Foundations of Second Language Acquisition

Foundations of Second Language Acquisition

1. LANGUAGE DATA

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

2. THE NATURE OF LEARNING

   • Secuential multilingualism
     • L2s acquired after L1
   • Simultaneous multilingualism
     • Multiple L1s acquired by about three years age
       • 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

3. COMPETENCES

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

4. L1 VS L2 LEARNING FASES

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

5. FRAMEWORKS FOR SLA

   • Social
     • Microsocial
       • Variation theory, Accommodation theory, Sociocultural theory
     • Macrosocial
       • Ethnography of communication, Acculturation theory, Social psychology
   • Psychological
     • Individual differences
       • Humanistics model
     • Learning process
       • Information processing, Processability, Connectionism
     • Languages and the brain
       • Neurolinguistics
   • Linguistic
     • Internal
       • Transformational- generative grammar, Principles and parameters model, minimalist program
     • External
       • Functionalism