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The Nature of Learner Language

This document discusses second language acquisition and learner language. It describes learner language as the written or spoken language produced by a learner, which is the main data used in SLA research. Errors made by learners are identified by comparing their sentences to correct target language sentences. These errors can then be classified and described, and attempting to explain why they occur can provide insights into the SLA process. Developmental patterns in learner language also show tendencies towards early simplification and a general order of acquisition for certain grammatical features. Variability in learner language arises from linguistic, situational, psycholinguistic contexts, as well as some instances of free variation.

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410 views11 pages

The Nature of Learner Language

This document discusses second language acquisition and learner language. It describes learner language as the written or spoken language produced by a learner, which is the main data used in SLA research. Errors made by learners are identified by comparing their sentences to correct target language sentences. These errors can then be classified and described, and attempting to explain why they occur can provide insights into the SLA process. Developmental patterns in learner language also show tendencies towards early simplification and a general order of acquisition for certain grammatical features. Variability in learner language arises from linguistic, situational, psycholinguistic contexts, as well as some instances of free variation.

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Nia nayohan
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction to Second Language Acqusition

The
Nature of
Learner
Language
WHAT IS LANGUAGE
LEARNER?
• Learner language is the written or spoken language produced by a learner. It is also the main
type of data used in second-language acquisition research. Much research in second-language
acquisition is concerned with the internal representations of a language in the mind of the
learner, and in how those representations change over time.
• The main way of investigating L2 acquisition is by collecting and describing samples of
learner language. The description may focus on the kinds of errors learners make and how
these errors change over time, or it may identify developmental by describing in the
grammatical features.
Identifying errors
• How to analysing learner errors ??
• To identify errors we have to compare the
sentence learners produce with what seem to
be the normal or 'correct' sentences in the Errors and
target language with correspondent with
them. error analysis
Example:
• A man and a little boy was watching him.
It is not difficult to see that the correct
sentence should be:
• A man and a little boy were watching
him.
Describing Error
Errors that have been identified can be described and classified into some types.
1. To classify errors into grammatical categories by gathering all the errors relating to
verb and then identifying error in our sample.
2. Try to identifying general ways in which the 'learners' utterance differ from the the
reconstructed target-language utterances.
3. Include 'ommision' (i.e. Leaving out an item that is required for an utterances to be
considered grammatical.
4. Misinformation (i.e. Using one grammatical form in place of another grammatical
form).
5. Misordering (i.e. Putting the words in an utterance in the wrong order).
Explaining error

The identification and description of errors are


preliminaries to the much more interesting task of
trying to explain why they occur.
Error Evaluation
Where the purpose of error analysis is to help leanrners learn an L2, there is
a need to evaluate errors.

There are two errors:


1.Global errors.
2.Local errors.
Developmental Patterns
We have seen that many of the errors that
L2 learners make are universal. We can
also explore the universality of L2
acquisition by examining the
developmental pattern learners follow.

1. The Early Stage of L2 Acquisition


• Silent period: they make no attemp to say anything to begin with.
• Their speech is likely to manifest two particular characteristics
(formulaic chunks and performinguseful language functions such as
greetings and requests)
• The speech is proporsitional simplification.
Developmental Patterns
2. The Order of Acquisition Rank the
feature according to how occurrately
learners.

3. Sequence of acquisitionwhere particular grammatical features in a


language have a fixed sequence of development, but the overall order of
acquisition is less rigid.
Example:
Plurals Girls go. Progressive -ing = Girls going.Copula forms of be = Girls
are here.
2. Situational context: learners are no
different from native speaker. When
native speaker of English are talking
Variability in to friends, they tend to speak

learner language informally,


expression.
using colloquial

3. Psycolinguistic context: It is more


likely to use target -language forms
1. Linguistic context: in one context when he has time to plan.
they use one form while in other
context they use alternate forms.
4. Free variationA small fraction of
variation in interlanguage is free
variation, when the learner uses two
forms interchangeably.
ANY QUESTION?
THANK
YOU
ANY QUESTION?

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