Second Language Acqusition

What is Second Language Acquisition?

Refers both to the study of individuals and groups who are learning a language subsequent to learning their first one as young children, and to the process of learning that language. The additional language is called a second language (L2), even though it may actually be the third, fourth, or tenth to be acquired.

To understand the process of second language acquisition,
are seeking to answer three basic questions:

1. What exactly does the L2 learner come to know?
2. How does the learner acquire this knowledge?

3. Why are some learners more successful than others?

Second Language Acquisition is typically an official or societal dominant language needed for education, employment, and other basic purposes. It is often acquired by minority group members or immigrants who speak another language natively. In this more restricted sense, the term is contrasted with other terms.

Other terms

* A foreign language
* A library language
* An auxiliary language

What is a first language?

* native language
* primary language
* mother tongue

Diversity in learning and learners
What is learned in acquiring a second language, as well as how it is learned, is often influenced by whether the situations involves informal exposure to speakers of other languages, immersion in a setting where one needs a new language to meet basic needs, or formal instruction in school.

Foundations of Second Language Acquisition The world of Second Language Acquisition

Multilingualism

Refers to the ability to use two or more language.

Bilingualism

Ability to use two languages

Monolingualis

Ability to use only one.


L2 users differ form monolinguals in L1 knowledge; advanced L2 users differ from monolinguals in L2 knowledge; L2 users have a different metalinguistic awareness from monolinguals; L2 users have different cognitive processes. These subtle differences consistently suggest that people with multicompetence are not simply equivalent to two monolinguals but are a unique combination.

The role of social experience

* Children will never acquire such language-specific knowledge unless that language is used with them and around them, and they will learn to use only the language(s) used around them, no matter what their linguistic heritage.


* American-born children of Korean or Greek ancestry will never learn the language of their grandparents if only English surrounds them, for instance, and they will find their ancestral language just as hard to learn as any other English speakers do if they attempt to learn it as an adult. Appropriate social experience, including L1 input and interaction, is thus a necessary condition for acquisition.



Course 631 Second Language Acquisition in Cambridge College Master Program ESL