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An Introduction to the Second Language Acquisition

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 Second Language Acquisition: Dr. Md. Enamul Hoque

An Introduction to the Second Language Acquisition

Dr. Md. Enamul Hoque
Director, EDRC
Bamgladesh

1. Introduction

Language is the method of expressing ideas and emotions in the form of signs and symbols.
These signs and symbols are used to encode and decode the information. There are many
languages spoken in the world. The first language learned by a baby is his or her mother
tongue. It is the language, which he or she listens to from his or her birth. Any other
language learned or acquired is known as the second language. Second language
acquisition, or SLA, has two meanings. In a general sense it is a term to describe learning a
second language. More specifically, it is the name of the theory of the process by which we
acquire - or pick up - a second language. This is mainly a subconscious process which
happens while we focus on communication. It can be compared with second language
learning, which describes how formal language education helps us learn language through
more conscious processes. Implications for the language classroom include the ideas that
the teacher can create contexts for communication which facilitate acquisition, that there is
a natural order of acquisition of language, that there are affective filters which inhibit
acquisition, especially for adults, and that comprehensible input is very important.

1.1. Second language acquisition

The definition of second language acquisition and learning is learning and acquisition of a
second language once the mother tongue or first language acquisition is established. It
is the systematic study of how people learn a language other than their mother tongue.
Second language acquisition or SLA is the process of learning other languages in addition
to the native language. For instance, a child who speaks Hindi as the mother tongue starts
learning English when he starts going to school. English is learned by the process of
second language acquisition. In fact, a young child can learn a second language faster
than an adult can learn the same language.

1.2. Second Language Learning

Language learning refers to the formal learning of a language in the classroom. On the
other hand, language acquisition means acquiring the language with little or no formal
training or learning. If you go to a foreign land where people speak a different language

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from your native language, you need to acquire that foreign language. It can be done with
little formal learning of the language through your every day interaction with the native
peoples in the market place, work place, parks or anywhere else. This is true for learning
spoken language.

1.3. First language acquisition

It seems that children all over the world go through similar stages of language learning
behaviors. They use similar constructions in order to express similar meanings, and make
the same kinds of errors. These stages can be summarized as follows:

SL Language stage Beginning stage

1 crying birth
2 cooing 6 weeks
3 babbling 6 months
4 one-word utterances 1 year
5 two-word utterances 18 months
6 questions, negatives 2 years 3 months
7 rare or complex constructions 5 years
8 mature speech 10 years

An important characteristic of child language is that it is rule-governed, even if initially

the rules children create do not correspond to adult ones. Children commonly produce
forms such as sheeps or breads which they never heard before and therefore not imitating.

2. Language Acquisition and Language Learning

Learners acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware of
grammatical rules. This happens especially when they acquire their first language. They repeat
what is said to them and get a feel for what is and what is not correct. In order to acquire a
language, they need a source of natural communication, which is usually the mother, the father,
or the caregiver.

Language learning, on the other hand, is the result of direct instruction in the rules of
language. Language learning is not an age-appropriate activity for very young children as
learning presupposes that learners have a conscious knowledge of the new language and can
talk about that knowledge. They usually have a basic knowledge of the grammar.

Acquisition:

 unconscious process
 does not presuppose teaching
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 the child controls the pace

Learning:

 intentional process
 presupposes teaching
 the teacher controls the pace

One needs to approach the comparison of first and second language acquisition by first
considering the differences between children and adults.

Four possible categories to compare, defined by age and type of acquisition are presented
as follows:

Child Adult
L1 C1 A1
L2 C2 A2

Cell A1 is of an abnormal situation. There have been few instances of an adult acquiring a
first language. The C1-A2 comparisons are difficult to make because of the enormous
cognitive, affective, and physical differences between children and adults. The C1-C2
hold age constant, while the C2-A2 hold second language constant.

3. Critical Period Hypothesis

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The Critical Period Hypothesis is the ability to acquire language biologically linked
to age. This hypothesis claims that there is a period of growth, from early childhood to
adolescence, in which full native competence is possible when learning a language. The
hypothesis was grounded in research which showed that people who lost their linguistic
capabilities, for example as a result of an accident, were able to regain them totally before
puberty (about the age of twelve) but were unable to do so afterwards. There is
considerable evidence to support the claim that L2 learners who begin learning as adults
are unable to achieve native-speaker competence in either grammar or pronunciation.
Derived from biology, this concept was presented by Penfield and Roberts in 1959 and
refined by Lenneberg in 1967. Lenneberg contended that the LAD needed to take place
between age two and puberty: a period he believed to correspond with the lateralisation
process of the brain. The lateralisation process of the brain is it a complex and ongoing
procedure that refers to the tendency for some cognitive processes to be more dominant in
one hemisphere than the other. According to Lenneberg this idea was concerned with the
implicit “automatic acquisition” in immersion contexts and does not stop the possibility
of learning a foreign language after adolescence, but with a lot more effort and typically
less achievement. Lenneberg likewise expressed that the development of language is a
result of brain maturation: equipotential hemispheres at birth, language gradually
becoming lateralized in the left hemisphere.
4. Lateralization
There is evidence in neurological research that as the human brain matures, certain
functions are assigned, or ‘lateralized’, to the left hemisphere of the brain, and certain
other functions to the right hemisphere. Intellectual, logical, and analytic functions appear
to be largely located in the left hemisphere, while the right hemisphere controls functions
related to emotional and social needs. Lenneberg (1967) suggested that lateralization is a
slow process that begins around the age of two and is completed around puberty.

4. History of Second Language Theories and Approach

4.1. Behavioristic approach (1900s -1950s):
In the 1950s and 1960s, in the behaviorist view, language learning is seen as the
formation of habits, based on the notions of stimulus and response. The response people
give to stimuli in their environment will be reinforced if desired outcome is obtained.
Through repeated reinforcement, a certain stimulus will elicit the same response time and
again, which will then become a habit. When learning a second language, we already
have a set of well-established responses in our mother tongue. The L2 learning process
therefore involves replacing those habits by a set of new ones. The complication is that
the old L1 habits interfere with this process, either helping or inhibiting it. If the
structures in the L2 are similar to those of the L1, learning will take place easily. If,
however, structures are realized differently in the L1 and the L2, then learning will be
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difficult. From a teaching point of view, the implications of this approach were twofold.
First, language learning would take place by imitating and repeating the same structures
time after time (it was strongly believed that practice makes perfect). Second, teachers
need to focus their teaching on areas of L1 and L2 difference. Researchers also embarked
on the task of comparing pairs of languages in order to pinpoint areas of differences. This
was termed Contrastive Analysis (CA).

Behaviorist leaning theory

Theories of habit formation were theories of learning in general. A habit was formed
when a particular stimulus became regularly linked with a particular response. These
theories were applied to language learning. In L1 acquisition children were said to master
their mother tongue by imitating utterances produced by adults and having their efforts at
using language either rewarded or corrected. It was also believed that SLA could proceed
in a similar way. Imitation and reinforcement were the means by which the learner
identified the stimulus-response association that constituted the habits of the L2. L2
learning was most successful when the task was broken into a number of
stimulus-response links, which could be systematically practiced and mastered one at a
time.
Criticisms: The creativity of language- children do not learn and reproduce a large set of
sentences, but they create new sentences that they have never learned before. This is only
possible because they internalize rules rather than strings of words. (e.g. Mummy goed; it
breaked.)

Why the L2 learner made errors:

Old habits get in the way of learning new habits. The notion of interference has a central
place in behaviorist account of SLA. Where the first and second language share a
meaning but express it in different ways, an error is likely to arise in the L2 because the
learner will transfer the realization device form his first language into the second.
Transfer will be positive when the first and second language habits are the same. Thus
differences between the first and second language create learning difficulty which results
in errors. By comparing the learner’s native language with the target language, differences
could be identified and used to predict areas of potential error.

4.2. Krashen’s monitor model (the 1970s)

Krashen’s Monitor Model evolved in the late 1970s in a series of articles (Krashen 1977,
1978) and was elaborated and expanded in a number of books (Krashen 1981, 1982, 1985;
Krashen and Terrell 1983). Krashen’s theory has achieved considerable popularity among
second-language teachers in the United States. On the other hand, the theory has been
seriously criticized on various grounds by second-language researchers and theorists.
The five central hypotheses which constitute Krashen’s theory are as follows:
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1. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

2. The Monitor Hypothesis
3. The Natural Order Hypothesis
4. The Input Hypothesis
5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis

The acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

Krashen claimed that adult learners have two means for internalizing the target language.
The first is “acquisition”, a subconscious and intuitive process of constructing the system
of a language, not unlike the process used by a child to “pick up” a language. The second
means is a conscious “learning” process in which learners attend to form, figure out rules,
and are generally aware of their own process. According to Krashen, what is consciously
learned – through the presentation of rules and explanations of grammar – does not
become the basis of acquisition of the target language. Learning does not “turn into”
acquisition. Our conscious learning process and our subconscious acquisition process are
mutually exclusive.

The Monitor Hypothesis

The “Monitor” is a “device” for “watchdogging” one’s output, for editing and making
alterations or corrections as they are consciously perceived. Acquisition “initiates” the
speaker’s utterances and is responsible for fluency. Thus the Monitor is thought to alter
the output of the acquired system before or after the utterance is actually written or
spoken, but the utterance is initiated entirely by the acquired system. This hypothesis has
important implications for language teaching. Krashen argued that formal instruction in a
language provides rule isolation and feedback for the development of the Monitor, but
that production is based on what is acquired through communication, with the Monitor
altering production to improve accuracy toward target language norms. Krashen’s
position is that conscious knowledge of rules does not help acquisition, but only enables
the learner to “polish up” what has been acquired through communication. The focus of
language teaching should not be rule-learning but communication.

The Natural Order Hypothesis

The Natural Order Hypothesis states that we acquire the rules of language in a predictable
order, some rules tending to come early and others late (Krashen 1985). This “natural”
order of acquisition is presumed to be the result of the acquired system, operating free of
conscious grammar, or the Monitor. The principal source of evidence for the Natural
Order Hypothesis comes from the so-called “morpheme’ studies” (Dulay and Burt 1974)
Krashen also maintained that there is a “natural” sequence for the development of the
negative, the auxiliary system, questions, and inflections in English. To conclude,
Krashen’s argument for the Natural Order Hypothesis is based largely on the morpheme
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studies, which have been criticized on various grounds and which, by focusing on final
form, tell us little about acquisitional sequences.

The Input Hypothesis

This hypothesis postulates that humans acquire language in only one way – by
understanding messages, or by receiving ‘comprehensible input’…We move form i, our
current level, to i+1, the next level along the natural order, by understanding input
containing i+1 (Krashen 1985). An important part of the Input Hypothesis is Krashen’s
recommendation that speaking not be taught directly or very soon in the language
classroom. Speech will ‘emerge’ once the acquirer has built up enough comprehensible
input (i+1). Comprehensible input is the route to acquisition and information about
grammar in the target language is automatically available when the input is understood.
Evidence: the silent period – during this period, learners are presumably building up
their competence in the target language by listening. Krashen argued that they are making
use of the ‘comprehensible input’ they receive. Once competence has been built up,
speech emerges.
Criticism: there is no way of knowing what comprehensible input is. Also, learners make
considerable use of formulaic expressions during the process of acquisition. Formulaic
constructions enable learners to express communicative functions they have not yet
mastered and may be far from mastering. The main function of the second language class
according to Krashen is to provide learners with good and grammatical comprehensible
input that unavailable to them on the outside, and to bring them to the point where they
can obtain comprehensible input on their own in the real world. Krashen argued that the
best way to learn a second language is to approach the language as children do when they
are acquiring their first language.

The Natural Approach: communication competence, or functional ability in a language,

arises from exposure to the language in meaningful settings where the meanings
expressed by the language are understood. Rules, patterns, vocabulary, and other
language forms are not learned as they are presented or encountered, but are gradually
established in the learner’s repertory on the basis of exposure to comprehensible input.
Krashen claimed that if input is understood and there is enough of it, the necessary
grammar is automatically provided. Speaking is a result of acquisition and not its cause.
The ability to communicate in a second language cannot be taught directly but ‘emerges’
on its own as a result of building competence via comprehensible input. However,
Krashen has argued that speaking is unnecessary for acquiring a second language. In his
view, the only role that the speaker’s output plays is to provide a further source of
comprehensible input. Other researchers would argue that understanding new forms in not
enough; the learner must be given the opportunity to produce the new forms. Swain
(1985) has argued for the importance of “comprehensible output”. Learners can benefit
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from talking.
The Affective Filter Hypothesis
According to the Affective Filter Hypothesis, comprehensible input may not be utilized
by a second-language acquirers if there is a ‘mental block’ that prevents them form fully
profiting from it (Krashen 1985). The affective filter acts as a barrier to acquisition: if the
filter is ‘down’, the input reaches the LAD and becomes acquired competence; if the filter
is ‘up’, the input is blocked and does not reach the LAD. Krashen maintained that
acquirers need to be open to the input and that when the affective is up, the learner may
understand what is seen and read, but the input will not reach the LAD. This occurs when
the acquirer is unmotivated, lacking in confidence, or concerned with failure. The filter is
down when the acquirer is not anxious and is intent on becoming a member of the group
speaking the target language. Many researchers agree with Krashen on basic assumptions,
such as the need to move form grammar-based to communicatively oriented language
instruction, the role of affective factors in language learning, and the importance of
acquisitional sequences in second-language development.

Criticism of Monitor Model

1. Barry McLaughlin (1978, 1990) sharply criticized Krashen’s rather fuzzy distinction
between subconscious (acquisition) and conscious (learning) processes.
2. There is no interface – no overlap – between acquisition and learning. Instruction in
conscious rule learning can indeed aid in the attainment of successful communicative
competence in a second language.
3. Krashen’s Input Hypothesis claims that success in a foreign language can be
attributed to input alone. Such a theory ascribes little credit to learners and their own
active engagement in the pursuit of language competence. First of all, it is important
to distinguish between input and intake. The latter is the subset of all input that
actually gets assigned to our long-term memory store. Second language learners are
exposed to potentially large quantities of input, only a fraction of which becomes
intake.
4. Krashen presents the i+1 formula as if we are actually able to define i and 1, and we
are not.
5. The notion that speech will ‘emerge’ in a context of comprehensible input sounds
promising, but we are left with no significant information on what to do about the
students for whom speech does not ‘emerge’.
4.3. The rationalism/ cognitive approach (the 1960s-1970s):
Cognitive psychologists sought to discover underlying motivations and deeper structures
of human behavior by using a rational approach. They employed the tools of logic, reason,
extrapolation, and inference in order to derive explanations for human behavior. They
asserted that meaning, understanding, and knowing were significant data for
psychological study. Language acquisition is innately determined, that we are born with a
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built-in device that predisposes us to language acquisition (LAD: language acquisition

device). Chomsky believes that natural languages are governed by highly abstract and
complex rules that not immediately evident in actual utterances (surface structure). If the
child were totally reliant on the data available in the input, he would not be able to
acquire these rules. Therefore, the child must possess a set of innate principles which
guide language processing. These principles comprise Universal Grammar --- the
linguistic features and processes which are common to all natural languages and all
language learners. The child’s linguistic development is not a process of developing fewer
and fewer incorrect structures. Rather, the child’s language at any stage is systematic in
that child is constantly forming hypotheses on the basis of the input received and then
testing those hypotheses. As the child’s language develops, those hypotheses get
continually revised, reshaped, or sometimes abandoned. Followed in the 1980s and 1990s,
new links have emerged with cognitive science (the role of consciousness), with
neuropsychology (modularity of the brain, the left hemisphere is associated with logical,
analytical thought, with mathematical and liner processing of information. The right
hemisphere perceives and remembers visual, tactile, and auditory images), and with
sociocultural frameworks which have greatly enriched our perception of the many facets
of second language acquisition.

4.4. Constructivism: (the 1980s-200)

Constructivists argue that all human beings construct their own vision of reality, and
therefore multiple contrasting ways knowing and describing are equally legitimate.

Cognitive factors of second language acquisition

Intelligence:
There is clear evidence that L2 students who are above average on formal measures of
intelligence tend to do well in L2 learning. In addition to traditional sense of intelligence
defined and measured in terms of (1) linguistic and (2) logical-mathematical abilities (IQ),
Gardner (1983) described five more different forms of knowing as (3) spatial intelligence
(to find your way around an environment), (4) musical intelligence (to perceive and create
pitch and rhythmic patterns), (5) bodily-kinesthetic intelligence(athletic prowess), (6)
interpersonal intelligence(to understand others, how they feel, how they interact with one
another), (7) intrapersonal intelligence(the ability to see oneself, to develop a sense of
self-identity), and (8) naturalist intelligence. By broadly defining intelligence as Gardner
has done, we can more easily discern a relationship between intelligence and second
language learning. For instance, musical intelligence could explain the relative ease that
some learners have in perceiving and producing the intonation patterns of a language.
Interpersonal intelligence is of obvious importance in the communicative process.

Language aptitude: (Is there really such a thing as a gift for language learning, distinct
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from general intelligence?) A number of subskills are believed to be predicators of L2

learning success: (1) phonetic coding ability, (2) grammatical sensitivity, (3) memory
abilities, and (4) inductive language ability.

Language learning strategies:

More proficient learners do indeed employ strategies that are different from those used by
the less proficient. However, whether the strategies cause the learning, or the learning
itself enables different strategies to be used, has not been fully clarified.

5. Affective domain of second language acquisition

Affect refers to emotion or feeling. The affective factors are the emotional side of human
behavior in the second language learning process. The development of affective states or
feeling involves a variety of personality factors, feeling both about ourselves and about
others with whom we come into contact. Understanding how human beings feel, respond,
believe, and value is an important aspect of a theory of second language acquisition.
Specific affective factors are discussed as follows:
Anxiety:
Anxiety is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension, or
worry. Anxiety can be experienced at various levels. At the deepest, or global, level, trait
anxiety is a more permanent predisposition to be anxious. Some people are predictably
and generally anxious about many things. At a more momentary, or situational level, state
anxiety is experienced in relation to some particular event or act. Foreign language
anxiety focuses more specifically on the situational nature of state anxiety. Three
components of foreign language anxiety have been identified: (1) communication
apprehension, arising from learners’ inability to adequately express mature thoughts and
ideas; (2) fear of negative social evaluation, arising from a learner’s need to make a
positive social impression on others; and (3) test anxiety, or apprehension over academic
evaluation (Horwitz et al., 1986).Yet another important insight to be applied to our
understanding of anxiety lies in the distinction between debilitative and facilitative
anxiety (Scovel, 1978). We may be inclined to view anxiety as a negative factor,
something to be avoided at all costs (e.g. test anxiety). But the notion of facilitative
anxiety is that some concern over a task to be accomplished is a positive factor. So the
next time your students are anxious, you do well to ask yourself if that anxiety is truly
debilitative. It could well be that a little nervous tension in the process is a good thing.
Both too much and too little anxiety may hinder the process of successful second
language learning.

Empathy
Empathy is usually described as the projection of one’s own personality into the
personality of another in order to understand him or her better. Language is one of the
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primary means of empathizing. In order to communicate effectively, you need to

understand the other person’s affective and cognitive states. For instance, in a second
language learning situation, not only must learner-speaker correctly identify cognitive and
affective sets in the hearer, but they must do so in a language in which they are insecure.

Motivation:
Motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that
moves one to a particular action. In second language learning, a learner will be successful
with the proper motivation.
1. Instrumental motivation:
To learn an L2 for some functional reason- to pass an examination, to get a better job,
reading technical material, translation, and so forth.
2. Integrative motivation:
Learners are interested in the people and culture represented by the target language
group. Learners wish to integrate themselves within the culture of the second
language group, to identify themselves with and become a part of that society.
However, some learners may be influenced by a “Machiavellian motivation”- the
desire to learn the L2 in order to manipulate and overcome the people of the target
language.
3. Resultative motivation:
This motivation is the result of learning. Learners who experience success in learning
may become more, or in some contexts, less motivated to learn.
4. Intrinsic motivation:
Motivation involves the arousal and maintenance of curiosity and can ebb and flow as
a result of such factors as learners’ particular interests and the extent to which they
feel personally involved in learning activities. There is no apparent reward except the
activity itself. Intrinsically motivated behaviors are aimed at bringing about certain
internally rewarding consequences, namely, feelings of competence and
self-determination.
5. Extrinsic motivation:
Extrinsically motivated behaviors are carried out in anticipation of a reward from
outside and beyond the self. Typical extrinsic rewards are money, prizes, grades, and
even certain types of positive feedback. These five types of motivation should be
seen as complementary rather than as distinct and oppositional. Most situations
involve a mixture of each type of motivation. However, growing stockpile of research
on motivation strongly favors intrinsic motivation, especially for long-term retention
(Brown, 1990).

6. Sociocultural perspectives on second language acquisition

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Culture is a way of life. It is the context within which we exist, think, feel, and relate to
others. Culture might also be defined as the ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools that
characterize a given group of people in a given period of time. But culture is more than
the sum of its parts. “It is a system of integrated patterns, most of which remain below the
threshold of consciousness, yet all of which govern human behavior” (Condon, 1973).
Culture, as an ingrained set of behaviors and modes of perceptions, becomes highly
important in the learning of a second language. A language is a part of a culture and a
culture is a part of a language. The acquisition of a second language is also the acquisition
of a second culture.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
It refers to the idea that language shapes (rather than reflect) one’s world view. It can be
summed up as follows: the background linguistic system of each language is not merely a
reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas, the
program and guide for the individual’s mental activity, for his analysis of impressions, for
his synthesis of his mental stock in trade (Whorf, 1956).

Schumann’s acculturation model

Acculturation is defined by Brown (1980) as ‘the process of becoming adapted to a
new culture’.
Linton (1963) described the general process of acculturation as involving
modification in attitude, knowledge, and behavior. The overall process of acculturation
demands both social and psychological adaptation.
John Schumann (1978) characterized the relationship between acculturation and
second-language acquisition in the following way:
Second language acquisition is just one aspect of acculturation and the degree to
which a learner acculturates to the target language group will control the degree to which
he acquires the second language.
In this view, acculturation – and hence second-language acquisition – is determined
by the degree of social and psychological ‘distance’ between the learner and the
target-language culture.
It is assumed that the more social and psychological distance there is between the
second-language learner and the target-language group, the lower the learner’s degree of
acculturation will be toward that group.
Social and psychological distance influence second-language acquisition by
determining the amount of contact learners have with the target language and the degree
to which they are open to the input that is available. In a negative social situation, the
learner will receive little input in the second language. In a negative psychological
situation, the learner will fail to utilize available input.
Schumann lists the various factors which determine social and psychological
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distance. An example of a ‘good’ learning situation is when (1) the target language and L2
groups view each other as social equal; (2) the target language and L2 groups are both
desirous that L2 group will assimilate; (3) both the target language and L2 groups
expect the L2 group to share social facilities with the target language group; (4) the L2
group is small and not very cohesive; (5) the L2 group’s culture is congruent with that of
the target language group; (6) both groups have positive attitudes to each other; (7) the L2
group envisages staying in the target language area for an extended period.
The psychological factors are affective in nature. They include (1) language shock;
(2) culture shock; (3) motivation; and (4) ego boundaries.
In Schumann’s model, acculturation is the causal variable in the second language
learning process. He argued that the early stages of second language acquisition are
characterized by the same processes that are responsible for the formation of pidgin
languages. When there are hindrances to acculturation – when social and/or psychological
distance is great – the learner will not progress beyond the early stages and the language
will stay pidginized.
Schumann documented this process in a case study of a 33-year-old Costa Rican
immigrant, Alberto. Alberto’s interlanguage was characterized by many simplifications
and reductions. These simplifications and reductions Schumann saw to be a form of
pidginization, which leads to fossilization when the learner no longer revises the
interlanguage system in the direction of the target language. This process occurred not
because of a cognitive deficit, but because of a minimal amount of acculturation to the
target language group.
Pidginization is characteristic of all early second language acquisition.

Evaluation:
The question of causality:
The acculturation hypothesis assumes a causal model in which attitude affects access to
input which in turn affects second language acquisition. Attitude, or the perception of
distance between the learner and the target group, is seen to control behavior. It is
possible, however, that successful learners may be more positively disposed toward the
target language group because of their positive experience with the language. Their
success may be more a function of intelligence, social skills, and language learning ability
than of perceived distance form the target language group. Most likely, the line of
causality is bi-directional. Perceived distance affects second language acquisition and is
affected by success in second language acquisition.
2. One of the difficulties in Schumann’s hypothesis of social distance is the measurement
of actual social distance. William Acton (1979) devised a measure of perceived social
distance. His contention was that it is not particularly relevant what the actual distance is
between cultures since it is what learners perceive that forms their own reality.

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Instruction and second language acquisition

Researchers have studied what impact teaching has on L2 learning.
1. Whether teaching learners grammar has any effect on their interlanguage development.
Do learners learn the structure they are taught? (Initial gains in grammar accuracy
disappear over time)
Teachability hypothesis:
Second language learners follow a fairly rigid route in their acquisition of certain
grammatical structures. Instruction can only promote language acquisition if the
interlanguage is close to the point when the structure to be taught is acquired in the
natural setting (so that sufficient processing requirements are developed). Instruction does
not subvert the natural sequence of acquisition but rather helps to speed up learners’
passage through it. (Teachers are not likely to know which learners in their class are ready
to be taught a particular structure and will have no easy way of finding out.)
2. The same instructional option is not equally effective for all L2 learners. Learners
learn better if the kind of instruction they receive matches their preferred ways of
learning an L2. (learning styles and learning strategies)

7. Learning Styles and Strategies

Learning styles
Learning styles might be thought of as cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that
relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the
learning environment (Keefe, 1979). Learners’ styles are determined by the way they
internalize their total environment, and since that internalization process is not strictly
cognitive, we find that physical, affective, and cognitive domains merge in learning style.
1. Reflectivity and impulsivity
Reflective learners are slower but more accurate than impulsive learners in
reading.
Teachers tend to judge mistakes too harshly, especially in the case of a learner
with an impulsive style who may be more willing than a reflective learner to
gamble at a correct answer. On the other hand, a reflective learner may require
patience from the teacher, who must allow more time for the student to struggle
with responses.
2. Visual and auditory styles
Visual learners tend to prefer reading and studying charts, drawings, and other
graphic information, while an auditory style is characterized by a preference for
listening to lectures and audiotapes. Most successful learners utilize both visual
and auditory input, but slight preferences one way or the other may distinguish
one learner from another. (e.g. listen to TV or read captions, Korean students
were significantly more visually oriented than native English-speaking
Americans.)
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3. Field independence and field dependence

A field independent style enables you to distinguish parts from a whole, to
concentrate on something, to analyze separate variables without the
contamination of neighboring variables. On the other hand, too much field
independence may result in cognitive “tunnel vision”: you see only the parts and
not their relationship to the whole. Field independence is closely related to
classroom learning that involves analysis, attention to details, and mastering of
exercises, drills, and other focused activities.
Field dependence is the tendency to be “dependent” on the total field so that the
parts embedded within the field are not easily perceived, although that total field
is perceived more clearly as a unified whole. Primarily field dependence persons
will, by virtue of their empathy, social outreach, and perception of other people,
be successful in learning the communicative aspects of a second language.
4. Ambiguity tolerance
It refers to the degree to which you are cognitively willing to tolerate ideas and
propositions that run counter to your own belief system or structure of knowledge.
In second language learning a great amount of contradictory information is
encountered. Successful language learning necessitates tolerance of such
ambiguities, at least for interim periods or stages, during which time ambiguous
items are given a chance to become resolved. However, excess tolerance has the
effect of hampering or preventing meaningful subsumption of ideas.

Learning strategies
Over the last few decades, within the field of second /foreign language education, a
gradual but marked shift in the focus of language research and instruction has taken place.
There has been less stress on teachers’ teaching and greater emphasis on students’
learning. This change has been reflected in increasing numbers of studies undertaken
from the learners’ perspectives, particularly in research on language learning strategies.
More and more foreign language educators have now recognized that effective learning
strategies can enhance students’ efforts to reach their language goals. Thus, students are
often being encouraged to “learn how to learn English”, rather than to depend heavily on
their teachers’ instructions.
Learning strategies are defined by Oxford (1990) as “specific actions taken by the learner
to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and
more transferable to new situations”. These strategies encompass a wide range of learning
behaviors that can help learners become more autonomous, self-regulated, and
goal-oriented, resulting in improving their progress in developing foreign language skills.
Oxford’s (1990) has developed a learning strategies system as well. She divided learning
strategies into two major classes that can be further subdivided into six strategy categories.
The first class refers to direct strategies that involve the language itself in a variety of
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tasks and situations, and these include memory, cognitive, and compensation strategies.
The second class refers to indirect strategies that deal with the general management of
learning, including metacognitive, affective, and social strategies.
Generally speaking, cognitive strategies involve manipulation or transformation of
learning materials or tasks in order to enhance comprehension. Examples include
practicing, analyzing, reasoning, or reorganizing information. Memory strategies are
devices that help learners link new information with something already known, such as
creating mental linkages, using imagery or physical responses. Compensation strategies
help learners make up for inadequate knowledge in the target language through guessing
or using gestures or a circumlocution. Metacognitive strategies refer to higher order
executive skills that involve planning, monitoring and evaluating of the language learning
process and production. Affective strategies enable learners to control over their personal
emotions, attitudes, motivations, and values that relate to language learning, including
identifying one’s feelings, using a language learning diary, or lowering learning anxiety.
Then, social strategies facilitate learning with other people and help learners develop
cultural understanding. Examples are asking questions for clarification, cooperating with
peers or more proficient learners, or empathizing with others.
The relationship of the use of language learning strategies to success in learning a foreign
language has been a focus in the area of language learning strategy research. Most
research findings indicate that successful learners tend to use appropriate strategies
leading to improvement, tend to use more and better strategies than poorer learners do,
and are able to combine effective strategies to meet the requirements of the language task
Learning strategies are especially important to Taiwan’s English learners, since most of
them lack enough exposure to authentic English at school. It is also impossible for
English teachers to follow the learning path of each of their students either inside or
outside of classroom. One of the possible ways to turn this situation around is to help
students develop effective learning strategies and become self-directed learners. In fact,
both teachers and students can benefit from the use of learning strategies, and more
research based on Taiwan’s learning context is needed.

8. Key concepts in second language acquisition

A. Nature vs. nurture

How much of human language learning derives from innate predispositions (genetic
pre-programming) and how much of it derives from social and cultural experiences
which influence us as we grow up?
Skinner: Language could be learned primarily by imitating caretakers’ speech.
Chomsky: Human language is too complex to be learned. We must have some innate
predisposition to expect natural languages to be organized in particular ways.

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B. Competence and performance

Competence refers to the abstract and hidden representation of language knowledge
held inside our heads, with its potential to create and understand original utterances in
a given language (e.g. rules of grammar, vocabulary).
Performance is an imperfect reflection of competence, partly because of the
processing complications which are involved in speaking or other forms of language
production, and which lead to errors and slips (e.g. four language skills).

C. Fossilization
Learners seem to cease to make any visible progress, no matter how many classes
they attend, or how actively they continue to use their second language for
communicative purposes.
Psycholinguistic explanation: The language-specific learning mechanisms available to
the young child simply cease to work for older learners, and no amount of effort and
study can recreate them.
Sociolinguistic explanation: Older L2 learners do not have the social opportunities,
or the motivation, to identify with the native speaker community.

D. L1 interference as a learner strategy:

Corder (1978) outlines one way in which “interference” can be recast as a
learner “strategy” He suggests that the learner’s L1 may facilitate the developmental
process of learning a L2. When learners experience difficulty in communicating an
idea because they lack the necessary target language resources, they will resort to
their L1 to make up the insufficiency. This explains why the L1 is relied on more at
the beginning of the learning process than later. A rather similar proposal is made by
Krashen (1981), when he suggests that learners can use the L1 to initiate utterances
when they do not have sufficient acquired knowledge of the target language for this
purpose. Both Corder’s and Krashen’s proposals view the L1 as a resource which
learners can use for ad hoc translation to overcome their limitations.

E. Communication Competence
The term ‘communicative competence’ was coined by Dell Hymes (1967), a
sociolinguist who was convinced that Chomsky’s (1965) notion of competence was
too limited. In the 1970s, research on communicative competence distinguished
between linguistic and communicative competence (Hymes 1967) to highlight the
difference between knowledge ‘about’ language forms and knowledge that enables a
person to communicate functionally and interactively.
Cummins (1981) proposed a distinction between cognitive/academic
language proficiency (CALP) and basic interpersonal communicative skills
(BICS). CALP is that dimension of proficiency in which the learner manipulates or
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reflects upon the surface features of language outside of the immediate interpersonal
context. BICS, on the other hand, is the communicative capacity that all children
acquire in order to function in daily interpersonal exchange.
Seminal work on defining communicative competence was carried out by
Michael Canale and Merrill Swain (1980). In Canale and Swain’s (1980), and later
in Canale’s (1983) definition, four different components make up the construct of
communicative competence. The first two subcategories reflect the use of the
linguistic system itself.
(1) Grammatical competence is that aspect of communicative competence that
encompassed ‘knowledge of lexical items and of rules of morphology, syntax,
sentence-grammar semantics, and phonology”. It is the competence that we associate
with mastering the linguistic code of a language, the ‘linguistic’ competence of
Hymes.
(2) Discourse competence: it is the ability we have to connect sentences in stretches of
discourse and to form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances. While
grammatical competence focuses on sentence-level grammar, discourse competence
is concerned with intersentential relationship.
The last two subcategories define the more functional aspects of communication.
(3) Sociolinguistic competence is the knowledge of the sociocultural rules of language
and of discourse. This type of competence ‘requires an understanding of the social
context in which language is used: the roles of the participants, the information they
share, and the function of the interaction. Only in a full context of this kind can
judgments be made on the appropriateness of a particular utterance’ (Savignon
1983).
(4) Strategic competence: “ the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies that
may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to
performance variables or due to insufficient competence” (Canale and Swain1980).
It is the competence underlying our ability to make repairs, to cope with imperfect
knowledge, and to sustain communication through ‘paraphrase, circumlocution,
repetition, hesitation, avoidance, and guessing, as well as shifts in register and style’
(Savignon 1983).

F. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

CLT is best understood as an approach not a method. Brown (1993) offers the
following four interconnected characteristics as a definition of CLT:
Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative competence
and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence. Language techniques are
designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language
for meaningful purposes. Organizational language forms are not the central focus but
rather aspects of language that enable the learner to accomplish those purposes.
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Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying

communicative techniques. At times fluency may have to take on more importance
than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use.
In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language,
productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts.
Students are given opportunities to focus on their own learning process through an
understanding of their own styles of learning and through the development of
appropriate strategies for autonomous learning.
The role of the teacher is that of facilitator and guide, not an all-knowing bestower of
knowledge.
CLT suggests that grammatical structure might better be subsumed under
various functional categories. In CLT we pay considerably less attention to the overt
presentation and discussion of grammatical rules than we traditionally did.
CLT often makes it difficult for a nonnative speaking teacher who is not very
proficient in the second language to teach effectively. Dialogues, drills, rehearsed
exercises, and discussions of grammatical rues are much simpler for the average
nonnative speaking teacher to contend with.

G. Interlanguage
The term ‘interlanguage’ was coined by Selinker (1969, 1972) to refer to the interim
grammars constructed by second-language learners on their way to the target language.
The term won favor over similar constructs, such as ‘approximative system’ (Nemser
1971) and ‘transitional competence’ (Corder 1967). Since the early 1970s ‘interlanguage’
has come to characterize a major approach to second-language research and theory. The
interlanguage is thought to be distinct from both the learner’s first language and form the
target language. It evolves over time as learners employ various internal strategies to
make sense of the input and to control their own output. Selinker (1972) argued that the
interlanguage, which he saw to be a separate linguistic system resulting form the learner’s
attempted production of the target language norm, was the product of five central
cognitive processes involved in second-language learning:
1. Language transfer from the first language.
2. Transfer of the training process used to teach the second language.
3. Strategies of second-language learning.
4. Strategies of second-language communication.
5. Overgeneralization of the target language linguistic material.

The development of the interlanguage was seen by Selinker as different from the
process of first-language development because of the likelihood of fossilization in the
second language. Fossilization is the state of affairs that exists when the learner ceases to
elaborate the interlanguage in some respect, no matter how long there is exposure, new
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 Second Language Acquisition: Dr. Md. Enamul Hoque

data, or new teaching. Interlanguage and learning strategy: Selinker et al. (1975) argued
that an analysis of the children’s speech revealed a definite systematicity in the
interlanguage. For Selinker interlanguage referred to an interim grammar that is a single
system composed of rules that have been developed via different cognitive strategies – for
example, transfer, overgeneralization, simplification, and the correct understanding of the
target language. Interlanguage as rule-governed behavior: In contrast to Selinker’s
cognitive emphasis, Adjemian (1976) argues that the systematicity of the interlanguage
should be analyzed linguistically as rule-govern behavior. Like any language system,
interlanguage grammars are seen to obey universal linguistic constraints and evidence
internal consistency.
Whereas Selinker’s use of interlanguage stressed the structurally intermediate nature
of the learner’s system between the first and the target language, Adjemian focused on the
dynamic character of interlanguage systems, their permeability. Interlanguage systems are
thought to be by their nature incomplete and in a state of flux.
Interlanguage as a set of styles: Tarone (1979) maintained that the interlanguage could
be seen as analyzable into a set of styles that are dependent on the context of use. Tarone
proposed a capability continuum, which includes a set of styles ranging from a stable
subordinate style virtually free of first-language influence to a characteristically
superordinate style where the speaker pays a great deal of attention to form and where the
influence of the first language is more likely to be felt. The more careful superordinate
style shows the intervention of a consciously learned rule system. (Capability continuum
assumes that the learner’s competence is made up of a continuum of styles, ranging from
the careful to the vernacular. The style used in a particular situation is determined by the
degree of attention paid to language form, which in turn is a reflection of social factors and
personal style.)
More specifically, Tarone (1983) proposed that variability in the interlanguage can be
accounted for by a system of variable and categorical rules based on particular contexts of
use. Like Adjemian, Tarone assumed that the interlanguage is a natural language, obeying
the constraints of the same language universals and subject to analysis by means of
standard linguistic techniques. She went beyond Adjemian in claiming that language
production show systematic variability, similar to that demonstrated to exist in the speech
of native speakers. Thus she added to Adjemian’s linguistic perspective a sociolinguistic
point of view. For Tarone, interlanguage is not a single system, but a set of styles that can
be used in different social contexts.
To summarize, the views of interlanguage that guides early research saw
second-language learners as possessing a set of rules of intermediate grammars. Slinkier
and Adjemian stressed the influence of the first-language on the emerging interlanguage.
The authors differed, however, in that Selinker hypothesized that interlanguages are the
product of different psychological mechanisms than native languages and hence are not
natural language. Adjemian and Tarone viewed interlanguages as operating on the same
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 Second Language Acquisition: Dr. Md. Enamul Hoque

principles as natural languages, but Tarone differed form Adjemian in that she stressed the
notion of variability in use and the pragmatic constraints that determine how language is
used in context.

9. The Role of the First Language

Transfer as process: The end result was the same, but the processes differed
because of differences in first language. Speakers of some languages take longer to learn
certain forms than do speakers of other languages because their own first languages have
similar forms. Transfer is predicted to occur when the perceived similarity between the
two languages is great and when the structures involved are unmarked. A number of
studies (Gass 1979; Jordens 1977; Rutherford 1982) support these predictions. More
marked structures are those that the person thinks of as irregular, infrequent, and
semantically opaque. More regular (unmarked) forms are viewed by learners as
transferable to the target language, assuming that the two languages are thought to be
similar. The first language does affect the course of interlanguage development, but this
influence is not always predictable. Interlanguage theory concerned with describing a
limited range of second-language phenomena. These include the question of systematicity
and variability in the performance of language learners, the question of how the emerging
system develops and the role of transfer from the first language in this process.
Interlanguage theory has had a relatively minor impact on pedagogy.
Conclusions
To conclude, language teachers ought to be aware of student personality as a factor, in
order to optimise their students’ learning. Teachers can use a variety of activities and
assessment methods to suit the various learning styles and strategies adopted by the
students. Additionally, the use of computers (CALL) to aid their teaching is also a move
that is well encouraged and celebrated. A good amalgamation of these strategies and tools
should be on its way to achieving effective language learning and effective language
teaching, a goal we all want. Of course, second language learning is a two-way affair. As
much as the teachers are trying their best to cater to their students’ learning styles and
optimise the strategies, the learners have to also do their part in the journey towards SLA.

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