Define what language is; Examine the early linguistic approaches to SLA: Contrastive Analysis , Error Analysis Interlanguage , Morpheme Order Studies, and Monitor Model; Bring the internal focus with up-to-date discussion of Universal Grammar (UG): what constitutes the language faculty of the mind; Discuss external focus: the functions of language that emerge in the course of second language acquisition Systemic Linguistics, Functional Typology , Function-to- Form Mapping , and Information Organization. Applied the learned knowledge in the language classroom.

1. Chapter 3: The linguistics
of Second Language Acquisition
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• Tel: + 855 17 471 117
• Email: varyvath@gmail.com
Course:
Second Language
Acquisition
(SLA)
AGA
INSTITUTE

2. Contents
The nature of
language
Early
approaches to
SLA
Universal
Grammar
Functional
approaches
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3. Learning Outcomes

• Define what language is;

• Examine the early linguistic approaches to SLA: Contrastive Analysis , Error Analysis
Interlanguage , Morpheme Order Studies, and Monitor Model;

• Bring the internal focus with up-to-date discussion of Universal Grammar (UG):
what constitutes the language faculty of the mind;

• Discuss external focus: the functions of language that emerge in the course of second
language acquisition Systemic Linguistics, Functional Typology , Function-to- Form
Mapping , and Information Organization.

• Applied the learned knowledge in the language classroom.
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4. The nature of language
What is it that we learn when we learn
a language?
systematic
symbolic
social
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5. Languages are systematic.
• Ls consist of
recurrent elements
which occur in
regular patterns of
relationships.
• Ls have an infinite
number of possible
sentences, and the vast
majority of all
sentences which are
used have not been
memorized.
• Ls are created
according to rules or
principles which
speakers are usually
unconscious of using –
or even of knowing – if
they acquired the
language(s) as a young
child.
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6. Languages are symbolic
• Sequences of
sounds or letters
do not inherently
possess meaning.
• Meanings of
symbols in a
language come
through the tacit
agreement of a
group of speakers
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7. Languages are social
• Use L to
communicate, to
categorize and
catalogue the objects,
events, and processes
of human experience
• Capacity for L1
acquisition is
innate, but no one
can develop that
potential without
interaction
• L can be defined at least
in part as “the expressive
dimension of culture.”
• People who function in more
than one cultural context
will communicate more
effectively if they know
more than one L.
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8. Linguistic Branches
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Lexicon (vocabulary)
• word meaning
• pronunciation
(spelling for written
Ls)
• grammatical category
(parts of speech)
• possible occurrence in
combination with other
words and in
• idioms
Phonology (sound system)
• speech sounds that make a
difference in meaning
(phonemes)
• possible sequences of
consonants and vowels
(syllable structure)
• intonation patterns (stress,
pitch, and duration), and
perhaps tone in words
rhythmic patterns (pauses
and stops)
Morphology (word
structure)
• parts of words that have
meaning (morphemes)
• inflections that carry
grammatical information
(number or tense)
• prefixes and suffixes,
added to change the
meaning of words or
their grammatical
category
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9. Linguistic Branches
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Syntax (grammar)
• word order
• agreement between
sentence elements
(number agreement
between subject and
verb)
• ways to form
questions, negate
assertions, and focus or
structure
• information within
sentences
Nonverbal structures
(with conventional,
language- specific
meaning)
• facial expressions
• spatial orientation and
position
• gestures and other
body movement
Discourse
• ways to connect
sentences, and to
organize information
across sentence
boundaries
• structures for telling
stories, engaging in
conversations, etc.
• scripts for interacting and
for events
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10. 10
Early approaches to
SLA
•Contrastive analysis
•Error Analysis
•Interlanguage
•Krashen’s Monitor
Model
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Behaviorism
Contrastive
Analysis
Transfer
Structurali
sm
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12. Contrastive Analysis
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• The focus of CA is on
surface forms: a structure-
by-structure comparison of
phonology, morphology,
syntax, lexicon, and
nonverbal structures and
discourse.
Structuralism
• CA assumed that language acquisition
involves habit formation: Stimulus
(linguistic input)–Response–Reinforcement
(strengthens, habituates the response);
• Learner imitates and repeats the language
heard; the imitation has to be rewarded.
• The implication is that “practice makes
perfect.”
Behaviorism
• Assumption of CA is
that there will be the
transfer (cross-linguistic
influences in learning): of
elements acquired (or
habituated) in L1 to L2.
Transfer
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• An SLA approach involves predicting and explaining learner problems based on a
comparison of L1 and L2 to determine similarities and differences.

13. Pedagogical Implication of CA
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• increase efficiency in
L2 teaching and
testing;
• find areas of difficulty
for learners (isolating
what needs to be
learned and what
does not need to be
learned in an L2
situation)
CA: Goal
• Identify when the same
structure is appropriate in
both Ls: positive transfer
(facilitation), and when the
L1 structure is used
inappropriately in the L2:
negative transfer
(interference)
• All errors emerged from L1
as interference
CA: Transfer
• L lessons focus on
structures, which are
predicted to most need
attention and practice and
for sequencing the L2
structures in order of
difficulty.
• Any structure in L2 which
has a form not occurring
in L1 needs to be learned
CA: lesson
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Error Analysis
From CA to EA
• Predictions made by CA
did not always
materialize in actual
learner errors, and not
all errors could not be
attributed to transfer
from L1 to L2.
• Language theory: Shift from
structuralism (surface form) to
underlying knowledge (rule-
governed language)
• Learning theory: shift from
behaviorism (habit formation) to
Mentalism : (innate capacity for L
acquisition) resulted in an
introduction of Transformational-
Generative (TG) Grammar (1957,
1965).
• SLA separates from
Pedagogy: from
teaching to Learning
• Learning processes
became an important
focus for study in
their own right.
• The first approach to the study of SLA which includes an internal focus on learners’ creative
ability to construct language. It is based on the description and analysis of actual learner errors in
L2, rather than on idealized linguistic structures attributed to native speakers of L1 and L2.
EA largely augmented or replaced CA by
the early 1970s because of the following developments:

15. The procedure for analyzing learner errors
• Collection of a sample of learner language (morphemes)
• Identification of element errors.
• Corder (1967) excludes:
• errors (learners’ lack of L2 knowledge; are systematic and are not recognized
by the learner as an error)
• mistakes (processing failure such as a lapse in memory; speakers can recognize
it as a mistake and correct it if necessary)
• Description of errors
• Language level: (phonological morphological, syntactic, etc.),
• general linguistic category: (auxiliary system, passive sentences, negative constructions), or
• specific linguistic elements (articles, prepositions, verb forms).
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16. The procedure for analyzing learner errors
• Explanation of errors
• why an error is important for the processes of SLA
• Two of the most likely causes of L2 errors
• Interlingual: (between languages) factors from negative transfer or
interference from L1
• Intralingual: (within language) factors and considered as
developmental errors
• Evaluation of errors
• Error Effects: how “serious” it is, or to what extent it affects
intelligibility, or social acceptability (such as qualifying for a job)
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17. 17
• Chomsky claimed that
languages have only a
relatively small number of
essential rules which
account for their basic
sentence structures, plus a
limited set of
transformational rules
which allow these basic
sentences to be modified (by
deletions, additions,
substitutions, and changes in
word order).
Chomsky’s First
Linguistic Framework
• The finite number of basic
rules and transformations in
any language accounts for an
infinite number of possible
grammatical utterances.
• “Rules” merely
describe what native
speakers say, not what
someone thinks they
should say.)
Finite numbers of
Descriptive Rules • “Knowing” a language meant
knowing the rules rather than
memorizing surface structures.
• Since speakers of a language can
understand and produce millions
of sentences they have never
heard before, they cannot merely
be imitating what they have heard
others say, but must be applying
these underlying rules to create
novel constructions.
Rule-governed
behavior
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Transformational-Generative Grammar

18. Interlanguage (IL)
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• Larry Selinker (1972) introduced the
term Interlanguage (IL) to refer to the
intermediate states (or interim grammars)
of a learner’s language as it moves
toward the target L2.
• IL itself is a 3rd L system in its own
right.
• The idea was that learners possessed a
special competence (or language) that
was independent of the L1 and L2
during the course of its development.

19. Characteristics of Interlanguage
19
• IL is governed
by rules which
constitute the
learner’s
internal
grammar
Systematic
• The system of rules
which learners
have in their minds
changes frequently
resulting in a
succession of
interim grammars.
Dynamic
• Different
context result
in different
patterns of L
use
Variable
• Reduced form: the less
complex grammatical
structures compared to
the L2 (eg. omission of
inflections)
• Reduced function: the
smaller range of
communicative needs
Reduced system:
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Language
transfer from
L1 to L2
Transfer of
training:
how the L2 is
taught
Strategies of
second language
learning: how
learners approach
the L2 materials
and the task of L2
learning
Strategies of second
language
communication: ways
that learners try to
communicate with others
in the L2
Overgeneralization of
the target language
linguistic material, in
which L2 rules that are
learned are applied too
broadly.
Selinker ( 1972 )
stresses that there are
differences between IL
development in SLA
and L1 acquisition by
children, including
different cognitive
processes involved:

21. Why some learners are
more successful than
others
21
Initial state:
• L2 development
is naturalistic
settings involving
only isolated L2
words or
memorized
routines
• Should individuals be
considered “fossilized” in L2
development because they
retain a foreign accent, for
instance, in spite of productive
fluency in other aspects of the
target language?
What is Fossilization?
• A stable state in SLA where
learners cease their
interlanguage development
before they reach target
norms despite continuing L2
input and passage of time.
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• Age factor: Older L2 learners are more likely to fossilize than
younger ones
• Other factors: social identity and communicative need

22. Morpheme Order Studies
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• An approach to SLA introduced by
Roger Brown (1973) & Dulay and Burt
(1974): focuses on the sequence in
which specific English grammatical
morphemes are acquired in a natural
order (universal sequence).
• Findings: The same elements of an
L2 are learned first no matter what
the learner’s L1 is.
• The existence of “natural order”
strengthened claims for internally
driven acquisition processes, which
Dulay and Burt (1973) labeled
creative construction.
• L2 learners neither imitate nor transfer L1
structures to the new code, but
(subconsciously) create a mental grammar
which allows them to interpret and
produce utterances they have not heard
before.

23. Monitor Model (Krashen,1978)
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An approach to SLA based on the concept that learners have two
systems (acquisition and learning) and that the learned system
monitors the acquired system.
• Acquisition-Learning
Hypothesis
• Monitor Hypothesis
• Natural Order
Hypothesis
• Input Hypothesis .
• Affective Filter
Hypothesis
Krashen’s 5
hypotheses

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The Acquisition vs. learning Hypothesis
◦ Acquisition:
◦ an unconscious process involves naturalistic development
of L proficiency through understanding L and using L for
meaningful communication;
◦ an innate Language Acquisition Device which accounts
for children’s L1.
◦ Learning:
◦ is conscious process in which L2 is developed through formal
classroom contexts
The Monitor Hypothesis
◦ What is “learned” consciously functions only as a monitor or
editor, for purposes of editing or making changes in what has
already been produced.
Krashen’s 5
hypotheses:

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Krashen’s 5
hypotheses:
The Natural Order Hypothesis
◦ We acquire the rules of language in a predictable order with some prior to
others both in L1 & L2 acquisition.
◦ Errors are signs of naturalistic developmental process regardless of whatever
L1 is
The Input Hypothesis
◦ Language acquisition takes place via comprehensible input. People acquire L
best by understanding input slightly beyond their current level of competence
◦ If there is enough quantity of comprehensible input, L is automatically
developed.
The Affective Filter Hypothesis
◦ Learners’ emotional states or attitude (motivation, self-confidence or anxiety)
serve as an adjustifiable filter that freely passes, impedes input necessary for
acquisition
◦ Acquirers with a low affective filters seek and receive more input, interact
with confidence

26. Early Approaches: Implication
26
What
• SLA is Rule-governed;
• Development of L2 involves
progression through a
dynamic interlanguage
system which differs from
both L1 and L2
• The final state of L2 differs
(more or less) from the
native speakers’ system.
How
• SAL involves creative
construction;
• Development of both L1
and L2 follows generally
predictable sequences,
and L1 and L2
acquisition processes are
significantly similar.
Why
• Age factors
determine the
success of SLA
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27. Universal Grammar (UG)
(Noam Chomsky, 1950s- late 1970s)
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UG: A linguistic framework which claims that L1 acquisition
can be accounted for only by innate knowledge that the human
species is genetically endowed with. This includes a set of
innate principles common to all languages.
 This innate knowledge is in what Chomsky calls the
language faculty: a component of the human mind,
physically represented in the brain and part of the
biological endowment of the species (Chomsky 2002 :1).

28. UG: Two concepts of central
importance:
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Chomsky’s Linguistic Theories:
• Transformational Generative Grammar
(1960s): rule-governed and creativity of
language
• Universal Grammar
• Principle and Parameter Model (1980s)
• Minimalist Program (1990s)
• Linguistic Interfaces (2000s)
1. What needs to be accounted for in L
acquisition is linguistic competence
(speaker/hearers’underlying
knowledge or mental representation of
language) Rather than linguistic
performance.
2. Such knowledge of L goes beyond
what could be learned from the input
people receive. This is the logical
problem of language learning , or the
poverty-of-the stimulus argument

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Chomsky (until the late
1970s)
Followers of this
approach assumed that
the language acquisition
task involves children’s
induction of a system of
rules for particular
languages from the input
they receive, guided by
UG.
Chomsky (from1981 -
1995)
A major change in thinking about
the acquisition process occurred
with Chomsky’s (1981)
reconceptualization of UG in a
Principles and Parameters
framework (often called the
Government and Binding [GB]
model), and with his subsequent
introduction of the Minimalist
Program (1995).

30. Principles and parameters Model:
Internal focus
30
• 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
• PP refers to 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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31. Principle and Parameter Model
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Learning involves
general principles of
UG and options to be
selected.
• Every phrase in every L has
the same elements including a
Head: 2 possible choices:
head-initial / head-final:
• John rode in the car.
• John car in rode.
• John kicked the ball.
• John ball kicked

32. UG and SLA
32
What is the
initial state in
SLA?
What is the nature of
Interlanguage,
and how does it
change over time?
What is
the final
state in
SLA?
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33. Initial state
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4 possibilities have
been suggested:
Full access to UG
◦ UG as an innate guide to L acquisition, even when
they are learning Ls subsequent to their L1.
Partial access to UG
◦ UG: keeping some of its components but not
others.
Indirect access to UG
◦ through knowledge that is already realized in their
L1
No access to UG
◦ learn L2 via entirely different means

34. Nature and
development of
Interlanguage
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If …… UG for
L2 learners, …
If at least some access to UG,
◦ then IL process is largely one of resetting parameters on the basis of
input in the new L (English & Japanese)
If access to UG still available,
◦ then that will limit their choices (as it does in L1) and IL grammars
will never deviate from structures
If learning principles as part of language faculty still available,
◦ then sufficient information to make these changes is available from:
◦ positive evidence–input from natural or instruction context;
◦ Negative evidence–explicit correction to L2 learners, serving as
parameter resetting for older learners.
If access to UG or language faculty are no longer available,
◦ the IL needs different learning processes for L1 to take place

35. Nature and development of Interlanguage
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• Constructionism: An approach to SLA formulated within Chomsky’s
Minimalist Program that considers interlanguage development as the
progressive mastery of L2 vocabulary along with the morphological
features (which specify word form) that are part of lexical knowledge.
• Failure to reach a state of full feature specification in the
lexicon is seen as the primary reason that many L2
learners ‘fossilize’ at an intermediate level of
development without attaining near-native competence.
• Of particular relevance for L2 learners and teachers is the
critical role of lexical acquisition in providing
information for parameter (re)setting and other aspects of
grammar in a UG approach.
While parameter setting and
mastery of morphological
features are linked in L1
acquisition, this approach
claims that they are not
necessarily linked for older
learners in SLA.

36. Final state
36
• All learners may not
have the same degree
of access to UG.
• Different
relationships between
various L1s and L2s
may result in
differential transfer
or interference.
• Some learners
may receive
qualitatively
different L2
input from
others.
• Some learners may be
more perceptive than
others of mismatches
between L2 input and
existing L1 parameter
settings.
• Different degrees of
specification for lexical
features may be
achieved by different
learners.
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37. Linguistic interfaces
37
• A recent development within Chomsky’s
generative linguistic theory that
continues to view
• Still viewed Language knowledge
as a separate module—syntax,
morphology, semantics, or
phonology, pragmatic/discourse,
etc.
• but recognize the need for some
interface in their processing.
linguistic interfaces
• Some aspects of interfaces may
be universal, while the
differences in how component
interface (L1 & L2) may be a
significant source of transfer
between Ls and contributors to
incomplete SLL (fossilization).
linguistic interfaces
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38. Linguistic interfaces
38
• Lexical and
grammatical meaning
present the greatest
challenges in
multilingual
acquisition because
those modules capture
language variation.
• Phrase and
sentence-level
semantics often
requires some
resetting of
parameters in L2,
but choices are very
limited, and
principles are
common to all
languages.
• At the semantics-
pragmatics/
discourse interface,
L2 learners also
transfer universal
properties.
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39. Functional approaches (functionalism)
39
• dates back to the early
20th century and have
their roots in the Prague
School of linguistics that
originated in Eastern
Europe;
• views language as a
system of communication.
Functionalism
• Structural function: the role
which elements of language
structure: as a subject or object,
or an actor or goal;
• Pragmatic function: the use of
language to accomplish sth:
convey information, control
others’behavior, or express
emotion
Meaning of
Function
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40. Characteristics of Functionalism
40
use
Performance
and competence
• Development of
linguistic
knowledge (in L1
or L2) requires
communicative
use.
Discourse (beyond
sentence levels),
how language is
used in interaction,
and aspects of
communication
beyond L
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41. • Systemic linguistics
• Functional typology
• Function-to-form
mapping
• Information organization
Functionalism
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42. Systemic Linguistics
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• Developed by by Halliday (late 1950s),
• is a model for analyzing language in terms of the
interrelated systems of choices that are available
for expressing meaning.
• L acquisition . . . needs to be seen as the mastery of linguistic
functions. Learning one’s L1 is learning the uses of language, and
the meanings, or rather the meaning potential (what we can do
with language), associated with them. The structures, the words
and the sounds are the realization of this meaning potential.
Learning language is learning how to mean. (Halliday 1973 :345)

43. 7 basic functions of Language
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Purposes Descriptions Example
Instrumental • Language used as a means of getting things done • “I want”
Regulatory • Language used to regulate the behavior of others • “do as I tell you”
Interactional • Use of language in interaction between self and others • “me and you”
Personal • Awareness of language as a form of one’s own identity • here I come
heuristic • Language as a way of learning about things • “tell me why”
Imaginative • Creation through language of a world of one’s own making • “let’s pretend”
Representational
• Means of expressing propositions, or communicating about
sth
• “I’ve got sth to
tell you”
Implication: L2 acquisition is a matter of learning new linguistic forms to fulfill the same functions [as
already acquired and used in L1] within a different social milieu”

44. Functional Typology
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The analysis
integrates
language
structure,
meaning, and
use.
Involves asking why
some L2 constructions
are more or less
difficult than others for
learners to acquire–
which ties to the
concept ‘markedness’.
Markedness:
Deals with whether a specific
feature occurs more frequently
than a contrasting element in
the same category, is less
complex structurally or
conceptually, or is more
“normal” or “expected” along
some dimension ( “unmarked”
or “marked”).
• … involves classification of Ls and their features into categories with a major
goal being to describe patterns of similarities and differences among them, and
to determine which types and patterns occur more or less frequently or are
universal in distribution.

45. Functional Typology
45
Implication:
Unmarked features in L1 are more likely to
transfer to L2, and that marked features in L2
will be harder to learn (Markedness
Differential Hypothesis:
Eckman’s ( 1977)
Unmarked Marked
Phonology
• consonant +
vowel (CV): me,
ba-na-na);
• street [stri:t] or
fence [fεnts ]
Vocabulary
• ‘in’ denotes
location
• ‘into’ denotes both
location and
directionality
Syntax
• SVO • SVO
Discourse
• How are you? is
Fine. How are
you?
• Silence or a
comment
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• Refers to the correspondence between the formal properties of language and the meaning
they encode. One of its basic concepts is grammaticalization: function (expression of past
time) is first conveyed by shared extralinguistic knowledge and inferencing based on the
context of discourse, then by a lexical word (yesterday), and only later by a grammatical
marker (suffix - ed).
Ex: Beginner
student:
What did he do the
day before?
- Yesterday I play
soccer.
- I play soccer.
- I played soccer.
Talmy Givón (1979)
proposed the distinction
between: a style of
expressing meaning
which relies heavily on
context: pragmatic
mode;
a style which relies more
on formal grammatical
elements: syntactic mode
Implication:
L acquisition involves
developing linguistic
forms to fulfill semantic
or pragmatic functions.
Function-to-form mapping

47. Information organization
47
• deals with how sentences and
larger linguistic units are
structured as a means for
conveying information from
speaker/writer to hearer/reader
(utterance structure: the way in which
learners put their words together)
SLA describes the structures of
interlanguage (learner varieties),
discovers what organizational
principles guide learners’
production at various stages of
development, and analyzes how
these principles interact with one
another.
Evidence from European Science Foundation Project by Klein and Perdue (1993):
All of the learners in this study, no matter what their L1 and L2, go through a remarkably similar
sequence of development in their interlanguage.
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48. Developmental levels
Nominal Utterance
Organization (NUO)
• Learners begin with Subj
and Obj and use Adv and
Adj or other elements but
seldom use a Verb to help
organize an utterance.
• e.g. this man one idea from
the window
Infinite Utterance Organization
(IUO)
• Learners increasingly add Verb and
Prep to their utterances, but seldom
use morphemes to convey the
meaning of tense, person, or number
(the Verb is uninflected, or
“infinite”).
• e.g. charlie and girl and policeman put
on the floor)
Finite Utterance Organization
(FUO)
• add morphemes to the verb (i.e.
Verb becomes inflected, or
“finite”).
• is the process of progressive
grammaticalization,
• e.g. he has finished the work
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• All of the learners in the study, no matter what their L1 and L2, go through a
remarkably similar sequence of development in their interlanguage.

49. Organizing principles
Phrasal constraints
• restrictions on the phrasal
patterns: (NP + V) or (vice
versa)
• NP consists of:
• Noun
• Determiner + noun
• not D + Adj + N
Semantic constraints
• features of categories like NP which
determine their position in a
sentence and what case role they are
assigned (agent, doer, patient,
recipient)
• When an utterance has more than one
NP, learners use such semantic factors
to decide which one should come first
Pragmatic constraints
• restrictions related to what has
been said previously, or to
what the speaker assumes that
the hearer already knows.
• What is known (the topic)
first, and new information or
what the speaker is focusing
on last.
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• There is a limited set of principles which learners make use of for organizing information. These
interact, and the balance or weight of use among them shifts during the process of interlanguage
development.

50. Klein and Perdue ( 1993 :261–66) offer four
“bundles of explanations” for the sequence of acquisition they find, and for why some
L2 learners are more successful than others:
Communicative needs
• Discourse tasks
overcome
communicative
inadequacies.
• Linguistic means
overcome limitations
of earlier stages of
expression.
Cross-linguistic
influence
• L1 influence in rate
and achievement, due
to facilitating or
hindering learners’
analysis of L2 input
• and in selecting
possible L2
organizational devices
Extrinsic factors
• attitudes and
motivation
• environment: extent
and nature of learners’
exposure to L2.
• The everyday
environment has more
influence on progress
at this level than does
classroom learning.
Limits on processing
Learners cannot
attend to all
communicative needs at
the same time:
Integrate new linguistic
features or put to
immediate use in
communication.
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51. What, How and Why: Functionalism
What?
• what is being
acquired in SLA
is a system for
conveying
meaning,
How?
• how language is
acquired involves
creative learner
involvement in
communication,
Why?
• Understanding of
SLA processes is
impossible if they are
isolated from
circumstances of use.
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