scholarly journals A Critique to Fundamental Differences Hypothesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Jing Ding
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Logical Problem ◽  
Acquisition Device ◽  
Influential Theory

Chomsky’s Theory of Universal Grammar was proposed in response to “the logical problem of language acquisition”, that is, how children come to acquire L1with ease and complete success despite the insufficiency of the L1 stimulus. Chomsky attributes the phenomenon to the Language Acquisition Device or UG inherited by human brain. Since “the logical problem” exists in SLA. What is the role of LAD or UG in SLA? Or, is UG accessible to L2 learners? This is a question that has attracted SLA researchers since the establishment of UG theory. This paper gives some own analysis of one of the most influential theory of UG accessibility—Fundamental Difference Hypothesis, which belongs to the no-access views and points out its weakness by discussing its theoretical explanation as well as the supporting evidence. To be more specific, this paper will discuss mainly 2 points, one is the nine fundamental characters of foreign language learning and the other is its theoretical explanation related to the Critical Period Hypothesis.

FUNDAMENTAL AND GRADIENT DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Herschensohn
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
First Language ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
The Difference

This article reexamines Bley-Vroman’s original (1990) and evolved (this issue) fundamental difference hypothesis that argues that differences in path and endstate of first language acquisition and adult foreign language learning result from differences in the acquisition procedure (i.e., language faculty and cognitive strategies, respectively). The evolved assessment of the theoretical and empirical developments of the past 20 years is taken into account with respect to Universal Grammar and parameters in generative theory and with respect to cognition and acquisition in data processing. This article supports the spirit of Bley-Vroman’s proposals in light of the discussion of three topics: pathway of acquisition, endstate age of acquisition effects, and language processing by monolinguals and bilinguals. I argue that the difference between child and adult language acquisition is, above all, quantitative not qualitative, a gradient continuum rather than a precipitous break.

scholarly journals The Role of Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition from the Perspective of Chinese Acquiring English Reflexives

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. p284
Author(s):  
Jing Song
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
The Past ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Chinese And English

In China, the second language learning has always played an important role in primary and higher education. The issue of how children acquire the second language has experienced a boom in China over the past decade as the proficiency of a person’s English level mainly depends on its acquisition in primary stage. The main focus of this paper is to examine the role of UG in the second language acquisition and to what extent it plays in the process. To illustrate this, the four access hypotheses were given firstly. In addition, the role of UG from the aspect of Chinese learners’ acquiring the English reflexives was discussed. In this section, the importance of analyzing the reflexives and the different features of them in Chinese and English were exhibited.

scholarly journals PHONEMIC INTERFERENCE AND OVERREGULARIZATION IN THE /S/ AND /∫/ PHONEMES REALIZATION IN FRENCH

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Bagas Anugrah Permana ◽  
Myrna Laksman-Huntley
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Logical Problem ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Phonemic Level ◽  
Lexical Rules ◽  
Explicit Feedback

One of the problems in foreign language learning is interference, a rearrangement of patterns resulting from the presence of foreign elements in the language domain (Weinreich, 2010). This research shows how and why phonemic interference of /s/ and /∫/ phonemes occur from Indonesian and English although both phonemes exist in all three languages. Some interference begins from lexeme and then to phonemic level. Other faults are overregularization which is the application of regular grammatical patterns to irregular cases. This seems to support the Logical Problem of Language Acquisition which states that a student cannot correct his/her mistakes without explicit feedback from the linguistic environment (Pinker, 2004).The results of this research indicate that foreign language learning requires knowledge of non-structural elements that are outside of the language, not only following phonological, syntactic, morphological, or lexical rules (structural elements). For example, students' foreign language knowledge and cultural content in teaching materials.

scholarly journals A multiple process solution to the logical problem of language acquisition

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 883-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN MACWHINNEY
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Logical Problem ◽  
Multiple Process

Many researchers believe that there is a logical problem at the centre of language acquisition theory. According to this analysis, the input to the learner is too inconsistent and incomplete to determine the acquisition of grammar. Moreover, when corrective feedback is provided, children tend to ignore it. As a result, language learning must rely on additional constraints from universal grammar. To solve this logical problem, theorists have proposed a series of constraints and parameterizations on the form of universal grammar. Plausible alternatives to these constraints include: conservatism, item-based learning, indirect negative evidence, competition, cue construction, and monitoring. Careful analysis of child language corpora has cast doubt on claims regarding the absence of positive exemplars. Using demonstrably available positive data, simple learning procedures can be formulated for each of the syntactic structures that have traditionally motivated invocation of the logical problem. Within the perspective of emergentist theory (MacWhinney, 2001), the operation of a set of mutually supportive processes is viewed as providing multiple buffering for developmental outcomes. However, the fact that some syntactic structures are more difficult to learn than others can be used to highlight areas of intense grammatical competition and processing load.

The Starting Big approach to language learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Inbal ARNON
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Multiword Units ◽  
Coarse To Fine

Abstract The study of language acquisition has a long and contentious history: researchers disagree on what drives this process, the relevant data, and the interesting questions. Here, I outline the Starting Big approach to language learning, which emphasizes the role of multiword units in language, and of coarse-to-fine processes in learning. I outline core predictions and supporting evidence. In short, the approach argues that multiword units are integral building blocks in language; that such units can facilitate mastery of semantically opaque relations between words; and that adults rely on them less than children, which can explain (some of) their difficulty in learning a second language. The Starting Big approach is a theory of how children learn language, how language is represented, and how to explain differences between first and second language learning. I discuss the learning and processing models at the heart of the approach and their cross-linguistic implications.

scholarly journals نظريات اكتساب اللغة الثانية وفرضياته

Lugawiyyat ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
MAKHIULIL KIROM
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Acquisition Device ◽  
Acquisition Method

Language skills are abilities that can be possessed by every human being. This ability can be obtained in several ways and methods for foreign language learning. However, the best way or method of language learning, the best way is by the language acquisition method, because the method makes students learn language skills unconsciously, and this condition can instill language skills in a person well, more than normal learning conditions. Furthermore, every human being born has been equipped with a Language Acquisition Device that will greatly assist a person's development in mastering certain languages. In this paper, several theories and hypotheses are also mentioned about the ways, processes and results of language acquisition done by someone.

THE EVOLVING CONTEXT OF THE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE HYPOTHESIS

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bley-Vroman
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Fundamental Difference ◽  
Foreign Language Acquisition

Foreign language learning contrasts with native language development in two key respects: It is unreliable and it is nonconvergent. At the same time, it is clear that foreign languages are languages. The fundamental difference hypothesis (FDH) was introduced as a way to account for the general characteristics of foreign language learning. The FDH was originally formulated in the context of the theory of rich Universal Grammar, and this theory has guided much foreign language acquisition research over the past two decades. However, advances in the understanding of language have undermined much of the supporting framework.The FDH—indeed all of SLA research—must be rethought in light of these advances. It is proposed here that (a) foreign language grammars make central use of patches, which are also seen as peripheral phenomena in native languages; (b) non-domain-specific processes are used in foreign language acquisition, but that these are also employed—although more effectively because they are integrated into the language system—by native language development; and (c) foreign language online processing relies heavily on the use of shallow parses, but these are also available in native language processing, although less crucially.

Machine Translation for EFL

Relay Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 228-235
Author(s):  
Paul J. Moore ◽  
Phil Murphy ◽  
Luann Pascucci ◽  
Scott Sustenance
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Machine Translation ◽  
English Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
English Language Institute ◽  
Changing Role

This paper reports on an ongoing study into the affordances of free online machine translation for students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) at the tertiary level in Japan. The researchers are currently collecting data from a questionnaire, task performance, and interviews with 10-15 EFL learners in an English Language Institute in a university in Japan. The paper provides some background on the changing role of translation in language learning theory and pedagogy, before focusing literature related to technical developments in machine translation technology, and its application to foreign language learning. An overview of the research methodology is provided, along with some insights into potential findings. Findings will be presented in subsequent publications.

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.

scholarly journals Studying individual differences in the social environment to better understand language learning and processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Lev-Ari
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
The Social

AbstractPeople learn language from their social environment. Therefore, individual differences in the input that their social environment provides could influence their linguistic performance. Nevertheless, investigation of the role of individual differences in input on performance has been mostly restricted to first and second language acquisition. In this paper I argue that individual differences in input can influence linguistic performance even in adult native speakers. Specifically, differences in input can affect performance by influencing people’s knowledgebase, by modulating their processing manner, and by shaping expectations. Therefore, studying the role that individual differences in input play can improve our understanding of how language is learned, processed and represented.

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