First & Second Language Acquisition (Part II)

Question 1

the study of second language acquisition

Answer 1

• focus on language teaching in 1950s and 1960s
• the shift from focusing on teacher to the learner in 1970s
• the shift from behaviourism to cognitive psychology, focusing on children’s internal grammars
• the application of some knowledge in first language acquisition to second language acquisition
• SLA learners are subjects to an influence of the first language acquisition
• interlanguage grammar is influenced by the first and second language, has features of both
• the target of IL is actual proficiency for communicative competence
• textual competence, sociolinguistic competence, illocutionary competence
• analysis of mistakes that are subjects of transfer from the first language
• the imperfect use of linguistic knowledge rather than the deficits in the knowledge itself
• the goal of SLA is to shift processing from controlled to automatic

Question 2

interlanguage grammar

Answer 2

• system of mental representations influenced by both the first and second language and has features of each

Question 3

transfer

Answer 3

• describes the process whereby a feature or rule from a learner’s first language is carried over to the interlanguage grammar

Question 4

fossilized

Answer 4

• when the interlanguage grammar stops changing

Question 5

communicative competence

Answer 5

• the learner must be able to use the language in a way that is appropriate to the situation or context

Question 6

textual competence

Answer 6

• recognizes the ability to string sentences together appropriately

Question 7

sociolinguistic competence

Answer 7

• involves the ability to use the linguistic register appropriate to the situation

Question 8

illocutionary competence

Answer 8

• refers to the ability to comprehend a speaker’s intent

Question 9

bilingualism

Answer 9

• more than half of the world’s populatino is bilingual

Question 10

simultaneous bilingualism

Answer 10

• bilingual from birth or at least from a very early age

Question 11

successive bilingualism

Answer 11

• others have become bilingual later in life

- occurs when a child learns a second language after the first language has been established

Question 12

additive bilingualism

Answer 12

• a second language has been added to the first
• late in life
• happens very often for occupational purposes

Question 13

subtractive bilingualism

Answer 13

• the second language ultimately replaces the first

Question 14

bilingual education program

Answer 14

• minority-language maintenance programs

- french immersion programs

Question 15

minority-language maintenance programs

Answer 15

• minority-language children often have difficulty in majority-language schools
• these children suffer a setback in their education
• receive their initial instruction in the minority language. the majority language is gradually introduced
• performing as well as their peers by grade 6
• receiving instruction in L1 does not have negative effects on the L2

Question 16

french immersion programs

Answer 16

• increase in students over the years
• it is the teaching in French, not the teaching of French
• native speakers of French do not enroll
• by grade 6, students from french immersion outperform their monolingual peers

Question 17

dual language programs

Answer 17

• students from two linguistic backgrounds are formally instructed in both languages

Question 18

benefits of bilingualism

Answer 18

• increased syntactic complexity in the L1
• higher scores on the SAT
• increased sensitivity to the needs of the listener
• higher scores on tests of analogical reasoning
• higher scores on test of mathematical ability
• delay in the onset of symptoms in cases of dementia

Question 19

does a bilingual speaker represent each language in different areas of the brain?

Answer 19

• there is evidence of different degrees of recovery in each language after a stroke
• Ojemann and Whitaker found that electrical stimulation of certain areas interrupted naming in both languages, where stimulation of other areas interrupted naming in only one language
• naming in L2 involves activation in areas that are involved on L1
• lexical and semantic judgement of words activate mostly overlapping areas of the brain

Question 20

what effects does age of second language acquisition have on brain representation?

Answer 20

• work in event-related potentials (ERP) suggests that second language learning is better in those who learn their second language early
• PET scans have found that listening to passages in a first language results in an activation of area that is not apparent in the second language for late second language learners
• ‘yes and no’
• learning before age 7 will have nativelike L2 speech
• after age 14 might have non-native L2 speech
• older learners initially learn faster, younger learners outperform older learners in the long run
• young learners are more successful in SLA
• older learners are more efficient

Question 21

affective factors

Answer 21

• have to do with the emotional side of learning a second languaeg

Question 22

integrative motivation

Answer 22

• wanting to fit better in a particular culture

Question 23

instrumental motivation

Answer 23

• wanting to learn the L2 for a specific purpose or a goal

Question 24

motivation

Answer 24

• degree of motivation is a better predictor of future learning than is type of motivation
• degree is high you will learn a language quicker and better

Question 25

different strategies for learning a second language

Answer 25

• has to be learned deliberately
• learners who are field independent are not distracted by irrelevant background information, more successful in SLA
• learners who are field dependent can be distracted by all kinds of background information, less successful in SLA
• L2 learners need to be concerned with both accuracy and fluency

Question 26

approaches to second language teaching

Answer 26

• contrastive approach

- interlanguage approach

Question 27

contrastive approach

Answer 27

• the mother tongue and a second language are compared to find common and non-common features

Question 28

interlanguage approach

Answer 28

• the learner builds up his/her own rules and speaks a language which is neither the target language nor the mother tongue
• associated with the study of the ways in which nonnative speakers acquire, comprehend, and use linguistic patterns

Question 29

the second language learning process (SLL)

Answer 29

• the nature-nuture debate

- chomsky believed that second language learners are still using universal grammar when learning

Question 30

issues in SLL

Answer 30

• the SLL process is complex
• the SLL process is gradual
• the SLL process is nonlinear
• the SLL process is dynamic
• learners learn when they are ready to do so
• learners rely on the knowledge and experience they have
• there is tremendous individual variation among language learners
• learning a language is a social phenomenon