SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Mary Joy Daprosa Jose

Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro
OUTLINE
A. Definition of Terms
B. Acquisition Barriers & Affective
Factors
C. Individual Differences in
L2 Acquisition
D. Methods of L2 Acquisition
Activity: (pair work)

1. What is the difference between

1.1 ‘Foreign Language’ Setting vs
‘Second Language’ Setting;
1.2 Acquisition & Learning
2. List down SLA barriers.
Second Language
Acquisition
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Second language acquisition (SLA) refers to

the acquisition of a language after the native
language has already become established in
the individual (Ritchie & Bhatia, 1996).
Learning vs Acquisition
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ACQUISITION
“The result of language acquisition is
subconscious. We are generally not
consciously aware of the rules of the
languages we have acquired. Instead, we have
a ‘feel’ for the correctness. Grammatical
sentences ‘sound’ right, or ‘feel’ right, and
errors feel wrong, even if we do not
consciously know what rule was violated.”
- Krashen
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LEARNING

This refers to conscious knowledge of a

second language, knowing the rules,
being aware of them, and being able to
talk about them. Learning is ‘knowing
about’ a language, known to most people
as ‘grammar’ or ‘rules’. Some synonyms
include formal knowledge of a language or
explicit meaning.
- Krashen
 Foreign Language
vs
Second Language (Yule)
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?
What is the difference between learning in a
“foreign language” setting and a “second
language setting”?
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Learning in a “foreign language” setting
learning a language that is not generally
spoken in the surrounding community

e.g. a Japanese student learning English in

Japan
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Learning in a “second language” setting
learning a language that is spoken in the
surrounding community
e.g. a Japanese student learning English in
USA
Acquisition Barriers
Sharing of Experiences

Acquisition Barriers
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Why is our experience with an L2 fundamentally
different from L1?
another
language
age
`
Critical Period
Hypothesis
There is a time in human
development when the brain is interaction is
predisposed for success in not constant
language learning
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 There are some individuals who manage to
overcome the difficulties to use the L2
effectively ―though not usually sounding like
native speakers.
Joseph Conrad

Some features of an L2 are

easier to learn than others.
Affective Factors
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self-conscious uncomfortable stressed
unwillingness
embarrassment unmotivated

 dull textbooks

unpleasant unlikely to
classroom Affective learn
surroundings Factors
exhausting
schedule of
study/work
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 Children seem to be less constrained by
affective factors. There have been man
instances when young children overcome
their inhibitions as they try to use new words
and phrase.
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 Adults can sometimes overcome their
inhibitions too!
Individual Differences
in L2 Learning
 Intelligence

Intelligence performance on certain

kinds of tests
 IQ scores were a good means of
predicting success in second language
learning
 Study with students in French Immersion
Programmes in Canada: While intelligence
was related to the development of French
second language reading, grammar and
vocabulary, it was unrelated to oral
production skills (Fred Genesee, 1976)
 Intelligence
 The kind of ability measured by traditional
IQ tests may be a strong predictor when
it comes to learning that involves
language analysis and rule learning but
this kind of ‘intelligence’ may play a less
important role in classrooms where
instruction focuses more on
communication and interaction.
 Aptitude

Aptitude the ability to learn quickly

(John Carroll, 1991)
 Learners who score highly on language
aptitude tests typically learn rapidly and
achieve higher levels of L2 proficiency
than learners who obtain low scores.
Furthermore, research has shown that this
is so whether the measure of L2
proficiency is some kind of formal
language test or a measure of more
communicative language use.
 Aptitude

 Children who were good at analyzing

language were the most successful
learners in an English second language
program in which activities almost never
involved direct attention to grammar (Leila
Ranta, 2002)
 Learning Styles

Learning style an individual’s natural,

habitual, and preferred way
of absorbing, processing,
and retaining new
information and skills
(Reid, 1995)

 Encourage learners to use all means

available to them
 Use a variety of methods to suit the needs
of all learners
 Motivation

Motivation

learners’ their attitudes

communicative towards the L2
needs community
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Robert Gardner & Wallace Lambert (1972)
 Instrumental motivation - language
learning for more immediate or practical goals
 Integrative motivation - language learning
for personal growth and cultural enrichment

Machiavellian motivation – desire to learn the

L2 to manipulate and overcome the people of
the target language Niccolo Machiavelli
 Identity & Ethnic Group Affiliationn
Kelleen Toohey (2000)
 immigrant children in English-medium
kindergarten classes were quickly assigned
identities
 Because learners’ identities impact on what
they can do and how they can participate in
classrooms, this naturally affects how much
they learn.
 Identity & Ethnic Group Affiliationn
Elizabeth Garbonton, Pavel Trofimovich, and Michael
Magid (2005)
 They found a complex relationship between
feelings of ethnic affiliation and L2 learners’
mastery of pronunciation.
 Learners who had achieved a high degree of
accuracy in pronouncing the L2 were sometimes
perceived as being less loyal to their ethnic group
than those whose L2 speech retained a strong
‘foreign accent’.
 Methods of
L2 Acquisition
Grammar-translation
method
 – translation method
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Grammar
 L2 learning is treated in the same way
as any other academic subject.
 Vocabulary lists and sets of grammar
rules are used to define the target of
learning.
 Memorization is encouraged.
 Written language rather than
spoken language is
emphasized.
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Audiolingual method
 It involved a systematic presentation
of the structures of the L2, moving
from the simple to the more complex
in the form of drills that the student
had to repeat.

 This approach was strongly

influenced by the belief that
the fluent use of a language
was essentially a set of
“habits” that could be
developed with a lot of
practice.
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Communicative approaches

More recent revisions of the

L2 learning experience
 Partially a reaction against
artificiality of “pattern-
practice”
 Based on the belief that the
functions of language
should be emphasized than
the forms of the language
REFERENCES:
JKJAKAJKDAJD
Blok, David. 2003. Social Turn in Second Language
Acquisition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, Ltd.
Ellis, Rod. 1997. Second Language Acquisition.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
Gass, Susan M. 2013. Second Language
Acquisition: An Introductory Course (Fourth
Edition). New York: Routledge.
Lightbown, Patsy M. and Spada, Nina. 2008.
How Languages are Learned. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Yule, George. 2010. The Study Language
Acquisition (Fourth Edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
THANK
YOU`