L2 acquisition in adults

Question 1

L2 learners already have… in place when they begin acquiring their second language, which gives them an advantage

Answer 1

a grammar and lexicon (concepts)

Question 2

True or false : child and adult L2 learners progress faster than L1 infants

Answer 2

True

Question 3

L2 advantage in syntax

Answer 3

o begin L2 acquisition building longer and more complex sentences, even before they understand much of the L2 grammar;
o they bootstrap from the syntax of their L1.

Question 4

L2 advantage in lexicon

Answer 4

• Child L2 learners have an advantage in learning new words over L1 learners:
  o they have more advanced cognitive abilities;
  o they already have a set of concepts with labels in their native language.

Question 5

Transfer

Answer 5

The incorporation of a grammatical property from one language into the other;
* L2 learners initially transfer their L1 grammar into the interlanguage grammar (IL), which is the grammar that they construct for the target L2;

Question 6

Consequence of transfer

Answer 6

when learners encounter constructions in the L2 input that are not possible in their L1 grammar, they ‘repair’ them so that they respect L1 constraints.

Question 7

Adverb placement in French/(English) learners of English/(French)

Answer 7

Learners can be strategic:
Place adverb in sentence-final position – works for both languages

Question 8

Phonetics strategy for L2 French learner’s

Answer 8

Transferred grammar: [mɛɹ’si]
uvular fricative/approximant [ʁ] vs post-alveolar approximant [ɹ]
Learners can be strategic:
Substitute a low vowel for [ʁ] (in coda position): [mɛa’si]