1. SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Before we start discussing SLA, we’ll need to define a few concepts that have to do with SLA and the understanding of it.

2. Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
Preliminary course plan:
Course Literature: Ellis, R: Second Language Acquisition
Chapters in Ellis:
Ch. 1. Explaining and describing L2 acquisition: read as course introduction
Ch. 2. The nature of learner language
Ch. 3. Interlanguage

3. Choose one of the following chapters (4-6) as self-study (discuss them in the exam)
Ch. 4. Social aspects of interlanguage
Ch. 5. Psycholinguistic aspects of interlanguage
Ch. 6. Discourse aspects of interlanguage
Ch. 7. Linguistic aspects of interlanguage
Ch. 8. Individual differences in L2 acquisiton
Ch. 9. Instruction and L2 acquisiton

4. Lectures and seminars:
Lecture 1: 25 April
What is Second Language Acquisition?
How is L2 acquisition described and explained?
Error analysis
 Study chapters 1-2 in Ellis
 Do study questions 1-8

5. Lecture 2: 28 April
Learner language and interlaguage
Typology and markedness
Universal grammar (UG)
Learnability
 Study chapters 3 and 7 in Ellis
 Do study questions 9-17

6. Lecture 3: 2 May
Individual differences and instruction in L2 Acquisition
Learning strategies
 Study chapters 8-9 in Ellis
 Do study questions 18-25

7. Seminars: 9 May (T2); 11 May (B)
 Study the chapters in Ellis, go through and prepare all the study questions
Check the exams

8. WHAT IS SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION? WHAT IS L2 ACQUISITION?
Any language that is learned subsequent
to the mother tongue
FIRST LANGUAGE
A language that is acquired during early childhood
(usually before the age of three) )
Ellis, p. 3: What is SLA? L2 acquisiton: people learning a second language and SLA is the study of if

9. OTHER “LANGUAGES”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE For cross-cultural communication situations, can be studied in school TARGET LANGUAGE A language that a learner is trying to learn LEARNER LANGUAGE The language that learners produce during the acquisition
Other ”languages”, what is of most interest to us here is learner language.

10. STUDYING LEARNER LANGUAGE 1
What should you look for in learner language?
Specific features or patterns for communication?
Grammar in focus?
SLA goals: Description and explanation of L2 acquisition
External factors: input
Internal factors: L2 learners’ cognitive mechanisms, knowledge, and communication strategies
Compare Ellis & Barkhuizen ”Analyzing Learner Language”. Error analysis, Here grammatical errors are in focus but there are other things to study, e.g. the writing process. Our material is the Uppsala Learner English Corpus (ULEC). Input: samples of language to which the learner is exposed. What kind of input facilitates learning? This is important for teachers to think about.
We must assume certain things about a learner too; cognitive mechanisms:they know about e.g. who and which.

11. WHY ARE SOME L2 LEARNERS MORE SUCCESSFUL?
How important is gender? Do girls outperfom boys? Do girls study more?

12. WHY ARE SOME L2 LEARNERS MORE SUCCESSFUL: SOME ANSWERS
Aptitude
Motivation
Feedback
Instruction
Which factor/s/ is/are the most important?
I want to you to think about which factor/s/ is/are the most important

13. The explanation of L2 acquisition: item learning and system learning
The description of L2 acquisition: errors, the acquisition of formulaic chunks, developmental patterns
The explanation of L2 acquisition: item learning and system learning
Methods: corpus studies (e.g. ULEC), case studies (few informants, longitudinal, focus on L2 development)
Item = a grammatical feature and lexical chunks, ”Can I have a----”, system =rules; what are the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods exemplified?

14. <D ><G DESC><Y 1><K A><P Y><S F><A 17> My best holiday My best holiday was when I was in Turkey. It was the best trip ever since I was a little child, we was there in two weeks 21/10 to 4/10. I was there with my family and my friend Jennifer, Jennifer and me had an own flat, it was so fun! I love that country, the first day we arrive to Turkey we go with a buss to the hotel who be called Side resort hotel, it was a four plus so it was very elegant. When we got there we was packing up our bags and after we have done it we swim in the pool. The whole holiday was so best, the best ever! I am so in love to all in turkey! We was in the sun all the time and took a dip every day during our holiday in the sea, the black sea, it was very hot in the water about 24 degrees and in the sun it was about 30 degrees! Me and Jennifer was out all night long, everyday and went to many discotheque and meet many people who came from different country, like England, Norway, Germany and some people came from the same country as we came from. It was two English girls how we meet there they was very kindly to us, we have very fun together. The name of the girls was Becky and Nathalie, they both was twenty-one. Nathalie is make-up artist and Becky is an air stewardess, they both is living in London, they divide a flat, we took each other and telephone number. And im going back next summer 2007 with my friends in about seven weeks, its gonna be fun! i long until that.
ULEC: A paper about my best holiday. How do you work with such a text?

15. ”Can I have”, ”Can you pass me my pencil”, ”Please”
Case studies: Wes, little formal instruction in English, ”naturalistic”, learning the language and learning to communicate in it, 33 years old, a Japanese, no grammar really (I’m sitting – I did painting) but fomulas: So what’s new? A successful communicator
The child learners, J. and R., 10 and 11 years old, from Portugal and Pakistan, complete beginners, learning English in London; verbless requests: pencil
”Can I have”, ”Can you pass me my pencil”, ”Please”
Development, both progressed in much the same way
What differernces are there between the adult learner and the child learners?Wes: Richard Schmidt,Univ. of Hawaii)
R. Four terms, J., two years language unit or schoolcatering exclusively for L2 learners, mixed education, focus on requests, simple and complex: would you mind giving me yours?Give me. Can I have?, Miss I want (R), You got a rubber (J)

16. STUDYING LEARNER LANGUAGE 2
Why study errors?
Error analysis:
Identifying errors
Describing
Explaining
Evaluating: Is the error an obstacle to communication?
(Ellis & Barkhuizen 2005)
Why? What is the purpose? I think the most important purpose is for us teachers; we learn about errors so that we can improve our teaching. Errors - mistakes: difficult to decide.

17. Errors: lacking L2 knowledge
Errors and mistakes?
Errors: lacking L2 knowledge
Mistakes: minor and occasional faults in performance
Overgeneralization, omission, overuse, transfer
Developmental patterns: acquisition order: ate, eated, ated, ate; restructuring (Ellis, p. 23)
Overgeneralization, omission, overuse, transfer - descriptions of learner language, developmental patterns: acquisition order: ate, eated, ated, ate; restructuring

18. COMPARING L1 AND L2 IN THE ACQUISITION OF GRAMMATICAL MORPHEMES

19. MORPHEME ACQUISITION ORDER (Saville-Troike, p
MORPHEME ACQUISITION ORDER (Saville-Troike, p. 44; Brown (1973), Dulay & Burt (1974))
L1 L2 -ing 1 3 Pl.-s 2 4 Past irregular 3 7 Possessive ‘s 4 8 Articles 5 1 Past regular 6 6 3rd person -s 7 9 be (copula) 8 2 be (auxiliary) 9 5
Only past regular has the same position. Look at past irregular! Brown’s morphemes (1973, other linguists and reserachers working with this are Dulay and Burt (1974)

20. Variability in learner language: Yesterday the thief steal the suitcase Yesterday the thief stealing the suitcase Form-function mapping: yesterday (past) = stole (or -ed)
Some learners are different of course in the errors they make. Activity verbs = the progressive instead of the past. The presence of an adverb = use of base form. This is the linguistic context. There is also the situational context and the planning time
Form-function mapping: two forms for the negative, no + verb, don’t + verb (J); Ellis, p.28.

21. The systematic development of learner language reflects
INTERLANGUAGE
What is interlanguage?
The systematic development of learner language reflects
a mental system of L2 knowledge (Ellis, p. 31), ”how
L2 acquisition takes place”
A unique linguistic system: Learners construct a
linguistic system that draws in part on the learner’s L1
but is also different from it and from the target
language (Ellis, p. 33)
What is the difference between learner language and interlanguage? Learner language ia more general term, the language that learners produce during the acquisition process. Interlanguage: ”how L2 acquisition takes place”, is more technical, scientific; cf. p.35: a computational model of L2 acquisition.

22. Characteristics:
The learner constructs a system of abstract linguistic
rules
The learner’s grammar is open to inside (mental capacity) and outside influence (the input)

23. The learner’s grammar is transitional: learners change their grammar by adding rules, deleting rules and restructuring the whole system = an interlanguage continuum Learners can also have variable or competing rules Do these only reflect mistakes? Ellis, pp : The nature of learner language pp : Interlanguage
The learner’s grammar is transitional: learners change their grammar by adding rules, deleting rules and restructuring the whole system. This is what L2 learning is all about, isn’t it?

24. Learners employ various learning strategies,
different errors produce different learning
strategies
Omission: simplifying
Overgeneralization: irregular verbs
Transfer: Swenglish
Omission, overgeneralization, transfer: descriptions of learner language

25. The learner’s grammar is likely to fossilize Only 5 % of the learners go on to develop the same mental grammar as native speakers Fossilization is unique to L2 learning
This is rather negative or what do you think? I think it’s possible to develop something like a native ’like grammar. The problem is e.g. that intonation gives you away as a non-native speaker

26. Next time …
More about error analysis in learner language
(Ellis & Barkhuizen 2005)
Interlanguage and interlanguage theories

27. From last time…
SLA goals?
Description and explanation of L2 acquisition
The description of L2 acquisition: errors, the acquisition of formulaic chunks, developmental patterns
The explanation of L2 acquisition: item learning and system learning
Error analysis?

28. Identifying errors
Describing
Explaining
Evaluating
(Ellis & Barkhuizen 2005: 51-71)

29. <D ><G DESC><Y 1><K A><P Y><S F><A 17> My best holiday My best holiday was when I was in Turkey. It was the best trip ever since I was a little child, we was there in two weeks 21/10 to 4/10. I was there with my family and my friend Jennifer, Jennifer and me had an own flat, it was so fun! I love that country, the first day we arrive to Turkey we go with a buss to the hotel who be called Side resort hotel, it was a four plus so it was very elegant.
Do an error analysis!

30. ”How L2 acquisition takes place”
What is interlanguage?
”How L2 acquisition takes place”
A unique linguistic system: Learners construct a
linguistic system that draws in part on the learner’s L1
but is also different from it and from the target
language (Ellis, p. 33)
If you want to be more technical…

31. INTERLANGUAGE THEORIES
Two theories:
Behaviourist and mentalist
The mentalist theory is a reaction against behaviourism. Behaviourist: stimulus - response, only what can be observed…
There’s more to it. Chomsky (1970s) and others

32. Behaviourist: A habit is a stimulus response connection Learning takes place when learners have the opportunity to practise making the correct answer to a given stimulus ”Ignoring the black box”
This actually means that animals can also learn language…The black box is the mental grammar. Grammar = system

33. Mentalist: LAD The input triggers Language Acquisition Device (LAD) Only human beings are capable of learning a language
LAD = later on Universal grammar. Mentalist: Generative grammar, Chomsky and others

34. The linguistic framework of SLA
Components:
Language typology
Universal grammar
Learnability
Markedness

35. The linguistic framework of SLA Language typology: linguistic features that some languages share, e.g. relative clauses (English, Swedish, German….) Linguistic differences influence how easily learners acquire e.g. relative clauses Universal grammar: language is governed by abstract principles that provide parameters which are given particular settings in different languages (Chomsky, p.65). English NPs are head-initial
Here is some terminolgy…

36. Linguistic Typology: The Accessibility Hierarchy (how you learn relative clauses)
SU>DIR OBJ>INDIR OBJ>OBJ OF PREP>GEN
(Keenan & Comrie 1977)
It’s easier to learn relative clauses with the relative
pronoun as subject than those with a direct object etc.
(Ellis, p. 64)

37. Examples:
The writer who won the Booker prize
The writer who/m/ we met
The writer to whom I introduced you
The writer with whom we had dinner
The writer whose wife we met
The writer who I have written more books than

38. Does the hierarchy predict the order of acquisition of relative clauses?

39. Yes, because SLA and linguistics can assist each other
Answers?
Yes, because it predicts the frequency with which learners make errors in relative clauses
Yes, because SLA and linguistics can assist each other
1) Linguistic facts can be used to explain and predict
acquisition
2) The results of empirical studies of L2 acquisition can be used to refine our understanding of linguistic facts
The first answer is more reliable, maybe, The second is just an explanation how SLA and linguistics could work together.

40. Learnability: learners cannot learn
if the input is insufficient (poverty of stimulus):
*Sam kicked fiercely his toy car
Positive evidence: only what is grammatical
Negative evidence: direct evidence of
what is ungrammatical; “spotting the error”
Generally, parents don’t correct grammatical
mistakes, so how do children learn correct grammar?
Learnability is another term that is used within the linguistic framework of SLA. What does the asterisk mean?
Other examples would be plural -s and the progressive. Important to consider in teaching.

41. Chomsky: Children must have prior knowledge of what is grammatically possible = Universal Grammar (earlier LAD)
Does this apply to L2 acquisition?
Do L2 learners have access to UG or do they rely on some other learning mechanism?
No real answers here

42. Full target-language competence is possible
Complete access to UG:
Full target-language competence is possible
Learners subsequently switch to the L2 parameter settings
No access to UG:
L2 learners rely on general learning strategies
L1 and L2 learning are completely different
Adult learners will normally not be able to achieve
full competence (UG is not available to them)
Complete/full access: Learners have an innate guideto language acquisition even if they are learning languages subsequent to L1
No acess: Learners must learn L2 via entirely different means thn they did L1

43. Adult L2 learners make use of both UG and learning
Dual access:
Adult L2 learners make use of both UG and learning
strategies; these learners can be fully successful but
only if they rely on UG
Partial access:
Learners have access to parts of UG, maybe only
to those parameters that operate in their L1 but
they may be able to switch to L2 parameter settings
if their errors are corrected
Partial or indirect access: Learners retain indirect access through knowlededge that is already realized in their L1 but have no remaining direct access

44. Markedness: Chomsky: those features that are not governed by UG
Learners acquire less marked structures before
more marked ones (e.g. play before plays)
Gr-Qu: (2.7) The tiger lives in China…
The tigers are living in a very cramped cage
Tigers – the tigers
Tigress
lives – are living
Markedness is a term mainly used within linguistic typology

45. Markedness Differential Predictions for SLA: (Saville-Troike, p. 60)
Feature in L1 Feature in L2 Prediction
Marked Unmarked L2 feature will be easy to learn
L1 feature will not transfer to L2
Unmarked Marked L1 feature will transfer to L2
When a feature is neither marked nor unmarked, it will not transfer to L2. Can you think of examples of this?

46. Can you think of examples of the Markedness Differential Predictions for SLA? For Swedish L2 learners of English? For L2 learners of Swedish?
Sw. Bord –et, the table; English: plays

47. What does the final state of L2 look like? (Saville-Troike, p. 54-55)
All learners may not have the same degree of access to UG
Different relationships between various L1s and L2s may result in differential transfer or interference
Some learners may receive qualitatively different L2 input from others
These are answers to the question why som learners are more successful than other

48. What does the final state of L2 look like? (continued)
Some learners may be more perceptive than others of mismatches between L2 input and existing L1 parameter settings
Different degrees of specification for lexical features may be achieved by different learners
Different degrees of specification for lexical features may be achieved by different learners: the Minimalist Program. Everything (grammar etc.) is specified in the lexicon