Paper no - 12 English Language Teaching

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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 L_­1 and L₂ are not similar, it is negative transfer between speaker and listener.

2.     Positive transfer: when the rules of L_­1 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.