Anisa Devi Prabajati2201410116

SLA 401-402

Describing and Explaining L2 Acquisition

Chapter 1

Rodd Ellis,2003

Page 3-14

The Elements

• What Is ‘Second Language Acquisition?• The Goals Of Sla• Two Case Studies• Methodological Issue• Issues In The Description Of Learner

Language• Issues In The Explanation Of L2 Acquisition

• Second language acquisition can refer to any language that is learned subsequent to the mother tongue.

L2 acquisition can be defined as the way in which people learn a language

rather that their mother tongue, inside or outside of classroom.

• Goals of SLA :

- Description of L2 acquisition.- Explanation, identifying the external and

internal factors that account for why learners acquire an L2 in the way they do.

external Social milieu, The input that

learners receive

• See the diagram !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

internal Vary in the leaning rate an L2 and how

successful they are

Cognitive mechanism

TWO CASE STUDYA case study of an adult

learnerA case study of two child

learners

•Naturalistic learner (who learns the language at the same time as learning to communicate in it.•Focused on examining Wes’ grammatical development, how he communicates in English appropriately, and how he holds a successful conversation.

•The learners were situated in a classroom, they were expected to acquire the equal ability of using English to communicate.•Focused on a single language function , concerns with how the two children make requests.

• A case study is a detail study of a learners acquisition of an L2.

• It is typically longitudinal, involving the collection of samples of the learner’s speech or writing over a period of time, sometimes years.

• The two case studies which we will now examine were both longitudinal. One is of an adult learner learning English in surroundings where it serves as a means of daily communication and the other of two children learning English in a classroom

• The two cases raise a number of

methodological issues on how L2 acquisition

should be studied.

• They raise issues relating to the description

of learner language.

• They point to some of problems researchers

experience in trying to explain L2 acquisition.

Methodological Issues

• One issue has to do with what it is that needs to be described.• Most issues relate to that a learner

has acquired a feature of the target language.

–One issues has to do with what it is that needs to be described. Schmidt was concerned broadly with how Wes developed the ability to communicate in an L2, examining his grammatical development, his ability to use English in situationally appropriate ways, and how learned to hold successful conversation.

ISSUES IN THE DESCRIPTION OF LEARNER LANGUAGE

• Both of the studies set out how to describe how learners’ use of L2 changes over time and what this shows the nature of their knowledge of L2.

• One finding is that learners make errors of different kinds.- Wes made errors of omission and overuse- J and R made sociolinguistics

• Another finding is that L2 learners acquire a

large number of formulaic chunks, Which which

contribute to the fluency of their unplanned

speech.

• An important issue in SLA is the roles that this

formulas play.

• One of most interesting issues raised by these

case studies is whether learners acquired the

language systematically

ISSUES IN THE EXPLANATION OF L2 ACQUISITION

• To account these descriptive findings, we can begin with the hypothesis that L2 acquisition involves different kinds of learning.

• On the one hand, learners internalize chunks of language structure (i.e. formulas).

• On the other hand, they acquire rules (i.e. the knowledge that a given linguistic feature is used in a particular context with a particular function)

• The systematic nature of L2 acquisition

also requires explanation.

• None of the three learners in the two

case studies reached a native-speaker

level of performance.

• It is not necessary to learn the full

grammar of a language in order to get

one’s meaning across.

THANK YOU