Introducting SLA - The Basics

M.
Ed (TEFL) Chulalongkorn University

Special Talk
Associate Professor Supakorn Phoocharoensil, Ph.D.
 The Study of SLA
 Definitions
 The Nature of Language
 The Nature of Non-native Speaker knowledge
 How L2s are learned
 How learners create a new language system
with only limited exposure to L2
 What is LEARNED of L2 and what is NOT
 Why most L2 learners do not achieve the
same degree of proficiency in L2 as they do in
their L1
 How learners form their L2 rules and
hypotheses in L2 learning
 The study of SLA impacts on and draws from
many other areas of study:
• Linguistics (e.g. syntax, pragmatics,
discourse study, etc.)
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Education
• etc.
 Linguistics
 Language pedagogy
 Cross-cultural communication
 Language policy and language planning
 A major goal of SLA research is the
determination of linguistic constraints on the
formation of L2 grammars.
 Linguistic principles reflect the possibilities of

human language (L1, L2, L3, …) creation and
the limits of human language variation.
 What is the goal of language (L2) teaching?
1. To develop language-teaching
methodologies, we need a firm basis for
those methodologies in language learning
Language learning theories VS. language teaching methods

 Therefore, pedagogical decision-making
must reflect what is known about the process
of learning.
2. What are the expectations that teachers have
of their students?
If a teacher spends a class hour drilling

students on the Past Simple Tense, and they
are all producing the past tense verb forms
correctly in an appropriate context in class.
 However,
Right after class, the students produced

incorrect verb forms in spontaneous speech
what had just been drilled and drilled.
What does this mean?
What should they teacher think about this?

 In interactions with speakers of another
language/culture, we have certain
expectations and we often produce
stereotyped reactions.
 Many L2 learners’ speech patterns reflect

their non-nativeness, rather than being
characteristics of their personality.
Example
John: Don’t you like my new shoes?

Wilai: No (I really like them).
 Many issues of language policy are dependent
on a knowledge of how L2s are learned.
 Different Countries have different language

policies (e.g. EFL, ESL, etc.)
 National language programs often involve
decision-making that depends on:
a.) information about L2 learning
b.) the kinds of instruction that can be brought

to bear on issues of acquisition
c.) the realities and expectations

1) Native language (NL)
 What are some other synonyms of NL?
= The first language that a child learns.

1) Native language (NL)
 First language (L1),
 The primary language
 Mother tongue
 Native tongue
= The first language that a child learns.

2) Target language (TL)
= the language being learned
3.) second language acquisition
= the process of learning another language
after L1 has been learned;
= the learning of a nonnative language after
the learning of one’s native language
Sometimes this terms can refer to the learning

of a third or fourth language.
4.) foreign language learning
= the learning of a nonnative language in the

environment of one’s native language (mostly
done in the context of the classroom)
(Can you think of any example???)

 Please note that
In general, we use SLA to refer to learning in a

second language and a foreign language
context.
 There are a number of aspects of language
related to SLA: the phonology, syntax,
morphology, semantics, and pragmatics, etc.
 Knowledge of our L1 sound system is
complex.
 It entails knowing what are

possible/impossible sounds in the language.
e.g. /v/ and th sounds in English do not exist

in Thai
 L1 speakers also know phonotactics, (i.e.
conditions of occurrences of speech sounds,
e.g. clusters)
 The ng sound does not occur initially in

English.
 The cluster /bn/ does not exist in English.

 Prescriptive grammar
VS.
 Descriptive grammar
 Rules generally taught in schools
 These rules do not correspond to the way

native speakers of a language actually use
language.
 Don’t end a sentence with a preposition.
( This is the book I am interested in.)
 Don’t split infinitives.

( to boldly go where no man has gone before.)
 Don’t begin a sentence with a conjunction.

( I know him. But he doesn’t know me.)
 Don’t use Besides in academic writing

 Linguists are concerned with this kind of
grammar.
 They attempt to describe languages as they

are actually used.
 The (prescriptive) rules just stated above are

not always true of descriptive grammars
because native speakers of English often
violate these prescriptive rules.
Syntactically speaking, native speakers of
English know:
1.) Which are grammatical/ungrammatical
sentences
a. The boy likes the girl.

b. *boy the girl likes the.
English know:
2.) Which are ambiguous/unambiguous
sentences
a. He gave her dog biscuits.

English know:
3.) a set of rules with which they can produce
an infinite set of sentences
e.g. The woman wearing the green scarf ran across the street to
see the gorilla that had just escaped from the zoo.
 Morpheme = the smallest meaningful unit in
a language
 Free morpheme = can stand alone as a word

in itself, e.g. car, dog, light, glass, child,
table)
 Bound morpheme = can never be a word by

itself, e.g. prefixes, suffixes, roots
 Dis- = not
 Disrupt (v.) = dis-, rupt (B + B)
 Bondfree (adj.) = bond, free (F + F)
 Kindness (n.) = kind + -ness (F +B)
 Uncomfortably = un-, com-,fort, able, -(l)y

 Congratulations= con-,grat, -ulate, -ion, -s
Antidisestablishmentarianism
=
How many morphemes does each word below
have? What are they and their types?
1. Reconfirmation =
2. Disability =
3. Unnatural =
4. Lifestyle =
5. Atypical =
6. Asymptomatic =
 A native speaker knows
1) Whether a sentence is semantically well-

formed or not
a. That bachelor is married.

 A native speaker knows
2) how to distinguish homonyms
a. The leaf of a tree
b. The leaf of a table

 Homophone:
e.g. way, weigh
to, too, two
sent, scent
 Homograph:
e.g. live (v.)/ live (adj./adv.)
present (v.)/ present (n., adj.)
 The knowledge of language meaning in
context
A: Is Samuel there?
B: ………………………(if Samuel is there.)
What is the form and function of A’s speech?

 A: Can we be friends?
 Interlanguage (IL) = a language system
created by language learners
 Some elements in the IL do NOT have origin

in either the NL or the TL.
 Patterns in IL systems are both consistent and

dynamic
 Fossilization = the cessation of learning

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M.

Ed (TEFL) Chulalongkorn University

 Linguistic principles reflect the possibilities of

Language learning theories VS. language teaching methods

If a teacher spends a class hour drilling

Right after class, the students produced

What does this mean?

What should they teacher think about this?

 Many L2 learners’ speech patterns reflect

John: Don’t you like my new shoes?

 Different Countries have different language

b.) the kinds of instruction that can be brought

c.) the realities and expectations

= The first language that a child learns.

= The first language that a child learns.

Sometimes this terms can refer to the learning

= the learning of a nonnative language in the

(Can you think of any example???)

In general, we use SLA to refer to learning in a

 It entails knowing what are

e.g. /v/ and th sounds in English do not exist

 The ng sound does not occur initially in

 The cluster /bn/ does not exist in English.

 These rules do not correspond to the way

 Don’t split infinitives.

 Don’t begin a sentence with a conjunction.

 Don’t use Besides in academic writing

 They attempt to describe languages as they

 The (prescriptive) rules just stated above are

a. The boy likes the girl.

a. He gave her dog biscuits.

 Free morpheme = can stand alone as a word

 Bound morpheme = can never be a word by

 Uncomfortably = un-, com-,fort, able, -(l)y

1) Whether a sentence is semantically well-

a. That bachelor is married.

2) how to distinguish homonyms

a. The leaf of a tree

b. The leaf of a table

What is the form and function of A’s speech?

 Some elements in the IL do NOT have origin

 Patterns in IL systems are both consistent and

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