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What is Second Language Acquisition (SLA):-

Introduction:-

The term second language acquisition (SLA) refers to the processes through which someone acquires one or second or foreign languages. SLA researchers look at acquisition in naturalistic contexts and in classroom settings. Researchers are interested in both product and process. In this chapter I trace the development of SLA from its origins in contrastive analysis. This is followed by a selective review of research, focusing on product-oriented studies of stages that learners pass through as they acquire another language, as well as investigations into the process underlying acquisition. The practical implications of research are then discussed, followed by a review of current and future trends and directions.

 

SLA is also closely related to cognitive psychology, and education. According to Kreshan, the Acquisition of a language is naturalistic process, where as learning a language is a conscious one.

 What is First Language? :-

First language means mother tongue. Primary language that child would learn. First language has an important influence on the second language acquisition. We can say that first language is our identity.

What is second Language ? :-

Second language is a foreign language. More informative, L2 can be said to be any language learned in addition to one’s mother tongue.  L2– target language.

There are two types of contrastive analysis:-

Ø     Positive Transfer :- These studies were conducted in the belief that a learner’s first language (L1) has an important influence.

Ø     Negative Transfer :- Proponent of constructive analysis argued that where L1 and L2 rules are in conflict , errors are likely to occur that are  result of ‘interference’ between L1 and L2.

The discipline now known as SLA emerged from comparative studies of similarities and differences between languages.  These studies were conducted in the belief that a learner’s first language  (L1) has an important influence on  the acquisition of a second (L2).resulting in the contrastive analysis’(CA)hypothesis. Proponents of contrastive analysis argued that where L1 and L2 rules are in conflict errors are likely to occur  which are  the result of ‘interference’ between L1 and L2. For example, the hypothesis predicted that Spanish L1 learners would tend. When learning English, to place the adjective after the noun as is done in Spanish, rather than before it. Such an error can be explained as ‘negative transfer’ of the L1 rule to the L2. When the rules are similar for both languages. ‘Positive transfer’ would occur. And language learning would be facilitated. Where a target language feature does not exist in the L1, learning would also be impeded. Thus, English L1 learners will encounters difficulty trying to master the use of nominal classifiers in certain Asian languages such as Cantonese, because these do not exist in English. In term of pedagogy, contrastivists held that learners’ difficulties in learning an L2 could be predicted on the basis of a systematic comparison of the two languages, and that learners from different difficulties when attempting to learn a common L2.

The systematic study of learners’ errors revealed interesting insights into SLA process. 1^st, learners made errors that were not predicted by the CA hypothesis. 2^nd, the errors that learners made were systematic, rather than random. 3^rd, learners appeared to move through a series of stages as they developed competence in the target. These successive stages were characterized by particular type of error, and each stage could be seen as a kind of ‘interlanguage’ or ‘interimlanguage’ in its own right.

Not surprisingly, the field of SLA has been strongly influenced by L1 acquisition. SLA researchers have looked to L1 acquisition for insights into ways of investigating the acquisition process as well as the outcomes of the research. Particularly influential was a pioneering study by Brown, who conducted a longitudinal case study of three children acquiring English as an L1. Brown traced the development of 14 grammatical structures, discovering that, contrary to expectations, there was no relationship between the order in which items were acquired and the frequency with which they were used by the parents.

The morpheme order studies indicated a predetermined order of acquisition for certain grammatical morpheme. Subsequent research also showed that this result could not be changed by the instruction. However the researchers can unable to explain why certain items were acquired before others. In the 1980s, Stephen Krashen was the best known figure in SLA field. He formulated a controversial hypothesis to explain the disparity between the order in which grammatical items were taught and the other order in which they were acquired, arguing that there are two mental processes operating in SLA: conscious learning and sub-conscious acquisition. In relatively short period of time, SLA researchers have generated an impressive number of empirical studies.

Two types of Research:-

Product-orient Research:

Process-orient Research:

SLA research has informed the work of syllabus designers, methodologist and materials writes by suggesting that tasks encouraging learners to negotiate meaning are healthy for acquisition.

Conclusion:-

•     In this chapter, I described the emerged of SLA as discipline from early work in CA, error analysis and interlanguage development. I examine research into SLA in both naturalistic and instructional settings, considering both process- and product- oriented studies. SLA Pedagogy - SLA Methodology. The chapter also looks at the practical implication of current research for syllabus design and methodology etc. In this chapter shown how to acquire a      knowledge and how to learn and to get  one and Other language.


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