Introduction : describing and explaining L2 acquisition

1. Introduction : describing and explaining L2 acquisition By: M. Jamaluddin (2201410039) Second Language Acquisition book, 2003, by Rod Ellis Chapter 1, page 3-14

2. What is SLA? • Second here refer to any language other than mother tongue • It also applies to learning a third, fourth, and so on • Second here is not intended to contrast with foreign

3. What is SLA? SLA is the way in which people learn a language other than their mother tongue, inside or outside of a classroom.

4. SLA’s Goals? To Explain ToDescribe

5. SLA’s Goals? To Explain To Explain Learner’s cognitive mechanism Social Condition Internal Factors External Factors Learner’s knowledge Learner’s communication strategies Learner’s Input Learner’s Suggestion

6. SLA’s Goals? To Describe Describe how L2 Acquisition Proceeds Explain L2 Acquisition Process To Describe Explain why some learners are better than others

7. Two case studies Case Study : a detailed study of a L2 learner’s acquisition A case study of an adult learner A case study of two child learners

8. Two case studies A case study of an adult learner A case study of an adult learner • Wes is a naturalistic learner, meaning that he is a L2 learner and at the same time learn to use it • In the three years living in Hawaii, his English grammar developed well • But then he also still make some mistakes in tenses • Wes developed his language in using fixed expression

9. Two case studies A case study of an adult learner English Grammar developed Naturalistic learner Use fixed phrases Still make some mistakes

10. Two case studies A case study of two child learners • J and R are both English learner from non-English speaking country • At first, both of them couldn’t make a request. They only use verbless requests • Slowly the learn the use of can, got, and want • Even so, their requests is still too direct, English native speaker would use more polite request A case study of two child learners

11. Two case studies A case study of two child learners Only use verbless request Two foreign learners Use direct requests Learned to use can, got, and want

12. Methodological issues • What it is that needed to be described • What it means to say that a learner has acquired a feature of target language • Concern learners’ overuse of linguistic form

13. Methodological issues • What it is that needed to be described • What it means to say that a learner has acquired a feature of target language • Concern learners’ overuse of linguistic form • How a L2 learners develop their ability in communicating • It is hard to determine whether learners have acquired a particular target language feature • Sometimes L2 learners’ use the target language with the wrong function

14. Issues in the description of L1 Findings: • Learners make errors of different kind • Learners acquire a large number of formulaic chunks

15. Issues in the description of L1 Issues: • Does learners acquire the language systematically? Keyquestion: • how universal these development patterns are

16. Issues in the explanation of L2 acquisition • Learners must engage in both item learning and system learning • There should be an explanation of L2 acquisition’s systematic nature • L2 learners cannot reach native-speaker level of performance

17. THANK YOU