Second language acquisition

Second language acquisition

1. The study of individuals learning a language after their first one acquired as young children

   • Simultaneous multilingualism
   • Secuential multilingualism

2. The process of learning that language (L2)

   • Second language
     • Language in everyday life
   • Foreign language
     • Used only in specific places: school, work, etc.
   • Language for specific purposes
     • Used for a particular work area: English for nursing.
   • Auxiliary language
     • Used for some official function in their political setting

3. Scope

   • Informal L2 learning
     • Naturalistic contexts
   • Formal L2 learning
     • Classrooms
   • L2 learning
     • A mixture of naturalistic contexts and classrooms

4. Related fields

   • Linguistics
     • Emphazise the differences and similarities in the languages being learned, as well as the previous knowledge and production of the new language.
   • Psycholinguistics
     • Emphazise the mental or cognitive process of language in the brain.
   • Sociolinguistics
     • Emphazise variability in learner linguistic performance (communicative competence).
   • Social psycholinguistics
     • Emphazise group-related phenomena, such as identity and social motivation.

5. Simultaneous multilingualism

   • Acquisition of more than one language in childhood

6. Secuential multilingualism

   • Learning aditional languages after L1 has already been stablished

7. Multilingualism

   • Multilingual competence
     • The ability to use two or more languages

8. Monolingualism

   • Monolingual competence
     • The knowledge of only one language

9. Motives

   • Invasion or conquest of one's country by speakers of another language
   • A need to contact speakers of other languages in economic or other domains
   • Immigration
   • Religion
   • Need to pursue educational experiences
   • Desire for occupational or social advancement
   • Interest in other people's culture

10. L1 vs L2 learning

    • Initial state
      • L1
        • Innate capacity
      • L2
        • Not certain of innate capacity
        • L1 knowledge
        • World knowledge
        • Interaction skills
    • Intermediate state
      • L1
        • Child grammar
          • Maturation
          • Input
      • L2
        • Learner grammar
          • Transfer
            • Positive
            • Negative
          • Input
          • Why are some L2 learners more succesful?
            • Feedback
            • Aptitude
            • Motivation
            • Instruction
    • Final state
      • L1
        • Native competence
      • L2
        • Multilingual competence