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Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition

Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition. Bilingualism. Bilingualism means being fluent in two languages Approximately ½ of the people in the world are native speakers of more than one language

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Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition

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  1. Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition

  2. Bilingualism • Bilingualism means being fluent in two languages • Approximately ½ of the people in the world are native speakers of more than one language • It is natural for children acquiring more than one language to mix the languages as they are acquiring them • Bilingual children appear to acquire both languages in the same stages and at same rate as monolingual children

  3. Bilingualism (con’t) • Metalinguistic awareness = consciousness about language including a better understanding of symbol-object relations and sociolinguistic practices Bilingual children have better metalinguistic awareness than monolingual children • Code-switching = moving back and forth between two or more languages during a single speech event Bilingual individuals code-switch when speaking to other bilingual individuals

  4. Theories of Bilingual Language Acquisition • Unitary System Hypothesis Children first construct one lexicon and one grammar, and then later add another. • Separate Systems Hypothesis Children simultaneously develop two lexicons and two grammars, one for each of the languages.

  5. Second Language Acquisition (L2’s) • The acquisition of a second language AFTER the first has been completely acquired. • Fundamental Difference Hypothesis = the process of second language acquisition is different than bilingual language acquisition process. • L2’s go through predictable stages in acquiring the second languages that are intermediate between their first and second languages. • Many L2’s never reach full fluency, and/or frequently retain systematic errors in their second language. • About 8 years old appears to be the boundary for complete fluency (phonetically, morphologically and syntactically) in a second language. • Each year delay makes a significant difference in fluency

  6. Methods of Teaching L2’s • Grammar Translation Involves memorization of vocabulary, morphological and syntactic rules. • The Direct Method Involves immersion in the second language without any memorization or study of phonology or syntax.

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