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:
- 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?
- 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?
