cquisition Semes.pptVIP

Second Language Acquisition Second Language Acquisition Semester 1, 2005 Week 2 The role of the native language Three periods of SLA research I. 1960’s Behaviourism audiolingualism Language as habit Contrastive analysis II. 1970’s Interlanguage Language as cognitive system Error analysis III. 1980’s ~ SLA theory refinement Multiple perspectives Behaviourism Learning is the result of developing associative links between a given stimulus and a given response. Behaviour is described in terms of stimulus-response chains (=habits). ‘Anti-mentalist’: Observable behaviour is the only legitimate object of study. Contrasts with ‘cognitive’ approaches. Suppose that Jack and Jill are walking down a lane. Jill is hungry. She sees an apple in a tree. She makes a sound with her larynx, tongue and lips. Jack vaults the fence, climbs the tree, takes the apple, brings it to Jill and places it in her hand. Bloomfield, 1933, pp22-23 Contrastive analysis “…is a way of comparing languages in order to determine potential errors for the ultimate purpose of isolating what needs to be learned and what does not need to be learned in a second language learning situation..” Gass Selinker, p72 It was viewed as providing a scientific basis for L2 teaching materials. Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) The most efficient materials are those that are based upon a scientific description of the language to be learned, carefully compared with a parallel description of the native language of the learner. Fries (1945) ...those elements that are similar to his native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult. Lado (1957) Contrastive Analysis Assumptions (1) 1. Language learning = habit formation 2. L1 is major source of error in L2 production/reception 3. Errors are accounted for by considering differences between L1 and L2 Contrastive Analysis Assumptions (2) 4. The greater the difference