Foundations of Second Language Acquisition: key concepts

Foundations of Second Language Acquisition

1. COMPETENCES

   • Monolingual
     • Knowledge of only one language
       • Monolingualism
         • Ability to use one language
   • Multilingual
     • The compound state of mind with two or more grammar
       • Bilingualism
         • Ability to use two languages
       • Multiilingualism
         • Ability to use more than two languages

2. LANGUAGE DATA

   • The number of L1 and L2 speakers of different languages can only be estimated.
     • Political
       • Goverment do not wich to recognize how many spakers of minority languages there are in rder to downplay the political importance of the group.
     • Lack of definition
       • The meaning of language
         • Language varieties
           • Social
           • Political
           • Religion
           • Education
       • Language dominance
     • Social
       • Respondents may not want to be identified as speakers of a minority language.

3. THE NATURE OF LEARNING

   • Simultaneous multilingualism
     • Multiple L1s acquired by about three years age
   • Sequential Multilingualism
     • L2s acquired after L1
       • Roles
         • Natural
           • Humans are born with a natural ability or innate capacity to learn language
         • Social
           • Children acquire language when it is used with them and around them

4. L1 VS L2 LEARNING FASES

   • Intermediate
     • Startegies of basic language develpment
       • L1 Maturational changes "child grammar"
       • L2 development sequence " learner language"
         • Porcess transfer from L1 to L2
           • Positive Transfer
             • L1 structure or rule use is correcti n an L2 utterance
           • Negative transfer
             • L1 structure or rule use is innapropiate in an L2 utterance
   • Initial
     • The underlying knowledge about language structures
       • L1
         • Innate capacity
       • L2
         • L1 knowledge
         • Word knowledge
         • Interaction skills
   • Final
     • Outcome of L1 and L2 learning
       • L1 native linguistic competence
       • L2 near-native, native like linguistic competence
   • Logical problem
     • Children have an innate language ability
       • Children often say things that adults do not
       • Children use language in accordance with general universal rules
       • Children do not learn language by simple immitation

5. Frameworks for SLA

   • Systematic theories and models that have influenced the SLA approach
     • Linguistic
       • Internal
         • Transformational- Generative grammar, Principles and Parameters Model, Minimalist Program
       • External
         • Funtionalism
     • Social
       • Microsocial
         • Variation Theory, Accomodation Theory, Sociocultural Theory
       • Macrosocial
         • Ethnographic of Communication, Acculturation Theory, Social Psychologist
     • Psychological
       • Individual differences
       • Learning processes
         • Information processing