SLA Chapter 1

Swastika Mahatmarani

2201410045

Chapter 1

Introduction: Describing and Explaining L2 Acquisition

This has been a time of the global village and the World Wide Web when communications berween people has explanded way beyod their local speech communities, where people have had to learn a second language as a means of obtaining an education or securing employment. The meaning of ‘second language acquisition’ requires careful explanation; second can refer to:

a.       any language that is learned sinsequent to the mother tongue; thus, it can refer to the learning of a third or forth language.

b.      second is not intender to contrast with ‘foreign’, whether you are learning a language naturally as result of living in a country ehre it is spoken or learning in a classroom.

Second language acquisition is the way in which people learn a language other than their mother tongue, inside or outside of a classroom.

Goals of SLA

In what way does an SLA researcher find out the way of how learners acquire an L2? In can be by asking learners who have been successful in learning a second language of how they did it. However, learners are sometimes no aware  or cannot remember the actual learning process they engaged in. Furthermore, howdo we find out what learners actually do? The answer might be by collecting samples of leaners language (of what learners produce in speech and writing) and analyzie them carefully. These method provide evidence of:

1. What the learners know about the language they are trying to learn.
2. How learners’ knowledge develops.
3. How learner language changes over time.

We should be focus on how learners’ overall ability to communicate develops, including:

1. The pronounciation of an L2
2. How learners’ accent change over time
3. The words learners use.
4. How learners build up their vocabulary
5. The grammar of the L2 (most often).

Goals of SLA:

1. Description of L2 acquisition
2. Explanation

Factors of SLA:

1. External Factors
1. Social milieu in which learning takes place, it is the matter of to learn a language when you respect and are respected by native speakers of that language.
2. The input that learners receive. One method is a question of considerable interest.
2. Internal Factors
1. Learners possess communication strategies that can hlp them make effective use of their L2 kowledge, for instance, ‘art gallery’ is invented by ‘picture place’.
2. Why learners vary in the rate they learn an L2 and how successful they ultimately are.

Finally, the goals of SLA are:

1. To describe how L2 acquisition proceeds.
2. To explain L2 acquisition process.
3. Why some learners seem to be better at it than others.

Two Case Studies

1. A case study of an adult learner

Naturalistic learner – someone who learns the language at the dsmr time as learning to communicate in it.

2. A case study of two child learners

These case studies show us:

1. The raising of a number of important methodological Issues relatimg tp how L2 acquisition should be studied.
2. The raising issues relating to the descrition of learner language.
3. Point of some problems researchers experience in trying to explain L2 acquisition.