ENGL 321

ACQUISITION OF SECOND LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION
THE STUDY OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISTION
Aims at describing and explaining the development and non
development of languages and language varieties beyond the
first language.
It is also known as SLA.
It focuses on children and adults learning a second language
naturalistically or with the aid of formal instruction as
individuals or groups
LANGUAGE LEARNING VS. ACQUISITION
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
This involves the gradual development in the ability to use a
second language by constantly using naturally in
communication situations.
It involves mastering a set of rules of grammar of a language
so as to form complete and meaningful sentences.
In acquisition meaning and form must be taken together, no
one can go before the other.
Acquisition is innate and uses the language faculty in the brain.
Activities associated with acquisition are normally encountered
by the young child through language use and interaction
LANGUAGE LEARNING VS. ACQUISITION
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Overt instruction is important in language acquisition, children
require to interact with other language users in order to bring
the faculty into operation.
Acquisition is thus a sub-concious and a natural process.
LANGUAGE LEARNING VS. ACQUISITION
LANGUAGE LEARNING
This refers to the conscious process of accumulation of
knowledge of vocabulary and grammar of the language.
Language learning involves a series of conscious attempts at
imitation which are reinforced when correct and eliminated
when deficient.
Activities associated with learning have been used in language
teaching in schools and they tend to result in knowledge about
the language.
LANGUAGE LEARNING VS. ACQUISITION
LANGUAGE LEARNING
Learning involves a relatively permanent change in behaviour
as a result of reinforced practice.
LANGUAGE LEARNING VS. ACQUISITION
CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGIES IN LANGUAGE AND
ACQUISITION
COMPETENCE
is a knowledge system of rules that govern the use of a particular
language.
It also refers to the knowledge of an infinite number of sentences and
utterances and how to use them in different situations.
PERFORMANCE
Refers to the concrete act of speaking or signing .
It refers to the use of this infinite number of utterances and signs that
some of them have never been heard before.
Performance is th linguistic behaviour in itself.
CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGIES IN LANGUAGE AND
ACQUISITION
FIRST LANGUAGE
 A language that a child is exposed to first .
 It is also called a mother tongue
SECOND LANGUAGE
 Refers to a language other than mother tongue which is use d
for special purposes.
 It has a special social function and is occurs in multilingual
states e.g. the use of English in Kenya.

CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGIES IN LANGUAGE AND
ACQUISITION
 FOREIGN LANGUAGE
 A language learned after the 1st language but with no special
status .
 It is not the mother tongue of any one group within the speech
community.
 It usually serves no internal communication function
 It only serves the to ease communication with members of the
target a language in or outside the country.
APPLIED LINGUISTICS AND SLA
The academic discipline of language learning and
acquisition is a sub-discipline of applied linguistics.
Applied linguistics is the study of language and
language related problems in specific situations where
people use and learn languages.
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study
that identifies, investigates and offers solutions to
language related real life problems.
Some of the academic fields that are related with
applied linguistics include: education, linguistics,
psychology, anthropology and sociology.
APPLIED LINGUISTICS AND SLA
As a field of linguistics it looks at the wider areas of
language assessment, language policy and second
language acquisition.
IMPORTANCE OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS IN THE
ACQUISITION OF A SECOND LANGAUGE
Applied linguistics looks at how people acquire language and
how they can be taught better.
It aims at improved language teaching by undertaking a vigorous
study of language.
It employs other fields of knowledge such as psychology, testing
and measurements, language education in the teaching and the
learning of a second language.
It increases our knowledge of acquisition of second language by
testing hypothesis on language learning and acquisition theories.
It helps in the development of language learning and language
teaching methodologies as well as materials.

QUALITIES NECESSARY FOR SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
 ACCESS/ EXPOSURE
 For successful SLA to take place the learner has to be exposed to the language, this means
there has to be contact between the learner and the language. Accessibility to the language
can be achieved through:
Natural/social circumstance: this occurs in a bilingual or a multilingual situation whereby one
is exposed to the second language naturally.
 It occurs among children born to parents with different first languages, migrants, tourists,
refugees etc.
Educational instruction: this exposure may be voluntary or mandatory educational exposure.
It may occur in the following forms:
Immersion: learners with fluency in their first language and having no prior contact with the
first language are put together in a classroom and the second language is used as a medium
of instruction.
Submersion: 2nd language users are taught in a class where the majority are native second
language speakers
QUALITIES NECESSARY FOR SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE
If the structure of the second language is almost similar to the structure of the
first language then acquisition becomes easier and faster
PROPENSITY OF THE LANGUAGE LEARNER TO LEARN
This involves a totality of factors which induce the learner to use his
language faculties to earn the language.
Effort expended in learning the language will depend on the following:
I. Role played by the language in society
II. Ego permeability i.e. an individuals preparedness to reveal their imperfect
command of the second language. IT also refers to a learners
preparedness to readily reveal their imperfect command of the second
language and their readiness to degrade oneself in inappropriate, awkward
or ridiculous situations
QUALITIES NECESSARY FOR SECOND LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
LEARNING CAPACITY OF THE LEARNER
This is based on the learning capacity of the brain which enables all
humans to acquire language naturally. It varies naturally with
individuals.
In second language acquisition, the younger the learner the easier it
is especially from infancy to puberty.
THE RATE OF ACQUISITION OF THE LANGUAGE
The more successful the second language learners are the more
motivated they are to learn
The second language learner who is encouraged on his/her success
and accomplishments learns faster than the learner who merely
undergoes formal grammatical instruction.
LANGUAGE LEARNING THEORIES
BEHAVIOURISTIC THEORY
This theory considers it inappropriate to speculate about what
goes in the brain during language learning.
This theory limits its attention to overt actions and ways in
which other people such as parents, teachers or peers can
influence this action.
For behaviorists, language learning takes place when there is
evidence of overt change in ones behaviour. This evidence
ought to be observable.
The data for behaviorists is the utterances made and the
conditions under which they are made.
LANGUAGE LEARNING THEORIES
BEHAVIOURISTIC THEORY
This theory states that every utterance made or part of it
is produced as a result of the presence of a stimulus.
The utterance in this case is a result of the presence of a
stimulus.
The stimulus can be physically present in the learning
situation i.e. it may be verbal, where a language is
produced in response to another language or it may be
non verbal e.g. a call of nature or a state of thirst.
These may stimulate the learners to make a verbal
response.
LANGUAGE LEARNING THEORIES
BEHAVIOURISTIC THEORY
This theory emphasizes on the importance of
reinforcement in the learning process.
According to the theory a learner must be
continuously reinforced through reward, punishment,
approval and disapproval.
For behaviorists, language learning takes place when a
learner emits response, however in language learning
a repetition of this response is necessary for full
learning.
LANGUAGE LEARNING THEORIES
BEHAVIOURISTIC THEORY
This theory also calls for continuous active use of language by
a child, this leads to proper language learning.
According to this theory, the correct responses should be
reinforced while the incorrect ones should be discouraged.
Meaning for behaviorists, refers to the ability to produce an
appropriate response from a stimulus.
This theory also states that the learners of a language make
sentence structures based on the structures and habits learnt
and heard from adults through imitation.
LANGUAGE LEARNING THEORIES
BEHAVIOURISTIC THEORY
Skinner(1977) came up with positive behaviorism.
He introduced the operant behaviour and respondent
behaviour.
Skinner emphasized on the beneficial effects of immediate
reinforcement.
He insisted that the desired behaviour is effectively acquired
by rewarding successively.
According to skinner, learning is made up of a collection habits
that children learn by simply imitating those around them
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS THEORY
C.A refers to the systematic comparison of the specific
linguistic characteristics of two or more language chosen
for comparison.
In language learning, the two languages chosen for comparison
usually is the learners mother tongue( L1) and the target
language (L2).
The main function of CA is to predict the likely errors of a
group of learners and use it to provide the linguistic input to
language learning materials. l/r- f/v – d/t –k/g
If contrastive analysis of two languages is carried out the
differences between the languages can be established for the
purposes of predicting likely learner difficulty.
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS THEORY
The main terms in CA usually are transfer and
interference.
When the first language(L1) habits aid in the
acquisition of L2 features then this is called positive
transfer. This happens for example when two languages
share a similarity in the sentence or sound structure.
Native bantu speakers learning Swahili benefit from
positive transfer
When the L1 language habits interferes in the learning
of the new patterns of L2 then we talk of interference or
negative transfer.
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS THEORY
Contrastive analysis plays two main roles in language
learning:
i. predicting problems in language learning
ii. Development of course materials for language learning
STEPS IN CARRYING OUT CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
i. Carrying out a CA of the two languages at all levels of
linguistic analysis
ii. Simplifying the analysis
iii. Converting the simplified results into classroom materials
iv. Classifying the errors in surface taxonomies relevant to the
layman
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS THEORY
WEAKNESSES OF CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS THEORY
The relations between the psychological and linguistic aspects
may be difficult to explain or one cannot sort out psychological
errors from linguistic errors.
The relations between CA and real classroom situation is
difficult to establish.
It is not easy to convert CA data into classroom data.
Detailed descriptions of the languages are necessary in CA
and yet in they are impracticable. 40 minutes
ERROR ANALYSIS THEORY
This theory views errors in language learning very
positively.
Error analysis is alternate view to contrastive analysis
Error analysis thus:
i. Tells the language teacher what progress the learner has made and
what is still missing: tenses, spelling, sentence
ii. Provides a researcher with information on the strategies in
language acquisition: simplification, overgneralization, avoidance,
transfer
iii. Errors are seen as devices that the learner use to acquire gradual
competence in the L2.
ERROR ANALYSIS THEORY
THE CONCEPT AND TYPES OF ERRORS IN
LANGUAGE LEARNING
An error in language learning is a permanent feature of
misconstruction that the learner cannot correct.
I caught the thief in the act
Errors are based on competence and therefore are permanent.
A mistake in language learning is not permanent but rather
performance based and as such they are spontaneous and not
systematic.
In the language learning situation, learners make both
comprehension and production errors.
THE CONCEPT AND TYPES OF ERRORS IN LANGUAGE
LEARNING

An example of a comprehension error is when a

learner misunderstands the sentence:
Pass me the pepper
 For

 pass me the paper

This will arise due the learners inability to
comprehend the distinction in the sounds /e/ and /ei/
as employed distinctively in the two words.
A production error would be:

The worst thing she did was to cheat on me

A DISTINCTION BETWEEN ERRORS AND MISTAKES IN LANGAUGE
LAEARNING
An error occurs when the deviation occurs as result of lack of knowledge. The
mechanic repairs cars at the garage
Mistakes occur when the learners fail to perform their competence.
These are also called processing problems that prevent the learner from accessing
their knowledge of the target language.
The same may cause the learner to fall back on some alternative non standard
rule that they find easier to understand.
Mistakes are a result of memory limitations and lack of automicity in the learner.
Mistakes can be identified and corrected by the learner with a lot ease.
Learners are not able to identify nor correct their errors due to lack of knowledge.
Mistakes are spontaneous and not systematic
Errors are very frequent and follow a systematic pattern: spelling errors,
grammatical errors, punctuation, choice of words
Errors are permanent / mistakes are not permanent
TYPES OF ERRORS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
PERFORMANCE ERRORS:
These are errors made by the learners when they are tired or
exhausted.
These mistakes are not serious and can be overcome by the
learner with little effort.
COMPETENCE ERRORS
Richards (1971) distinguishes two types of such errors:
Interference errors:
These errors occur as a result of the use of elements from one
language to another. They are also referred to as: interlingual
errors. Bus/ mbus
 I eat/ take my porridge/soup
TYPES OF ERRORS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Intralingual errors
They reflect general characteristics of rule learning such as
faulty generalizations and incomplete application of rules
and failure to learn how the rules apply. E.g. baddest,
womans, sheeps, knowing etc
S to mark the plural
DEVELOPMENT ERRORS
I don’t know nobody
They occur when the learner attempts to build hypothesis
about the target language on the basis of limited
experience.
OVERGENERALIZATION AND TRANSFER IN LANGUAGE
LEARNING
 LANGUAGE TRANSFER
 This is also known as first language interference or mother tongue
interference.
 It involves learners who apply knowledge from their native languages
to a second language.
 Language transfer may take the following forms:
 Positive transfer:
 Occurs when the relevant structure or unit transferred from the
relevant languages is the same.
 The interference in this case aids in the acquisition of the relevant
structure in the L2. speakers of English and German
 Positive transfer thus results in the production of the correct L2
output
OVERGENERALIZATION AND TRANSFER IN LANGUAGE
LEARNING
Negative transfer:
This kind of interference is mostly caused by the transfer of non
desirable elements from the first language to the second language.
In this case the L1 is a source of errors in the second language
output. These Errors cut across all levels of linguistic analysis
Open the radio/ kunywa uji. whom did you see?
It is worth to note that the greater the difference between the two
languages the greater the negative transfer.
The more similar the two languages are then the more the positive
transfer.
Positive transfer would be cited for Anglophone learners of
German.
OVERGENERALIZATION AND TRANSFER IN LANGUAGE
LEARNING
OVERGENERALIZATION/ exceptions: bad/dest, the goodest,
there was no one around.
 This a form of error in L2 learning where learners use rules from
the second language in a way that the native speaker would not.
E.g. I goed
 the goodest
 It involves over-regularization or the extension of regular
grammatical patterns to irregular words.
 Ed/d to express the past tense camed/goed/ swimmed/ teached
 e.g. I feeled, mouses, sheeps, drinking porridge etc
 childrens
FORMS OF SIMPLIFICATION AS LEARNING STRATEGY IN
LANAGUAGE LEARNING
SIMPLIFICATION
Simplification is a process where learners of a l2 use a very simplified
structure of the l2 almost similar to the language of a pidgin or the
language of a small child.
FORMS OF SIMPLIFICATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Omission of simple present tense third person singular inflection. E.g.
 he play everyday

she sing everyday at the assembly

Omission of simple past tense inflection
He play yesterday
The bus crash at the cliff last night
FORMS OF SIMPLIFICATION AS LEARNING STRATEGY IN
LANAGUAGE LEARNING
FORMS OF SIMPLIFICATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Omission of auxiliaries and inversion in questions.
See peter today?
“Peter come today? “, he asked me.
You my uncle?

Simplification of syllables through vowel insertion and

deletion.
Friday – furahide
School – sukul/ sukuru
Deletion of English articles
FORMS OF SIMPLIFICATION AS LEARNING STRATEGY IN
LANAGUAGE LEARNING
FORMS OF SIMPLIFICATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Semantic simplification
Involves use of base forms to cover deficiencies at the
vocabulary level.
e.g.
Any liquid is drank
INTERLANGUAGE THEORY
The concept of an interlangauge was introduced by
Selinker in 1972.
It assumes that the learners errors are very important for
their development of competence in a second language.
 the interlangauge therefore is an interplay in the
structures of the L1 and the L2 in the learning process.
This interplay assures the learner of his progress in second
language development.
An interlangauge thus is a step in the development of
second language competence.
INTERLANGUAGE THEORY
The idea of an interlangauge is founded upon the assumption that
a second language learner at some point in the learning process
are using a language system which is neither the L1 nor the L2.
It is a language with its own system , which is neither the L1, nor
the L2 but rather it is a third language with its own grammar, its
own vocabulary , phonology etc.
The rules used by the learners in an interlangauge are not found
in their mother tongue and the second language.
The lesson to be learn fro an interlangauge as suggested by
applied linguists such as Pitt Corder, Nemser and Selinker is that
we need to understand the learner’s language as a system in its
own right.
INTERLANGUAGE THEORY
According to Selinker a learner creates his interlangauge through
number of processes, these are also called learning strategies.
Language transfer: the learner uses her own as a resource, this
happens when the learners fall back to their on their mother
tongues especially in the early stages of language development.
Overgeneralization: the learners uses L2 rules in situations
which a native speaker would not , these can occur at all levels of
linguistic levels of analysis.
Simplification: occurs at syntactic, phonological and semantic
levels. The learners at this level use a very simplified language
structure almost similar to the language of children or pidgins.
INTERLANGUAGE THEORY
Avoidance: the learners uses all means possible to avoid using
structures from the L2 which they find difficult to master due
to a huge disparity in their structure from what is the case in
their first language.
Over-use: the learners uses structures they are very
comfortable with from the second language instead of
attempting new and novel expressions in the language.
Fossilization : may occur during the interlangauge period.
Fossilization occurs when the learner ceases learning a
language before they reach target language norms.
These happens inspite of the student receiving continuous L2
input with the passage of time.
INTERLANGUAGE THEORY
Fossilization :
This phenomena is normally associated with older L2
learners.
It is the normal cause of a foreign accent in language
learning.
This stage is also called the end state i.e. a state where
learning a learner stops learning.
 There are two aspects of fossilization:
 selectivity or lack of new items
 Backsliding or falling down to original forms even when
new items in the L2 have been introduced
INTERLANGUAGE THEORY
CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INTERLANGUAGE
Systematic: an interlangauge is governed by rules from the
learners L1 and the L2.
Dynamic: it changes frequently with time
Variable: Based on context and situation
Reduced system: ( form) the interlangauge is less complex
grammatically. pidginized
Reduced system: (function) only used for a small range of
communicative activities
UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS
This is a theory also called innatism or mentalist theory.
It is associated with Noam Chomsky
It claims of an innate ability for language acquisition in
human beings.
According to the theory human beings are genetically
preprogrammed to learn language.
The assertion that human beings are genetically
preprogrammed to learn language is backed by the
following assertions
UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS
The structure of human organs:
The human vocal apparatus is specifically designed for
language functions
To communicate orally this theory states that we need both
an appropriate vocal apparatus as well as a brain capable of
processing a huge amount of linguistic data.
In human beings we can identify a language centre in both
hemispheres of the brain this is within the plenum temporal.
In 94% of people the part of the brain known as the
Wernickes Area situated within the Planum temporalle is
larger in the left hemisphere than in the right hemisphere
UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS
In this group of people the left hemisphere is the dominant
side for language.
In addition to this language processing part of the brain the
human auditory system is adept at the processing of
auditory signals.
The human auditory perception is genetically
preprogrammed and indicate an innate preparedness to
learn language.
UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS
The speed of acquisition of language
Innatists argue out that the staggering rate with which
children acquire language can only be explained if we
assume that human beings are genetically preprogrammed
for language functions.
This theory claims that children do not just come to
language learning with an blank mind but with an innate
disposition for language learning.
UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS
Language is unique to humans
The human compulsion to communicate is manifest in
language.
Some theorists have claimed that language can only be
used by humans .
Attempts to teach language to other animals have been
made and the most success has been achieved with
chimpanzees.
While apes are able to learn some aspect of language, the
process is extremely slow and laborious.
UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS
Linguistic universals
Innatists argue out that whilst human languages have
different rules of grammar they also many things in
common.
These language similarities are also called linguistic
universals.
Absolute universals are statements that are unequivocally
true for all natural languages.
For example all languages are: learned, rule governed, all
language s have consonants and vowels, all languages have
pronouns etc.
UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS
Linguistic universals
The presence of these linguistic universals makes it
possible for human beings to learn any language.
Chomsky refers to the child’s innate general language
learning ability as LAD.( language acquisition device)
It claims that children have a blue print in the brain that
allows them to recognize the structure dependence of
language.
UNIVERSAL HYPOTHESIS
Linguistic universals
The presence of these linguistic universals makes it
possible for human beings to learn any language.
Chomsky refers to the child’s innate general language
learning ability as LAD.( language acquisition device)
It claims that children have a blue print in the brain that
allows them to recognize the structure dependence of
language.
THE MONITOR MODEL
The input hypothesis, also known as the monitor
model, is a group of five hypotheses of
second-language acquisition developed by the linguist
Stephen Krashen in the 1970s and 1980s.
Krashen originally formulated the input hypothesis as just
one of the five hypotheses, but over time the term has come
to refer to the five hypotheses as a group.
 The hypotheses are the input hypothesis, the
acquisition–learning hypothesis, the monitor
hypothesis, the natural order hypothesis and the
affective filter hypothesis.
THE MONITOR MODEL
The input hypothesis. This states that learners progress in their
knowledge of the language when they comprehend language
input that is slightly more advanced than their current level.
Krashen called this level of input "i+1", where "i" is the learner's
interlanguage and "+1" is the next stage of language acquisition.
'Comprehensible input' is the crucial and necessary ingredient
for the acquisition of language.
The acquisition–learning hypothesis claims that there is a
strict separation between acquisition and learning; Krashen saw
acquisition as a purely subconscious process and learning as a
conscious process, and claimed that improvement in language
ability was only dependent upon acquisition and never on
learning.
THE MONITOR MODEL
The monitor hypothesis
The monitor hypothesis asserts that a learner's learned system acts
as a monitor to what they are producing.
In other words, while only the acquired system is able to produce
spontaneous speech, the learned system is used to check what is
being spoken.
Before the learner produces an utterance, he or she internally scans
it for errors, and uses the learned system to make corrections.
 Self-correction occurs when the learner uses the Monitor to
correct a sentence after it is uttered.
 According to the hypothesis, such self-monitoring and self-
correction are the only functions of conscious language learning
THE MONITOR MODEL

The natural order hypothesis states that language is

acquired in a particular order, and that this order does not
change between learners, and is not affected by explicit
instruction.
The natural order hypothesis states that all learners acquire a
language in roughly the same order.
This order is not dependent on the ease with which a
particular language feature can be taught; some features,
such as third-person "-s" ("he runs") are easy to teach in a
classroom setting, but are not typically acquired until the
later stages of language acquisition.
THE MONITOR MODEL

The affective filter hypothesis.

The affective filter is an impediment to learning or
acquisition caused by negative emotional ("affective")
responses to one's environment. It is a hypothesis of
second-language acquisition theory, and a field of interest
in educational psychology and general education.
THE MONITOR MODEL

The affective filter hypothesis.

According to the affective filter hypothesis, certain
emotions, such as anxiety, self-doubt, and mere boredom
interfere with the process of acquiring a second language.
THE MONITOR MODEL

The affective filter hypothesis.

They function as a filter between the speaker and the
listener that reduces the amount of language input the
listener is able to understand.
 These negative emotions prevent efficient processing of
the language input.
 The hypothesis further states that the blockage can be
reduced by sparking interest, providing low-anxiety
environments, and bolstering the learner's self-esteem.