Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition

1. Situational factors

   • naturalistic SLA
   • classroom SLA

2. Linguistic input

   • Native speakers adapt their speech to suit the level of the L2 Learners

3. Learner difference

   • Age
   • Aptitude and intelligence
   • Motivation and needs
   • Personality and cognitive style

4. Learner processes

   • Cognitive
     • Learning strategies
       • ... are used to internalize new L2 knowledge
     • Production strategies
       • ... are the means by which the learner utilizes his or her existing L2 knowledge
     • Communication strategies
       • ... are employed when there is a gap caused by the need to communicate a message for which the learner lacks L2 resources
   • Linguistic
     • Linguistic processes involve universal principles of grammar with which the learner is innately endowed("ausgestattet") -->Starting point

5. Linguistic output

   • developmental
     • Changes as the learner gains more experience of the language
   • Natural order of acquisition
     • Learners pass along a more or less invariable route during acquisition process
   • Errors
     • the errors that learners make give clues concerning the strategies they employ to handle the joint tasks of learning and using a L2