![29
MR. VATH VARY
Chomsky (until the late
1970s)
Followers of this
approach assumed that
the language acquisition
task involves children’s
induction of a system of
rules for particular
languages from the input
they receive, guided by
UG.
Chomsky (from1981 -
1995)
A major change in thinking about
the acquisition process occurred
with Chomsky’s (1981)
reconceptualization of UG in a
Principles and Parameters
framework (often called the
Government and Binding [GB]
model), and with his subsequent
introduction of the Minimalist
Program (1995).](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ch3thelinguisticsofsecondlanguageacquisition-230510033329-6ae0d3a4/85/CH-3_The-Linguistics-of-Second-Language-Acquisition-pptx-29-320.jpg)
![7 basic functions of Language
43
MR. VATH VARY
Purposes Descriptions Example
Instrumental • Language used as a means of getting things done • “I want”
Regulatory • Language used to regulate the behavior of others • “do as I tell you”
Interactional • Use of language in interaction between self and others • “me and you”
Personal • Awareness of language as a form of one’s own identity • here I come
heuristic • Language as a way of learning about things • “tell me why”
Imaginative • Creation through language of a world of one’s own making • “let’s pretend”
Representational
• Means of expressing propositions, or communicating about
sth
• “I’ve got sth to
tell you”
Implication: L2 acquisition is a matter of learning new linguistic forms to fulfill the same functions [as
already acquired and used in L1] within a different social milieu”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ch3thelinguisticsofsecondlanguageacquisition-230510033329-6ae0d3a4/85/CH-3_The-Linguistics-of-Second-Language-Acquisition-pptx-43-320.jpg)
![Functional Typology
45
Implication:
Unmarked features in L1 are more likely to
transfer to L2, and that marked features in L2
will be harder to learn (Markedness
Differential Hypothesis:
Eckman’s ( 1977)
Unmarked Marked
Phonology
• consonant +
vowel (CV): me,
ba-na-na);
• street [stri:t] or
fence [fεnts ]
Vocabulary
• ‘in’ denotes
location
• ‘into’ denotes both
location and
directionality
Syntax
• SVO • SVO
Discourse
• How are you? is
Fine. How are
you?
• Silence or a
comment
MR. VATH VARY](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ch3thelinguisticsofsecondlanguageacquisition-230510033329-6ae0d3a4/85/CH-3_The-Linguistics-of-Second-Language-Acquisition-pptx-45-320.jpg)
CH 3_The Linguistics of Second Language Acquisition.pptx
- 1. Chapter 3: The linguistics of Second Language Acquisition MR. VATH VARY 1 • Tel: + 855 17 471 117 • Email: [email protected] Course: Second Language Acquisition (SLA) AGA INSTITUTE
- 2. Contents The nature of language Early approaches to SLA Universal Grammar Functional approaches MR. VATH VARY 2
- 3. Learning Outcomes • Define what language is; • Examine the early linguistic approaches to SLA: Contrastive Analysis , Error Analysis Interlanguage , Morpheme Order Studies, and Monitor Model; • Bring the internal focus with up-to-date discussion of Universal Grammar (UG): what constitutes the language faculty of the mind; • Discuss external focus: the functions of language that emerge in the course of second language acquisition Systemic Linguistics, Functional Typology , Function-to- Form Mapping , and Information Organization. • Applied the learned knowledge in the language classroom. 3 MR. VATH VARY
- 4. The nature of language What is it that we learn when we learn a language? systematic symbolic social 4 MR. VATH VARY
- 5. Languages are systematic. • Ls consist of recurrent elements which occur in regular patterns of relationships. • Ls have an infinite number of possible sentences, and the vast majority of all sentences which are used have not been memorized. • Ls are created according to rules or principles which speakers are usually unconscious of using – or even of knowing – if they acquired the language(s) as a young child. 5 MR. VATH VARY
- 6. Languages are symbolic • Sequences of sounds or letters do not inherently possess meaning. • Meanings of symbols in a language come through the tacit agreement of a group of speakers 6 MR. VATH VARY
- 7. Languages are social • Use L to communicate, to categorize and catalogue the objects, events, and processes of human experience • Capacity for L1 acquisition is innate, but no one can develop that potential without interaction • L can be defined at least in part as “the expressive dimension of culture.” • People who function in more than one cultural context will communicate more effectively if they know more than one L. 7 MR. VATH VARY
- 8. Linguistic Branches 8 Lexicon (vocabulary) • word meaning • pronunciation (spelling for written Ls) • grammatical category (parts of speech) • possible occurrence in combination with other words and in • idioms Phonology (sound system) • speech sounds that make a difference in meaning (phonemes) • possible sequences of consonants and vowels (syllable structure) • intonation patterns (stress, pitch, and duration), and perhaps tone in words rhythmic patterns (pauses and stops) Morphology (word structure) • parts of words that have meaning (morphemes) • inflections that carry grammatical information (number or tense) • prefixes and suffixes, added to change the meaning of words or their grammatical category MR. VATH VARY
- 9. Linguistic Branches 9 Syntax (grammar) • word order • agreement between sentence elements (number agreement between subject and verb) • ways to form questions, negate assertions, and focus or structure • information within sentences Nonverbal structures (with conventional, language- specific meaning) • facial expressions • spatial orientation and position • gestures and other body movement Discourse • ways to connect sentences, and to organize information across sentence boundaries • structures for telling stories, engaging in conversations, etc. • scripts for interacting and for events MR. VATH VARY
- 10. 10 Early approaches to SLA •Contrastive analysis •Error Analysis •Interlanguage •Krashen’s Monitor Model MR. VATH VARY
- 12. Contrastive Analysis 12 • The focus of CA is on surface forms: a structure- by-structure comparison of phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon, and nonverbal structures and discourse. Structuralism • CA assumed that language acquisition involves habit formation: Stimulus (linguistic input)–Response–Reinforcement (strengthens, habituates the response); • Learner imitates and repeats the language heard; the imitation has to be rewarded. • The implication is that “practice makes perfect.” Behaviorism • Assumption of CA is that there will be the transfer (cross-linguistic influences in learning): of elements acquired (or habituated) in L1 to L2. Transfer MR. VATH VARY • An SLA approach involves predicting and explaining learner problems based on a comparison of L1 and L2 to determine similarities and differences.
- 13. Pedagogical Implication of CA 13 • increase efficiency in L2 teaching and testing; • find areas of difficulty for learners (isolating what needs to be learned and what does not need to be learned in an L2 situation) CA: Goal • Identify when the same structure is appropriate in both Ls: positive transfer (facilitation), and when the L1 structure is used inappropriately in the L2: negative transfer (interference) • All errors emerged from L1 as interference CA: Transfer • L lessons focus on structures, which are predicted to most need attention and practice and for sequencing the L2 structures in order of difficulty. • Any structure in L2 which has a form not occurring in L1 needs to be learned CA: lesson MR. VATH VARY
- 14. 14 MR. VATH VARY Error Analysis From CA to EA • Predictions made by CA did not always materialize in actual learner errors, and not all errors could not be attributed to transfer from L1 to L2. • Language theory: Shift from structuralism (surface form) to underlying knowledge (rule- governed language) • Learning theory: shift from behaviorism (habit formation) to Mentalism : (innate capacity for L acquisition) resulted in an introduction of Transformational- Generative (TG) Grammar (1957, 1965). • SLA separates from Pedagogy: from teaching to Learning • Learning processes became an important focus for study in their own right. • The first approach to the study of SLA which includes an internal focus on learners’ creative ability to construct language. It is based on the description and analysis of actual learner errors in L2, rather than on idealized linguistic structures attributed to native speakers of L1 and L2. EA largely augmented or replaced CA by the early 1970s because of the following developments:
- 15. The procedure for analyzing learner errors • Collection of a sample of learner language (morphemes) • Identification of element errors. • Corder (1967) excludes: • errors (learners’ lack of L2 knowledge; are systematic and are not recognized by the learner as an error) • mistakes (processing failure such as a lapse in memory; speakers can recognize it as a mistake and correct it if necessary) • Description of errors • Language level: (phonological morphological, syntactic, etc.), • general linguistic category: (auxiliary system, passive sentences, negative constructions), or • specific linguistic elements (articles, prepositions, verb forms). 15 MR. VATH VARY
- 16. The procedure for analyzing learner errors • Explanation of errors • why an error is important for the processes of SLA • Two of the most likely causes of L2 errors • Interlingual: (between languages) factors from negative transfer or interference from L1 • Intralingual: (within language) factors and considered as developmental errors • Evaluation of errors • Error Effects: how “serious” it is, or to what extent it affects intelligibility, or social acceptability (such as qualifying for a job) 16 MR. VATH VARY
- 17. 17 • Chomsky claimed that languages have only a relatively small number of essential rules which account for their basic sentence structures, plus a limited set of transformational rules which allow these basic sentences to be modified (by deletions, additions, substitutions, and changes in word order). Chomsky’s First Linguistic Framework • The finite number of basic rules and transformations in any language accounts for an infinite number of possible grammatical utterances. • “Rules” merely describe what native speakers say, not what someone thinks they should say.) Finite numbers of Descriptive Rules • “Knowing” a language meant knowing the rules rather than memorizing surface structures. • Since speakers of a language can understand and produce millions of sentences they have never heard before, they cannot merely be imitating what they have heard others say, but must be applying these underlying rules to create novel constructions. Rule-governed behavior MR. VATH VARY Transformational-Generative Grammar
- 18. Interlanguage (IL) 18 MR. VATH VARY • Larry Selinker (1972) introduced the term Interlanguage (IL) to refer to the intermediate states (or interim grammars) of a learner’s language as it moves toward the target L2. • IL itself is a 3rd L system in its own right. • The idea was that learners possessed a special competence (or language) that was independent of the L1 and L2 during the course of its development.
- 19. Characteristics of Interlanguage 19 • IL is governed by rules which constitute the learner’s internal grammar Systematic • The system of rules which learners have in their minds changes frequently resulting in a succession of interim grammars. Dynamic • Different context result in different patterns of L use Variable • Reduced form: the less complex grammatical structures compared to the L2 (eg. omission of inflections) • Reduced function: the smaller range of communicative needs Reduced system: MR. VATH VARY
- 20. 20 MR. VATH VARY Language transfer from L1 to L2 Transfer of training: how the L2 is taught Strategies of second language learning: how learners approach the L2 materials and the task of L2 learning Strategies of second language communication: ways that learners try to communicate with others in the L2 Overgeneralization of the target language linguistic material, in which L2 rules that are learned are applied too broadly. Selinker ( 1972 ) stresses that there are differences between IL development in SLA and L1 acquisition by children, including different cognitive processes involved:
- 21. Why some learners are more successful than others 21 Initial state: • L2 development is naturalistic settings involving only isolated L2 words or memorized routines • Should individuals be considered “fossilized” in L2 development because they retain a foreign accent, for instance, in spite of productive fluency in other aspects of the target language? What is Fossilization? • A stable state in SLA where learners cease their interlanguage development before they reach target norms despite continuing L2 input and passage of time. MR. VATH VARY • Age factor: Older L2 learners are more likely to fossilize than younger ones • Other factors: social identity and communicative need
- 22. Morpheme Order Studies 22 MR. VATH VARY • An approach to SLA introduced by Roger Brown (1973) & Dulay and Burt (1974): focuses on the sequence in which specific English grammatical morphemes are acquired in a natural order (universal sequence). • Findings: The same elements of an L2 are learned first no matter what the learner’s L1 is. • The existence of “natural order” strengthened claims for internally driven acquisition processes, which Dulay and Burt (1973) labeled creative construction. • L2 learners neither imitate nor transfer L1 structures to the new code, but (subconsciously) create a mental grammar which allows them to interpret and produce utterances they have not heard before.
- 23. Monitor Model (Krashen,1978) 23 MR. VATH VARY An approach to SLA based on the concept that learners have two systems (acquisition and learning) and that the learned system monitors the acquired system. • Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis • Monitor Hypothesis • Natural Order Hypothesis • Input Hypothesis . • Affective Filter Hypothesis Krashen’s 5 hypotheses
- 24. 24 MR. VATH VARY The Acquisition vs. learning Hypothesis ◦ Acquisition: ◦ an unconscious process involves naturalistic development of L proficiency through understanding L and using L for meaningful communication; ◦ an innate Language Acquisition Device which accounts for children’s L1. ◦ Learning: ◦ is conscious process in which L2 is developed through formal classroom contexts The Monitor Hypothesis ◦ What is “learned” consciously functions only as a monitor or editor, for purposes of editing or making changes in what has already been produced. Krashen’s 5 hypotheses:
- 25. 25 MR. VATH VARY Krashen’s 5 hypotheses: The Natural Order Hypothesis ◦ We acquire the rules of language in a predictable order with some prior to others both in L1 & L2 acquisition. ◦ Errors are signs of naturalistic developmental process regardless of whatever L1 is The Input Hypothesis ◦ Language acquisition takes place via comprehensible input. People acquire L best by understanding input slightly beyond their current level of competence ◦ If there is enough quantity of comprehensible input, L is automatically developed. The Affective Filter Hypothesis ◦ Learners’ emotional states or attitude (motivation, self-confidence or anxiety) serve as an adjustifiable filter that freely passes, impedes input necessary for acquisition ◦ Acquirers with a low affective filters seek and receive more input, interact with confidence
- 26. Early Approaches: Implication 26 What • SLA is Rule-governed; • Development of L2 involves progression through a dynamic interlanguage system which differs from both L1 and L2 • The final state of L2 differs (more or less) from the native speakers’ system. How • SAL involves creative construction; • Development of both L1 and L2 follows generally predictable sequences, and L1 and L2 acquisition processes are significantly similar. Why • Age factors determine the success of SLA MR. VATH VARY
- 27. Universal Grammar (UG) (Noam Chomsky, 1950s- late 1970s) 27 MR. VATH VARY UG: A linguistic framework which claims that L1 acquisition can be accounted for only by innate knowledge that the human species is genetically endowed with. This includes a set of innate principles common to all languages. This innate knowledge is in what Chomsky calls the language faculty: a component of the human mind, physically represented in the brain and part of the biological endowment of the species (Chomsky 2002 :1).
- 28. UG: Two concepts of central importance: 28 MR. VATH VARY Chomsky’s Linguistic Theories: • Transformational Generative Grammar (1960s): rule-governed and creativity of language • Universal Grammar • Principle and Parameter Model (1980s) • Minimalist Program (1990s) • Linguistic Interfaces (2000s) 1. What needs to be accounted for in L acquisition is linguistic competence (speaker/hearers’underlying knowledge or mental representation of language) Rather than linguistic performance. 2. Such knowledge of L goes beyond what could be learned from the input people receive. This is the logical problem of language learning , or the poverty-of-the stimulus argument
- 29. 29 MR. VATH VARY Chomsky (until the late 1970s) Followers of this approach assumed that the language acquisition task involves children’s induction of a system of rules for particular languages from the input they receive, guided by UG. Chomsky (from1981 - 1995) A major change in thinking about the acquisition process occurred with Chomsky’s (1981) reconceptualization of UG in a Principles and Parameters framework (often called the Government and Binding [GB] model), and with his subsequent introduction of the Minimalist Program (1995).
- 30. Principles and parameters Model: Internal focus 30 • Followed Chomsky’s Transformational- Generative Grammar. • UG claims that all human inherits a universal set of: • Principles: ‘unvarying’ properties of all languages of the world; • Parameters: Limited options in realization of universal principles which account for grammatical variation between languages of the world Principles and parameters Model • PP refers to revised specification of what constitutes “innate capacity” in language acquisition to include more abstract notions of general principles and constraints that are common to all human languages as part of Universal Grammar . Principles and parameters Model MR. VATH VARY
- 31. Principle and Parameter Model 31 MR. VATH VARY Learning involves general principles of UG and options to be selected. • Every phrase in every L has the same elements including a Head: 2 possible choices: head-initial / head-final: • John rode in the car. • John car in rode. • John kicked the ball. • John ball kicked
- 32. UG and SLA 32 What is the initial state in SLA? What is the nature of Interlanguage, and how does it change over time? What is the final state in SLA? MR. VATH VARY
- 33. Initial state 33 MR. VATH VARY 4 possibilities have been suggested: Full access to UG ◦ UG as an innate guide to L acquisition, even when they are learning Ls subsequent to their L1. Partial access to UG ◦ UG: keeping some of its components but not others. Indirect access to UG ◦ through knowledge that is already realized in their L1 No access to UG ◦ learn L2 via entirely different means
- 34. Nature and development of Interlanguage 34 MR. VATH VARY If …… UG for L2 learners, … If at least some access to UG, ◦ then IL process is largely one of resetting parameters on the basis of input in the new L (English & Japanese) If access to UG still available, ◦ then that will limit their choices (as it does in L1) and IL grammars will never deviate from structures If learning principles as part of language faculty still available, ◦ then sufficient information to make these changes is available from: ◦ positive evidence–input from natural or instruction context; ◦ Negative evidence–explicit correction to L2 learners, serving as parameter resetting for older learners. If access to UG or language faculty are no longer available, ◦ the IL needs different learning processes for L1 to take place
- 35. Nature and development of Interlanguage 35 MR. VATH VARY • Constructionism: An approach to SLA formulated within Chomsky’s Minimalist Program that considers interlanguage development as the progressive mastery of L2 vocabulary along with the morphological features (which specify word form) that are part of lexical knowledge. • Failure to reach a state of full feature specification in the lexicon is seen as the primary reason that many L2 learners ‘fossilize’ at an intermediate level of development without attaining near-native competence. • Of particular relevance for L2 learners and teachers is the critical role of lexical acquisition in providing information for parameter (re)setting and other aspects of grammar in a UG approach. While parameter setting and mastery of morphological features are linked in L1 acquisition, this approach claims that they are not necessarily linked for older learners in SLA.
- 36. Final state 36 • 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. • 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. MR. VATH VARY
- 37. Linguistic interfaces 37 • A recent development within Chomsky’s generative linguistic theory that continues to view • Still viewed Language knowledge as a separate module—syntax, morphology, semantics, or phonology, pragmatic/discourse, etc. • but recognize the need for some interface in their processing. linguistic interfaces • Some aspects of interfaces may be universal, while the differences in how component interface (L1 & L2) may be a significant source of transfer between Ls and contributors to incomplete SLL (fossilization). linguistic interfaces MR. VATH VARY
- 38. Linguistic interfaces 38 • Lexical and grammatical meaning present the greatest challenges in multilingual acquisition because those modules capture language variation. • Phrase and sentence-level semantics often requires some resetting of parameters in L2, but choices are very limited, and principles are common to all languages. • At the semantics- pragmatics/ discourse interface, L2 learners also transfer universal properties. MR. VATH VARY
- 39. Functional approaches (functionalism) 39 • dates back to the early 20th century and have their roots in the Prague School of linguistics that originated in Eastern Europe; • views language as a system of communication. Functionalism • Structural function: the role which elements of language structure: as a subject or object, or an actor or goal; • Pragmatic function: the use of language to accomplish sth: convey information, control others’behavior, or express emotion Meaning of Function MR. VATH VARY
- 40. Characteristics of Functionalism 40 use Performance and competence • Development of linguistic knowledge (in L1 or L2) requires communicative use. Discourse (beyond sentence levels), how language is used in interaction, and aspects of communication beyond L MR. VATH VARY
- 41. • Systemic linguistics • Functional typology • Function-to-form mapping • Information organization Functionalism 41 MR. VATH VARY
- 42. Systemic Linguistics 42 MR. VATH VARY • Developed by by Halliday (late 1950s), • is a model for analyzing language in terms of the interrelated systems of choices that are available for expressing meaning. • L acquisition . . . needs to be seen as the mastery of linguistic functions. Learning one’s L1 is learning the uses of language, and the meanings, or rather the meaning potential (what we can do with language), associated with them. The structures, the words and the sounds are the realization of this meaning potential. Learning language is learning how to mean. (Halliday 1973 :345)
- 43. 7 basic functions of Language 43 MR. VATH VARY Purposes Descriptions Example Instrumental • Language used as a means of getting things done • “I want” Regulatory • Language used to regulate the behavior of others • “do as I tell you” Interactional • Use of language in interaction between self and others • “me and you” Personal • Awareness of language as a form of one’s own identity • here I come heuristic • Language as a way of learning about things • “tell me why” Imaginative • Creation through language of a world of one’s own making • “let’s pretend” Representational • Means of expressing propositions, or communicating about sth • “I’ve got sth to tell you” Implication: L2 acquisition is a matter of learning new linguistic forms to fulfill the same functions [as already acquired and used in L1] within a different social milieu”
- 44. Functional Typology 44 MR. VATH VARY The analysis integrates language structure, meaning, and use. Involves asking why some L2 constructions are more or less difficult than others for learners to acquire– which ties to the concept ‘markedness’. Markedness: Deals with whether a specific feature occurs more frequently than a contrasting element in the same category, is less complex structurally or conceptually, or is more “normal” or “expected” along some dimension ( “unmarked” or “marked”). • … involves classification of Ls and their features into categories with a major goal being to describe patterns of similarities and differences among them, and to determine which types and patterns occur more or less frequently or are universal in distribution.
- 45. Functional Typology 45 Implication: Unmarked features in L1 are more likely to transfer to L2, and that marked features in L2 will be harder to learn (Markedness Differential Hypothesis: Eckman’s ( 1977) Unmarked Marked Phonology • consonant + vowel (CV): me, ba-na-na); • street [stri:t] or fence [fεnts ] Vocabulary • ‘in’ denotes location • ‘into’ denotes both location and directionality Syntax • SVO • SVO Discourse • How are you? is Fine. How are you? • Silence or a comment MR. VATH VARY
- 46. 46 MR. VATH VARY • Refers to the correspondence between the formal properties of language and the meaning they encode. One of its basic concepts is grammaticalization: function (expression of past time) is first conveyed by shared extralinguistic knowledge and inferencing based on the context of discourse, then by a lexical word (yesterday), and only later by a grammatical marker (suffix - ed). Ex: Beginner student: What did he do the day before? - Yesterday I play soccer. - I play soccer. - I played soccer. Talmy Givón (1979) proposed the distinction between: a style of expressing meaning which relies heavily on context: pragmatic mode; a style which relies more on formal grammatical elements: syntactic mode Implication: L acquisition involves developing linguistic forms to fulfill semantic or pragmatic functions. Function-to-form mapping
- 47. Information organization 47 • deals with how sentences and larger linguistic units are structured as a means for conveying information from speaker/writer to hearer/reader (utterance structure: the way in which learners put their words together) SLA describes the structures of interlanguage (learner varieties), discovers what organizational principles guide learners’ production at various stages of development, and analyzes how these principles interact with one another. Evidence from European Science Foundation Project by Klein and Perdue (1993): All of the learners in this study, no matter what their L1 and L2, go through a remarkably similar sequence of development in their interlanguage. MR. VATH VARY
- 48. Developmental levels Nominal Utterance Organization (NUO) • Learners begin with Subj and Obj and use Adv and Adj or other elements but seldom use a Verb to help organize an utterance. • e.g. this man one idea from the window Infinite Utterance Organization (IUO) • Learners increasingly add Verb and Prep to their utterances, but seldom use morphemes to convey the meaning of tense, person, or number (the Verb is uninflected, or “infinite”). • e.g. charlie and girl and policeman put on the floor) Finite Utterance Organization (FUO) • add morphemes to the verb (i.e. Verb becomes inflected, or “finite”). • is the process of progressive grammaticalization, • e.g. he has finished the work 48 MR. VATH VARY • All of the learners in the study, no matter what their L1 and L2, go through a remarkably similar sequence of development in their interlanguage.
- 49. Organizing principles Phrasal constraints • restrictions on the phrasal patterns: (NP + V) or (vice versa) • NP consists of: • Noun • Determiner + noun • not D + Adj + N Semantic constraints • features of categories like NP which determine their position in a sentence and what case role they are assigned (agent, doer, patient, recipient) • When an utterance has more than one NP, learners use such semantic factors to decide which one should come first Pragmatic constraints • restrictions related to what has been said previously, or to what the speaker assumes that the hearer already knows. • What is known (the topic) first, and new information or what the speaker is focusing on last. 49 MR. VATH VARY • There is a limited set of principles which learners make use of for organizing information. These interact, and the balance or weight of use among them shifts during the process of interlanguage development.
- 50. Klein and Perdue ( 1993 :261–66) offer four “bundles of explanations” for the sequence of acquisition they find, and for why some L2 learners are more successful than others: Communicative needs • Discourse tasks overcome communicative inadequacies. • Linguistic means overcome limitations of earlier stages of expression. Cross-linguistic influence • L1 influence in rate and achievement, due to facilitating or hindering learners’ analysis of L2 input • and in selecting possible L2 organizational devices Extrinsic factors • attitudes and motivation • environment: extent and nature of learners’ exposure to L2. • The everyday environment has more influence on progress at this level than does classroom learning. Limits on processing Learners cannot attend to all communicative needs at the same time: Integrate new linguistic features or put to immediate use in communication. 50 MR. VATH VARY
- 51. What, How and Why: Functionalism What? • what is being acquired in SLA is a system for conveying meaning, How? • how language is acquired involves creative learner involvement in communication, Why? • Understanding of SLA processes is impossible if they are isolated from circumstances of use. 51 MR. VATH VARY