Second language acquisition

1A. Theories of second language acquisition1
1A. 1. Introduction
Over the years, different disciplinary traditions have examined the ways in which people learn their first and any additional languages. Each tradition is associated with a particular philosophy, examines the question of learning from a particular perspective and uses a particular research methodology. They are therefore poised toexplain different phenomena. In this chapter I present three different traditions of theories: behaviourist cognitive and socioculturall. The behaviourist perspective focuses on the learners' environment (i.e. external factors), the mainstream cognitive approach concentrates on their mental processes (i.e. internal factors) and the more recent sociocultural perspective takes account of bothmental and social processes. Albeit being termed theories of 'second' language acquisition (SLA), researchers do not always distinguish between second and foreign languages. They mean one or the other or indeed both without making this clear. It is generally agreed that a foreign language is generally not spoken by the main population of the country the learner lives in. People might learn it forcommunication purposes on holiday or for job opportunities. An example is an English student learning French at school in England. By contrast, one speaks of a second language when people learn a language subsequently to their mother tongue which is generally spoken in their home country. An example of this would be an English child learning French as a result of having moved to France.

Food forthough
Compare the ways in which you learned your mother tongue and additional languages. What are the differences and similarities? How do the following statements concur with your experience: I learn best when I can speak to people and try out my skills. I learn best when I am on holiday and can listen to people speaking. In order to learn, I need to be in a quiet room, read and practise the newskills over and over again. My foreign language developed almost automatically.

1

Kirsch, Claudine (2009) Teaching foreign languages in the Primary School. Continuum (pages 33-48)

1A.2 A behaviourist perspective on SLA
From the 1930s to the 1960s, behaviourism was the most prominent theory used to explain learning in general and language learning in particular. Behaviourists understoodlearning largely in terms of habit formation brought about through imitation, repetition, practice and reinforcement (Thorndike, 1932; Skinner, 1957). Habits are formed when learners repeatedly respond to a particular stimulus in the same way. Structural linguistics, the dominant theory of language at the time, influenced the views on language acquisition considerably. Structural linguists areinterested in the structure of language and study observable features of speech. From the perspective of behaviourism and structural linguistics children learn their first language through imitation and repetition. As Bloomfield (1933), an influential linguist, explained:
His (the child's) more perfect attempts at speech are likely to be fortified by repetition, and his failures to be wiped out byconfusion. This process never stops. At a much later stage, if he says Daddy bringed it, he merely gets a disappointing answer such as No! You must say 'Daddy brought it'; but if he says Daddy brought it, he is likely to hear the form over again: Yes, Daddy brought it, and get a favourable practical response.

Behaviourists further believe that learners acquire a second language through transferof the rules and habits formed in the mother tongue to the second language. If these two languages have different grammatical structures, the transfer of the old habits can interfere with the acquisition of the new language. If the structures are similar, transfer may be positive and facilitate the acquisition process. Some examples clarify the point. Chinese does not have markers for the...