language learning on which they are based. Chapter 10 Conclusion: multiple perspectives in SLA Applied Linguistics tals ‘This issue is devored entirely to a discussion ofthe cole of theory in SLA and contains inyportant articles by Greg Lon, and Schumann, amongothers,SECTION 4 Glossary age eferencesto Section 1, Survey, ate given at theendof each entry accessibity hierarchy An implicarional ordering of relative pro» oun functions (6, subject direct objet) in terms of theit degree of markednoss (64 ‘accommodation theory According #0 this theory, social factors influence the extent to which speakers seck to make thet speech similar or dissimilar to the speoch oftheir interlocutors Sec eomergence and divergence (39) acculturation model According to this theory, various social and psychological fators govern the extent to which learners are fhle to adape to the tangct language culate and, thereby, cau the L2. See socal distance and psyeholgial distance (39) ‘accuracy order “The ranking of grammatical morphemes accord ‘ing tothe accuracy with which each morpheme is prestuced in Teamer language. See sequin order. (21) acquisition order ‘The ranking of grammatical morphemes according to when each morpheme is acquired by learners, Some researchers equate the accuracy order with the acquisition order. (241 autoinput This refers to the possibility chat learners’ own out pur can serve as inpat to theie Language acquisition mech: anisms. 49} avoidance Avoidance is sad to oocur when specific target law -uage features are under-repeesenced in earner production i comparison to nativespeaker production, Avoidance may be ‘caused y LA wanster. (51)Dacksliding This said tonceur when learners employ a rule that belongs to an earlier stage af development than the learners current stage. [34 bbehaviourstlearningtheory A yen theory that views al learn ing asthe formation of habits throug envieonmental stim Tain (28 careful style ‘The term ysel hy Labow to refer eo the language used when speakers are attending to and misnitaring ther speech, See syste continuum (37) case study A detailed and usually longitudinal stady ofa single learner. (6) ‘communication strategies ‘The strategies used by both native speakers and L2 learners to overcame communication prob Jems eesulting from lack of linguistic esources or inability to access them. 53) ‘comprehensible input Thar part ofthe total input chat she learner tunderscands and which is hypothesized to be nevessary for acquisition rake place. (471 consciousness-aising A tyne of formfocused insertion slesigned to make leamers aware of 4 spectc linguistic feature. 185) contrastive analysis. ser of proceires For comparing and con trastingthe linguistic systems ewe langage in rd ide tify thei structural similis and differences 152) ‘convergence The process by which speakers make their speech similar co their ineelocutors” speech. L2 acquisition can be viewed as ‘longeterm convergence’ towards nativespeaker| norms See accommodation theory. (22) tical period hypothesis This stares that casgetlangwage competence in an L2 can only be achieved if learning cont rmences before a certain age (eg. the onset of puberty) 8 reached. (67, vergence The process by which speakers make their speech if fecent from their iterlacutors specch, Frequent livengence can he considered to impede 12 aesusitinn, Sev aeeommedation tory. 39) errors Deviations in usage which resol fom gaps in learners knowledge ofthe rarger language: c- mistakes 12,17 ‘explicit knowledge The 2 knowledge of which learner ware and can verhalineom request (56) foreigner talk The sarcty of language use by native spears 0 duress non-native speakers. 25] orm-function mapping. Th slnsifiation bythe learner wf a pas ticular function which can be performed by meaas ofa partic lar form. The ensuing mapping! may or may not correspond 29 target language norms (28) formulas. Chunks of language shat ate stored either as complete tints (eq. T don't know") oF as partially analysed units (eg ‘Can I have & J, Formas ae lexical in nature: cf ua 8 fossiization The processes responsible fr the cesation of learn ing some way shore of anget-language competence. Most L2 learners incerlangnagesfosilie, [29] free variation The random use of ew or more variants ofa seu tre, 128) bal ertors Firors thar alfet svera ‘word order errs) Steal erors (20) Il semtonce stractare fo impli knowledge The 12 knowledge of which a leaener is ‘unaware and therekore cannot werhalizs (56) Input The samples of oral and writen language a leaener is exposed to while earning or using a particular 2. (51 Input-based instruction lnsrcton thae aims ro reach learners linguistic tem by systematically exposing them tot inthe put rather than by giving them opportunities to prluce it tet selves 13 Input flooding. A type of form-foonal instruction that soles supplying learners with plentiful postive evidence of spit linguistic featur. 8) Input hypothesis Tir hypothesis advances hy Krashen explain how Kearners subconsciously aie lineage fom inp thes ‘ompechend, See comprenensibe Input. 7)149 Instrumental motivation The degree of effort learner puts into Tearning an L2 as a result of the desire to achieve some fre tional goal ec pass an exam. (75) Intake That portion of the input sha lasners attend to and take into short-term memory. Intake may besubseguently incorpo ated int imeanguge. (35) Integrative motivation he degrce of ellort a learner puts ime Fearing an 12 through an snnerest i desir tity with the target-language culture 75) interaction hypothesis The name given to clany that the tense ‘ional modifications resulting from) the negotiation of meaning facilitate acquisition. 147) Interianguage A torm coined by Selinker to refer to che system anc knowledge af an [2 that independent of both che target language and he learners L.(24) Interlanguage continuum The scris of interim systems that a learner constructs inthe process of acquiring a L233) investment Learners’ vomnitinent to learning an L2, which is viewed as related t0 the sovial identities they conser for themselves earners (42) item tearing. The learning thst is involv i learning separate and dserete items of language. Kerang that son i French takes Ta? and that "pata takes "lef. ayatem lear ing (13) Intrinsic motivation ‘Ihe deyece of elfort a lamer makes lar an L2.asa result of the interest generated by a particu eae ingavtivity- (791 {transfer The process hy which the learner's L1 inflences the acquisition and use of an L2. (58), Language Acquisition Device LAD) According «9 Chomsky, te innate language faculty responsible for LL acquisitions Universal Grammar (UG) (32 language aptitude Thespocial silty thas people haves i varying deyres for learungan C2. (8,73) leamer language tiie term given to the lange tha kearners produce in speech and writing ding the course of ange sein teaming strategy | behavioural or mental procedure ased by earners 10 develop their interlanguages. ‘See communication stratsies (3 76 linguistic context The language thae surrounds a particular irrammatical feature and which may influence the particular form leaener chooses ase (26) local errors Hors that atfect single elements in a sentence fea errors inthe wse of prepositions). See global errs. (20) markedness This refers ro the general ea that some linguist features may be more “basi” or “natural than others. More technical definitions based om linguistic theory also exist 170) mentalist 4 mentalist sheory of langoage learning emphasizes the leaner’ innate capacity for aequirnga language. [3,31 mistakes Deviations in usage chat reflect learners inability to use ‘wha they actually know of the target language: ch. ears (17 ‘motwation ‘The effort learners put into learning an 12 a. resale fof their desire or need to leurn it. See ali itegpative moti ‘on, lnstumental motivation, intrinsic mathaton, id resuRatve motivation. (75) ‘muttidmensional model \ theory of L2 acauisition propose by Meise, Clahsen, and Pienemann. Ir distinguishes developmental and variational features according to whether they are governed by processing constraints or sio-pspcholeical actors. (58) negative evidencelfevdback Information given dlieetly oF in iret o learners chat an inerlanguage hypothesisisincorext 137.671 negative transfer Language transfer that results in errors, See Ut ‘transfer, (53) negotiation of meaning The inceractive work that takes place herween speakers when some misunderstanding occurs. It results in interactional mealisstions hypothesized t0 aid Acquisition. (46) noticing The process hy which latners pay comseions steation tolinguisticfsnares in the np. S51 notice the gap The proves by which learners pay conscions attention to the differoneey between linguists features inthe {input and! their ww ep