Introduction: Describing and Explaining L2

Acquisition

Ellis 2003, chapter 1 pp. 3 -13

By Aida W. Wardhananti

2201410055

GLOBAL VILLAGE(GLOBALIZATION)

People start to learn a second language

(L2)

What is ‘Second Language Acquisition’?

SECONDAny language that is learned

subsequent to the mother tongue. It refer to the learning of a third or forth

language

The way in which people learn a language other than their mother

tongue, inside or outside of a classroom

L2 Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition (SLA)The Study of L2

What are the Goal of SLA?

•Describing how learner language changes over time

Description

•Identifying the external and internal factors that are account for why learners an L2 is the way they do

Explanation

External and Internal Factors

External Internal

• Social milieu (Social condition) influence the opportunities that learners have to hear and speak the language and the attitudes that they develop towards it e.g., learning a language when you respect and are respected

• The input that learners receive the sample of language to which a learner is exposed

Learners possess cognitive mechanisms which enable them to extract information about the L2 from the input- to noticee.g., The plurality in English is conveyed by adding an –s to a noun

The goals of SLA are to:

oDescribe how L2 acquisition proceeds

oExplain this processoDescribe why some learners seem to

be better at it than others

Two Cases Studies

A case study is a detailed study of a learner’s acquisition of an L2 (involving the collection of samples of the learner’s speech or

writing over a period of time, sometimes years)

Two case studies are:1. The study of an adult learner English in surroundings where it

serves as a means of daily communication2. The study of two children learning English in classroom

A case study of an adult learner

• A thirty-three year-old Japanese artist named Wes.

• He is an example of ‘naturalistic learner’ (Someone who learns the language at the same time as learning to communicate in it.

• Richard Schmidt, a researcher at the University of Hawaii, studied Wes’s language development over three years period from the time Wes visited Hawaii.

Result of the research

• After three years of trying to communicate English, Wes did not learn much grammar, (he was not so good in grammar); however, he achieved considerable success as communicator.

A case study of two child learners

• The learners were a ten-year-old Portuguese boy named J and an eleven-year-old boy from Pakistan named R.

• They were completely beginners in english

• Both learners were learning English in a language unit in London.

• The researcher was Rod Ellis.

• The focus of the study is requests.

The development of the learning

Their requests were verbless

Began to use imperative verbs

Using a general extention of linguistics devices e.g, term ‘want’

Using ‘can’ with a range of different verbs

The result of the study

• Both learners were capable of successfully performing simple requests even when they knew very little English

• Both learners manifested development in their ability to perform requests over the period of study.

• However, both learners were still far short of native-like competence.

Methodological issues

Language is such a complex phenomenon that researchers have preferred to focus on specific aspect rather than the whole of it.

Learner has ‘acquired’ a feature of the target language.

Determining whether ‘acquisition’ has taken place concerns learners’ overuse of linguistic forms.

Issues in the description of the learner language

Learners make errors of different kind e.g., they failed to use requests in a appropriate manner

L2 learners acquire a large number of formulaic chunks

Whether learners acquire the language sistematically

Issue in the explanation of L2 acquisition

• Internalizing chunks of language structure

• Acquiring rules

L2 acquisition involves different kinds of learning

Learners must engage in both ITEM LEARNING and SYSTEM LEARNINGItem Learning: learning expression ‘Can I have….?’

System Learning: learning kind of rule for ‘can’

So?

Conclusion of the research

None of the three learners in the two case studies reached a native-speaker level of performance.

WHY?

• Needed more time to learn

• Stop learning

• They are only motivated to learn an L2 to the extent that they are able to satisfy their communicative need.

• They did not wish to belong to the community of the native speakers they had contact with.

Perhaps,

THANKS^_^