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Name: Mital M. Raval
Roll No: 19
M.A. SEM: 3
Batch Year: 2016 – 2018
Enrollment No: 2069108420170026
Email Id: ravalmital5292@gmail.com
Paper Name: English language teaching - 1
Assignment Topic: Second Language Acquisition.
Submitted to: Dr. Dilip Barad
Smt. S. b. Gardi
Department of English
M .k. Bhavnagar
University
Introduction:
The term “Second language Acquisition” (SLA)
refers to the processes through which someone acquires one or more second or
foreign languages. SLA researchers look at acquisition in naturalistic contexts
and in classroom settings. Researchers are interested in both product and
process. The product means the language used by learners at different stages in
the acquisition process. Trace the
development of SLA from its origins in contrastive analysis. This is followed
by a selective review of research, focusing on product-oriented studies of
stages that learner pass through as they acquire another language, as well as
investigations in to the processes underlying acquisition. The practical
implications of research are then discussed, followed by a review of current
and future trends and direction.
What is
second Language Acquisition?
·
Second language acquisition or SLA is the process of
learning other languages in addition to the native language. For instance, a
child who speaks Hindi as the mother tongue starts learning English when he
starts going to school. English is learned by the process of second language
acquisition. In fact, a young child can learn a second language faster than an
adult can learn the same language. (Singhal)
·
Second language acquisition is learning a second
language after a first language is already established. Many times this happens
when a child who speaks a language other than English goes to school for the
first time. Children have an easier time learning a second language, but anyone
can do it at any age. It takes a lot of practice.
Five stages
of second language acquisition:
Proponents of second language acquisition theories, including
Oliveri and Judie Haynes, another ESL teacher with 28 years of experience,
identify five distinct stages of second language acquisition as originally
espoused by linguist Stephen Krashen. These include the following:
1.
Silent/receptive
This stage may last from several hours to several months,
depending on the individual learner. During this time, new language learners
typically spend time learning vocabulary and practice pronouncing new words.
While they may engage in self-talk, they don’t normally speak the language with
any fluency or real understanding.
This stage is controversial among language educators. Ana
Lomba disagrees that second language learners are totally silent while they are
in this first learning stage. Instead, Lomba states that “speech is fundamental in language acquisition” and learners excel
in language acquisition when they apply what they learn as they learn it.
2. Early
production
This stage may last about six months, during which language
learners typically acquire an understanding of up to 1,000 words. They may also
learn to speak some words and begin forming short phrases, even though they may
not be grammatically correct.
3. Speech
emergence
By this stage, learners typically acquire a vocabulary of up
to 3,000 words, and learn to communicate by putting the words in short phrases,
sentences, and questions. Again, they may not be grammatically correct, but
this is an important stage during which learners gain greater comprehension and
begin reading and writing in their second language.
4.
Intermediate fluency
At this stage, which may last for a year or more after speech
emergence, learners typically have a vocabulary of as many as 6,000 words. They
usually acquire the ability to communicate in writing and speech using more
complex sentences. This crucial stage is also when learners begin actually
thinking in their second language, which helps them gain more proficiency in
speaking it.
5.
Continued language development/advanced fluency
It takes most learners at least two years to reach this
stage, and then up to 10 years to achieve full mastery of the second language
in all its complexities and nuances. Second language learners need ongoing
opportunities to engage in discussions and express themselves in their new
language, in order to maintain fluency in it. (education)
Second Language acquisition by David Nunan:
Second
Language acquisition is all about how native learners accept the second and
foreign language. David Nunan has done a research in this field and he found
that researchers are interested in both process as well as product. Product is
the language which is used by learners and process is the learning process.
Second language
acquisition emerged from comparative studies of similarity and differences
between languages. These studies conducted in the brief that a learner’s first
language (L1) has an important influence on the acquisition of a second
language (L2), which is resulting in the contrastive analysis (CA).
Contrastive
analysis includes two terms:
1.
Negative
transfer: when the rules of L1 and
L2 are not similar, it is negative transfer between speaker and
listener.
2. Positive transfer: when the rules of L1 and L2 are similar, it is
positive transfer between speaker and listener.
Contrastive analysis hypothesis was
in harmony with the prevailing psychological theory of the behaviorism.
Behaviorism believes that learning was a process of habit formation. Linguistic habits acquired by
individuals as their L1 emerged would have a marked influence on their L2
acquisition. Constructivist position emerged at about the same time as
cognitive psychologist began to challenge behaviorism.
Corder’s
investigation of learners SLA (1967):
Corder made a strong case for the
investigation of learner’s, errors as a way of obtaining insight into the
process and strategies underlying SLA. Error was not as evidence of pathology
on the part of learners, but as a normal and healthy part of the learning
process.
The systematic study of learner’s error
revealed interesting insight into SLA process.
1. Learners
made errors that were not predicted by the CA hypothesis.
2. The error
that learners made was systematic, rather than random.
3. Learners
appeared to move through a serious of stages as they developed competence in
the target language.
Brown’s
longitudinal case (1973)
Brown has done a research work upon three children who were having
English as a L1. He found fourteen (14) grammatical structures, and
their way of learning and using English was similar to their parents. As per
Brown the way of learning English language is natural.
Product
Oriented research:
During the early 1970s a
series of empirical investigations into learner were carried out which become
known as the ‘morpheme order’ studies. Their principal aim was to determine
whether there is a ‘natural’ sequence in the order in which L2 learners acquire
the grammar of the target language. Dulay
and Burt have established a new
term “morpheme order”. This means
minimum meaningful language units. Dulay and Burt found that listening is the
first way of learning language. They have done their research upon the children
from different L1 backgrounds (Spanish and Chinese), and as a result
they found that the morpheme they have used were similar. The morpheme order
studies indicated a predetermined order of acquisition for certain grammatical
morphemes. Subsequent research also showed that order could not be changed by
instruction.
In the 1980s Stephen Krashen was the best known
figure in the SLA field. He formulated a controversial
hypothesis to explain the disparity between the order in which grammatical
items were taught and the order in which they were acquired. As per him there
are two mental process operating SLA: conscious learning and subconscious
learning.
Conscious
learning: it focuses upon grammatical rules. It helps learners to
identify the violation of rules.
Subconscious
learning:
it facilitating the acquisition of
grammatical rules at a subconscious level.
According to Krashen, when
using the language to communicate meaning, the learner must draw on
subconscious knowledge. The suggestion of conscious and subconscious process
functioning in language development was not new or radical; however, Krashen’s
assertion that these process were totally separate. Krashen went on to argue
that the basic mechanism underlying language acquisition was comprehension.
According to his “comprehensible input
hypothesis” when a student understands a message in the language containing
a structure, his or her current level of competence advances by one step, and
that structure is acquired.
Krashen's
Theory of Second Language Acquisition
Krashen's
theory of second language acquisition consists of five main hypotheses:
1. The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis: The Acquisition-Learning
distinction is the most fundamental of all the hypotheses in Krashen's theory
and the most widely known among linguists and language practitioners.
2.
The Monitor
hypothesis: The Monitor
hypothesis explains the relationship between acquisition and learning and
defines the influence of the latter on the former.
3.
The Natural
Order hypothesis: The Natural Order
hypothesis is based on research findings which suggested that the acquisition
of grammatical structures follows a 'natural order' which is predictable.
4. The Input hypothesis: The Input hypothesis is Krashen's
attempt to explain how the learner acquires a second language – how second language
acquisition takes place.
5. The Affective Filter hypothesis: It embodies
Krashen's view that a number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative, but
non-causal, role in second language acquisition.
Process oriented research:
The term ‘modified interaction’ refers to instance during an interaction
when the speaker alters the form in which language is encoded to make it more
comprehensible. This research into modified interaction was strongly influenced
by Krashen’s hypothesis that comprehensible input was a necessary and
sufficient condition for SLA. Long has also
done research upon tasks of SLA, he has given three stages which are connected
with each other.
1.
Conversational
adjustment
2.
Comprehensible
input
3.
Acquisition
Conclusion:
At
the concluding part I wont to say that SLA as a discipline in CA, error analysis
and inter language development. Nunan examine research into SLA in both
naturalistic and instructional settings, considering both process and product
oriented study.
Works Cited
Association, Averican Speech-Language-Hearing. what
is second languade acquisition. n.d.
education, Portland. five
types SLA. n.d.
Singhal, Vandana. What
is second laguage acquisition? Ed. Linda M. Rhinehart Neas. 2012.
do you able to find any barriers in second language acquisition?
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