SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

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SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
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GENERAL POINTS...

• Second Language Acquisition (SLA) can take place
  through different ways

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L2 can be acquired with L1
successively
simultaneously
Age Stage
Environment
L1
childhood
instruction
adolescence
L2
natural
adulthood
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L2 learning or Acquisition !!

• The distinction between L2 learning in an L1
  environment or through verbal contact with native
  speakers in a natural environment encouraged some
  researchers to distinguish between acquisition
  and learning.

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L2 Acquisition or Learning !!
Acquisition
Learning
A subconscious process of picking up a language
through exposure
A conscious process of studying the language
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What is SLA?
SLA is a complex process involving many
interrelated determinants the learner, the
environment, the effect of L1, etc.)
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What is SLA?
SLA investigates how people gain proficiency in a
language which is not their mother tongue.
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Historical Perspective
SLA
Improve the way in which an L2 were taught.
1950s-1960s
The focus shifted from the teacher to the learner.
1970 on...
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Questions...

• . How do individuals acquire an L2?
• . Why do learners vary in
  acquiring an L2?

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Questions...

• . What are the different thoughts that have been
  offered in order to explain the process of SLA?

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SCHOOLS OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUSITION (SLA)

• Bhaviourists
• Cognitists or Psychologists
• Creative Constructionists
• Sociologists

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The Behaviourists
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BEHAVIOURISTS

• Language is behaviour acquired according to the
  following steps
• 1) Imitation
• 2) Repetition (practice)
• 3) Habit formation

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• Imitation Repetition (practice)
• Learners attempt to imitate or copy what they
  hear from the L2.
• By regular practice (repetition) they establish a
  set of acceptable habits in the new language.

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• Habit formation
• The L2 learners try to overcome the L1 habits
  (all the structures and elements of the L1) and
  learn in their place the habits of the L2.

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• Habit formation
• In this case, the learners compare the elements
  of the L1 with those of the L2. Only those
  elements of the L2 which differed from L1 are
  considered important for learning.

WHY?
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BEHAVIOURISTS

• L2 learners transfer elements or even skills from
  their L1 to the L2.
• Those elements in the L1 which are different from
  the L2 will create problems for the learners.
• They will lead him to make errors.

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Transfer
Facilitates learning or has a positive influence
on the command of a skill or part of the L2 due
to similarity between L1 L2.
Positive
Negative
Mango????, Lemon ?????
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Transfer
Impedes learning or has a negative influence on
the command of a skill or part of the L2 due to
differences between L1 L2.
Positive
Negative
This Huda.
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BEHAVIOURISTS

• In order to discover transfer in the language of
  the L2 learner, the behaviourists introduced the
  term Contrastive Analysis (CA)

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• The goal of CA was to
• identify and catalogue the structural
  similarities and differences between languages.
• This will help pinpoint areas of similarities and
  differences among the languages concerned.

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• Criticism
• 1. Imitation alone cannot explain how the L2 is
  acquired. The acquisition task is more complex
  than just habit formation.

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• Criticism
• 2. Transfer alone cannot explain all types of
  errors. Many of the predicted errors could not
  be found. Some of the errors found are unrelated
  to the L1

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• L2 learners produced such errors as goed and
  taked instead of went and took or they produced
  mices or mouses and sheeps instead of mice and
  sheep.

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• Criticism
• 3. L2 learners have intuitions that certain
  features of their L1 are less likely to be
  transferable than others

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BEHAVIOURISTS

• Idiomatic expressions cannot be translated
  literally
• ???? ?? ???? cannot be translated into you
  fall from my eyes

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