Archive for September 2013

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3. Interlanguage


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Earlier we noted that some researchers consider that the systematic development of learner language reflects a mental system of L2 knowledge. This system is often referred to as Interlanguage. To understand what is meant by interlanguage we need to briefly consider behaviourist learning theory and mentalist view of language learning.

Behaviourist learning theory
According to this theory, language learning is like any other kind of learning in that involves habit formation. Habits are formed when learners response to stimuli in the environment and subsequently have their responses reinforced so that they are remembered. Thus, a habit is a stimulus-response connection. Learning took place when learners had the opportunity to practice making the correct response to a give stimulus. Learners imitated models of correct language and receive positive reinforcement if they were correct and negative reinforcement if they were incorrect. It should be clear that behaviorist accounts of L2 acquisition emphasize only what can be directly observed and ignore what goes on in the ‘black box’ of the learner’s mind. However, behaviourism cannot adequately account for L2 acquisition because learning is not just a response to external stimuli.

A mentalist theory of language learning
From a preoccupation with the role of ‘nurture’ (i.e. how environmental factors shape learning), researchers switched their attention to ‘nature’ (i.e. how the innate properties of the human mind shape learning). This new paradigm was, therefore, mentalist (or ‘nativist’) in orientation. The concept of interlanguage drew directly on these mentalist views of L1 acquisition. 

  1. Only human beings are capable of learning language.
  2. The human mind is equipped with a faculty for learning language, referred to as a Language Acquisitio Device. This is separate from the faculties responsible for other kinds of cognitive activity (for example, logical reasoning).
  3. This faculty is the primary determinant of language acquisition.
  4. Input is needed, but only to ‘trigger’ the operation of the language acquisition device.
What is ‘interlanguage’?
The term ‘interlanguage’ was coined by the American linguist, Larry Selinker. A learner’s interlanguage is a unique linguistic system as L2 learners construct a linguistic system that draws, in part, on the learner’s L1 but is also different from it and also from the target language. The concept of interlanguage itself involves the following premises about L2 acquisition:

  1. The learner constructs a system of abstract linguistic rules.
  2. The learner’s grammar is permeable.
  3. The learner’s grammar is transitional.
  4. Some researchers have claimed that the system learners construct contain variable rules.
  5.  Learners employ various learning strategies to develop their interlanguage.
  6. The learner’s grammar is likely to fossilize.
This concept of interlanguage offers a general account of how L2 acquisition takes place. It incorporates elements from mentalist theories of linguistics and elements from cognitive psychology.

A computational model of L2 acquisition
The concept of interlanguage can be viewed as a metaphor of how L2 acquisition takes place. It implies that the human mind functions like a computer. This figure represents the basic computational metaphor that has grown out of ‘interlanguage’ and that informs much of SLA.

The learner is exposed to input, which is processed in two stages. First, parts of it are attended to and taken into short-term memory. These are referred to as intake. Second, some of the intake is stored in long-term memory as L2 knowledge. The processes responsible for creating intake and L2 knowledge occur within the ‘black box’ of the learner’s mind where the learner’s interlanguage is constructed. Finally, L2 knowledge is used by the learner to produce spoken and written output. The basic model of SLA can be elaborated in some ways, such as adding some additional information to give more specific process inside the brain, like the environment in between ‘input’ and ‘intake’ to explain that the environment has a part in giving input.

Questions:

  1. Related to the third point of premises about L2 acquisition, that is “the learner’s grammar is transitional”, how do the learners change their grammar from one time to another by restructuring the whole system?
  2. Based on your opinion, how do the teachers encourage interlanguage development of second language acquisition in her class?

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2. The Nature of Learner Language


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Errors and error analysis
1.  Identifying errors
To identify errors we have to compare the sentences learners produce with what seem to be the correct sentences in the target language which correspond with them. Errors reflect gaps in a learner’s knowledge; they occur because learner doesn’t know what is correct. Whereas, mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance; they occur because, in a particular instance, the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows.
2.  Describing errors
There are several ways of describing errors. One way is to classify errors into grammatical categories by gathering all the errors relating to verbs and identifying the different kinds of verb errors in our sample. Also, we can try to identify general ways in which the learners’ utterances differ from the reconstructed target-language utterances, including ‘omission‘(i.e. leaving out an item that is required for an utterance to be considered grammatical), ‘misinformation‘(i.e. using one grammatical form instead of another grammatical form), and ‘misordering‘(i.e. putting the words in an utterance in the wrong order).
3.  Explaining errors
Errors can have different sources. Some errors seem to be universal, reflecting learners’ attempts to make the task of learning and using the L2 simpler. Learners commit errors of omission. They also overgeneralize forms that they find easy to learn and process. Overgeneralization means the oversuppliance of an interlanguage feature in contexts in which it does not occur in target language. Other errors known as transfer errors reflect learners’ attempts to make use of their L1 knowledge.
4.  Error evaluation
Where the purpose of the error analysis is to help learners learn an L2, there is a need to evaluate errors. Some errors, known as global errors, affect overall structure of a sentence, so it will be difficult to process. Whereas, local errors, affect only a single constituent in the sentence and are, perhaps, less likely to create any processing problems.

Developmental patterns
1.  The early stages of L2 acquisition
In a silent period, learners make no attempt to say anything to begin with. They may learn language just through listening to or reading it. When learners do begin to speak in the L2 their speech is likely to manifest two particular characteristics. One is the kind of formulaic chunks. Fixed expressions like ‘I don’t know‘ figure very prominently in early L2 learning. The second characteristic of early L2 speech is propositional simplification. Here, learners find it difficult to speak in full sentences so they frequently leave words out.
2.  The order of acquisition
Do learners acquire the grammatical structures of an L2 in a definite order? To investigate the order of acquisition, researchers choose number of grammatical structure to study. Then, they collect samples of learner language and identify how accurately each feature is used by different learners. This enables them to arrive at an accuracy order.
3.  Sequence of acquisition
Do learners learn such structures in a single step or do they proceed a number of interim stages before they master the target structure? When learners acquire a grammatical structure they do so gradually, moving through a series of stages en route to acquiring the native-speaker rule. The acquisition of a particular grammatical structure must be seen as a process involving transitional constructions.
4.  Some implication
The work on developmental patterns is crucial. Linguistic features are inherently easier to learn than others. Learners naturally learn one feature before another they must necessarily do so. Moreover, sequence of acquisition can be altered through formal instruction.

Variability in learner language

 We have seen that learner language, that is variable, is systematic. Thus, we may be able to explain, and even to predict when learners use one form and when another. Learners vary in their use of the L2 according to linguistic context; vary the linguistic forms they use in accordance with the situational context. Another important factor that accounts for systematic nature of variability is the psycholinguistic context—whether learners have opportunity to plan their production. 


Questions:

  1. Please could you explain; is there any difference in the error evaluation made by native speaker and non-native speaker? How do they make the error evaluation for their class?
  2. Please could you explain; what criteria do judges use in evaluating learners’ errors?




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1. Introduction: Describing and Explaining L2 Acquisition


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What is ‘second language acquisition’?
In fact, the meaning of the term ‘second language acquisition’ requires careful explanation. In this context ‘second’ can refer to any language that is learned subsequent to the mother tongue. Also, ‘second’ is not intended to contrast with ‘foreign’. ‘L2 acquisition, then, can be defined as the way in which people learn a language other than their mother tongue, inside or outside of a classroom, and ‘Second Language acquisition’ (SLA) as the study of this.

What are the goals of SLA?
One of the goals of SLA is the description of L2 acquisition. Another is explanation; identifying external and internal factors that account for why learners acquire an L2 in the way they do.

Two case studies
A case study is a detailed and usually longitudinal study of a learner’s acquisition of an L2, involving the collection of samples of the learner’s speech or writing over period of time.
1.  A case study of an adult learner
A researcher named Richard Schmidt studied Wes’s language development over three years from the first time he started visiting Hawaii until he eventually took up residence there. Wes (a thirty three-year-old Japanese artist) learned English in a natural context. He had little or no knowledge in first of most of the grammatical structures. Moreover, he was still far short of native-speaker accuracy three years later. Although he did not learn much grammar, he did develop in other ways, such as using fixed expression like ‘Hi! How’s it?’. Schmidt noted that Wes was adept at identifying these fixed phrases, and that he practiced them consciously. Then, he helped Wes develop fluency in using English. Eventually, Wes achieved considerable success as a communicator.
2.  A case study of two child learners
J (a ten-year-old Portuguese boy) and R (an eleven-year-old Pakistani boy) learned English in a classroom context which enabled them to develop a basic ability to perform requests using target language forms. J and R were capable of successfully performing simple requests that seemed formulaic in nature, using fixed expression like ‘Can I have a ___?’, and manifesting development in their ability to perform those.  However, the study by Schmidt found that they failed to acquire a full range of request types and forms. Also, they developed only a limited ability to vary their choice of request strategy in accordance with situational factors. Thus, the developmental process was not complete.

Methodological issues
One issue has to do with what it is that needs to be described. Another issue concerns what it means to say that a learner has ‘acquired’ a feature of the target language. Moreover, there is another problem in determining whether learners have ‘acquired’ a particular feature. Learners may manifest target-like use of a feature in a formula without having acquired the ability to use the feature productively. A third problem in trying to measure whether ‘acquisition’ has taken place concerns learners’ overuse of linguistics forms. ‘Overuse’ means the overuse of some feature where some feature is in target-language use, and it may or may not result in errors (referred to deviations in usage which result from gaps in learners’ knowledge of the target language).

Issues in the description of learner language
Both of these studies set out how to describe how learners’ use of L2 changes over time and what this shows about the nature of their knowledge of the L2. One finding is that learners make errors of different kinds. Moreover, L2 learners acquire a large number of formulaic chunks, which they use to perform communicative functions that are important to them and which contribute to the fluency of their unplanned speech. One of the most interesting issues raised by these case studies is whether learners acquire the language systematically.

Issues in the explanation of L2 acquisition
An explanation of L2 acquisition must account for both item learning—learners internalize chunks of language structure and system learning—they acquire rules, and also how the two interrelate. Why was acquisition in the two case studies so incomplete? Perhaps, they simply needed more time to learn, or they are only motivated to learn an L2 to the extent that they are able to satisfy their communicative needs. Why is it not necessary to learn the full grammar of a language in order to get one’s meanings across? All three learners might not wish to belong to the community of native speaker they had contact with, then, kept a linguistic ‘distance’ in between. Perhaps, it is only possible to acquire native-speaker competence if they start very young when their brains open to language. L2 learners might be able to acquire difficult linguistic features only when they receive direct instruction in them.

 Questions:

  1. From that given case study of two child learners, based on your opinion, what can the teacher do in her classroom to facilitate the process of second language acquisition in order to make the lesson comprehensible for her students?
  2. Why is it crucial for teachers or even caregivers to provide a strong language model in second language learning processes to their learner’s acquisition of L2?




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