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SLA. What is Second Language Acquisition. The systematic study of how people acquire language. Goals of SLA. Provide some available insights into L2 learning Provide a better approach to find out what learners actually do opposed to what they think when they try to learn.
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What is Second Language Acquisition • The systematic study of how people acquire language.
Goals of SLA • Provide some available insights into L2 learning • Provide a better approach to find out what learners actually do opposed to what they think when they try to learn. • How learners overall ability develops • Description of L2 acquisition
Factors influencing SLA • Social • Inputs learners receive
Internal factors • Cognitive mechanisms • Handling enormous amount of knowledge • Language aptitude
2 case studies • Name: wes • Adult learner • L1: Japanese • Age: 33 • He is an example of a naturalist learner- someone who learns language at the same time as learning to communicate it. (see pp. 6-8)
2nd case study • Names: J & R • L1 : Portugues and Pakistani • Both learners were learning E in a language unit in London. • Focus of study: requests
Conclusion of both CS • They raise a number of important methodological issues relating to how L2 acquisition should be studied • They raise issues relating to the description of learner language • They point to some of the problems researchers experience in trying to explain L2 acquisition.
Methodological issues • What needs to be described in SLA • What is the meaning of acquisition • How far a learner has acquired a specific aspect • Overuse of linguistic forms
Issues in the description of LL • Learners make errors? • Formulaic chunks • Systematicity
Explaining L2 acquisition • Item learning • System learning • Mentalist account?