Second Langauge Acquisition
What is cond language?
A cond language (L2) is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1).
What is foreign language?
A foreign language is a language ud in a country other than one's own. It is also a language not spoken in the native country of the person referred to, i.e. an English speaker living in China can say that Chine is a foreign language to him or her. The two characterizations do not exhaust the possible definitions, however, and the label is occasionally applied in ways that are variously misleading or factually inaccurate.
Relations between cond language and foreign language?
The expression cond language is not just in contrast with first language or mother tongue
in the literature. Some linguists make a distinction between a cond language and a foreign language. The contrast is bad on the social context. In a bilingual or multilingual community, the language other than one's mother tongue is called a cond language. In a monolingual country, the language one learns is a foreign language.
What is the scope of SLA?
It is the study of how learners create a new language system with only limited exposure to a cond language.
It is also the study of why only some learners appear to achieve native-like proficiency in more than one language.
Additionally, cond language acquisition is concerned with the nature of the hypothes (whether conscious or unconscious) that learners come up with regarding the rules of the cond language.
It is the study of what is learned of a cond language and what is not learned; it is the st
udy of why most cond language learners do not achieve the same degree of knowledge and proficiency in a cond language as they do in their native language.
It is the study of how cond languages are learned. In other words, it is the study of the acquisition of a non-primary language; that is, the acquisition of a language beyond the native language.
A major goal of cond language acquisition rearch is the determination of linguistic constraints on the formation of cond language grammars. Becau theories of language are concerned with human language knowledge, one can reasonably assume that this knowledge is not limited to first language knowledge, and that linguistic principles reflect the possibilities of human language creation and the limits of human language variation. This scope of inquiry includes cond languages.
Language pedagogy
pedagogical decision-making must reflect what is known about the process of learning, which is the domain of cond language acquisition.
Rationale related to language pedagogy has to do with the expectations that teachers have of their students.
• Mr. Sung says “Let’s go”
• Wexford: I wish you wouldn’t keep saying that. If I may suggest it, you should say, “Shall we go? Or “Are you ready?”
• Sung: You may suggest. Thank you. I am anxious to speak good. Shall we go? Are you ready?
• Wexford: Oh, yes, certainly.
• Sung: Don’t reply, plea. I practice. Shall we go? Are you leady? Good, I have got it. Come, let’s go. Are you ready to go to the site? Reply now, plea.
Cross-cultural Communication
Many of the speech patterns that nonnative speakers u reflect their nonnativeness rath
er than characteristics of their personality.
Cross-cultural Communication
Example 1
(1-1) From Goldschmidt (1996, p. 255)
• NNS: I have a favor to ask you.
• NS: Sure, what can I do for you?
• NNS: You need to write a recommendation for me.
Example 2
• An international student whom the professor did not know emailed to ask the professor for an appointment, stating that she was interested in the discipline of SLA. The professor wrote back with a suggestion of a time that they finally agreed on. The student arrived at the appointed time and said:
• (1-2) NNS: You wanted to e me?
Language policy and language planning
• (a) information about cond language learning,
• (b) the kinds of instruction that can be brought to bear on issues of acquisition,
• (c) the realities and expectations one can have of such programs.
Second language acquisition is a complex field who focus is the attempt to understand the process underlying the learning of a cond language.
Second language acquisition, while rightfully part of the humanities, is also part of the social sciences, defined (Merriam-Webster online) as “a branch of science that deals with the institutions and functioning of human society and with the interpersonal relationships of individuals as members of society.”
Definitions
Native Language (NL): This refers to the first language that a child learns. It is also known as the primary language, the mother tongue, or the L1 (first language). In this book, we u the common abbreviation NL.
