1. NOTE: To change the image on this slide, select the picture and delete it. Then click the Pictures icon in the placeholder to insert your own image. THE LINGUISTICS OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Second Language Acquisition Ali İLYA

2. The Scope of the Presentation The Nature of Language Contrastive Analysis (Robert Lado) Error Analysis Interlanguage Morpheme Order Studies Monitor Model Universal Grammar Universal Grammar and SLA Functional Approaches

3. The Nature of Language Languages are systematic. Languages are symbolic. Languages are social.

4. Areas of Language Lexicon (Vocabulary) Phonology (Sound System) Morphology (Word Structure) Syntax (Grammar) Discourse

5. Contrastive Analysis (Robert Lado) - Assumptions  Developed through 1940s and 1950s under the influence of structuralism and behavorism.  Based on a comparison betwen L1 and L2 to explore learner problems with merely pedagogical purposes.  Contrasts L1 and L2 in compliance with a bottom-up priority.  Perceives language acquisition as a process of habit formation. (S-R-R)  Places emphasis on transfer in learning; either positive or negative. (See pg. 36 in Saville-Troike’s Introducing SLA for examples.)  Contributes to design of a learner-centered educational program.  Leads to further studies and has been revivified at more abstract levels.

6. Contrastive Analysis (Robert Lado) - Criticism  How learners know more than they have heard or have been taught? Shift from behavorism to mentalism, an innate capacity.  To what extent a language-specific material could be useful?  Why cannot the assumptions be validated in real contexts?  What about the underlying rules along with surface-level forms and patterns?  Is the field of SLA concerned solely with pedagogy?

7. Error Analysis (Corder) - Assumptions  The first approach to SLA with an internal focus on learners’ creative ability to construct language.  Mainly inspired by Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Grammar. From finite number of rules to infinite number of uses.  Perceives language as rule-governed behavior.  Focuses on an interaction between environment and individual.  Values learners’ errors as sources of insights into the learning processes.  Considers learners’ errors as a sign of learners’ exploring the new system.

8. Error Analysis – Procedure for Analyzing Errors  Collection of a sample of learner language.  Identification of errors: A systematic error or a mistake?  Description of errors.  Explanation of errors: Interlingual or intralingual? (See pg. 40 for examples)  Evaluation of errors: To what degree it has to do with intelligibility?

9. Error Analysis – Criticism  How to make sure of an accurate classification?  What about correct usages?  What if a speaker purposefully avoids complex utterances?

10. Interlanguage (Larry Selinker)  Refers to the intermediate states of a learner’s language.  A third language that proves learner’s active engagement.  Systematic: Governed by the rules of the learner’s internal grammar.  Dynamic: A state of flux.  Variable: Context-dependent.  Reduced System: Less complex grammatical structures or smaller range of communicative needs.  Likelihood of fossilization.  Regards the differences between SLA and L1 acquisition. (See pg. 41)

11. Morpheme Order Studies  Deal with the controversy on the exsistence of a natural order in the grammatical development of L2 learners. (See the table on pg. 44)  Explain internally-driven acquisition processes.  Demystify the existence of regular sequences in acquisition of some syntactic constructions as well. (e.g. negation, questions, and relative clauses.)  Criticized for its limited scope, lack of a principled relation to other language aspects, and weaknesses in research methodology.

12. Monitor Model (Stephen Krashen) - 1978  Based on Chomsky’s notion of Language Acquisition Device.  Formed by five hypotheses:  Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis  Monitor Hypothesis  Natural Order Hypothesis  Input Hypothesis  Affective Filter Hypothesis

13. Monitor Model - Criticism  Despite its immense influence on grammar instruction through 1980s and 1990s, it has largely been criticized for several reasons;  How to identify comprehensible input?  What differentiates between learning and acquisition?  How to verify some of its claims?

14. Common Points in Early Approaches to SLA  SLA is based on a rule-governed language system.  The acquisition progresses through a dynamic interlanguage system.  Certain similarities between L1 and L2 acquisition are obvious.  It involves creative mental processes.  The extent of success in acquisition relates to age.

15. Universal Grammar (Noam Chomsky)  Distinguishes linguistic competence from performance.  Elaborates the logical problem of language learning: «Language goes beyond what could be learned from the input.» (Saville-Troike 2006: 46)  Introduces 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)  The innate capacity is presented to be an explanation for the shortcomings of the earlier approaches.  The built-in capacity is activated by linguistic experience.  A debate prevails over the age factor.

16. Principles and Parameters Framework  Principles stand for proporties of all languages in the world while parameters refer to «a limited choice of settings depending on which specific langauge is involved.» (Saville-Troike 2002: 47)  Some principles and parameters:  A principle regarding Head, (See pg. 48 for examples) .. subject-verb agreement, ... overt presence of subject.  They are believed to be present in the LAD, thus naturally endowed.

17. Principles and Parameters Framework  UG is manifested by maturation and experience.  Focus is on the acquisition of vocabulary as «lexical items are thought to include rich specification of properties.» (Saville-Troike 2002: 49)  The ultimate outcome is the final state or adult grammar.  External variables including motivation, attitude or social context do not have a certain effect on the acquisition process.  The stable state is same for all native speakers.

18. Universal Grammar and SLA  It explores the intial state, development of interlanguage and the final state in SLA.  The degree of transfer from L1 to L2 depend on some factors such as the relationship of L1 and L2 (e.g. markedness) and the circumstances of L2 learning.  Four possibilities have been suggested on the availability of UG in the initial stage of SLA. (See pg. 50-51)  Interlanguage is mostly made up of «resetting parameters on the basis of the input in the new language.» (51)

19. Universal Grammar and SLA  Constructionism tied to Chomsky’s Minimalist Program accepts interlanguage development as «the progressive mastery of L2 vocabulary along with the morphological features.» (51)  L2 learners’ fossilization is primarily caused by their failure in a full feature specification of the lexicon.  Within the context of UG, differences in ultimate level of attainment are brought about by some possibilies including;  Different degrees of access to UG,  Unique connections between L1s and L2s,  Quality of input,  Learners’ success in identifying matches and mismatched between the languages,  Different degrees of specification.

20. Functional Approaches: General Features  Unlike UG, they lay emphasis on external factors.  They are based on the framework of Functionalism dating back to the early twentieth century. (Structural and pragmatic functions are foci.)  Information content of utternaces is prioritized.  Language is defined as a system of communication rather than a set of rules.  The focus is on discourse structure instead of sentence.

21. Functional Approaches: Systemic Linguistics  «A systemic problem or change is basic one, experienced by the whole of an organization or country, not just particular parts of it.» (Cambridge Advanced Learners’ Dictionary)  Developed by Halliday beginning with 1950s.  Language is composed of interrelated systems of choices to convey meaning.  «Learning language is lerning how to mean.» (Halliday 1973: 345)  Universal functions of language are instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal, heuristic, imagination, and representational.  SLA is «learning new linguistic forms to fulfill the same functions.» (54)

22. Functional Approaches: Functional Typology  Based on a comparative study of a wide range of world languages. (55)  Categorizes languages and their characteristics for deciding on the similarities and differences with a view to assessing frequency and universality of types and patterns in distribution.  Depending on frequency of a langauge feature, it is considered to be either marked or unmarked. (See pg. 55-56 for examples and details.)  Unmarked elements are easier to acquire as they are expected and common.  Inspite of certain resemblances to CA, Functional Typology is concerned with more abstract patterns, principles, and contraints.  It takes the extralinguistic factors into account such as ease of cognitive processing, communicative needs, or perceptual salience. (57)

23. Functional Approaches: Function-to-form Mapping  Introduces the process of grammaticalization; extralinguistic knowledge, lexical word, and grammatical marker.  From a syntactic mode to a pragmatic mode.  Evolution from no use of grammatical morphology to elaborate use of grammatical morphology.  For additional developmental contrasts see pg. 58.  It is related to the development of more efficient cognitive processing as part of language learning.

24. Functional Approaches: Information Organization  It refers to the way «in which learners put their words together.» (Klein and Perdue 1993: 3)  Aims to discover the principles underlying learners’ use of language, the similarities and differences between various principles.  Developmental Levels:  Nominal Utterance Organization  Infinite Utterance Organization  Finite Utterance Organization  More L1 transfer occurs as learners increase their L2 resources. (Perdue 2000)  Among the factors that have a role in language acquisition, one may list communicative needs, cross-linguistic influence, extrinsic factors, and limits on processing.

25. Conclusion  Language has been observed from different viewpoints, and one’s definition paves the further way for the theory of language acquisition.  The theory an approach adopts as the basis determines the founding concepts of it.  While the earlier approaches to SLA lay emphasis on intrinsic factors, the Functional Approaches explore the extrinsic ones.  All approaches’ perception of what is acquired, how it is acquired, the factors affecting the process, the role of environmental and psychological factors etc. vary, and one draws a significant coclusion that it is crucial to analyze language acquisiton comparatively through the lens of separate approaches.