Age factorsInSecond Language Acquisition.docx
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Age factorsInSecond Language Acquisition.docx
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AgefactorsInSecondLanguageAcquisition
AgefactorsIn
SecondLanguageAcquisition
AThesis
SubmittedtotheForeignLanguages
InstituteinPartialFulfillmentofthe
RequirementsfortheDegreeofBachelor
OfArtsat
HeibeiNormalUniversity
HuihuaColleg
.Introduction
Inlearningasecondlanguage,thelearnersareinfluencedbyvariousfactorsabouttheinnerandouter.Forexample,theyarelackoflearningenvironmentofthetargetlanguage,soitisdifficultforthemtofullyandtrulygrasptargetlanguage.Meanwhile,thebiggapsinagealsohavegreatinfluenceonsecondlanguageacquisition.Thispaperanalysestheageaspecttoinfluencethesecondlanguageacquisition.
Thereisalwayscontroversyoverageandage-relatedfactorsinsecondlanguageacquisitionoflinguistics.Researchhasrevealedagreatdealofdiversityofassumptionsandhypotheses,somestudiesfavoringthesuperiorityofchildrenlearnersandotherspreferringadults.InthispaperwewilldiscusssometheoriestohavesomebearingonSLA.Intheconclusion,thepossibleimplicationsofthesefindingsandtheirpedagogicalapplicationsarediscussedinlightofpreviousresearch.
.AgeAffectingsecondlanguageacquisition
2.1Theconceptionoflanguageacquisitionandage.
2.1.1Theconceptionoflanguageacquisition
Languageacquisitionisconcernedwithlanguagedevelopmentinhumans.Ingeneral,languageacquisitionreferstochildren’sdevelopmentoftheirfirstlanguage,thatis,thenativelanguageofthecommunityinwhichachildhasbeenbroughtup.Thedevelopmentofafirstornativelanguage(L1)iscalledfirstlanguageacquisition(FLA),andthensecondlanguageacquisition(SLA).L1andL2developmentdonotseemtoinvolveidenticalprocesses.Whetheryouarelearningalanguagenaturallyasaresultoflivinginacountrywhereitisspoken,orspeakgenericallyofsecondlanguageacquisition(Ellis,2000).
Secondlanguageacquisition,orsequentiallanguageacquisition,islearningasecondlanguageafterafirstlanguageisalreadyestablished.ManytimesthishappenswhenachildwhospeaksalanguageotherthanEnglishgoestoschoolforthefirsttime.Childrenhaveaneasiertimelearningasecondlanguage,butanyonecandoitatanyage.Ittakesalotofpractice!
Secondlanguageacquisitionresearchhasbeen40yearsofhistory.Especiallysincethe70softhe20thcentury,variousresearchtheoriesconstantlyupdated,thescientificmethodsarealsomovingforward,andsecondlanguageacquisitionisacomplexhumanphenomenon.Asanemerginginterdisciplinaryfieldinthedevelopmentofsecondlanguageacquisition,researchshouldpayattentiontothenatureofthescientificorientationoftheirdisciplineanddisciplinarysystemofscientificconstruction."SecondLanguage”containsthethird,fourthormoreotherlanguagesnaturally(Ellis,1994).
TheAmericanSLAscholarStephenKrashenmakesthedistinctionbetweenacquisitionandlearning.Krashenholdsthatlanguageacquisitionisasubconsciousprocesstoacquirealanguageinnaturalsettings,whilelanguagelearningisaconsciousprocesstoobtainalanguageinschoolsettings.
Acquisitionandlearningaretwodifferentprocesses.Theformerhelpsthedevelopmentoflanguageabilitywhilethelattercontributestothedevelopmentofknowledgeoflanguage
Childrenobtaintheirmothertonguenotthroughconsciouslearning,butthesecondlanguage,thoughitcanbeacquiredinappropriatelinguisticcontext,isusuallyobtainedinnon-naturalenvironmentthroughformalinstructionandconsciouslearning.
2.1.2Theconceptionofage
AsSegalowitz(1997)hassaid,ageis"averydifficultfactortoisolatefromthemultitudeofsocial,affective,andotherexperientialfactorsconfoundedwithit".NowthatcurrentresearchchallengesLenneberg'sbiologicalimperative,differentratesandattainmentsinSLAmayreflecttheexistenceoftheage-sensitivevariables.Unfortunately,littleisknownaboutSLAingeneraltoallowustosaydefinitelythatXorYmakesacquisitioneasyatoneageordifficultatanother.
However,theconvergenceofage-sensitivevariablesshouldbetakenintoaccountinSLA.Evidenceofage-relatedbarrierstoSLAisavailablefordifferentskillsandareasoflanguage.DoesageaffectbasicoralskillsinSLA?
Thecriticalperiodstudiesusuallyfocusedonchild-adultdifferencesandsuggestedthatyoungerlearnersshouldbesuperiorlearners.However,studiesoforallanguageskillacquisitionbychildrenofdifferentageshaveledtotheconclusionthat,initially,olderchildrenacquirefasterthanyoungerchildren.Forexample,Fathman(1975)foundthatinthefirstyearofstudy,11-to15-year-oldsweresignificantlybetteratacquiringEnglishasasecondlanguagethan6-to10-year-oldsinpronunciation,morphology,andsyntax.Butyoungerlearnerseventuallycatchupandoutperformtheolderonesseveralyearslater.
Astoreadingandwriting,theshort-termstudiesonceagainshowaninitialadvantagefortheolderstudents,butincontrasttothepreviousstudiescitedonbasicoralsecondlanguagedevelopment,thelong-termstudiesshowacontinuingadvantagefortheolderstudents(ages8to12).WhenexaminingageofarrivalatanL2speakingcountry,moststudiesofbothshort-termandlong-termacquisitionfindthatstudentsarrivingbetweentheagesof8and12arefasterinearlyacquisitionofsecondlanguageskills,andoverseveralyearstheymaintainthisadvantageoveryoungerarrivalsof4to7years.Olderlearnershaveanadvantage,atleastinitially.
Althoughevensomestudiesshowedbetterresultsforolderlearners(Rivera,1998),researchhasfoundthattheearlieralearnerbeginsanL2,themorenative-liketheaccenthe/shedevelops(Oyama,1976).
ThefindingsofOyamafortheacquisitionofphonologysuggestthatattainmentisrelatedtotheageofarrival(AO),andanative-likeaccentisalmostimpossibleunlessAOisaroundtheageofsix.Averyhighlevelmaybeachievedaftersix,butitappearsimpossibletobenative-like.
Intheareasofpragmatics,discourseandcollocation,thereisnopublishedworkyet.Asmall-scalestudybyDevenney(1986)suggeststhatfutureworkwillfindage-relatedabilitiesinL2pragmatics(Freeman&Long,1991).
.Basictheories
Apartfrompeople'sexperience,academicstudieshavebeendonesincealongtimeagotoseewhetherpeoplewhobeginacquiringasecondlanguage(L2)beforeacertainagehaveadistinctadvantageoverpeoplewhobeginacquiringanL2atalaterage,intermsoftheirabilitytoacquirenative-likecompetenceintheL2.Butthereseemsnoagreementatpresentwhetherornotageplaysavitalroleinlanguageacquisition.
Thereareusuallyhypothesesasbelow:
3.1CriticalPeriodHypothesisandhypothsis
Thecriticalperiodhypothesis,advancedbyneurobiologistEricLenneberg,referstoaperiodinone'slifeextendingfromaboutagetwotopuberty,duringwhichthehumanbrainismostreadytoacquireaparticularlanguagewithoutformalclassroominstruction.
Thecriticalperiodforfirstlanguageacquisitioncoincideswiththeperiodofbrainlateralization.Brainlateralizationisthelocalizationofcognitiveandperceptualfunctionsinaparticularhemisphereofthebrain.Lateralizationprocessisgradualandmaturational.Itseemstobehuman-specific.
Bothhemispheresareinvolvedinimportantmentalfunctions,withthedifferencesonlyinthewayinwhichincomingstimuliaretreated.
Theyaredependentonandcomplementarytoeachother,forexample:
LefthemisphereRighthemisphere
languageandspeechperceptionofnonlinguisticsounds
analyticreasoningholisticreasoning
temporalorderingvisualandspatialskills
LefthemisphereRighthemisphere
readingandwritingrecognitionofpatterns
calculationrecognitionofmusicalmelodies
associativethought
TwoobservationssupportLenneberg’scriticalperiodhypothesis:
oneisthatbeforethelateralizationiscompleted,achildwiththelefthemispheredamagecanacquirelinguisticskillsbyshiftingthelanguagecenterstotherighthemispherebecauseofcerebralplasticity.Theotheristhatthosebeyondthecriticalperiodarepoorersecondlanguagelearnersthanachild.
Childrenmayshowindividualdifferencesintheacquisitionoftheirmothertongues,butallnormalchildren,broughtupwithappropriatemothertongueinputinappropriatelinguisticcontext,cansuccessfullyacquiretheirmothertonguesandthestagestheyexperienceinthemothertongueacquisitionaresimilar.
Languageacquisitionisprimarilytheacquisitionofthegrammaticalsystem.First,noonecanstoreallthewordsandexpressionsinhismind.Achildusuallyconstructshisgrammaticalrulesbylisteningtothelinguisticinputthatsurroundshimandspeaksaccordingtohisownconstructedgrammar.
Withouttheseproductiverules,alanguageuserwouldbeunabletoproduceandunderstoodanunlimitednumberofsentenceswhichhehasneverheardorusedbefore.
Languageacquisitionismainlytheacquisitionofgrammaticalrules.Thisdoesnotmeanthatitistheacquisitionofeachspecificrule.Whatachildhasacquiredisalimitednumberofhighlyabstractandgeneralprinciples,ignoringtheirregularcases.
Forexample,achildmayadd“-s”totheendofanountoformthepluralform,whetherthenounisregularorirregular.Therefore,themistakesthatachildmakesaresystematicandpredictable.
3.2FundamentalDifferenceHypothesis(Bley-Vroman,1988)
Chomsky'sargumentsthatchildrenmadeuseofabiologicallyendowedlanguage-acquisitiondeviceforacquiringlanguagearewidelyaccepted.AccordingtoBley-Vroman,childrenandadultsacquirelanguagesint
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