Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

• SLA is the process of learning a language other than the first language (L1)
• It is the study of how the learning occurs in diverse settings
• L2 may refer to the third, fourth, or tenth language a learner acquires in SLA terminology
• Informal learning in natural settings, structured classroom learning, and mixed formal and informal methods are all included in the scope of SLA
• Understanding SLA requires exploring what language learners acquire, how they acquire it, and why some learners are more successful

Key Terms

• First Language (L1): Acquired naturally from birth, typically before age three, serving as the foundation for subsequent language acquisition
• Second Language (L2): An additional language learned after the first, often for social, educational, or professional purposes
• Foreign Language: A language not commonly used in the learner's social context, studied primarily for travel, academic, or professional reasons
• Target Language (TL): The language that the learner aims to acquire
• Linguistic Competence: The underlying knowledge of a language
• Linguistic Performance: Actual use of language in speaking or writing

Multilingualism

• Simultaneous Multilingualism: Learning multiple languages from birth
• Sequential Multilingualism: Learning additional languages after the L1

The Multidisciplinary Nature of SLA

• Linguistic Perspective: Focuses on language structure, including syntax, phonology, and morphology and investigates the differences and similarities between L1 and L2
  • For example, analyzing how English speakers learn the gendered noun system in Spanish (or Arabic), which is absent in English
• Psychological Perspective: Emphasizes cognitive processes, mental strategies, and how language is represented in the brain, explores stages of learning, memory retention, and the role of aptitude
  • For example, studying why younger learners often achieve higher levels of native-like proficiency compared to older learners
• Social Perspective: Considers the impact of social interactions, cultural contexts, and societal factors on language learning
  • Explores how learner identity, motivation, and attitudes toward the target language community influence acquisition
  • For example, examining how immigrants adapt to a new language for integration into the host country's society

Approaches in SLA Research

• Academic disciplines offer insights like linguists, psychologists, sociolinguists and applied linguists
• Linguists: study differences and similarities between L1 and L2
• Psychologists: explore cognitive processes and brain activity
• Sociolinguists: examine performance and communicative competence
• Applied Linguists: consider implications for teaching
• Challenges and Complexities in SLA: learning a second language is a complex, multifaceted process, influenced by linguistic, individual, social, and economic factors

Bilingualism

• Bilingualism is the use of two or more languages daily, and it's widespread, involving over half the world's population
• Bilinguals: individuals who regularly use two or more languages or dialects

Examples of bilingual contexts

• Switzerland has four national languages with well-defined linguistic regions leading to bilingualism
• Immigrant populations often lead to bilingualism as they learn the language of the host country while maintaining their native language

Key terms Related to Bilingualism

• Bilingualism: The use of two or more languages by an individual in everyday life
• Code-switching: The alternate use of two languages
• Biculturalism: Taking part, to varying degrees, in the life of two or more cultures
• Interference: Deviation from the language being spoken stemming from of the deactivated languages

Reasons for Bilingualism

• Linguistic Diversity: Many countries have a high number of native languages, leading to bilingualism when different language groups interact (e.g., Nigeria, India)
• Migration and Travel: Trade, migration, colonization, and economic reasons often lead to the need for bilingualism (e.g., Russians learning Greek during the Byzantine era)
• Education: In many countries, education is a significant driver of bilingualism (Children learn multiple languages in school, and international students become bilingual by studying abroad)

Types and Levels of Bilingualism

• Fluency vs. Use: It does not require equal fluency in both languages, but is more about regular use. One language may be dominant depending on context or use
• Different Purposes: Bilinguals often use each language for distinct functions, such as family communication versus work
• Language Proficiency: Bilinguals may have varying degrees of fluency and use in different languages. A person might be fluent in two languages for daily tasks but use another language only occasionally

Misconceptions About Bilingualism

• Myth of Perfect Bilingualism: Expecting bilinguals to have perfect command of both languages is incorrect, as most are not "perfect" speakers of all their languages
• Bilingualism and Childhood: It is often assumed that true bilingualism requires early childhood acquisition, but many adults become proficient bilinguals through education or necessity

Psychological and Social Aspects of Bilingualism

• Code-Switching: It is often seen when bilinguals often switch languages depending on context, audience, or emotional needs, and is a normal part of bilingual communication
• Biculturalism: Many, but not all, bilinguals are also bicultural, navigating between cultural contexts in addition to languages, this can lead to unique perspectives and challenges
• Bilingualism Across Lifespan: changes with life stages. Language dominance and use may shift depending on life circumstances (e.g., migration, marriage, employment)
• Aging bilinguals may show changes in language proficiency, reflecting their varied use of each language over time

Benefits and Challenges of Bilingualism

• Cognitive Advantages: Research suggests that it enhances cognitive flexibility and multitasking skills
• Language Interference: A limitation is that the interference of one language with another, especially in stressful or emotional contexts can be challenging

Cognitive development in learner language

• Cognitive development in SLA refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring and using a second language (L2).
• Information Processing: the brain's method of handling L2 input and converting it to output
• Restructuring: sudden changes in linguistic performance due to new input that does not fit existing knowledge
• Connectionism: a cognitive framework viewing SLA as strengthening associations between stimuli (language input) and responses
• Metalinguistic Skills: the ability to think about and manipulate language structures consciously
• Interference: L1 cognitive patterns can hinder L2 learning
• Cognitive Processes: SLA involves complex interactions between prior knowledge, cognitive styles, and linguistic input
• Metacognitive Strategies: Learners often develop strategies to regulate their learning, improving L2

Overview of Cognitive Development in SLA

• Cognitive development in SLA: a dynamic process
  • influenced by factors like prior knowledge, language input, and individual cognitive abilities
  • Understanding the cognitive processes aids educators in designing effective teaching strategies and provides supports learners in overcoming challenges.
• SLA focuses on how learners mentally process, store, and use a second language (L2)
  • a dynamic process with the transfer of knowledge from the first language (L1), restructuring linguistic information, and developing strategies for effective language use

Stages of Cognitive Development

• Initial state in SLA
  • The cognitive resources available here at the start of learning include language, comprehension, and knowledge
  • L1 Linguistic knowledge is the understanding of how language operates
  • World knowledge is cognitive understanding of the world, which influences how learners interpret and express information in L2
• Differences from L1 Acquisition for SLA
  • Older L2 learners do not rely on innate cognitive mechanisms but instead draw on their pre-existing cognitive maturity and L1 experience
  • Cognitive maturity: Impacts the strategies they use for learning, often analytical and deliberate approaches
• Intermediate State of SLA
  • Characterized by ongoing mental changes and development
  • Systematic progression with similarity to L1 stages in children
• Cross-Linguistic Influence (Transfer)
  • Positive transfer: aids in the learning process
  • Negative transfer (interference): interferes with L2 production, leading to errors (pronunciation, grammar, and syntax)
• Information Processing in SLA: learners move through phases of cognitive processing from controlled to automatic processing
  • Controlled processing: Requires conscious effort
  • Automatic processing: With practice, language use becomes automatic
• Cognitive Approaches to SLA: primary source for both first (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition is the learner's participative, contextualized experience of language
  • Language learning: largely based on usage, humans learn to communicate and make meaning

Cognitive Theories and Models

• Multidimensional Model (learning step-by-step):
  • Learners acquire certain grammatical structures in a developmental sequence
  • Sequences reflect how learners overcome processing limitations
  • Language instruction: will be successful only if learners have already mastered prior operations

Competition Model and Connectionism

• Competition Model: Linguistic performance involves "mapping" between external form and internal function
  • (Form of a lexical item = auditory properties, its function = semantic. Strings of lexical items = word-order patterns & morphological inflections)
• Connectionism: Builds between language learning associations

Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism

• Bilingual individuals often exhibit enhanced creativity, problem-solving abilities, and greater metalinguistic awareness.
• Metalinguistic Awareness: ability to reflect on and manipulate language structures consciously. It is often more developed in bilingual or multilingual individuals
• Bilinguals: Outperform in verbal and non verbal tasks, showing cognitive benefits

Congitive Challenges in SLA

• Interference: L1 cognitive patterns complicate L2 learning when they do not align, causing confusion and errors Complex Concepts: Older learners struggle with expressing advanced concepts with limited L2 proficiency

Effective cognitive development in SLA

• Learners develop metacognitive strategies to optimize learning
• Metacognitive Strategies: involve planning, monitoring, and evaluating one's learning process

Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism

• Lingiusts, educators and psychologists are interested in this area
• Understand cognitive impacts to challenge long standing myths of bilingualism
• cognitive advantages of Bilingualism is problem Solving & Executive Functioning
• Ellen Bialystok highlighted the bilingual advantage in “selective attention” and “inhibitory control”
• Bilingual children have enhanced abilities controlling attention and their info

Additional Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism

• Cognitive Flexibility & Divergent Thinking, leading multiple solutions to a given problem's various difficulties and identifying the troubles one might encounter.

Debate on Bilingual Cognitive Benifits

• Methodological Considerations:The cognitive effects of bilingualism is debated
• Early studies suggest that socio economic factors, education or language proficiency led to mixed results/ findings
• Context-Dependent Findings: the findings are varied and dependant on context.

Vocabulary Acquisition & Lang Proficiency

• Bilingualism provides numerous cognitive benefits, but also poses challenges
• Bilingual kids often have smaller vocab
• Common cognitive challenge for bilinguals is language interference
• Social Dimensions of Additional Language Learning: mastering lingustics to promote effective communication

Communicative Competence in SLA

• The speaker communicated adequately with language, knowledge, and social cue awareness
• The way the speaker and listener understands tone, gesture, and other circumstances

Microsocial and Macrosocial Dimensions of Communication

• Microsocial Dimensions: factors pertain to the immediate social setting where the SLA occurs.
• Macrosocial dimension: influences Frame SLA within broader societal, cultural, and institutional contexts (Power, Boundaries & Identities)
• Acculturation in learning
• Additive and Sudtractive Bilingualism

Social, Educational, and Ideological Forces of Bilingualism

• Social forces that affect bilingualism include social attitude, migration, and community support
• Educational forces shape bilingualism based on education type and support for it
• Ideological forces shape bilingualism based on political ideology, and misconceptions of it

Role of Individual Differences in Lang Acquisition

• Cognitive factors, trait, age and social environment all affect lang acquisition
• Learners display aptitude in the lang they are learning
• Lang learning occurs in a variety of environments where interaction occurs
• Positive Transfer: Positive benefits when the the L1 and L2 share similarities
• Negative transfer: where rules are incorrectly applied

Ultimate outcomes and fossilization

• Proficient and skilled learners improve significantly in L2, depending on social, mental, and intellectual skills
• Social, language, and economic skills shape competence

Role of Input and the Acquisition in Bilingual Language

• Lang output should be varied and meaningful, for example reading improves vocabulary

Grammatical development in Bilinguals

• Amazing since child can separate their languages gramatical systems from an early age
• Language can enhance skill and development for the linguistic level

Factors Influencing Bilingual input

• effort to ensure kids aquire lang, quantity and quality enhances the status of bilingualism

Hildegards case study

• Bilingual girl spending more time with the German language because her father was fluent in it
• Spending time with the german family improved english and German over time

Similarity/ differences of late bilingualism and early bilingualism

• Motivation and environmental necessity play significant roles regardless of age

early and late bilingualism can stem through the same connection

• They connect through all 4 areas;
• Emotions
• Thoughts and thinking
• Pronunciation
• Fluency
• The younger the child the better chance of reaching native language

Code-switching Patterns

• Pattern is seamless in the early ages to use multiple languages and retrieval as a late learner
• Factors like, socio-economic, age, environment and neuroplastcity shapes the ability to gain skill in the language

SLA and lang acquisition

• Help students by tailoring to the learner by what's familiar to them
• Support Comprehension by helping them achieve goals
• Balance lang use and gradual education for the class by phasing it properly