Explore the nature of language learning, some basic similarities and differences between L1 and L2 learning, and “the logical problem of language acquisition.” Discuss some basic similarities and differences between L1 and L2 learning and “the logical problem of language acquisition.” Examine the conceptual framework: linguistic, psychological, and social perspectives on SLA

1. Chapter 2:
Foundations of SLA
MR. VATH VARY
AGA INSTITUTE
Course:
Second
Language
Acquisition
(SLA)
• Tel: + 855 17 471 117
• Email: varyvath@gmail.com

2. Expected Learning
Outcomes
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
• Explore the nature of language learning, some
basic similarities and differences between L1 and
L2 learning, and “the logical problem of language
acquisition.”

• Discuss some basic similarities and differences between
L1 and L2 learning and “the logical problem of language
acquisition.”

• Examine the conceptual framework: linguistic,
psychological, and social perspectives on SLA

3. The world of second languages
3
Monolingualism
refers to the ability
to use only one.
Multilingualism for
the ability to use two
or more languages
Bilingualism for
the ability to use
two languages
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4. The world of second languages
4
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• In fact it is difficult to find a
society that is genuinely
monolingual. Not only is
bilingualism worldwide, it is a
phenomenon that has existed
since the beginning of language
in human history.
• There are many more
bilingual or multilingual
individuals in the world than
there are monolingual.
• It is probably true that no
language group has ever existed
in isolation from other language
groups, and the history of
languages is replete with
examples of language contact
leading to some form of
bilingualism.

5. The world of second languages
5
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Vivian Cook
distinguished
• Monolingual competence
(monocompetence” in
Cook’s terminology), refers
to knowledge of only one
language.
• Multilingual competence
(“multicompetence”) refers
to “the compound state of a
mind with two [or more]
grammars
 Those who grow up in a
multilingual environment
acquire multilingual
competence in the natural
course of using two or
more languages from
childhood with the people
around them, and tend to
regard it as perfectly
normal to do so.

6. The world of second languages
6
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• By the year 2000, the four most commonly used languages were Chinese,
English, Spanish, and Hindi, which were acquired by over 2 billion as L1s
and almost 1.7 billion as L2s, as shown in Table 2.1

7. Why learn L2s?
7
Invasion/
conquest
economy/
business
Religion
Immigrati
on
Educati
on
Occupation/
Social
advanceme
nt
Culture and
access to
technologies
or literatures
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8. The world of second languages
8
The numbers of L1 and L2 speakers of different languages can
only be ‘estimated’ because …
1. Linguistic information is often not
officially collected
2. Answers to questions seeking linguistic information
may not be reliable
3. There is lack of agreement on definition of terms
and on criteria for identification
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9. The nature of
language learning
The role of social
experience
The role of natural
ability
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10. The Role of Natural Ability
10
1
• Children begin to learn their L1 at the same age
2
• Children master the basic phonological and grammatical
operation in their L1 by the age of about five or six,
3
• Children can understand and create novel
utterances
4
• There is a cut-off age for L1 acquisition, beyond
which it can never be complete.
5
• Acquisition of L1 is not simply a facet of general
intelligence.
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11. The role of social experience
11
1
• Appropriate social experience, L1 input and
interaction, is a necessary condition for
acquisition. (Not all of L1 acquisition can be
attributed to innate ability)
2
• Children will never acquire such language-specific
knowledge unless that language is used with them
and around them, and they will learn to use only
the language(s) used around them, no matter what
their linguistic heritage.
3
• American-born children of Korean or Greek
ancestry will never learn the language of their
grandparents if only English surrounds them, for
instance, and they will find their ancestral
language just as hard to learn as any other English
speakers do if they attempt to learn it as an adult.
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12. L1 versus L2 learning (page 17)
12
Initial State
• the underlying knowledge about language structures and
principles that is in learners’ heads at the very start of L1 or L2
acquisition
Intermediate
State
• covers all stages of basic language development.
• This includes the maturational changes which take place in
what I have called “child grammar,” and the L2
developmental sequence which is known as learner
language (also interlanguage)
Final State
is the outcome of L1 and L2 learning.
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13. 13
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A brief comparison of L1 and L2 learning is
divided into three phases (page 17)
Intermediate
states
Final states
Initial states

14. Initial states
14
• Innate capacity is the
starting point for L1
acquisition as all
children are born with
to learn language.
• A major component of
the initial state for L2
learning must be prior
knowledge of L1.
• Is innate capacity
for language
acquisition
remains beyond
childhood? ‘No’
• L2 learners have
resources of L1
competence, world
knowledge, and
established skills for
interaction, which can
be both an asset and
an impediment.
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15. Intermediate states
15
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• As children (cognitive
development) mature,
so do their L1 abilities
(Maturation).
• However, Processes
other than maturation
must be involved to
explain development in
SLA.
• It addresses ‘how’
question.
• Processes involve
Cross-linguistic
influence, or
transfer) of prior
knowledge from L1
(vocabulary,
pronunciation,
grammar, and all other
aspects of language
structure and use) to
L2
Learners takes:
• L1 as a guide
during this stage;
• Prior knowledge
from L1 to L2
involved in
interlanguage
development with
two types of
transfer
• Positive transfer: when an L1 structure or rule is used in an L2 utterance and that
use is appropriate or “correct” in the L2; and
• Negative transfer (interference): when an L1 structure or rule is used in an L2
utterance and that use is inappropriate and considered an “error.”

16. Intermediate states
16
Necessary
conditions
• The role of input and interaction is absolutely
necessary for either in L1 or esp. L2 to reach a
fairly high level of proficiency
• Children also require direct, reciprocal
interaction with other people, listening to
radio, watching television and written text
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17. Intermediate states
17
Facilitating
conditions
 Identifying and explaining facilitating conditions
essentially addresses the fundamental why question of
SLA: why are some L2 learners more successful than
others?
• Feedback: including correction of L2 learners’
errors
• Aptitude: including memory capacity and
analytic ability
• Motivation, need and desire to learn
• Instruction or explicit teaching in school settings
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18. Final states
18
• the outcome of L1 or
L2 learning
• Children acquiring
their L1 achieve
native linguistic
competence
L2 learners reach “near-
native” or “native-like”
level of competence or high
proficiency.
• Instead, L2 learners
achieve multilingual
competence
• Many L2 learners
cease at some point to
make further progress
toward the learning
target, known as
fossilization.
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19. The logical problem of language learning
19
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• How is it possible for children to
achieve the final state of L1
development with general ease
and complete success, given the
complexity of the linguistic system
which they acquire and their
immature cognitive capacity at the
age they do so?

20. The logical problem of language learning
20
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• Children’s knowledge
of language goes
beyond what could be
learned from the input
they receive (poverty-
of-the-stimulus
argument)
• Constraints
and principles
cannot be
learned
• Universal
patterns of
development
cannot be
explained by
language-
specific input
• Most linguists and psychologists assume this achievement
must be attributed to innate linguistic knowledge underlying
language acquisition

21. Frameworks for
SLA
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Scholars have formulated
systematic theories and models to
address the basic questions:
1. What exactly does the L2
learner know?
2. How does the learner acquire
this knowledge?
3. Why are some learners more
successful than others?

22. Frameworks for
SLA
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Scholars have formulated
systematic theories and models to
address the basic questions:
1. What exactly does the L2
learner know?
2. How does the learner acquire
this knowledge?
3. Why are some learners more
successful than others?

23. Structural linguistics and behavioral psychology
23
• L system consisted of a finite set of
patterns or structures which as a
model for the production of an
infinite number of similarly
constructed sentences.
• Emphasized the description of
different levels of production in
speech: phonetics, phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics, and
lexicon
Structuralism
(Bloomfield 1933)
• stressed the notion of
learning as a habit
formation resulting from
S-R-R:
• stimuli from the
environment (linguistic
input), responses to those
stimuli, and reinforcement
if the responses resulted in
some desired outcome.
Behaviorism
(Skinner 1957)
• an approach to
language teaching
which emphasized
repetition and habit
formation
• Teachers focus their
teaching on structure
Audiolingualism
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24. Linguistic: Internal focus (Cognitive)
24
• The first linguistic framework which evolutionized
linguistic theory and had a profound effect on both
the study of L1 & L2.
Chomsky
• argued convincingly that the behaviorist
theory of language acquisition is wrong
because it cannot explain the creative aspects
of linguistic ability.
• claimed that children must have some innate
capacity for language.
Transformational-
generative grammar
• sets the goal of study as
accounting for speakers’
internalized, underlying
knowledge of language, with
its own potential to create and
understand original utterances
in a given language (linguistic
competence)
Transformational-
generative grammar
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25. Linguistic: Internal focus (Cognitive)
25
• Followed Chomsky’s Transformational-
Generative Grammar.
• UG claims that all human inherits a
universal set of:
• Principles: ‘unvarying’ properties of all
languages of the world;
• Parameters: Limited options in
realization of universal principles which
account for grammatical variation
between languages of the world
Principles and
parameters Model
• Revised specification of what
constitutes “innate capacity” in
language acquisition to include
more abstract notions of general
principles and constraints that
are common to all human
languages as part of Universal
Grammar .
Principles and
parameters Model
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26. Linguistic: Internal focus (Cognitive)
26
• followed Chomsky’s Principles and
Parameters model
• Chomsky argued that the core of human L is
the lexicon (the word store) and
distinguished:
1. Lexical category: content words: V, N, adj, adv)
2. Functional category: grammatical words: Conj, Prep,
determiners, auxiliaries
 as well as more emphasis on the acquisition of
feature specification as a part of lexical
knowledge.
Minimalist program
• Parametric variation is
located within the
lexicon, esp. functional
ones, which are
characterized by a bundle
of functional features
that vary from L to L,
causing the various
surface differences in:
word order, morphology
Minimalist
program
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27. Linguistic: Internal focus (Cognitive)
27
• Recent development within Chomsky’s generative
linguistic theory:
• that continues to view language components:
lexicon and morphology as separate, but recognizes
the need for some interface in their processing.
• Linguistic interface:
• greatly enhances the importance accorded different
types of meaning: lexical, grammatical, semantic,
and pragmatic/discourse
linguistic
interfaces
• Differences in how
components interface
in different languages
may account for some
transfer phenomena in
SLA.
linguistic
interfaces
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28. Linguistic: External focus (Functionalism)
28
Prague School of
Eastern Europe (early
20th century)
emphasize:
• the information
content of utterances,
and in considering
language primarily as
a system of
communication
Some emphasized
similarities and
differences among
the world’s
languages and relate
these to sequence
and relative
difficulty of learning
Some emphasized
acquisition as
largely a process of
mapping relations
between linguistic
functions and forms,
motivated by
communicative
need;
Some
emphasized the
means learners
have of
structuring
information in
L2 production
and how this
relates to
acquisition
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29. Psychological: Cognitive and humanistic
29
• The location and
representation of
language in the brain
• Lenneberg (1967)
argued that there is a
Critical period for
language acquisition
which has a
neurological basis.
Neurolinguistics
• Information Processing (IP):
Processing itself (of language or
any other domain) is believed to
cause learning.
• Processability: extends IP
concepts of learning and applies
them to teaching second
languages.
• Connectionism: focuses on
increasing associations between
stimuli and responses. Frequency
of input causes learning.
learning processes
(how)
• Affective: attitude,
motivation, and
anxiety
• Biological: age and
sex
learner differences
(why)
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Social perspectives
emphasize the importance of social
context for language acquisition and
use.
Microsocial
• relate to language acquisition and
use in immediate social contexts of
production, interpretation, and
interaction.
Macrossocial
• relate language acquisition and
use to broader ecological
contexts, including cultural,
political, and educational
settings.

31. Social: Microsocial
31
• include exploration of systematic
differences in learner production
which depend on contexts of use,
• and consider why the targets of SLA
may be different even within groups
who are ostensibly learning the
“same” language
Variation Theory:
• based on the notion that speakers
usually unconsciously change
their pronunciation and even the
grammatical complexity of
sentences they use to sound more
like whomever they are talking to
Accommodation
Theory:
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32. Social: Microsocial
32
• views interaction as the
essential genesis of
language.
• It not only facilitates
language learning but is a
causative force in
acquisition.
Sociocultural
Theory
• emphasizes L2 production
and interpretation within a
virtual community,
interaction among its
participants, and often both
formal and functional goals
Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC)
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33. Social: Macrosocial
33
• Extends the notion of what is being
acquired in SLA beyond linguistic
and cultural factors to include social
and cultural knowledge that is
required for appropriate use,
• and leads us to consider second
language learners as members of
groups or communities with
sociopolitical as well as linguistic
bounds
Ethnography of
Communication
• offer broader understandings of how
such factors as identity, status, and
values determine social and
psychological distance between learner
and target language populations and
affect the outcomes of SLA.
• The closer learners feel to the target
language speech community, the
better they will ‘acculturate,’ the
more successful their SLA will be
Acculturation Theory and
Social Psychology
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FURTHER READING MATEIALS

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