Chapter 3. The linguistics of SLA
Ⅰ. The nature of language
Ⅱ. Early approaches to SLA 1. Contrastive Analysis (CA)
1). as a beginning of the survey:
aspects of its procedures are still incorporated in more recent approaches.
It introduced the influence of L1 on L2 (Chomsky)
2). CA: an approach to the study of SLA which involves predicting and
explaining learner problems based on a comparison of L1 and L2 to determine similarities and differences.
(Based on idealized linguistic structures attributed to native
speakers of L1 and L2)
3). influenced by Structuralism and Behaviorism.
4). Goal of CA was primarily pedagogical in nature: to increase
efficiency in L2 teaching and testing.
5). Process:
Describing L1 and L2 at different level Analyzing comparable segment of the language for elements that may cause problems for learners (interference) Types of interference Examples same form and meaning; las palomas blancas (Spanish) different distribution the white doves same meaning; kitties 小猫们 different form same meaning; water (n. v.) different form and 水（名 ） distribution different form; leg partial overlap in meaning 腿，蹄，下肢 similar form; asistir (Spanish “to attend”) different meaning assist (English “to help”) 6). Assessment: Cannot explain the logical problem of language learning (how learners know more than they’ve heard and been taught)
Not always validated by evidence from actual learner errors. Stimulated the preparation of comparative grammar
Its analytic procedures have been usefully applied to descriptive studies and to translation
2. Error analysis (EA)
1). EA: the first approach to the study of SLA which includes an internal focus on learner’s creative ability to construct language. (based on the description and analysis of actual learner errors in L2)
2). CA→EA
Predictions by CA not always correct; many real learner errors are not transferred from L1
Focus on surface-level forms and patterns→underlying rules Behaviorism→mentalism (emphasis on the innate capacity) Teaching concerns as motivation↓
3). Procedures for analyzing learner errors: Collection of a sample of learner language Identification of errors Description of errors Explanation of errors Evaluation of errors 4). Shortcomings
Ambiguity in classification Lack of positive data Potential for avoidance 3. Interlanguage (IL)
1). IL refers to the intermediate states (interim grammars) of a learner’s language as it moves toward the target L2. 2). Characteristics: Systematic Dynamic Variable
Reduced system, both in form and function
3). Differences between SLA and L1 acquisition by children Language transfer from L1 to L2
Transfer of training, or how the L2 is taught Strategies of 2nd language learning
Overgeneralization of the target language linguistic materials 4). L1 as fossilization for L2 learners:
Fossilization: the probability that they’ll cease their IL development in some respects before they reach target language norms, in spite of continuing L2 input and passage time.
Relates to: the age of learning; social identity; communicative need.
4. Morpheme order studies
1). Refers to： an important Q in the study of SLA, whether there is a natural order (or universal sequence) in the grammatical development of L2 learners.
2). Inflection: it adds one or more units of meaning to the base form of a word, to give it a more specific meaning. (plural nouns, past tense etc.)
3). The order of morpheme acquisition reported was similar in L1 and L2
It supports an Identity Hypothesis (L1=L2): that processes involved in L1 and L2 acquisition are the same.
4). The concept of natural order remains very important for understanding SLA. (both from linguistic and cognitive approaches) 5. Monitor model
1). One of the last of the early approaches which has an internal focus in the Monitor Model.(Stephen Krashen)
2). It explicitly and essentially adopts the notion of a language acquisition device (LAD) (Chomsky used for children’s innate knowledge of language)
3). Krashen’s approach: 5 hypotheses
6. Consensus:
1). What is being acquired in SLA is a “rule0governed” language systems
2). How SLA take place involves creative mental processes.
3). Why some learners are more (less) successful in SLA than others relates primarily to the age of the learner. Ⅲ. Universal Grammar (UG)
1. UG (Chomsky): what all languages have in common. 1). Two important concepts
linguistic competence (speaker-hearers’ underlying knowledge of language) needs to be accounted for LA
such knowledge of language > what could be learned from the input. (the logic problem of language learning/ the poverty-of-the stimulus argument)
2). The nature of speaker-hearers’ competence in native language can be explained only by innate knowledge that human genetically endowed with.
3). The innate knowledge is in the language faculty
Language faculty: a component of the human mind, physically represented in the brain and part of the biological endowment of the species.
2. Principles and Parameters
1). With Chomsky’s reconceptualization of UG in the Principles and Parameters framework [often called the Government and Binding (GB) model] and the subsequent introduction of the Minimalist program, there came a new idea about the acquisition process.
2). UG has been conceptualized as a set of principles which are
properties of all languages in the world. Some of these principles contain parameters
3). What is acquired in L1 acquisition (not UG itself):
LA includes a process of selecting among the limited parametric options in UG that match the settings which are encountered in linguistic input.
4). How acquisition occurs for children:
natural; instinctive; internal to the cognitive system 5). Why some learners are more successful:
Irrelevant with L1 acquisition, for all native speakers attain essentially the same final state. (For SLA, attitudes; motivation and social context matters) 3. UG and SLA States UG SLA Initial state Make parametric L1 transfer choices that are appropriate for L1 (Guided by UG) Nature and development of interlanguage Final state Native language; Why more successful same relevant to L2: The degree of access to UG Relationships between L1&L2 →differential transfer or interference L2 input quality Degree of perception Degree of specification for lexical features Ⅳ. Functional approaches 1. Functional approach
1). Based on: the framework of Functionalism
2). Characteristics of functional approaches to SLA
Focus on the use of language in real situations (performance) and underlying knowledge (competence)
Assumption: purpose of language is communication; LA and SLA require communicative use
Concern about the sentence, discourse structure, how language is used in interaction; include aspects of communication beyond language
Systemic linguistics Systemic linguistics is a model for analyzing language in terms of the interrelated systems of choices that are available for expressing meaning.
“language acquisition needs to be seen as the mastery of linguistic functions”
2). What language learners acquire: meaning potential 3). Process of acquisition:
mastering certain basic functions of language developing a meaning potential for each
4). pragmatic functions development in L1 acquisition:
instrumental→ regulatory→ interactional→ personal→ heuristic→ imagination→ representational
5). linguistic structures: directly reflections of the functions that language serves; related to the social and personal needs 2. Functional Typology
1). Based on: the comparative study of a wide range of the world’s language
2). Goal: to describe patterns of similarities and differences among languages; to determine which types and patterns occur more/less frequently or are universal in distribution.
3). Application: why some L2 constructions are more/less difficult than others for L2 learners to acquire; for the selectivety of crosslinguistic influence or transfer
4). important concept: markedness (deals with whether any specific feature of language is marked or unmarked) 5). Markedness differential prediction for SLA Feature in Feature in L2 Prediction L1 Marked Unmarked (common) L2 feature will be easy to learn L1 feature will not transfer to L2 Unmarked Marked L1 feature will transfer to L2 In L1 acquisition, unmarked before marked In SLA, unmarked elements are easier to master than marked ones. 6). Compared with CA:
Functional typology goes beyond the surface-level structural (CA) to more abstract patterns, principles and constraints; the Markedness Differential Hypothesis 7). implications:
some aspects of some languages are more difficult
why some types and patterns of features are more/less frequent in native and 2nd language (factors: perceptual salience, ease of cognitive processing, physical constraints, communicative needs)
3. Function-to-form mapping
1). Basic concept: L1 and L2 acquisition involves a process of grammaticalization.
2). Grammaticalization: a grammatical function is first conveyed by shared extralinguistic knowledge and inferencing based on the context of discourse, then by a lexical word, and only later by a grammatical marker.
Driven by: communicative need and use.
Related to : the development of more efficient cognitive process
3). Pragmatic mode: a style of expressing meaning which relies more on context.
Syntactic mode: a style which relies more on formal grammatical element
4). According to function-to-mapping approach, LA importantly involves developing linguistic forms to fulfill semantic or pragmatic functions.
4. Information organization
1). Focus on: utterance structure (the way learners put their words together.)
2). Includes:
describing the structures of interlanguage (learner varieties) discovering what organizational principles guide learners’ production at various stages of development
analyzing how these principles interact with one another. 3). European Science Foundation (ESF) project
developmental levels: in this study, no matter what their L1 and L2, the learners go through a remarkably similar sequence of development in their interlanguage. organizing principles:
* there is a limited set of principles (phrasal constraints;
semantic constraints; pragmatic constraints) which learners make use of for organizing information.
* Individual variation: how the principles apply in their L1 and
influence the interlanguage use.
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