TOWARD A NEW NATIVISM

1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
William O'Grady
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
General Character ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
Radical Shift

The field of language acquisition is divided over the question of whether the inborn mechanisms underlying linguistic development include actual grammatical categories and principles or are of a more general character. Recent proposals suggest a possible convergence of views on this matter, with implications for the study of both first language acquisition and second language learning. This paper explores this possibility by examining the evolution of grammatical nativism with particular emphasis on a radical shift in the generality of the inborn principles that have been posited in recent work. The nature and implications of this shift are illustrated with the help of developmental data involving gap-containing structures in first and second language acquisition.

scholarly journals Usage-based Approaches to Second Language Acquisition: Cognitive and Social Aspects

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 473
Author(s):  
Yaghoob Javadi ◽  
Fakhereh Kazemirad
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Learning Language

Usage-based approaches focus on learning language through engaging in the interpersonal communicative and cognitive processes. They consider language as the best accomplishment of our social and cognitive competences which bridges society and cognition. Based on usage-based approaches, language can be learned from language use, by means of social skills and generalizations over usage events in interaction. These approaches actually explore how language learning occurs through language experience. Therefore, usage-based approaches are input-dependent and experience-driven and assume frequency of usage as an inseparable part of language learning which plays an important role in the language production, language comprehension, and also grammaticality of the patterns. While usage-based approaches have been successful in showing how first language is learnt from the input, it is still less clear how these approaches can be made use of in second language learning. The present study provides an overview of the usage-based approaches to second language acquisition and their cognitive and social underpinnings. Firstly, the notion, underlying tenets, and major constructs of usage-based approaches are summarized. Then usage-based linguistics is described in detail. Finally, cognitive and social aspects of usage-based approaches are taken into account.

scholarly journals The role of feedback and instruction on the cross-situational learning of vocabulary and morphosyntax: Mixed effects models reveal local and global effects on acquisition

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832092774
Author(s):  
Padraic Monaghan ◽  
Simón Ruiz ◽  
Patrick Rebuschat
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Learning Condition ◽  
Learning Instruction ◽  
Improved Learning

First language acquisition is implicit, in that explicit information about the language structure to be learned is not provided to children. Instead, they must acquire both vocabulary and grammar incrementally, by generalizing across multiple situations that eventually enable links between words in utterances and referents in the environment to be established. However, this raises a problem of how vocabulary can be acquired without first knowing the role of the word within the syntax of a sentence. It also raises practical issues about the extent to which different instructional conditions – about grammar in advance of learning or feedback about correct decisions during learning – might influence second language acquisition of implicitly experienced information about the language. In an artificial language learning study, we studied participants learning language from inductive exposure, but under different instructional conditions. Language learners were exposed to complex utterances and complex scenes and had to determine the meaning and the grammar of the language from these co-occurrences with environmental scenes. We found that learning was boosted by explicit feedback, but not by explicit instruction about the grammar of the language, compared to an implicit learning condition. However, the effect of feedback was not general across all aspects of the language. Feedback improved vocabulary, but did not affect syntax learning. We further investigated the local, contextual effects on learning, and found that previous knowledge of vocabulary within an utterance improved learning but that this was driven only by certain grammatical categories in the language. The results have implications for theories of second language learning informed by our understanding of first language acquisition as well as practical implications for learning instruction and optimal, contingent adjustment of learners’ environment during their learning.

scholarly journals SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND THE CRITICAL PERIOD

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 1769-1771
Author(s):  
Hristina Miteva Tanaskoska
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Critical Period ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Older Learners ◽  
New Community ◽  
The Brain

Is there a critical period for second language acquisition? When should one begin learning a second language? These are questions that have always been present and they stiil have not become any less controversial or complex. There is not any specific age that could be determined or proclaimed to be the most appropriate. A lot of things must be taken into consideration with spesific emphasis on the goals of the learner. Whether reaching a native -like accent and proficency is the ultimate aim or obtaining a certain level that will enable an everyday communication? Since a great number of experiments and research have shown that both younger and older students can achieve high levels in their second language, a fair atribute and attention should be paid to both theories respectfully.It has been hypothesized that there is a critical period for second language acquisition as well as for first language acquisition. According to this theory there is a time in human development when the brain is predisposed for success in language learning. It is belived that some developmental changes in the brain affect the nature of language acquisition. Therefore, any language learning that occurs after the end of the critical period may not be based on innate biological structures belived to contribute to first language acquisition or second language acquisition in early childhood. The general learning abilites that the older learners depend on, are claimed to be less efective than the innate capacities available to young children. Most studies of the relationship between age of acquisition and second language development have focused on learners’pronounciation. It is frequently observed that most children from immigrant families eventually speak the language of their new community with native –like fluency and accent, while their parents quite often fall behind in this mastery even long after they had been living and working in the new community. Nevertheless, some researches argue that older learners may have one advantage: they appear to be able to learn faster in the early stages of second language learning. Age is one of the characteristics that determine the way in which an individual approaches second language learning. But the opportunities for learning (inside the classroom and outside), the motivation to learn , and individual differences in aptitude for language learning are also important determining factors that affect both rate of learning and eventual susscess in learning. It must be acknowledged that achieving native-like mastery of the second language is neither a realistic nor a neccessarilya desired goal for many second language learners in many educational contexts.

scholarly journals First and second language acquisition: Towards a reconcillation

2015 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-140
Author(s):  
Nicole Nau
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract For the past two decades, research on first language acquisition on the one side, and on second language acquisition and learning on the other have largely developed separately, probably as a reaction to the failure of earlier attempts to use the same methods or simply transfer insights gained in one of the fields to the other. T his article argues that a reconciliation may be fruitful, provided that different aspects which have often got blurred in the discussion are considered separately. These aspects include the assessment of multilingualism and monolingualism, the age factor and the definition of “first” and “second” language, the understanding of linguistic competence and of completeness of acquisition, different forms of acquisition and learning, and uniformity vs. individual differences in the process of language acquisition. By challenging some widely held views on characteristics of first language acquisition and its differences to second language learning, more fine-grained research questions are revealed, some of which have been addressed in recent studies on language acquisition and multilingualism

scholarly journals Investigating the Use of Article-Adjective-Noun Constructions in EFL Writing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingying Liu ◽  
Kevin McManus
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Written Corpus

Recent second language acquisition research has demonstrated that language learning is in essence the learning of constructions, or form-meaning pairings. Compared to first language acquisition research, however, our understanding of how constructions in a second language (L2) emerge and develop with proficiency and/or experience is limited. Furthermore, within this developing evidence base of L2 research, investigations have predominantly focused on verb-based constructions (e.g., verb-argument constructions), understood to be a core construction category of sentences. As a result, a large part of L2 speakers’ construction inventories remains to be investigated. To address this gap, a corpus-based investigation of the “article + adjective + noun” (AAN) construction in a written corpus of Chinese-speaking learners of English was carried out. Analyses show growth in construction types and developmental changes of adjectives in AANs with increasing amounts of L2 experience, consistent with usage-based understandings of language. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed, including the extent to which previous findings for verb-based constructions apply to AAN constructions.

Rules and similarity processes in artificial grammar and natural second language learning: What is the “default”?

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-33
Author(s):  
Peter Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
First Language ◽  
Artificial Grammar ◽  
Grammatical Knowledge ◽  
Grammar Learning ◽  
The Many

Are rules processes or similarity processes the default for acquisition of grammatical knowledge during natural second language acquisition? Whereas Pothos argues similarity processes are the default in the many areas he reviews, including artificial grammar learning and first language development, I suggest, citing evidence, that in second language acquisition of grammatical morphology “rules processes” may be the default.

Language Ideology and Second Language Learning

2008 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 95-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa McGarry
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Ideology ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Explanatory Power

AbstractThe increasing recognition of the concept language ideology and the corresponding increasing use of the term have not yet been matched by applications in the field of second language acquisition. However, applications of the concept in analysis of actual classroom practices have shown it to have considerable explanatory power. Greater consideration of language ideology in SLA is necessary not only to achieve greater understanding of the role of ideology in various areas but also to show connections between these areas that may yield important generalizations and to impel the application of the concept in areas where it has been neglected by highlighting its uneven treatment.

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