LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: RECENT TRENDS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 26-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lourdes Ortega ◽  
Gina Iberri-Shea
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Recent Trends

Both common sense and expert knowledge tell us that learning a language other than the mother tongue is a complex process that happens through and over time. Time, indeed, is a construct implicated in many of the problems that second language acquisition researchers investigate. The purpose of this chapter is to survey longitudinal SLA research published in the last three years and to offer a critical reflection of best current longitudinal practices and desirable directions for future longitudinal SLA research. We highlight recent trends in longitudinal SLA research, paying particular attention to broad design choices and foci of research organized around four trends in SLA longitudinal investigation, and we describe key exemplary studies under each trend. We close by reflecting on some of the challenges and opportunities that await these longitudinal research programs in the future.

Connectionist modelling of Aspect acquisition in Italian L2

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 4-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiana Rosi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Self Organizing Maps ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Cognitive Principles ◽  
Unsupervised Neural Networks

Within the long tradition of second language acquisition (SLA) research on the development of the category of Aspect (Dietrich et al. 1995; Giacalone Ramat 2002), the present study compares the acquisitional pattern observed in learners of Italian L2 and those obtained by connectionist simulations, namely unsupervised neural networks, Self Organizing Maps, SOMs (Kohonen 2001). The research tests empirically whether SOMs can display the emergence of Aspect in the interlanguage produced by German-speaking and Spanish-speaking L2 learners and the interaction between Aspect, Actionality and Grounding in this development. The convergence between connectionist modelling and learners’ patterns provides evidence for the interaction that exists between data-driven mechanisms and cognitive principles in the complex process of second language acquisition.

Construction Grammar and Second Language Acquisition

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Psychological Analysis ◽  
Form Function

This chapter analyzes second language acquisition in the context of Construction Grammar. It provides evidence for the psychological reality of constructions in a second language and presents a psychological analysis of the effects of form, function, frequency, and contingency that are common to both first and second language construction learning following statistical learning processes which relate input and learner cognition. The chapter also considers crosslinguistic transfer effects and possible future directions for research into constructional approaches to second language acquisition.

Is There a Critical Period for Second Language Acquisition? A theoretical Social Physics Approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZhaoHong Han ◽  
Gang Bao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Older Learners ◽  
Social Physics ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Nature And Nurture ◽  
Ultimate Attainment

The critical period (CP) phenomenon in language development ranks among the 125 conundrums facing scientists in the 21st century, according to Science. While the phenomenon itself has been noncontroversial in first language acquisition, it still warrants an adequate explanation. Predicated on language acquisition as a complex process, questions among the first to be raised include: How do children accomplish this remarkable feat in such a short amount of time? And how do nature and nurture come together to influence language learning? In second language acquisition, however, both the notion of CP, albeit popular, and its empirical evidence have remained contested to this date - among the questions, whether the observed evidence counts as CP-specific and/or whether or not it warrants an isomorphic attribution to maturational constraints. Entwined in this debate are two well-established facets of inter-learner differential attainment. The first is that there exists a stark difference in ultimate attainment between younger and older learners. A second facet is the vast differences in ultimate attainment among older learners. In this article, adopting a social physics approach, we mathematically establish both the relationship between nature and nurture contributions and the presence of a critical period, and, at once, tender a parsimonious and probable theory for the twin phenomena of inter-learner differential attainment.

scholarly journals Second Language Acquisition: A Framework and Historical Background on Its Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Fahad Hamad Aljumah
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
English As Foreign Language

Research shows many problems and ambiguities of second language acquisition (SLA), which have made learners and readers worldwide unsatisfied. Therefore, this study attempts to highlight theories and research that have comprehensive explanations of the problems and ambiguities of second language acquisition, which learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) face while learning a second or foreign language. After that, the study discusses a framework discussion on second language acquisition (SLA). It discusses the historical background of SLA research on different decades and the most notable views of different scholars throughout the past decades on second language acquisition. This study is a longitudinal research that identifies the advantages that could be an assist to English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Longitudinal research is always based on the qualitative method. This study's data is based on the qualitative method that collects views, opinions, materials, and earlier studies on second language acquisition (SLA). It reveals the most significant theories which precisely connected to second language acquisition (SLA) and largely to applied linguistics. The study resulted in that: (i) second language acquisition still has several doubts and ambiguities in its many different aspects, (ii). In this study, the researcher summarizes second language acquisition (SLA) research's main goals and draws comparisons on the scholars' dissimilarities between language learning and second language acquisition (SLA) on different perceptions that could give insights towards learning of second and foreign languages easily by the English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners.

scholarly journals The rationale for the formation of bilingual communication culture in the context of second language acquisition

2021 ◽  
pp. 178-185
Author(s):  
Y. V. Vienievtseva ◽  
◽  
I. M. Medvedska ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Special Knowledge ◽  
Communication Culture

The present article deals with bilingual communication culture as a multifaceted problem. Theoretical analysis of the content, peculiarities of bilingual communication culture and other key notions, makes it possible to reveal the essence of bilingual communication culture and define it as a constituent part of the general culture of communication necessary for cross-cultural interaction and information exchange between bilingual individuals by means of native and foreign languages. There are two main concepts considered in the paper, namely bilingual communication culture and second language acquisition (SLA). The former is used to denote special knowledge and communication skills requisite for gaining positive experience in productive bilingual communication within multicultural interaction and sharing this experience with the representatives of other nations. The latter is a complex process of a spontaneous mastering a foreign language under the influence of linguistic, psycholinguistic, contextual, developmental and individual factors that predetermine language transfer, language level and the duration of second language acquisition. The research emphasises the necessity to form bilingual communication culture within the framework of second language acquisition.

scholarly journals YOUTUBE AS A MEDIUM FOR INDONESIAN TODDLERS’ SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (AN ANALYSIS THROUGH CHILDREN SONGS)

HUMANIKA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-154
Author(s):  
Yashinta Farahsani ◽  
Ika Puspita Rini ◽  
Patria Handung Jaya
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Peak Time ◽  
Simple Sentence ◽  
School Students ◽  
Interview Method ◽  
The Media ◽  
The University

Language acquisition for children is started when they produce words on their own. Children’s language normally develop in line with their age. Usually they can produce sentence and speak their mother tongue language fluently at the age of three. In the same time, children are able to acquire other language which is called second language acquisition (SLA). In Indonesia, English has become second language that has become the main subject at school, from the elementary level to the university level. Toddlers are children at the range of age between 2-3 years. This is the peak time to acquire language, and at this age, children are able to create phrase or simple sentence. Since the technology has developed very rapidly, children also can get more facilities to learn language. One of the media to learn language is YouTube. Using interview method, the writers did interview to 21 respondents as the parents of pre-school students. There were four questions to answer and the answers were described based on the respondents’ opinion. The research results that children can start to learn English through YouTube by watching English songs. Their attraction in watching is followed by imitating the word, the way the characters sing, and also the manner. Parents become guide to improve the children’s process of English learning after they watched YouTube.

Tweede-Taalverwerving Door Turkse en Marokkaanse Kinderen

1983 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 64-78
Author(s):  
Anne Vermeer
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Cultural Orientation ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Economic Background ◽  
Moroccan Children

In second language acquisition two aspects may be distinguished, namely structure (or order and speed or success) of second language acquisition. The structure of second language acquisition is mainly determined by cognitive strategies and has a strong universal character. Speed, however, is for the greater part determined by the socio-economic background and socio-cultural orientation of the learners and the kind and intensity of contact with the second language. The two aspects distinguished here are object of a 4-year longitudinal research project called 'The speed and Structure of Second Language Acquisition of Turkish and Moroccan Children', which started in June 1981. After a description of the project, the first preliminary results are presented. It is stated that there are large differences between the children in the level of proficiency in Dutch and in the speed of language acquisition, and that, over all, their vocabulary is very weak.

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