Madeline Schroeder G/T Intern Mentor Program

 Did you know that Spanish is the 3 rd most popular language in the world in terms of how many people speak it?  Source: Languages of the World, 15th ed. (2005)

 What is second language acquisition (SLA) and what are its goals?  What are the developmental patterns?  What are the major errors in SLA?  What is interlanguage?  What is the critical period?  What are the individual differences in SLA?  What are the main teaching strategies utilized?

 SLA: Systematic study of how people acquire a second language  New phenomenon- late 20 th century  Second = anything other than native tongue

1. Description of L2 Acquisition 2. Explanation of L2 Acquisition  External and internal factors

 Social conditions  Classroom/emersion  Instructor/teaching oneself  Input the learners receive  Samples of language  Simplified vs. authentic  Cognitive mechanisms  Allow to extract info from input  Prior knowledge  Worldly knowledge  Communication strategies  Language aptitude  External Factors that Influence SLA  Internal Factors that Influence SLA

 What is the most effective way to investigate L2 acquisition?  Collecting and describing samples of the learner language  Analyzing errors made and how these change  Identifying developmental patterns  Considering the leaner

 Identifying errors  Describing errors  Grammatical  Omission  Misinformation  Misordering  Explaining errors  Rule creation  Universal errors  Sources of errors  Omission  Overgeneralization  Transfer  Error evaluation  Global errors  Local errors

 Early stages of L2 acquisition  Silent period (especially common in children)  When they start to speak  Formulaic chunks  Propositional simplification  Common in both L1 and L2  Learning grammar of L2  Acquisition order  Sequence of acquisition  Single step or multiple stages

 Interlanguage: the concept that the systematic development of learner language reflects a mental system of L2 knowledge  Behaviorist Learning Theory: language learning is like any other kind of learning in that it involves habit formation  Mentalist Theory: only humans are capable of learning a language and the human mind is equipped with a Language Acquisition Device

 Term was coined by American linguist Larry Selinker  Involves premises about L2 acquisition: 1. Learner constructs a system of “mental grammar” 2. Learner’s grammar is permeable 3. Learner’s grammar is transitional 4. Learner’s employ various learning strategies 5. Learner’s grammar is likely to fossilize

INPUT  INTAKE  L2 KNOWLEDGE  OUTPUT  The human mind functions like a computer  Intake= short-term  L2 Knowledge = long-term

 There is a period during which language acquisition is EASY and COMPLETE  Native speaker ability is achieved  Beyond this point  difficult to learn  Critical period is usually leading up to puberty (age 12)

 Language aptitude: the extent to which people possess a natural ability to learning an L2  General intelligence  Distinct  Motivation: the attitudes and effective states that influence the degree of effort exerted  Instrumental  Integrative  Resultative  Intrinsic

 Learning Strategies: the particular approaches or techniques the learners employ to try and learn an L2  Behavioral  Ex) repeating words out loud  Mental  Ex) using context clues  Usually context oriented

 One of the goals of SLA is to improve language teaching  Form-focused instruction = opposite of real life communicative experiences  Input based instruction  Production based instruction

(A) (B) Input-Based Production-Based Instruction INPUT  INTAKE  L2 KNOWLEDGE  OUTPUT

 SLA: Systematic study of how people acquire a second language  Goals: (1) Description of L2 Acquisition (2) Explanation of L2 Acquisition  Interlanguage: the concept that the systematic development of learner language reflects a mental system of L2 knowledge  There is a critical period for L2 acquisition

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