SECOND LANGUAG E

LEARNING

Preview
In this chapter we focus on second language learners' developing knowledge
and use of their new language. We begin by looking at the different contexts
far first and second language learning as well as the different characteristics of
learners in these contexts. We examine sorne of the errors that learners make
and discuss what errors can tell us about their knowledge of the language and
their ability to use that knowledge. We look at stages and sequences in the
acquisition of sorne syntactic and morphological features in the second lan
guage. We also review sorne aspects of learners' development of vocabulary,
pragmatics, and phonology.

AC T I V I T Y Explore contexts for second language learning

A second language learner is different in many ways from a young child
acquiring a first language or an older child learning a second language.This
is true in terms of both the learners' characteristics and the environments
in which the language acquisition typically occurs.Think about how the
characteristics and learning conditions of the following learners may differ:

• a young child learning a first language

• a child learning a second language in day care or on the playground
• an adolescent studying a foreign language in their own country
• an adult immigrant with limited or disrupted education working in a second
language environment and having no opportunity to go to language classes.
36 Second language learning

Now ask you rself the following questions about these different learners.
1 Do they al ready know at least one language?
2 Are they cognitively matu re? Are they able to engage in problem solving,
deduction, and complex memory tasks?
3 How well developed is their metalinguistic awareness? Can they define a
word, say what sounds make u p that word, or state a rule such as 'add an
-s to form the plural'?
4 How extensive is thei r general knowledge of the world? Does this
knowledge enable them to make good guesses about what a second
language interlocutor is probably saying?
5 Are they likely to be anxious about maki ng mistakes and concerned about
soundi ng'silly' when speaking the language?
6 Does the learning environment allow them to be silent in the early stages
of learning, or are they expected to speak from the begi n ni ng?
7 Do they have plenty of time available for language learni ng and plenty of
contact with proficient speakers of the language?
8 Do they frequently receive corrective feedback when they make errors in
grammar or pronu nciation, or do listeners usually overlook these errors
and pay attention to the meani ng?
9 Do they receive corrective feedback when their meani ng is not clear,
when they use the wrong word, or when they say something that seems
inappropriate or impolite?
1OIs modified input available?That is, do interlocutors adapt their speech so
that learners can u nderstand (for example, in terms of speed of delivery,
complexity of grammatical structure, or vocabulary)?
Then compare you r views with the discussion of learner characteristics and
learning conditions below.

Learner characteristics
By definition, all second language learners, regardless of age, have already
acquired at least one language. This prior knowledge may be an advantage in
the sense that they have an idea of how languages work. On the other hand,
knowledge of other languages can lead learners to make incorrect guesses
about how the second language works, and this may result in errors that first
language learners would not make.
Very young language learners begin the task of first language acquisition
without the cognitive maturity or metalinguistic awareness that older
second language learners have. Although young second language learners
have begun to develop these characteristics, they will still have far to go in
these areas, as well as in the area of world knowledge, before they reach the
levels already attained by adults and adolescents.
 Second language learning 37

Usi ng the chart in Table 2.1 ,give you r opinion about the presence or absence
of learner characteristics and learning conditions for the four different
learners mentioned above. Use the following notation:
+ =usually present - = usually absent
? = sometimes present, sometimes absent, or you're not sure
First Second
language language
Young child You ng child Adolescent Adult
(at home) (playground) (classroom) (on the job)
Learner characteristics
Another
languag
e
Cognitive
matu rity
Metalinguisti
c awareness
World
knowledge
Anxiety about
speaking
Learning conditions
Freedom to
be silent
Am ple time
Corrective
feedback
(grammar and
pronunciation)
Corrective
feed back
(meaning,
word choice,
politeness)
Modified input
Photocopiable © Oxford University Press

Table 2. I Contexts for language /earning

38 Second language learning

On the one hand, cognitive maturity and metalinguistic awareness allow

older learners to salve problems and engage in discussions about language.
This is particularly important for those who are learning language in a class
room, with limited time in contact with the language. On the other hand,
sorne theorists have suggested that the use of these cognitive skills-so valua
ble for many kinds of tasks-can actually interfere with language acquisition.
They argue that successful language acquisition draws on different mental
abilities, abilities that are specific to language learning. Ithas been suggested
that older learners draw on their problem-solving and metalinguistic abilities
precisely because they can no longer access the innate language acquisition
ability they had as young children. We will have more to say about this in
Chapter 3, when we discuss the role of age in second language acquisition.
In addition to possible cognitive differences, there are also attitudinal and cul
tural differences between children and adults. Most child learners are willing
to try to use the language-even when their proficiency is quite limited.
Many adults and adolescents find it stressful when they are unable to express
themselves clearly and correctly. Nevertheless, even very young (pre-school)
children differ in their willingness to speak a language they do not know well.
Sorne children happily chatter away in their new language; others prefer to
listen and participate silently in social interaction with their peers.

Learning conditions
Young second language learners are often allowed to be silent until they are
ready to speak. They may also practise their second language in songs and
games that allow them to blend their voices with those of other children.
Older second language learners are often forced to speak from the earli est
days of their learning, whether to meet the requirements of classroom
instruction or to carry out everyday tasks such as shopping, medical visits, or
job interviews.
Another way in which younger and older learners may differ is in the amount
of time they can actually spend learning a second language. We know that
first language learners spend thousands of hours in contact with the language
or languages spoken around them. Young second language learners may also
be exposed to their second language for many hours every d a y - i n the
classroom, on the playground, or in front of the television. Older learners,
especially students in foreign language classrooms, receive far less exposure
perhaps only a few hours a week. Indeed, a typical foreign language student
will have no more than a few hundred hours of exposure, spread out over a
number of years. Adult learners who are immigrants or minority language
speakers often continue to use the language they already know as they fulfil
their daily responsibilities for work and family, and they may use the second
language only in limited situations.
 Second language learning 39

Classroom learners not only spend less time in contact with the new lan
guage, they also tend to be exposed to a far smaller range of discourse types.
For example, classroom learners are often taught language that is somewhat
formal in comparison to the language as it is used in most social settings. I n
manyforeign language classes, teachers may even switch to their students' first
language for discipline or classroom management, thus depriving learners of
opportunities to experience uses of the language in real communication.
As we saw in Chapter l, parents tend to respond to the meaning rather than
to the grammatical accuracy of their children's language. Similarly, in second
language learning outside classrooms, errors that do not interfere with
meaning are usually overlooked. Most people would feel they were being
impolite if they interrupted and corrected someone who was trying to have
a conversation with them. Nevertheless, interlocutors may react to an error
if they cannot understand what the speaker is trying to say. Thus, errors of
grammar and pronunciation may not be remarked on, but the wrong word
choice may receive comment from a puzzled interlocutor. In a situation where
a second language speaker appears to use inappropriate language, interlocu
tors may feel uncomfortable, not knowing whether the speaker intends to be
rude or simply does not know the polite way to say what is intended. Inthis
case too, especially between adults, it is unlikely that the second language
speaker would be told that something had gone wrong. The only place where
feedback on error is typically present with high frequency is the language
classroom. Even there, it is not always provided consistently. In Chapters 5
and 6, research on the role of feedback in the classroom will be reviewed.
One condition that appears to be common to learners of all ages-though not
in equal quality or quantity-is exposure to modified or adapted input. This
adjusted speech style, called child-directed speech in first language acquisi
tion, has sometimes been called foreigner talk or teacher talk depending on
the contexts of second language acquisition. Sorne people who interact
regularly with language learners seem to have an intuitive sense of what
adjustments they need to make to help learners understand. Of course, not
everyone knows what adjustments will be most helpful. We have all witnessed
ch.ose painful conversations in which people seem to think that they can
make learners understand better if they simply talk louder! Sorne Canadian
friends told us of an experience they had in China. They were visiting sorne
historie temples and wanted to get more information about them than they
muld glean from a guidebook, so they asked their guide sorne questions.
Unfortunately, their limited Chinese and his non-existent English made it
difficult for them to exchange information. The guide kept speaking louder
and louder, but our friends understood very little. Finally, in frustration, the
pude concluded that it would help if they could see the information, so he
ll>Oka stick and began writing in the s a n d - i n Chinese characters!
40 Second language learning

This brief discussion places the emphasis on how both the characteristics of
learners and the contexts in which they acquire a second language may be
different. Inthe following pages, we will focus more on similarities in how
their knowledge of the new language develops over time.

Studying the language of second

language learners
We have seen that children's knowledge of the grammatical system of their
first language is built up in predictable sequences. Por example, grammati cal
morphemes such as the -ing of the present progressive or the -ed of the
simple past are not acquired at the same time, but in a sequence. Are there
developmental sequences for second language acquisition? How does the
prior knowledge of the first language affect the acquisition of the second (or
third) language? How does instruction affect second language acquisition?
Are there differences in the development oflearners whose only contact with
the new language is in a dassroom and those who use the language in daily
life? These are sorne of the questions researchers have sought to answer, and
we will address them in this chapter as well as in Chapters 5 and 6.
Knowing more about the development oflearner language helps teachers to
assess teaching procedures in the light of what they can reasonably expect to
accomplish in the dassroom. As we will see, sorne characteristics of learner
 Second language learning 41

language can be quite perplexing if one does not have an overall picture of the
steps learners go through in acquiring the second language.
In presenting sorne of the findings of second language research, we have
induded a number of examples oflearner language as well as sorne additional
samples to give you an opportunity to practise analysing learner language. Of
course, teachers analyse learner language all the time. They try to determine
whether students have learned what has been taught and how closely their
language matches the target language. But progress cannot always be meas
ured in these terms. Sometimes language acquisition progress is reflected in a
decrease in the use of a correct form that was based on rote memoriza tion
or chunk learning. New errors may be based on an emerging ability to
generalize a particular grammatical form beyond the specific items with
which it was first learned. In this sense, an increase in error may be an indica
tion of progress. Far example, like first language learners, second language
learners usually learn the irregular past tense forms of certain common verbs
befare they learn to apply the regular simple past -ed marker. That means
that a learner who says 'I buyed a bus ticket' may know more about English
grammar than one who says 'I bought a bus ticket'. Without further infor
mation, we cannot conclude that the one who says 'bought' would use the
regular past -ed marker where it is appropriate, but the learner who says
'buyed' has provided evidence of developing knowledge of a systematic
aspect of English.
Teachers and researchers cannot read learners' minds, so they must infer
what learners know by observing what they do. Like those who study first
language acquisition, we observe learners' spontaneous language use, but we
also design procedures that help to reveal more about the knowledge
underlying their observable use oflanguage. Without these procedures, it is
often difficult to determine whether a particular behaviour is representative
of something systematic in a learner's current language knowledge or simply
an isolated ítem, learned as a chunk.
Like first language learners, second language learners do not learn language
simply through imitation and practice. They produce sentences that are not
exactly like those they have heard. These new sentences appear to be based
on interna! cognitive processes and prior knowledge that interact with the
language they hear around them. Both first and second language acquisition
are best described as developing systems with their own evolving rules and
patterns, not simply as imperfect versions of the target language.

Contrastive analysis, error analysis, and interlanguage

Until the late 1960s, people tended to see second language learners' speech
simply as an incorrect version of the target language. According to the con
trastive analysis hypothesis (CAH), errors were assumed to be the result
42 Second language learning

of transfer from learners' first language. Detailed analysis of learners' errors

revealed, however, that not all errors made by second language learners can
be explained in terms of first language transfer alone. A number of studies
show that many errors can be explained better in terms oflearners' develop
ing knowledge of the structure of the target language rather than an attempt
to transfer patterns of their first language (Richards 1974). Furthermore,
sorne of the errors are remarkably similar to those made by young first lan
guage learners, for example, the use of a regular -ed past tense ending on an
irregular verb.
A simplified version of the CAH would predict that, where differences exist,
errors would be bi-directional, that is, for example, French speakers learning
English and English speakers learning French would make errors on paral lel
linguistic features. Helmut Zobl (1980) observed that this is not always the
case. For example, in simple English sentences, direct objects, whether nouns
or pronouns, come after the verb ('The dog eats the cookie. The dog eats
it.'). In French, direct objects that are nouns follow the verb ( Le chien mange
le biscuit-literally, 'The dog eats the cookie'). However, direct object
pronouns precede the verb ( Le chien le mange-literally, 'The dog it eats').
The CAH would predict that a native speaker of English might make the
error of saying: 'Le chien mange le' when learning French, and that a native
speaker of French might say 'The dog it eats' when learning English. In fact,
English speakers learning French are more likely to make the predicted error
than French speakers learning English. This may be due to the fact that
English speakers learning French hear many examples of sentences with
subject-verb-object word order (for example, Le chien mange le biscuit) and
make the incorrect generalization-based on both the word order of their
first language and evidence from the second language-that all direct objects
come after the verb. French-speaking learners of English, on the other hand,
hearing and seeing no evidence that English direct object pronouns precede
verbs, do not tend to use this pattern from their first language.
The finding that many aspects of learners' language could not be explained
by the CAH led a number of researchers to take a different approach to ana
lysing learners' errors. This approach, which developed during the 1970s,
became known as 'error analysis' and involved detailed descriptions of the
errors second language learners made. The goal of this research was to dis
cover what learners really knew about the language. As Pit Corder observed
in a famous artide published in 1967, when learners produce correct sen
tences, they may simply be repeating something they have already heard;
when they produce sentences that differ from the target language, we may
assume that these sentences reflect the learners' current understanding of the
rules and patterns of that language. We saw this in the example of a learner
who says 'buyed' instead of 'bought.' Error analysis differed from contras
tive analysis in that it did not set out to predict errors. Rather, it sought to
 Second language learning 43

discover and describe different kinds of errors in an effort to understand

how learners process second language data. Error analysis was based on the
hypothesis that, like child language, second language learner language is a
system in its own rig h t -o n e that is rule-governed and predictable.
Larry Selinker ( 1972) gave the name interlanguage to learners' developing
second language knowledge. Analysis of a learner's interlanguage shows that
it has sorne characteristics influenced by previously learned languages, sorne
characteristics of the second language, and sorne characteristics, such as the
omission of function words and grammatical morphemes, that seem to be
general and to occur in all interlanguage systems. Interlanguages have been
found to be systematic, but they are also dynamic, continually evolving as
learners receive more input and revise their hypotheses about the second
language. The path through language acquisition is not necessarily smooth
and even. Learners have bursts of progress, then reach a plateau for a while
before something stimulates further progress. Selinker also coined the term
fossilization to refer to the fact that sorne features in a learner's language seem
t o stop changing. This may be especially true for learners whose exposure to
the second language does not inelude instruction or the kind of feedback that
would help them to recognize differences between their interlanguage and
the target language.

AC T I V I T Y Analyse learner language

The following texts were written by two learners of English, one a French
speaking secondary school student, the other a Chinese-speaki ng ad ult learner.
Both learners were describing a cartoon film entitled The GreatToy Robbery
(National Film Board of Canada). After viewi ng the film, they were asked to
retell the story in writi ng, as if they were telli ng it to someone who had not seen
the film.
Read the texts and answer the followi ng questions:
Can you u nderstand what each learner is trying to say?
l Exami ne the errors made by each learner. What ki nds of errors interfere
most with you r ability to understand?
3 Do both learners make the same ki nds of errors?
4 In what ways do the two interlanguages differ?
Learner I: French first language, secondary school student
Du ri ng a sun ny day, a cowboy go in the desert with his horse. he has a big hat.
His horse eat a flou r. In the same time, Santa Clause go in a city to give sorne
surprises. He has a red costume and a red packet of surprises.You have th ree
robbers in the mou ntai n who sees Santa Clause with a ki ng of glaces that it
permitted us to see at a long distance. Every robbers have a horse.They go in
44 Second language learning

the way of Santa Clause, not Santa Clause but his pocket of surprises. After
they will go in a city and they go in a saloon. [...]
(Unpu blished data from P. M.Lightbown and B.Barkman)
Learner 2: Chinese first language,adult
This year Christmas comes soon! Santa Claus ride a one horse open sleigh to
sent present for child ren. on the back of his body has big packet. it have a lot of
toys. in the way he meet th ree robbers.They want to take his big packet. Santa
Claus no way and no body help, so only a way give them, then three robbers
ride their horse dashing through the town.There have saloon, they go to d ri nk
sorne beer and open the big packent.They plays toys in the Bar.They meet a
cow boy in the saloon.
(Unpublished data provided by M. J.Martens)

Perhaps the most striking thing here is that many error types are common to
both learners. Furthermore, both make errors of spelling and punctuation
that we might find in the writing of a young first language speaker of English.
Even though French uses grammatical morphemes to indicare person and
number on verbs and Chinese does not, both these learners make errors of
subject-verb agreement-both leaving off the third person -s marker and
overusing it when the subject is plural ('a cowboy go' and 'three robbers in the
mountain who sees' by Learner 1 and 'Santa Claus ride' and 'they plays' by
Learner 2). Such errors reflect learners' understanding of the second language
system itself rather than an attempt to transfer characteristics of their first
language. They are sometimes referred to as 'developmental' errors because
they are similar to those made by children acquiring English as their first lan
guage. Sometimes these are errors of overgeneralization, that is, errors caused
by trying to use a rule in a context where it does not belong, for example,the
-s ending on the verb in 'they plays'. Sometimes the errors are better described
as simplification, where elements of a sentence are left out or where all verbs
have the same form regardless of person, number, or tense.
One can also see, especially in Learner 2's text, the influence of classroom
experience. An example is the use of formulaic expressions such as 'one horse
open sleigh' which is taken verbatim from a well-known Christmas song that
had been taught and sung in his English as a Second Language (ESL) class.
The vivid 'dashing through the town' probably comes from the same source,
with the substitution of 'town' for 'snow'.
For those who are familiar with the English spoken by native speakers of
French, sorne of the errors (for example, preposition choice 'in the same
time') made by the first learner will be seen as probably based on French.
Similarly, those familiar with the English of Chinese speakers may recog
nize sorne word arder patterns (for example, 'on the back of his body has big
packet') as based on Chinese patterns. These may be called transfer or
 Second language learning 45

'interference' errors. What is most clear, however, is that it is often difficult

to determine the source of errors. Thus, while error analysis has the advan
tage of describing what learners actually do rather than what they might do,
it does not always give us clear insights into why they do it. Furthermore, as
Jacquelyn Schachter pointed out in a 1974 article, learners sometimes avoid
using sorne features of language that they perceive to be difficult for them.
This avoidance may lead to the absence of certain errors, leaving the analyst
without information about sorne aspects of the learners' develop ing
interlanguage. The absence of particular errors is difficult to interpret, and
the phenomenon of 'avoidance' may itself be a part of the learner's sys
tematic second language performance.

Developmental sequences
Second language learners, like first language learners, pass through sequences
of development: what is learned early by one is learned early by others.
Among first language learners, the existence of developmental sequences may
not seem surprising because their language learning is partly tied to their cog
nitive development and to their experiences in learning about relationships
between people, events, and objects around them. But the cognitive develop
ment of adult or adolescent second language learners is much more stable,
and their experiences with the language are likely to be quite different, not
only from the experiences of a small child, but also different from each other.
Furthermore, second language learners already know another language that
has different patterns for creating sentences and word forms. In light of this,
it is more remarkable that we find developmental sequences that are similar
in the developing interlanguage of learners from different language back
grounds and also similar to those observed in first language acquisition of the
same language. Moreover, the features of the language that are most frequent
are not always learned first. Far example, virtually every English sentence has
one or more anides ('a' or 'the'), but even advanced learners have difficulty
using these forms correctly in all contexts. Finally, although the learner's first
language does have an influence, many aspects of these developmental stages
are similar among learners from different first language backgrounds.
In Chapter 1 we saw sorne developmental sequences for English first lan
guage acquisition of grammatical morphemes, negation, and questions.
Researchers in second language acquisition have also examined these, as well
as other features. They have found patterns in the development of syntax and
morphology that are similar among learners from different language back
grounds. Evidence for these developmental patterns first carne from studies
oflearners whose primary learning environment was outside the classroom.
Far example, Jürgen Meisel, Harald Clahsen, and Manfred Pienemann
46 Second language learning

( 1981) identified developmental sequences in the acquisition of German by

speakers of several Romance languages who had little or no instruction.
Subsequent research has shown that learners who receive instruction exhibit
similar developmental sequences and error patterns. Inthe interlanguage of
English speakers whose only exposure to German was in university dasses in
Australia, Pienemann (1988) found patterns that were similar to those of the
uninstructed learners. In Chapter 6, we will discuss other studies that have
investigated the influence of instruction on developmental sequences.

Grammatical morphemes
Researchers have examined the development of grammatical morphemes by
learners of English as a second language in a variety of environments, at
different ages, and from different first language backgrounds. In analysing
each learner's speech, researchers identify the obligatory contexts for each
morpheme, that is, the places in a sentence where the morpheme is necessary
to make the sentence grammatically correct. For example, in the sentence
'Yesterday I play baseball for two hours', the adverb 'yesterday' creates an
obligatory context for a past tense, and 'for two hours' tells us that the required
form is a simple past ('played') rather than a past progressive ('was playing').
Similarly, 'two' creates an obligatory context for a plural -s on 'hours'.
For the analysis, obligatory contexts for each grammatical morpheme are
counted separately, that is, one count for simple past, one for plural, one for
third person singular present tense, and so on. After counting the number of
obligatory contexts, the researcher counts the correctly supplied morphemes.
The next step is to divide the number of correctly supplied morphemes by
the total number of obligatory contexts to answer the question 'what is the
percentage accuracy for each morpheme?' An accuracy score is created for
each morpheme, and these can then be ranked from highest to lowest, giving
an accuracy order for the morphemes.
The overall results of the studies suggested an order that was similar but not
identical to the developmental sequence found for first language learners.
However, the order the researchers found was quite similar among second
language learners from different first language backgrounds. For example,
most studies showed a higher degree of accuracy for plural -s than for posses
s,
sive - and for -ing than for regular past (-ed). Stephen Krashen summarized
the order as shown in Figure 2.1. The diagram should be interpreted as
showing that learners will produce the morphemes in higher boxes with
higher accuracy than those in lower boxes, but that within boxes, there is no
dear pattern of difference.
 Second language learning 47

-ing (progressive)
plu ral
copula ('to be')

t
auxiliary (progressive
as in 'He is going')
article

t
irregular past

t
regular past -ed
third person singular -s
possessive 's

Figure 2.1 Krashen's ( 1982) summary of second /anguage grammatical morpheme

acquisition sequence
The similarity among learners suggests that the accuracy arder cannot be
described or explained in terms of transfer from the learners' first language,
and sorne researchers saw this as strong evidence against the CAH. However,
a thorough review of all the 'morpheme acquisition' studies shows that the
learners' first language does have an influence on acquisition sequences. Far
example, learners whose first language has a possessive form that resembles
the English s (such as German and Danish) seem to acquire the English
possessive earlier than those whose first language has a very different way of
forming the possessive (such as French or Spanish). And even though ani
des appear early in the sequence, learners from many language backgrounds
(including Slavic languages, Chinese, and Japanese) continue to struggle
with this aspect of English, even at advanced levels. Learners may do well in
supplying articles in certain obligatory contexts but not others. If the lan
guage sample that is analysed contains only the 'easier' obligatory contexts,
che learner may have a misleadingly high accuracy score.
Another reason why something as difficult as English articles appears to be
acquired early is that the arder in the diagram is based on the analysis of
correct use in obligatory contexts only. Itdoes not take into account uses of
grammatical morphemes in places where they do not belong, for example,
when a learner says, 'The France is in Europe'. These issues led researchers
48 Second language learning

to question the adequacy of obligatory context analyses as the sale basis for
understanding developmental sequences. Teresa Pica (1983) argued that
accuracy seores should take account of overuse and incorrect uses to deter
mine a score for target-like use rather than reflect only use in obligatory
contexts.
The morpheme acquisition literature raises other issues, not least of them the
question of why there should be an arder of acquisition for these language
features. Sorne of the similarities observed in different studies seemed to be
due to the use of particular tasks for collecting the data, and researchers found
that different tasks tended to yield different results. Nevertheless, a number
of studies have revealed similarities that cannot be explained by the data col
lection procedures alone. As with first language acquisition, researchers have
not found a single simple explanation for the arder. Jennifer Goldschneider
and Roben DeKeyser (2001) reviewed this research and identified a number
of variables that contribute to the arder. Salience (how easy it is to notice the
morpheme), linguistic complexity (for example, how many elements you
have to keep track of), semantic transparency (how clear the meaning is),
similarity to a first language form, and frequency in the input all seem to play
a role.

Negation
The acquisition of negative sentences by second language learners follows a
path that looks nearly identical to the stages we saw in Chapter 1 for first
language acquisition. However, second language learners from different first
language backgrounds behave somewhat differendy within those stages. This
was illustrated in John Schumann's (1979) research with Spanish speakers
learning English and Henning Wode's (1978) work on German speakers
learning English.

Stage 1
The negative element (usually 'no' or 'not') is typically placed befare the verb
or the element being negated. Often, it occurs as the first word in the sen
tence because the subject is not there.
No bicycle.
I no like it.
Not my friend.
'No' is preferred by most learners in this early stage, perhaps because it is the
negative form that is easiest to hear and recognize in the speech they are
exposed to. Italian- and Spanish-speaking learners may prefer 'no' because it
corresponds to the negative form in Italian and Spanish (No tienen muchos
libros). They may continue to use Stage 1negation longer than other learners
because of the similarity to a pattern from their first language. Even at more
advanced stages, they may also use Stage 1 negatives in longer sentences or
 Second language learning 49

when they are under pressure. Thus, similarity to a learner's first language
may slow clown a learner's progress through a particular developmental stage.

Stage2
At this stage, 'no' and 'not' may alternate with 'don't'. However, 'don't' is not
marked for person, number, or tense and it may even be used befare modals
like 'can' and 'should'.
He don't likeit.
I don't can sing.

Stage3
Learners begin to place the negative element after auxiliary verbs like 'are',
'is', and 'can'. But at this stage, the 'don't' form is still not fully analysed.
You can not go there.
He was not happy.
She don't likerice.
At this stage, German speakers, whose first language has a structure that
places the negative after the verb may generalize the auxiliary-negative
pattern to verb-negative and produce sentences such as:
They come not [to] home. (Sie kommen nicht nach Hause. )

Stage 4
In this stage, 'do' is marked for tense, person, and number, and most interlan
guage sentences appear to be just like those of the target language.
l t doesn't work. We didn't have supper.
However, sorne learners continue to mark tense, person, and number on
both the auxiliary and the verb.
I didn't went there.

Questions
fanfred Pienemann, Malcolm Johnston, and Geoff Brindley (1988)
described a sequence in the acquisition of questions by learners of English
from a variety of first language backgrounds. An adapted version of the
sequence is shown in Stages 1-6 below. The examples (except those in Scage
6) come from French speakers who were playing a game in which they had
to ask questions in arder to find out which picture the other player
,(the researcher) was holding. As we saw for negation, the overall sequence is
similar to the one observed in first language acquisition. And again, there are
sorne differences that are attributable to first language influence.

Suzge 1
Single words, formulae, or sentence fragments.
50 Second language learning

Dog?
Four children?
What's that?

Stage2
Declarative word order, no inversion, no fronting.
It's a monster in the right comer?
The boys throw the shoes?
Declarative order with rising intonation is common in yes/no questions in
informal spoken French. French speakers may hypothesize that in English,
as in French, inversion is optional.

Stage3
Fronting: do-fronting, wh-fronting without inversion, other fronting.
Do you have a shoes on your picture?
Where the children are playing?
Does in this picture there is four astronauts?
Is the picture has two planets on top?
French has an invariant form est-ce que (literally 'is it that') that can be placed
before a declarative sentence to make a question. For example, ]ean aime le
cinéma becomes Est-ce que]ean aime le cinéma? ('is it that) John likes movies?'
French speakers may think that 'do' or 'does' is such an invariant form and
continue to produce Stage 3 questions for sornetime.

Stage 4
lnversion in wh- + copula; yes/no questions with other auxiliaries.
Where is the sun?
Is there a fish in the water?
At Stage 4, German speakers may infer that if English uses subject-auxiliary
inversion, it may also permit inversion with full verbs, as German does, leading
them to produce questions such as 'Like you baseball?' (Magst du basebalP.)

Stage5
lnversion in wh- questions with both an auxiliary and a main verb.
How do you say 'proche'?
What's the hoydoing?
French-speaking learners may have difficulty using Stage 5 questions in
which the subject is a noun rather than a pronoun. They may say (and
accept as grammatical) 'Why do you like chocolate?' but not 'Why do chil
dren like chocolate?' In this, they are drawing on French, where it is often
 Second language learning 51

ungrammatical to use inversion with a noun subject ( *Pourquoi aiment les

enfants lechocolat?).

Stage 6
Complex questions.
question tag: It's better, isn't it?
negative question: Why can't you go?
embedded question: Can you tell me what the date is today?
Pienemann's developmental sequence for questions has been the basis for a
number of studies, sorne of which will be discussed in Chapter 6. Alison
Mackey and her colleagues have done a number of these studies, and she pro
vided the data in Table 2.2. These examples come from three adult Japanese
learners of English as a second language who were interacting with a native
speaker in a 'spot the differences' task. In this task, learners have similar but
not identical pictures and they have to ask questions until they work out how
the picture they can see is different from the one their interlocutor has. Note
that progress to a higher stage does not always mean that learners produce
fewer errors.

ACTIVITY Analyse learners' questions

Using the information about the developmental sequence for questions, circle
the stage of second language question development that best corresponds to
ea.ch question.
(Hint: Read all of each learner's questions befare you begi n.)
Stage
i Learner 1
1 Where is he going and what is he saying? 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 Is the room his room? 1 2 3 4 5 6
3 Is he taking out his skate board? 1 2 3 4 5 6
" 4 What is he thinking?
1
1 2 3 4 5 6
11

5 The gi rl, what do you, what does she do, what is 1 2 3 4 5 6

she doing?
,,,

"r':'
.11 Learner 2
J: 6 Are they buying sorne things? 1 2 3 4 5 6
11111

1
7 Is they bought present? 1 2 3 4 5 6
111 !
52 Second language learning

8 Is they're retirement people? 1 2 3 4 5

6
9 Is this perf ume or . . . 1don't know. 1 2 3 4 5 6

10 And it is necktie? 1 2 3 4 5 6

Le a r n e r 3

11Are there any shuttle? Space shuttle? 1 2 3 4 5

6
12 lnside, is there any gi rl? 1 2 3 4 5 6
13 You don't see? 1 2 3 4 5 6

14 What are, what the people wearing? 1 2 3 4 5 6

I S And they are carrying pi nk box? 1 2 3 4 5 6

Answer key
Learner I: Questions 1, 4, and 5 are Stage 5 questions. Question 5 is
interesting because it shows the speaker self-correcting, suggesting that
Stage 5 is still a level that requires sorne greater effort. Questions 2 and 3
are Stage 4 questions.
Learner 2: Questions 6 and 9 could be Stage 4 questions. However, the fact
that questions 7 and 8 are Stage 3 questions suggests that this speaker
has not actually progressed from 'fronting' t o 'inversion', particularly since
question IO is a Stage 2 question.
Learner 3: Questions 1 1 and 12 are Stage 4 questions. Questions 13 and
15 are Stage 2 questions. Question 14 shows the speaker apparently on
the verge of a Stage 5 question, then retreating t o a Stage 3 question.

Photocopiable © Oxford University Press

Table 2.2 Questions byJapanese-s peaking /earners of English

Possessive determiners
A developmental sequence for the English possessive forms 'his' and 'her' has
been observed in the interlanguage of French- and Spanish-speaking learn
ers. In English, the choice of 'his' or 'her' (or 'its') is determined by the natural
gender of the possessor. In French and Spanish (and many other languages),
the correct form of the possessive determiner matches the grammatical
gender of the object or person that is possessed. This can be illustrated with
the following translation equivalents for French and English:
Sa mere =his mother or her mother
Son chien = his dog or her dog
Ses enfants = his children or her children