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203511 Second Language Acquisition Week 3: Second Language Acquisition Theories Ellis, R. (1986) Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP (Chapter 10.) Issues First Language Acquisition (FLA) VS. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Role of SLA theories Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis and Acculturation Model Accommodation Theory FLA vs. SLA Fundamental Difference Hypothesis (FDH) Bley-Vroman, R. (1988). The fundamental character of foreign language learning. In W. Rutherford & M. Sharwood Smith (Eds.), Grammar and second language teaching: A book of readings (pp. 19-30). New York: Newbury House. Ellis, R. 1994The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Feature FLA SLA Overall Success Perfect L1 mastery Unlikely to achieve perfect L1 mastery General Failure Success guaranteed Complete success rare Variation Little variation in the degree of success or route Variation in overall success and route Feature Goals Fossilisation FLA SLA TL competence Unknown Content with less than TL competence or more concerned with fluency rather than accuracy Common, + Backsliding (i.e. return to earlier stages of development) Feature FLA Instruction Not needed Helpful or necessary Intuitions Clear intuitions about correctness Unable to form clear grammaticality judgements Correction not found and not necessary Correction generally helpful or necessary Negative Evidence Affective factors Not involved SLA A major role in determining success Week 3: Second Language Acquisition Theories (1) Issues First Language Acquisition (FLA) VS. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Role of SLA theories Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis and Acculturation Model Accommodation Theory Role of SLA theories Descriptive The theory formally specifies rules accounting for all observed arrangements of data. The rules produce all and only well-formed structures corresponding to the intuition of the native speaker, i.e. predictability of the (SLA) Characterisation of the nature of the linguistic categories which constitute the learner’s interlanguage at any point in development Role of SLA theories Explanatory "A linguistic theory that aims for explanatory adequacy is concerned with the internal structure of the device [i.e. grammar]; that is, it aims to provide a principled basis, independent of any particular language, for the selection of the descriptively adequate grammar of each language.” Chomsky, Noam. (1964). “Current Issues in Linguistic Theory”, in Fodor, J. A. and J. J. Katz (eds.), The Structure of Language: Readings in the Philosophy of Language, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall: 50-118. Week 3: Second Language Acquisition Theories (1) Issues First Language Acquisition (FLA) VS. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Role of SLA theories Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis and Acculturation Model Accommodation Theory Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis and Acculturation Model “The process of becoming adapted to a new culture” 4 stages • Initial excitement and euphoria • Culture shock Estrangement and hostility • Culture stress Recovery • Assimilation or adaptation to the new culture Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis and Acculturation Model (Cont.) Its relation to SLA • Learner group vs. Reference group (or Target language group) • The degree to which a learner acculturates to the target language group will control the degree to which he acquires the second language • Social and psychological factors determine the amount of contact with the TL and the degree to which the learner is open to that input which is available (p.252) Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis and Acculturation Model (Cont.) Social variables social dominance: the degree to which the learner’s social group is dominant/subordinate to TG integration pattern: the degree to which the learner wishes to integrate/assimilate herself to the TG enclosure: the degree to which the learner’s acquaintances are integrated into or enclosed from the TG, i.e. sharing social facilities cohesiveness: how close is the learner’s social group? size: how large is the learner’s social group? cultural congruence: how close are the two cultures? attitude: are the inter-group attitudes favorable, neutral, or hostile? intended length of residence: how long does the learner plan to be there? Acculturation Theory (Cont.) • Pidginization hypothesis = when social and/or psychological distances are great, the learner fails to progress beyond the early stages (Schumann, 1976) Alberto (33, Costa Rican) a reduced and simplified form of English • use of no e.g. I no use television • lack of inversion e.g. What you study? • lack of auxiliaries • lack of possessive "-s" • unmarked forms of the verb (-ed) • lack of subject pronouns Acculturation Theory (Cont.) • 3 functions of language 1.Communicative Pidgin and 2.Integrative Pidginised 3.Expressive languages Acculturation Theory (Cont.) Evaluation • No explanation as to how L2 knowledge is internalised and used i.e. how ‘input’ becomes ‘intake’ • No elaboration on ‘internal norm’ and ‘external norm’ • Fail to consider the role of the interaction between situation and learner Acculturation Theory (Cont.) • Not a necessary condition for successful L2 acquisition • Probably not applicable to foreign language situations (no naturalistic SLA) • There are cases where social and psychological attitudes do not affect the degree of success Week 3: Second Language Acquisition Theories (1) Issues First Language Acquisition (FLA) VS. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Role of SLA theories Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis and Acculturation Model Accommodation Theory Accommodation Theory Acculturation Accommodation Social group Ingroup TL community Outgroup “actual” social distance “perceived” social distance Social & psychological Constant negotiation distance = absolute during each phenomena interaction Static relationship Dynamic relationship between L & TL com. between L & TL com. Accommodation Theory (Cont.) • Motivation = primary determinant of L2 proficiency (p. 257) Convergence----------------Divergence Integrate More L2 Learning Separate Social Group Less L2 Learning Accommodation Theory (Cont.) • Variability in the learner’s output (e.g. dialects, accents as a result of how Ls perceive themselves in relation to the TL group) • Convergence Divergence Careful Style--------------------Vernacular Style Attention to form Less attention End of Week 3 Next week assignment Read Hawkins, R. (2001) The significance of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition.