Day 3 (July 12, 2011)
THE LINGUISTICS OF SLA
AGENDA
1) Brief history of teaching methods and their connections to theories
2) Quick summary of Chapters 1 and 2
3) Chapter 3 The Linguistics of SLA
4) Language Functions and Forms
5) See Questions from the Classroom: Research Perspectives, by Pica, TESOL Quarterly, 28, pp. 49-79 (If
there is time)
6) Review speech communities, speech events (communicative event), and speech acts: a) Identify as many
speech communities of English language as you can; b) Make a list of speech events (communicative
situations); and speech acts (promising, ordering, greeting, warning, inviting and congratulating)
7) Share Assignment: A comic strip or cartoon language production task (or poem) for content, context,
culture, language knowledge, and language use (lexicon, morphology, phonology, syntax, and discourse).
Also, think about language registers, styles, and functions needed to be able to complete the
communicative task successfully.
Brief History of Teaching Methods and Approaches and their Connections to Theories
Classical Method, the methods of teaching Latin and Greek for centuries;
mental gymnastics
Grammar-Translation Method
Behaviorism and Structural
Linguistics (1950s and before)
Functional Linguistics
The Prague School, i.e., Europe
Generative Linguistics
(Transformational-Generative
Grammar, 1960s)
Interlanguage
Francois Gouin’s the Series Method late 1800s); The first “Direct
Method,” e.g., Berlitz 1880s-early 1900s
The Audio-lingual Method (ALM); Also called the “Army” method;
Contrastive Analysis (CA)
The Notional-Functional Syllabuses (NFS), 1970s; the Council of
Europe, (Van Ek & Alexander, 1975); language functions, notions
Stephen Krashen’s Monitor Model; the Natural Approach, see also Total
Physical Response (TPR)
Stages of SL Development, Error analysis
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Communicative
competence;
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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Cognitive Perspectives
(Cognitive psychology)
Constructivism
Also see the “Designer” methods (1970s): Community Language Learning
(CLL), Charles Curran (inspired by Carl Rogers, group therapy and
Humanism), 1972; Suggestopedia, Georgi Lozanov (1979), Baroque
music, “superlearning”; the Silent Way, Caleb Gattegno, discovery
learning 1972, Cuisenaire rods; Total Physical Response (TPR), James
Asher (1960s and 1977), trace theory, TPR Story telling; The Natural
Approach (Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell), 1983.
Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA); Contentbased instruction, Strategies-based instruction (SBI); Learning styles and
learning strategies; task-based instruction (academic tasks,
communicative tasks);Transfer
Lev Vygotsky, Social interaction, interactionism, scaffolding, Zone of
proximal development (ZDP), inner speech (self-talk), socialization
Eclectic and Other Recent Approaches: SIOP, QTEL
Chapter 1 Introducing SLA
Linguistic competence (underlying knowledge)
Linguistic performance (actual production)
First language acquisition and its influence of SLA
Simultaneous multilingualism
Sequential multilingualism
Communicative competence
Linguists
Psychologists
Other social scientists
Diversity in Learning and Learners
A wide range of settings and learner characteristics and circumstances
Chapter 2 Foundations of Second Language Acquisition
Multilingualism/bilingualism
Monolingualism
Transfer (positive transfer, negative transfer or “interference”
Fossilization (to fossilize)
Poverty-of-the-stimulus (i.e., the logical problem of SLA) =
The Role of Natural Ability (Innate capacity)
Jean Piaget = stages of development
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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Critical Period Hypothesis
The Role of Social Experience
L1 Versus L2 Learning
The Initial state
Innate capacity
Intermediate States
Interlanguage (learner language)
Final State
The outcome
Fossilization
The Logical Problem of Language Learning
How is it possible for children to achieve the final state of
L1 development with general ease and complete success, given the complexity of the linguisitic system which they
acquire and their immature cognitive capacity at the age they do so? More specifically, the question relates to syntactic
phenomena.
Chomsky and Universal grammar, the language acquisition device (LAD)
1. Children’s knowledge of language goes beyond what could be learned from the input they receive.
According to the poverty-of-the-stimulus argument, children often hear incomplete or ungrammatical
utterances with grammatical input, and yet they are somehow able to filter the language they hear so
that the ungrammatical input is not incorporated into their L1 system.
2. Constraints and principles cannot be learned
3. Universal patterns of development cannot be explained by language-specific input
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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Linguistic
Internal Focus
Transformational-Generative Grammar (Chomsky 1957, 1965)
Principles and parameters (the Mimimalist Program (also Chomsky)
Innate capacity
Universal grammar
External Focus
Functionalism
Psychological
Languages and the Brain
Critical period hypothesis
Learning Processes
Processability
Connectionism
Learner Differences
Humanistic
Social
Microsocial focus
Macrosocial focus
Variation theory
Accomodation theory
Ethnography of communication
Acculturation theory (social distance)
Social psychology
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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Chapter 3
Key Terms:
Interference
Interlanguage (IL)
Natural order
Universal grammar (UG)
Language facility
Language acquisition device (LAD)
Principles
Parameters
Initial state
Final state
Markedness
Gramaticalization
Contrastive Analysis (CA)
Error analysis (EA)
Morpheme order studies
Systematic linguistics
Functional topography
Function-to-form mapping
Information processing
The Nature of Language
Languages are systematic
Languages are symbolic
Languages are social
Lexicon
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Discourse
Early Approaches to SLA
Contrastive Analysis (CA)
Robert Lado’s Linguistics Across Cultures
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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Behaviorist, habit formation, Stimulus-response-reinforcement (S-R-R)
Negative transfer = interference
Positive transfer, See Types of Interference, page 36
Behaviorism to mentalism shift based on innatism and transformational-grammar (TG)
Error analysis (EA) Pit Corder (1967) “the significance of learner’s errors”
Internal focus on the learner’s interlanguage development
The procedure for analyzing learner errors:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Collection of a sample of learner language
Identification of errors
Description of errors
Explanation of errors (e.g., interlingual and intralingual errors), interlingual errors
are a result of interference or negative transfer; intralingual errors are considered
developmental errors
e. Evaluation of errors
EA continues to be a useful procedure; however, problems with error analysis:
 Ambiguity in classification
 Lack of positive data
 Potential for avoidance
Interlanguage
Corder and Larry Selinker (1972), interlanguage (IL) to refer to the intermediate state (or interim grammars) of a
learner’s language.
An interlanguage has the following characteristics:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Systematic
Dynamic
Variable
Reduced system both in form and function (e.g., omission of inflections, such as
past tense suffix in English; also reduced function refers to the smaller range of
communicative needs typically served by an IL)
Selinker stresses that there are differences between IL development in SLA and L1 acquisition
by children, including different cognitive processes involved (from McLaughlin, 1987):
1. Language transfer
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Transfer of training, or how the L2 is taught
Strategies of SL learning and how learners approach materials and tasks
Strategies of SL communication
Overgeneralization of the target language
Also, the likelihood of fossilization in an L2 is stronger
Morpheme Order Studies
Natural order (or universal sequence) in grammatical development
Inflection: adds one or more units of meaning to the base form of a word to give it more specific meaning (plural
nouns, past tense, and progressive aspect in English). –s, –ed, -ing,
Identity Hypothesis: States that processes involved in L1 and L2 acquisition are the same. The strong form of
this hypothesis was rejected, howevr, the natural order hypothesis remains important for some.
The Monitor Model (Stephen Krashen, 1978)
It explicitly and essentially adopts the notion of language acquisition device (LAD)
Also, especially important is the concept of “comprehensible input”
Other ideas: the “silent period” and ‘zero” option for teaching grammar
Five hypotheses:
1. Acquisition-learning Hypothesis
2. Monitor Hypothesis
3. Natural Order Hypothesis
4. Input Hypothesis (comprehensible input, i+1)
5. Affective Filter Hypothesis
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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Universal Grammar (UG)
Noam Chomsky, innate knowledge, language faculty (a “black box” in the mind)
Two important related concepts:
1. Linguistic competence (underlying knowledge of language); Linguistic performance (actual
language use)
2. The logical problem of language learning or poverty-of-the stimulus argument
A major change in thinking about the acquisition process occurred with Chomsky (1981):
reconceptualization of UG in a Principles and Parameters framework, often called “Government and
Binding” (GB) model which lead to his Minimalist Program (1995).
Principles and Parameters
Since around 1980, the construct called universal grammar has been conceptualized as a set of
principles which are properties of all languages in the world. Some of these principles contain
parameters, or points where there is a limited choice of settings depending on which specific language
is involved. An example of an early principle Chomsky posited is that every phrase in every language
has the same elements including a Head: e.g., a noun phrase (NP) must always have a noun head (N), a
verb phrase (VP) must always have a verb head (V), a prepositional or postpositional phrase (PP) must
always have a preposition or posposition head (P), and so forth.
The only choice , or parameter setting, that speakers have in different languages is Head Direction, or
position of the head in relation to other elements in the phrase. There are only two possible choices:
head-initial or head-final.
In a radical change from his earlier Transformational-Generative (TG) theory, Chomsky no longer
believes that acquisition involves induction of a language-specific system of rules, based on input and
guided by UG. Rather, he argues that there are just extremely general principles of UG and options to
be selected. The acquisition of vocabulary has become much more important in his recent theory,
because lexical items are thought to include rich specification of properties that are needed for
parameter setting and other features of grammar, as well as interpretation of semantic meaning.
EXAMPLE: “Knowing” the foot in English, for instance, means knowing how it is pronounced and
what it refers to, that it is a noun and can function as the head of a NP, and that it takes an irregular
plural form: “knowing” the verb chi ‘eat’ in Chinese means knowing its pronunciation and meaning,
that it is a verb and the head of a VP, and that it normally requires a direct object, often the “dummy
object” fan (literally ‘rice’).
Constructionism, an approach to SLA which has been formulated within Chomsky’s Minimalist
Program (e.g., Herschensohn, 2000), considers IL development as the progressive mastery of L2
vocabulary along with the morphological features (which specify word form) that are part of lexical
knowledge. Failure to reach a state of full feature specification in the lexicon is seen as the primary
reason that many L2 learners fossilize at an intermediate level of development without attaining nearnative competence.
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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[Constructionism (Noam Chomsky), not to be confused with Constructivism (Lev Vygotsky)
Functional Approaches



“An external focus” on language learning
Have their roots in the Prague School of Linguistics in Eastern Europe
The term “function” has several meanings in linguistics
o Structural function (the role elements of language structure play as subject or object, or as actor or goal)
o Pragmatic function (what the use of language can accomplish, such as convey information, control
others’ bevavior, or express emotion)
In general opposition to Chomskian tradition:



Focus is on language use in real situations (performance) as well as on underlying knowledge (competence)
The study of SLA is for the purpose of communication and communicative use
The scope of concern goes beyond the sentence level to include discourse structure and how language is
used in interaction, and to include aspects of communication beyond language (Tomlin 1990)
Four functional approaches in SLA include: Systematic
Linguistics, Functional Typology, Function-to-form Mapping,
and Information Organization.
Systematic Linguistics: Developed by M.A.K. Halliday, beginning in the 1950s. This model
analyzes language in terms of interrelated systems of choices that are available for expressing
meaning. Basic to this approach is the notion, ultimately derived from the anthropologist
Malinowski, that structures cannot be idealized and studied without taking into account the
circumstances of their use, including the extralinguistic social context.
Halliday (1975) describes the evolution of the following pragmatic functions in early L1
acquisition as un iversal for children:
 Instrumental (as a means of getting something done)
 Regulatory (to regulate the behavior of others)
 Interactional (between self and others)
 Personal (one’s identity)
 Heuristic (a way of learning about things)
 Imagination (creation through language)
 Representational (means of expressing propositions, or communicating about
something)
Linguistic structures which are mastered in the developmental process are “direct reflections” of the functions
that language serves; their development is closely related to the social and personal needs they are used to
convey.
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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Functional Typology: is based on the comparative study of a wide range of the world’s
languages. This involves the classification of languages and their features into categories or
types; hence “typology.”
Crosslinguistic influence or transfer; markedness (marked and unmarked features)
Function-to-form mapping: has been applied to the description and analysis of
interlanguage and emphasizes function-to-form mapping in the acquisitional sequence. A basic
concept from this perspective is that acquisition of both L1 and L2 involves a process of
grammaticalization in which a grammatical function (such as the expression of past time) is
first conveyed by shared extra-linguistic knowledge and inferencing based on the context of
discourse, then by a lexical word (such as yesterday), and only later by a grammatical marker
(such as the suffix –ed).


The general principle of increasing reliance on grammatical forms and reducing reliance on context and lexical
words to express functions such as time is followed in all languages.
According to this approach, language acquisition importantly involves developing linguistic forms to fulfill
semantic or pragmatic functions. Grammaticalization is driven by communicative need and use and is related
to the development of more efficient cognitive processing (e.g., via automatization) as part of language learning.
Information organization: refers to a functional approach which focuses on “utterance
structure” or the way in which learners put their words together (Klein and Perdue 1993). The
task of SLA from this perspective includes describing the structures of interlanguage (called
learner varieties by Klein and Perdue), discovering what organizational principles guide
learners’ production at various stages of development, and analyzing how these principles
interact with one another.
o The European Science Foundation (ESF) project
o Developmental levels: All learners in this study, no matter what their L1 and L2,
go through a remarkably similar sequence of development in their interlanguage.
Developmental Levels
Nominal Utterance Organization (NUO): Learners generally begin with the seemingly unconnected naming
of subjects and objects
Infinite Utterance Organization (IUO): Learners increasingly add verbs to their utterances
Finite Utterance Organization (FUO): add grammatical morphemes, i.e., grammaticalization as in functionto-form mapping
Organizing Principles
Phrasal constraints, or restrictions on phrasal patterns which may be used.
Semantic constraints, or features of categories like NP which determine their position in a sentence and what
role they can be assigned (e.g., agent or doer or the action, or patient or recipient of the action).
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
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Pragmatic constraints, including restrictions that relate to what has been said previously, or to what the speaker
assumes that the hearer already knows.
In summing up, Klein and Perdue offer four “bundles of explanations” for the sequence of acquisition they find,
and for why some L2 learners are more successful than others:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Communicative need
Cross-linguistic influence
Extrinsic factors (attitudes, motivation, exposure to the L2)
Limits on processing
All functional approaches basically agree on the following:
 What is being acquired is a system for conveying meaning
 How language is acquired importantly involves creative learner involvement in
communication, and
 Understanding of SLA processes is impossible if they are isolated from
circumstances of use.
See article Language Functions and Forms
EDCE 5800c (0424/2MM) Theories of SLA Tues, Thurs 2:30 – 7:15 P.M.
Room: NA-3222
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