SECOND

LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
RESEARCH

The findings are:

1. Second language acquisition is highly
systematic
2. Second language acquisition is highly
variable

1. Second language
acquisition is highly
systematic
It refers to what has been called
therouteof development (the nature of
the stages all learners go through when
acquiring the second language - L2).
This route remains largely independent of
both the learner's mother tongue (L1) and
the context of learning (e.g. whether
instructed in a classroom or acquired
naturally by exposure)

2. Second language
acquisition is highly
variable
It refers to either therateof the learning
process (the speed at which learners are
learning the L2), or the outcomeof the
learning process (how proficient learners
become), or both.
Both speed of learning and range of
outcomes are highly variable from learner
to learner: some do much better much
more quickly than others.

Traditionally, the concern forrateof learning

has been the centre of teachers' and
learners' attention. This is because it has
obvious pedagogical implications: if we
understand what makes learners learn faster
and progress further, then maybe we can be
better teachers or learners.
In fact, understanding the route learners
follow, and therefore having clear
expectations of what learners can achieve at
given points on the developmental
continuum, is crucially important for both
learners and teachers.

Such study leads us, for example, to a

better understanding of thesignificance
of
errorsin
the
learning
process.
Producing them need not be seen as
necessarily problematic (in fact, some
errors can be evidence of a more advanced
linguistic system than the equivalent
correct form: for example, learners will
usually produce rote-learned formulaic
questions such as 'where's X?', e.g.
'where's the ball?', in which 'where's' is an
unanalysed chunk, before producing the
developmentally more advanced 'where
the ball is?', the second stage in the
development of the interrogative system
before the final stage in which 'where is the

1. Do you know....
a. where is my book
b. where my book is
2. I dont know....
a. where is my book
b. where my book is
3. Where...
a. is my book
b. my book is

This is often referred to as the 'U shape of

learning', typical also of L1 learners, by which
learners start with the correct rote-learned
form, e.g.took, before over-applying the past
tense rule and producingtaked, prior to
learning the exception to the rule and
producingtookagain, creatively rather than
rote-learned this time.
Teachers will also be less frustrated, and their
learners too, when they become aware that
teaching will not cause skilful control of a
linguistic structure if it is offered before a
learner is developmentally ready to acquire it.

Put the past tense and participle of these

words.
Raise

.....

.....

Rise

.....

.....

Sleep

.....

.....

Bring

.....

.....

Show

.....

.....

Close

.....

.....

3. Teaching methods
Audiolingual method The behaviourist
teaching method popular in the sixties and
seventies, based on the premise that you
learn to speak languages through habitformation, and therefore need to practise
drills until the new habit has been learnt.

Audiolingual method

The behaviourist teaching

method popular in the
sixties and seventies,
based on the premise that
you learn to speak
languages through habitformation, and therefore
need to practise drills until
the new habit has been
learnt

Communicative Language
Teaching

This approach to teaching believes

that languages are learnt through
communication, and that the focus of
the classroom should be on
encouraging learners to engage in
speaking activities which simulate
'real life' communication. This
approach de-emphasises the role of a
metalinguistic knowledge of the L2
linguistic system.

Fossilisation

The phenomenon by which

L2 learners often stop
learning even though they
might be far short of nativelike competence. The term
is also used for specific
linguistic structures which
remain incorrect for lengthy
periods of time in spite of
plentiful input (e.g. in
immigrant speakers whose
fluent L2 still contains nontarget like structures).

Grammar-translation
method

The traditional teaching method

which believed that the best
way to teach languages is
through the teaching of
grammar and the translation of
texts

Immersion

This term refers to

educational programs in
which children are taught
academic subjects (e.g.
maths, geography etc)
through the L2. These
programs are well
established in Canada,
where many anglophone
children are educated partly
through the means of
French (especially in the
province of Quebec).

Interlanguage

A term used both to refer to the

linguistic system of L2 learners
at a specific point in time, and
to the series of interlocking L2
systems typical of L2
development. The significance
of this term is the emphasis it
places on the L2 system being a
linguistic system in its own

Transfer

Use of L1 properties in the

L2. Transfer can be
positive, when the
borrowing of an L1
structure leads to a correct
form in the L2 (e.g. the
German learner producing
'I am twelve years old' in
English L2 as a direct
translation of the German
structure), or negative
when it leads to an
incorrect form (e.g. the
French learner producing 'I
have 12 years')

Thank
you