Chapter 2

二语习得引论思维导图Chapter 2: Foundations of Second Language Acquisition

Chapter 2: Foundations of Second Language Acquisition

• The world of second language
  • The phenomenon
    • Multilingualism(bilingualism) is normal and common occurrence in most parts of the world.
    • Pure monolingualism is rare in any society.
  • Multilingualism
    • The ability to use two or more languages
  • Monolingualism
    • The ability to use only one.
  • Multilingual competence
    • ViVian Cook(1991)
    • People with multicompetence are not simply equivalent to two monolinguals but are a unique combination
  • Motivations to learn a second or foreign language
  • Reasons for uncertainty in reporting language data
    • Linguistic information is often not officially connected
    • Answers to questions seeking linguistic information may not be reliable
    • There is lack of agreement on definition of terms and on criteria for identification
• The nature of language learning
  • The nature of L1 learning
    • L1 acquisition
      • Completed before you ever come to school
      • Without any conscious effort
    • By 6 months
      • All the vowel sounds and most of the consonant sounds of any language in the world
    • By 3 years old
      • Most of the distinctive sounds of their first language
    • By 5 or 6
      • Most of the basic L1 grammatical patterns
  • How children accomplish the early mastery of L1
    • Children's natural desire to please their doting parents
    • Children's urge to communicate their wants and needs to the people who take care of them
    • Children learn language by imitation
• The role of natural ability
  • Humans are born with a natural ability or innate capacity to learn language.
  • Several facts
    • Children begin to learn their first language at the same age, and in the same way.
    • Children master the basic phonological and grammatical operations in their first language by the age of about five or six
    • Children can understand and create novel utterances
    • There is a cut-off age for first language acquisition, beyond which it can never be complete
    • Acquisition of first language is not simply a facet of general intelligence
• The role of social experience
  • Not all of first language acquisition can be attributed to innate ability for language-specific learning also plays a crucial role
  • Appropriate social experience is a necessary condition for acquisition
    • First language input
    • Interaction
  • Intentional first language teaching to young children is not necessary.
• L1 versus L2 learning
  • Initial state
    • L1
      • Innate capacity
    • L2
      • Innate capacity
      • L1 knowledge
      • World knowledge
      • Interaction skills
  • Intermediate states
    • Child grammar
      • Basic processes
        • Maturation
      • Necessary conditions
        • Input
        • Reciprocal interaction
    • Learner language
      • Basic processes
        • Transfer
          • Positive transfer
            • When and L1 structure or rule is used in an L2 utterance and that is appropriate or correct in the L2
          • Negative transfer
            • When an L1 structure or rule is used in an L2 utterance and that use is inappropriate and considered an error.
      • Necessary conditions
        • Input
      • Facilitating conditions
        • Feedback
        • Aptitude
        • Motivation
        • Instruction
  • Final state
    • L1
      • Native competence
    • L2
      • Multilingual competence
• The logical problem of language learning
  • Universal grammar
    • Noam Chomsky
    • Innate linguistic knowledge must underlie language acquisition
  • Arguments
    • Children's knowledge of language goes beyond what would be learned from the input they receive.
    • Constraints and principles cannot be learned
    • Universal patterns of development cannot be explained by language-specific input
• Frameworks for SLA
  • Linguistic
    • Foci
      • Internal focus
      • External focus
    • Theory
      • Structuralism
      • Transformational generative grammar
      • Factionalism
      • Principles and parameters model
      • Minimalist program
  • Psychological
    • Theory
      • Behaviorism
      • Neurolinguistics information processing
      • Humanistic models
      • Connectionism
      • Processability
    • Perspective
      • Languages and the brain
      • Learning processes
      • Learner differences
  • Social
    • Theory
      • Sociocultural theory
      • Ethnography of communication variation theory
      • Social psychology
    • Perspective
      • Microsocial
      • Macrosocial