Second Language Acquisition (2)

THE NATURE OF LEARNER LANGUAGE

A.     Error and Analysis

Identifying Error

To identify errors we have o compare sentences learners produce with what seem to be the normal or ‘correct’ sentences in the target language which correspond with them. We also need to distinguish errors and mistakes .

1.  Error reflect gaps in a learner’s knowledge; they occur because the learner doesn’t know what is correct. For example, the learner consistently say ‘contain’ for ‘contained’.

2.  Mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance; they occur because in particular instance, the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows. For example, the learner sometimes say ‘contain’ and sometimes say ‘contained’.

Describing Error

The errors can be describe and classified into types. There are several ways of doing this. They are:

•   Omission
•   Misinformation
•   Misordering

Classifying errors in these ways can help us to diagnose learners’ learning problems at any one stage of their development and to put how changes in error patterns occur over time.

 Explaining Error

The identification and description of error are preliminaries to much more interesting task of trying to explain why they occur. Overgeneralization and omission are the reason of this. It indicates that learners’create’ their own rules.

Error Evaluation

1.   Global Error     : Violate the overall structure of a sentence and for this reason may make it difficult to process,
2.   Local Error       : Affect only a single constituent in the sentence.

B.     Developmental Patterns

The Early Stages of L2 Acquisition

Some L2 learners, particurly if they are children, undergo a Silent Period. They make no attempt to say anything to begin with. They just study through listening to or reading.

1.   There must be a natural order of acquisition that all learners follow.
2.   The order does vary somewhat according to the learners’ first language.

Sequence of Acquisition

            When learners acquire a grammatical structure they do so gradually, moving through a series of stages en route to acquiring the native-speaker rule.

Implication

1.   L2 acquisition is systematic.
2.   To a large extent, universal.
3.   Reflecting ways in which internal cognitive mechanisms control acquisition.
4.   Irrespective of the personal background of learners or the setting in which they learn.

C.     Variability in Learner Language

Linguistic Context

In one context they use one form while in other context they use alternate forms.

Situational Context

Learners are more likely to use the correct target-language forms in formal contexts and non-target forms in informal contexts.

Psycolinguistic Context

Learners have the opportunity to plan their production.

There are three types of this context. They are:

1.   Form-Function Mappings
2.   Free Variation
3.   Fossilization