Second language acquisition.docx
- 文档编号:26556354
- 上传时间:2023-06-20
- 格式:DOCX
- 页数:38
- 大小:35.39KB
Second language acquisition.docx
《Second language acquisition.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《Second language acquisition.docx(38页珍藏版)》请在冰豆网上搜索。
Secondlanguageacquisition
12
Secondlanguageacquisition
LourdesOrtega
Introduction
ThefieldofSecondLanguageAcquisition(SLA)isabranchofappliedlinguisticsthathasahistoryextendingoverhalfacentury.Itinvestigatesthehumancapacitytolearnadditionallanguagesduringlatechildhood,adolescence,oradulthood,oncethefirstlanguage,inthecaseofmonolinguals,orthefirstlanguages,inthecaseofbilingualsandmultilinguals,havebeenacquired.SLAresearchersstrivetoshedlightonfouroverarchingquestions:
1Howdohumanslearnadditionallanguagesaftertheyhavelearnedtheirfirst?
2Inwhatwaysisthelearningofanadditionallanguagedifferentfromthelearningof
languagesforwhichexposureisavailablefrombirth,andinwhatwaysmightitbesimilar?
3Whatfactorscontributetothevariabilityobservedinratesandoutcomesofadditionallanguagelearning?
4Whatdoesittaketoattainadvancedlanguageandliteracycompetenciesinalanguagethatislearnedlaterinlife?
SLAsharesitsinterestinexplaininghumanlanguagedevelopmentwithtwootherfields,bothofwhichstudyfirstlanguageacquisitionfromthewombtorightbeforechildrenenterschool.
TheseareBilingualFirstLanguageAcquisition(BFLA),whichexamineslanguagedevelopmentamonginfantsandchildrenwhentheygrowupsurroundedbytwoormorelanguagesfrombirth(DeHouwer2009),andFirstLanguageAcquisition(FLA),alsoknownasChildLanguageAcquisition,whichinvestigateshowinfantsandchildrenlearntheirfirstlanguagewhentheygrowupsurroundedbyonelanguageonly(Clark2003).
ThedifferencesinfocusbetweenthesetwofieldsandSLAareimportant.First,inthefieldsofbilingualandmonolingualfirstlanguageacquisition,infantsandtoddlersareinvestigatedatthecriticalpointinlifewhentheyarediscoveringhumanlanguage,asinstantiatedinthespecificlanguage(s)thattheircarershappentospeaktothem.Bycontrast,allparticipantsinSLAstudieswillalreadyberelativelymatureusersofatleastonelanguage,oftenmore.Their
existinglanguagecompetencieswillinfluencetheirlearningofthelanguagethatisbeingadded
totheirrepertoire.Second,atthepointoffirstlanguageacquisition,infantsandtoddlersmust
171
developsociallyandconceptuallyintandemwithdevelopinglinguistically.Ontheotherhand,
adults,adolescents,andevenchildrenasyoungasfourorfive,canbeexpectedtobringtothe
taskalreadyrelativelysophisticatedandincreasinglyfine-tunedsocialandconceptual
structures.Finally,BFLAandFLAresearcherstypicallyassumenaturalisticconditionsof
languagelearning,becauseinfantsandtoddlerslearnlanguagebybeingsurroundedby
meaningfullanguageuseandintheabsenceofinstruction.SLAresearchers,ontheother
hand,investigatelanguagelearninginanypossiblecontext,rangingfromnaturalisticacquisition
withinanon-instructionalcommunity(e.g.aneighbourhood,achurchgroup,theworkplace,
orduringregularschoolingthathappenstooccurinanewlanguage),toformalinstructionof
variouskinds(e.g.tutorialsorself-access;second,foreign,orheritagelanguageclassrooms;or
classroom-engineeredimmersionsettings),andoftenacombinationofthetwo.Thisbeingso,
instructionisanimportantareaofstudyinSLA(seeLarsen-Freeman,thisvolume).
SLAtheoriesinhistoricalperspective
Scholarshavewrittenabouthowpeoplelearnsecondlanguagesandhowtobestteachforeign
languagessinceancienttimes.Wheninthelate1960sSLAemergedasaformalresearch
community,itdidsoshapedbytheselong-standinginterestsinlanguagelearningandteaching.
AdditionalinfluencescamefrommorespecificdevelopmentsinthefieldofFLA,whichat
thetimehadbeentransformedbyaprocessoftheoreticalrenewalinreactionagainstthe
prevailingbehaviouristviewoflanguageacquisitionandhadbeguntoyieldexcitingempirical
findingsabouthowchildrenwhogrowupmonolinguallearntheirmothertongue(e.g.Brown
1973).
TheawakeningsofSLA:
interlanguage
Theyears1967and1972markthepublicationoftwoseminalpapersbyPitCorderand
LarrySelinkerthatareoftenassociatedwiththeawakeningsofthefieldbecauseofthe
importanceoftheargumentstheyputforth.Atanempiricallevel,theycalledtoquestion
thedominantpracticeofcontrastiveanalysis,whichlookedforacquisitionanswersinthe
exhaustivecomparisonofthelinguisticinventoriesofthelanguagepairsinvolvedinthe
learningtask,thefirstlanguageandthetargetlanguage.Instead,Corder(1967)andSelinker
(1972)arguedresearchersmustturnforevidencetotheactuallanguageproducedbylearners
astheytrytocommunicateinthetargetsecondlanguage(L2).Thismeantexaminingthe
‘errors’learnersproducenotassomethingtobepre-emptedorremediedbutasobjectsof
studythatholdgreatvalueforunderstandingL2acquisition.Atthetheoreticallevel,the
behaviouristviewoflanguageacquisitionasmerehabitformationwasrejectedandreplaced
byanovelconceptualizationofacquisitionascreativeconstruction.Forthefirsttime,learners
wereviewedasactiveandrationalagentswhoengagedinthediscoveryofunderlyingL2
rules.Theyformedhypothesesaboutthelanguage,testedthem,andemployedanumberof
cognitiveandsocialstrategiestoregulatetheirlearning.Thesedevelopmentsmadeinterlanguage
investigationsduringthe1970sand1980sincreasinglymorefocusedoncognitive
andpsycholinguisticaspectsofacquisition.Nevertheless,afewSLAresearchersalsoworking
withintheinterlanguagetraditionturnedtheirattentiontoexploringthepotentialof
quantitativesociolinguistictheoriesofvariationforthestudyofL2development(e.g.Tarone
1988).
Oncethefoundationsofinterlanguageasanovelanddistinctobjectofinquirywerelaid
out,therewasajustificationfortheneedforafieldthatwouldinvestigateadditionallanguage
LourdesOrtega
172
developmentinitsownright.Afterthesebeginnings,severalbroadphasescanbedistinguished
inthehistoryofSLA.Thenarrativedepictionoforderlyhistoricaltrendsthatfollows
belowisonlyaconvenientshorthandthatundoubtedlyobscuresmorecomplicated
developments.
Fromfirsttheoriestothecognitiveandlinguisticemphasesofthe1990s
Bytheearly1980s,thefirstattemptataformaltheoryofL2acquisitionwasmusteredinthe
UnitedStatesbyStephenKrashen(1985).KnownastheMonitorModel,thistheorybecame
(andhasremained)popularwithlanguageteachers.Inanutshell,Krashenproposedthat:
(a)thecoreingredientofadditionallanguagelearningismeaningful,comprehensibleinput;
(b)theprocessesofadditionallanguageacquisitionareimplicitandsubconsciousandany
explicitandconsciousprocessesthatmaybesummonedintheclassroomcanonlyhelpcareful
monitoredperformancebutwillhavelittleeffectsontruelanguageknowledgeoronspontaneous
performance;and(c)themainobstaclestoadditionallanguagelearningforadultsstem
fromaffectiveinhibitions.Despiteitspopularity,alreadyinthemid-1980stheMonitorModel
wasevaluatedasbeingtoometaphoricaltolenditselftoproperempiricalinvestigation.The
strongestcritiqueswerelevelledbySLAscholarswhowerewellversedinskillsacquisition
theoryfromthefieldofpsychology(e.g.McLaughlin1987),andalsobyscholarswhohad
begunapplyingUniversalGrammartheoryfromthefieldoflinguisticstothedisciplinary
SLAproject(e.g.Gregg1984).Inbothcases,thecriticismsalsoservedtocarveintellectual
spacesforthesenewerkindsofSLAtheories.
Thus,asthe1980scametoaclose,theSLAresearchcommunityhadalreadydeveloped
severaltheoreticallydistinctproposalsforexplainingL2acquisition.Oneview(Krashen1985)
wasthatL2acquisitionoccurswithindimensionsdefinedlargelybyinputandaffectand
operatingmostlyattheunconsciouslevel.Anotherposition(McLaughlin1987)heldthat
learninganadditionallanguageisacomplex,cognitiveprocesssimilartoanyotherhuman
learning(cooking,playingchess,ridingabike,thinkingmathematically,knowinghistory);as
such,itinvolvesgreatamountsofexperienceaidedbyattentionandmemoryanditmust
includethedevelopmentofsufficientdeclarativeknowledgeaboutthelanguageandsufficient
deliberatepracticetoeventuallysupportfullyautomaticuseoflanguage.Athirdview(White
1989)wasthatthementalgrammarofsecondlanguagelearnersmustbeexplainedbythe
relativecontributionsoftwoforcesthatguidetacitlanguageknowledgeformationandthat
areindependentfromothercognitiveoperations,andevenrelativelyindependentfromsurrounding
ambientexperience,namelyabstractknowledgeofUniversalGrammar(whichthe
humanspeciesisendowedwithatbirth)andmorespecificknowledgeofagivenfirstlanguage
(whichisimprintedinthemindoflanguageusersduringthecriticalyearsoflearningafirst
languageorlanguages).
Particularlyduringthe1990s,thesevariedSLAresearcheffortswerestrengthenedtothe
pointofcoheringintowhatlookedlikeoneoftwodominantapproaches.Acognitiveinteractionist
prism(Larsen-FreemanandLong1991)wasstronglyinfluencedbySwisspsychologist
JeanPiagetandeasilyaccommodatedwithinittheinterlanguageresearchtradition
aswellastheskillsacquisitiontheory.ItcalledfortheexaminationofL2acquisitionasthe
sumcontributionsoflearner-internalfactors,suchasattentionandmemory,andlearnerexternal
factors,suchastheinteractionsofferedtolearnersinthetargetlanguageandthe
qualityofanyformalinstructiontheymightseek.Bycontrast,aformallinguisticSLAprism
(Ha
- 配套讲稿:
如PPT文件的首页显示word图标,表示该PPT已包含配套word讲稿。双击word图标可打开word文档。
- 特殊限制:
部分文档作品中含有的国旗、国徽等图片,仅作为作品整体效果示例展示,禁止商用。设计者仅对作品中独创性部分享有著作权。
- 关 键 词:
- Second language acquisition