1. Introduction : describing and explaining L2 acquisiton

Tiyas Fauziah

2201411005

Rombel 4 / 103-104

1.       Introduction : describing and explaining L2 acquisiton

What is ‘second language acquisition’?

The systematic study of how people acquire a second language is a fairly recent phenomenon. ‘L2 acquisition’, 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?

In general, SLA has not focused on the communicative aspects of language development but on the formal features of language that linguists have traditionally concentrated on.

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

One of the external factors is the social milieu in which learning takes place. Another external factor is the input that learners receive, that is, the samples of language to which learner is exposed. Language learning cannot occur without some input.

L2 acquisition can be explained in part by these external factors but we also need to consider internal factors. Learners possess cognitive mechanisms which enable them to extract information about the L2 from the input.

Learners possess communication strategies that can help them make effective use of their L2 knowledge.

It is possible that learners are aquipped with knowledge of how language in general works and that this helps them to learn a particular language.

A final set of iternal factors explain why learners vary in the rate they learn an L2 and how successful they ultimately are. It has been suggested that people vary in their language aptitude.

Methodological issues

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

Another issue concerns what it means to say that a learner has ‘acquired’ a feature of the target language.

There is another problem in determining whether learners have ‘acquired’ a particular feature. The learners made considerable use of fixed expressions or formulas. 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 linguistic forms.

SLA researchers recognize the need to investigate how the relationship between form and function in learners’ output compares with that of native speakers.

Issues in the description of learner language

Learners make errors of different kinds. L2 learners acquire a large number of formulai chunks, which they use to perform communicative functions that are important to them and which contribute to the fluency of their unplanned speech. An important issue in SLA is the role that these formulas play, not just enhancing learners’ performance but also in their acquisition of an L2. Learners acquire the language sistematically.

Issues in the explanation of L2 acquisition

L2 acquisition involves different kinds of learning. Learners must engage in both item learning and system learning.

Learners engage in both types of learning. An explanation of L2 acquisition must account for both item and system learning and how the two interrelate.

The systematic nature of L2 acquisition also requires explanation. Learners follow a particular developmental pattern because their mental faculties are structured in such a way that this is the way they have to learn. These faculties, it is argued, regulate what learners take from the input and how they store the information in their memories. However, as we will see later, this mentalist account of how L2 acquisition takes place is not the only possible one. Other explanations emphasize the importance of external as opposed to internal factors.

After all, it is not necessary to learn the full grammar of a language in order to get one’s meaning across. Perhaps it is only possible to acquire native-speaker competence if learners start very young when their brains are, in some sense, open to language. Perharps L2 learners can only acquire difficult linguistic features if they receive direct instruction in them.

Questions :

1.    What are the formal features of language?

2.    What is the meaning of methodological issues?