First language Acquisition Facts

 Auditory Discrimination: at a very early age, children seem to be tuned in to differentiating

phonetic sounds in the language they are exposed to. In other words, they stop making
distinctions between sounds that are not phonemic in the language that is spoken around them.
 General Cognition is related to First Language Acquisition: The many theories
notwithstanding, research has shown that children don’t use temporal adverbs such as
‘tomorrow’ or ‘last week’ until they develop some understanding of time.
 Order of Acquisition: there seems to be a certain order in which children acquire their first
language. The studies are conducted through morphemes acquisition (the negation, for
example)
 Generalisation: linguists test children using grammar exercises involving generalisation, e.g.
the ‘wug’ test. Otherwise, on could always say that the children had mastered a given structure
because they had been exposed to it and imitated it.
 Metalinguistic awareness: it is observed that, by the age of five, children will have acquired a
great deal of metalinguistic awareness. They are able to say if a given construction seems odd
in their first language.
 Exposition to first language before the school years: it is estimated that children are in
contact with the language of their environment for 20.000 hours or more by the time they go
to school.
 Reading: research has shown that reading has a positive impact on children’s lexis learning.
We know that because children sometimes mispronounce words that they know the meaning
of, thus showing that they have probably learned it through reading.
 Meaning before form: parents tend to respond to the meaning rather than to the grammatical
accuracy of their children’s language. The “vase” example.

First language Acquisition Theories

The behaviourist perspective:

 B. F. Skinner (1950).
 Children imitate their parents. Through positive reinforcement on the part of their parents,
children acquire habits of correct language. The focus of first language acquisition is therefore
on the environment.
 Unresolved questions:
 Children appear to imitate selectively. They choose to imitate something that they
have just begun to understand and use, not simply on what is available in the
environment.
 The choice of what to imitate and practise seem determined by something inside the
child rather than by the environment.
 Many of the things they say show they are using language creatively, not just
repeating what they have heard. Consequently, imitation and practice alone cannot
explain some of the forms created by children. Rather, they appear to pick out patterns
and generalise them to new contexts.
The innatist perspective:

 Noam Chomsky (1960) directly criticises Skinner’s theory on language acquisition.

  Logical problem of language acquisition: children come to know more about the structure of
their language than they could reasonably be expected to learn on the basis of the samples of
language they hear.
 Universal Grammar (UG): children are born with a specific innate ability to discover for
themselves the underlying rules of a language system on the basis of the samples of a natural
language they are exposed to. These principles are universal to all languages. The UG would
prevent the child from pursuing all sorts of wrong hypotheses about how language systems
might work.
 Language acquisition and cognition: as children achieve different levels of creativity, social
grace and so on, but virtually all achieve the ability to use the patterns of the language spoken
to them. That might support the idea that language acquisition is separate from other aspects
of cognitive development.
 Specific brain module for language: learning a language requires a different brain module.
Just like walking, seeing, and smelling, we don’t need formal teaching to acquire our first
language (Steven Pinker).
 Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH): research has shown that there appears to be a critical
period for first language acquisition, whether that language is oral or gestural. To summarise
it, it hypothesises that there is a time in human development when the brain is predisposed for
success in language learning. It is becoming clearer that language acquisition begins at birth,
and possibly even before, as the child’s brain is shaped by exposure to the languages in the
environment.
 Unresolved questions:
 The Universal Grammar has never been found, nor has any brain module solely
dedicated to language learning.
 Innatists place too much emphasis on the final state (the competence of an adult native
speaker) and not enough on the developmental aspects of language acquisition.

Interactionist / Developmental perspectives:

 Piaget and Vygotsky (1970)

 First language acquisition is no different from other cognitive skills: language acquisition
is but one example of the human child’s ability to learn from experience and they see no need
to assume that there are specific brain structures devoted to language acquisition.
 Social interaction: the key to understanding language acquisition is social interaction. The
conversations provide the child with scaffolding, that is, a kind of supportive structure that
helps them make the most of the knowledge they have and to acquire new knowledge.
 Impersonal sources of language: television and radio alone cannot account for language
acquisition, researchers have found.
 Zone of proximal development: learners are capable of a higher level of performance
because there is support from interaction with an interlocutor. In Vygotsky’s theory, learning
takes place through and during interaction in the learner’s ZPD.

Second language Acquisition Facts

 Definition: all second language learners have already acquired at least one language.
Moreover, children are almost always successful in acquiring the language that’s spoken
around them, provided that they have adequate opportunities to use it over time.
Conversely, second language learners’ proficiency varies greatly.
  Cognitive maturity: it can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage. It may be
advantageous for some skills (problem-solving tasks, for example), but it may also be
disadvantageous for more inductive tasks.
 Access to UG after the critical period: it is debatable whether we maintain some access
to the UG after the critical period. Some linguists argue that adults are less likely to
achieve full-linguistic capacity because they draw on different metal abilities that are not
specific to language learning. In other words, they can lo longer access the innate
language acquisition ability they had as children. However, we can’t deny that second
language learners do not learn language simply through imitation and practice. They
produce sentences that are not exactly those they have heard.
 Foreigner talk / teacher talk / modified talk or adapted talk: one condition that appears
to be common to learners of all ages is exposure to some sort of modified input. That is,
more proficient speakers grade their language level when speaking to less proficient ones.
 Chunk learning: correct form based on memorisation. In other words, the learner hasn’t
really acquired the new structure, but rather has memorised the right way of saying it.
 Learning is not linear: like first language learners, second language learners usually
learn the irregular past tense forms of certain common verbs before they learn to apply the
regular simple past -ed marker. Consequently, a learner who says, “I catched a cold last
week” may know more about English grammar than one who says, “I caught a cold last
week”.

Learners’ errors:

 Contrastive analysis hypothesis (CAH): errors are assumed to be the result of transfer from
leaners’ first language. Therefore, errors could be predicted on the basis of learners’ first
language.
 Error analysis: it is based on the hypothesis that, like children language, second language
learner language is a system in its own right – one that is rule-governed and predictable.
 Interlanguage: it is learners’ developing second language knowledge. It shows that some
errors cannot be explained by learners’ first language, but rather by their understanding of the
second language. There are patterns in the development of syntax and morphology that are
similar among learners from different language backgrounds, which also seems to prove the
existence of an interlanguage. One example of learner’s interlanguage rule: “put a question
word at the beginning of the sentence” – “do you can help me”.
 Learners from different backgrounds often make the same mistakes either by other
second language learners or by first language learners. In such cases, second-language
errors are evidence of the learners’ efforts to discover the structure of the target
language itself rather than attempts to transform patters from their first language.
They are trying to change their interlanguage systems.
 Fossilisation: some linguistic features in learners’ developing language seems to sop
changing. They get stuck with patters that do not correspond to those of a proficient speaker.
 Frequent features are not necessarily learned first: articles, for example.
 Obligatory contexts: it consists of a technique of understanding learners’ comprehension of
language structures. One example is the use of past with specific markers.
 Cross-linguistic influence: knowledge of one language affects the knowledge of another. This
can be positive in many cases. It goes both ways. A good example is a Brazilian student who
already speaks French trying to learn Italian.
 Circumlocution: when we don’t a specific word, we paraphrase or use more than one word to
express the word that we don’t know. It needs to be taken lightly.
  Educated adult speaker of English: it is estimated that such a person would know at least
20.000 words.
 Suprasegmental features of phonology: these features, not individual phonemes, should be
the focus of pronunciation classes.

Learners’ specifitities:

 Intelligence: research is inconclusive, but it appears that communicative skills are not related
to intelligence while grammar analysis is.
 Aptitude profiles: although taking learners’ preferences into account is considered good
practice, chances are that their learning preferences will confront to what teachers consider
effective ways of learning a language. What if they believe they learn better through grammar
translation?
 Auditory learners
 Visual learners
 Kinaesthetic learners
 Motivation: it is evidently essential to second language learning.
 Instrumental motivation: learning language for immediate or practical goals.
 Integrative motivation: learning language for personal growth and cultural
enrichment.
 Age: in earlier stages, older learners appear to learn second languages quicker than younger
learners due to their higher cognitive skills. However, on the long term, children will perform
better, provided they have sufficient opportunity and exposure to the language.
 Instruction: contrary to general belief, early start doesn’t guarantee high level of proficiency
in the second language. Indeed, one or two hours a week will not produce advanced second
language speakers, no matter how young they began. Older learners may be able to make
better use of their limited time of instruction at school.

Theories on Second Language Acquisition:

 The Behaviourist Perspective: basically, second language learning would be explained in the
same way as First Language Learning. This theory is widely discredited nowadays because it
doesn’t account for the logical problem of second language acquisition, that is: leaners know
more about they could possibly have learned through imitation and repetition.
 Drawn from this explanation is the Audiolingual Method to Second Language
Learning.
 Audiolingualism also coincides with the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis in that they
both believe that the source of errors is caused by inference of learners’ first
language.

 The Innatist Perspective: Chomsky has never tackled second language learning. According
to this theory, at least some aspects of the Universal Grammar are sill available for learners
acquiring a second language. As with regard to first language acquisition theory, the innatist
perspective also focus on the ultimate grammar that proficient speakers have acquired rather
than the process through which they did so.
 Stephen Krashen’s Monitor Model: there are five hypotheses to this model.
 Acquiring/Learning hypothesis. Acquisition occurs when learners are
exposed to language that they understand with no conscious attention to
language form. Learning, on the other hand, occurs when learners pay
 conscious attention to form and rule learning. In Krashen’s view, far more
language is acquired than learned.
 Monitor: learners may use rules and patters they have acquired as a monitor.
This allows them to make minor changes and polish the system they have
already acquired. Such monitor takes place only when the speakers/writer
has plenty of time and is concerned about producing correct language.
 Natural Order: same for first language learning. It is important to remember
that language rules that are easier to state (and thus to learn) are not
necessarily the first to be acquired.
 Comprehensible input: acquisition can only take place if the input is
adequate (i + 1).
 Affective filter: It is a metaphorical barrier that prevents learners from
acquiring language even when appropriate input is available. That would
explain why some learners, despite everything, cannot learn a language.

 The Cognitive Perspective: it assumes that learning a language is no different from learning
any other skill. In fact, what is innate is simply the ability to learn in general. Language
acquisition is drawn on the same process of perception, memory, categorisation, and
generalisation. They are sub-divisions within this umbrella theory. They all share the metaphor
that our brain is like a computer.
 Thinking and speaking: albeit related, thinking and speaking are independent
process.
 Declarative knowledge: knowledge that we can state or that we are aware of having,
e.g. a grammar rule.
 Procedural knowledge: the ability to use that knowledge.
 Practice: it is what turns declarative into procedural knowledge. Practice should be
interactive, meaningful and focused on tasks.
 Brain imaging: page 113.

 The Interaction hypothesis: conversation interaction is essential, if not sufficient, for second
language learning.
 Modified interaction: more proficient speakers modify their input in order to make it
more comprehensible to less proficient speakers.
 Negotiation for meaning: when interacting, speakers try to reach mutual
comprehension by negotiating the meaning of their words, expressions and sentences.
This interaction is a great opportunity to learn.
 Comprehensible output hypothesis: when learners must produce language that their
interlocutor can understand, they are most likely to see the limits of their second
language ability and the need to find better ways to express their meaning. That’s
when learning takes place. Contrary to Krashen’s theory, the comprehensible output
hypothesis states that learning depends on the production language rather than on
receiving language.

 The Sociocultural Perspective: speaking and thinking are profoundly interwoven.

Sociocultural theory holds that people gain control of and reorganise their cognitive processes
during mediation as knowledge is internalised during social activity.
 Zone of proximal development (ZPD): this internalising occurs when an individual
interacts with an interlocutor within their ZPD, that is, in a situation in which the
learner can perform at a higher level because of the support (scaffolding) offered by
the interlocutor.
Observing learning:

 Natural settings: language is learned through exposure. Much of the learning takes place in
interaction with peers. The objective is not language learning. Language learning is a
byproduct of other interactions.
 Language is not presented step by step.
 Learners’ errors are rarely corrected, especially mistakes in form.
 Learners must often use their limited second language ability to respond to questions
or to get information.

 Instructional settings: the focus is on the language learning itself, rather than on the
messages carried by the language. The emphasis is on language form through either
metalinguistic instruction or pattern practice, e.g. grammar translation method or
audiolingual method.
 Linguistic items are presented and practised in isolation.
 Errors are frequently corrected.
 Students often feel pressure to speak or write the second language and to do so
correctly from the very beginning.

 Communicative instructional settings: the emphasis is on the communication of meaning,

both between teacher and students and among the students themselves in group or pair-work.
In focusing on meaning, leaners will acquire the language in a wa that is similar to natural
acquisition.
 Input is simplified and made comprehensible by the use of contextual props and
gestures.
 Meaning is emphasized over form. Grammar teaching takes place only to clarify
meaning.
 Learners have considerable exposure to the interlanguage of other learners,
particularly in student-student interaction.
 There is little pressure to perform at high levels of accuracy.

 Vocabulary learning: when we interact in ordinary conversation, we tend to use mainly the
1000 or 2000 most frequent words. Thus, reading is a particularly valuable source of new
vocabulary. This has been shown by recent research and by my own experience as a learner of
English.
 Exposure is not sufficient: research has also shown that exposure to features of language is
not sufficient for second language acquisition. Although exposure to language input provides
learners with positive evidence (information about what is grammatical), it fails to give them
negative evidence (information about what is ungrammatical). Moreover, contrary to
Krashen’s five hypotheses, it appears that comprehensible input is not enough either.
 Learners’ awareness of methodology: research has also shown that some learners need to
know the reasons why certain approaches take place during lesson, e.g. group-pair work (they
may think that their colleagues only make mistakes, and they shouldn’t pay attention to them).
 Teach what is teachable (highly controversial): it appears that some features can be taught
while others can’t.
 Developmental features: basic order sentence, for example, seem to develop along a
predictable developmental path. These features can only be taught according to
 learners’ internal schedule. In other words, instruction cannot change the natural
developmental course.
 Variational features: other features, such as vocabulary items, for example, can be
taught at any time. They appear to depend on factors such as motivation or language
aptitude.
 Don’t throw away metalinguistic explanations: contrastive information about how a
particular structure in a learner’s first language differs from the target language can help them
to learn.
 IQ: language learning involves a great many different skills and abilities that are not measured
by IQ tests. What is often the case is that students with high IQ do well on learning about
language.
 The sooner, the better: school programmes should be based on realistic estimates of how
long it takes to learn a second language. One or two hours a week – even for eight years – will
not produce advanced second language speakers.
 If the objective is to be indistinguishable from native speakers, it is best to start at
an early age. However, when children begin acquiring a second language at an early
age, they may have little opportunity to continue to develop their first language; thus
resulting in subtractive bilingualism. Moreover, research shows that a good foundation
in the child’s first language, including the development of literacy, is a sound base to
build on.
 If the objective is for all students to have basic and efficient communicative skills
while maintaining kids’ first language abilities, it can be more interesting to begin
second language teaching later.

Classroom feedback:

 Uptake: it is an indication that the student has noticed the feedback.

 Counterbalance hypothesis: feedback is more likely to be noticed if leaners are oriented in a
direction that is opposite to what they have become accustomed to in their instructional
environment.
 Explicit correction: “Fastly doesn’t exist. Fast does not take -ly.”
 Recasts: teacher’s reformulation of all or part of students’ utterance, minus the error. Students
may sometimes think that the teachers’ recasts as only another way of saying the same thing.
They may not understand the significance of it, especially in communicative-based lessons.
 Clarification request: “Excuse me, what?”
 Metalinguistic feedback: the teacher indicates that there’s an error without explicitly
providing the correct form. “What’s the ending we put on verbs when we talk about the past”.
 Elicitation: S: “My father make past”; T: “My father???”
 Repetition: the teacher highlights the error by using a different intonation.

Questions in the classroom:

 Display questions: the teacher already knows the answers. They are usually used in more
traditional methodologies.
 Genuine questions: the teacher does not know the answers. They are frequently used in
communicative-based methodology.

Ethnography:
  Ethnography is a way of observing teaching and learning in second or foreign language
classrooms without a set of predetermined categories. Cultural aspects should be considered in
second language teaching. In Western countries, it is believed that second language teaching
should be based on communicative skills, but that is not true for every country on earth.

Second Language Learning in the Classroom:

 Structured-based approaches:
 Grammar Translation (Classical method): the focus is on reading literature.
Supposedly this approach would provide students with good mental exercise to help
develop their intellectual and academic abilities. Through reading a text, the teacher
draws attention to a specific grammar rule that is illustrated by the text. Sometimes,
this method works with a series of decontextualised sentences for students to
complete. Students learn about the language.
- Advantages: this approach is useful for the study of grammar and vocabulary
and can be valuable for understanding important cultural contexts.
- Disadvantages: learners don’t normally become proficient in communicating
in the second language.
 Audiolingualism (US Army method): this method arose in part as a reaction to the
grammar translation approach. Contrary to it, audiolingual teaching would lead
students to actually speak the language. This approach is based on behaviourism and
contrastive analysis. As errors could become a habit, students weren’t encouraged to
speak until they got everything right.
- Advantages: given high levels of motivation, this approach can yield
interesting results (US Army).
- Disadvantages: learners don’t normally become proficient in communicating
in the second language. Indeed, research has shown that uncontextualized
drilling doesn’t mean that learners will be able to retain what they have
learned.

 Communicative language teaching (CLT): it views errors as an important part of language

learning. Meaning should be prioritised over form.
 Advantages: learns normally show an aptitude to converse and get their meanings
across through this learning method.
 Disadvantages: critiques argue that allowing learners too much ‘freedom’ without
correction and explicit instruction will lead to early fossilisation of errors. In throwing
out contrastive analysis, feedback on error and metalinguistic explanations and
guidance, the “communicative revolution” may have gone too far.

 Taks-based language teaching (TBLT): it is important that learners are given the opportunity
to negotiate for meaning. This allows them to acquire new pieces of language.
 Content-based language teaching (CBLT): learners acquire a second language as they study
subject matter taught in that language.
 Advantages: it increases the amount of time for learners to be exposed to the new
language, creating genuine need to communicate and motivating students to acquire
language in order to understand the content.
  Disadvantages: traditionally, learners engage in too little language production
because the classes are largely teacher centred. It could also lead to subtractive
bilingualism, as children gradually lose their first language or fail to develop it for
academic purposes. Moreover, research suggests that purely subject matter instruction
need to be complemented by instruction that focused on language form. Indeed,
although learners are able to communicate with some fluency in the second language,
they often fall short of the high levels of linguistic accuracy that their years of
schooling in the language might predict.

 “Get it right in the end” methodology: while comprehension-based, content-based, task-

based, or other types of essentially meaning-focused instruction are crucial for language
learning, learners will do better if they also have access to some form-focused instruction. In
other words, some features have to be taught explicitly because what learners focus on can
eventually change their interlanguage systems. However, for this to happen, learners need to
notice how their language differs from that of a more proficient speaker.
 Pragmatism based on complexity of language: complex aspects of the language are
best learned through exposure, e.g. articles in English. “rule of thumb” features, such
as plurals in English, can best be taught by instruction.

Glossary:

 Collaborative dialogue: a conversation between learners in which they work together to solve
a problem.
 Formulaic language: expressions or phrases that are often perceived and learned as
unanalysed wholes. “What’s that?” is perceived as a single unit of language rather than three
units.