SLA - Second Language Acquisition by Lya Hutter

Phase 1 - 1960s and 1970s - Making a start

lyahutter — 2021-09-10 13:32:49 UTC

The studies of naturalistic L2 learners.
Learners followed a more-or-less universal and invariable route, L2 acquisition seemed to involve a natural process of creative construction, and transfer from the L1 was minimal. Some researchers drew on these findings to argue that there was no need to teach grammar, thus challenging prevailing views about language teaching. However, not all SLA researchers were so ready to advance pedagogic applications.

Phase 2 - 1980s - Expansion period

lyahutter — 2021-09-10 13:33:03 UTC

Enquiry developed language transfer, linguistic universals, second language pragmatics, and input/interaction. This phase was more theory-then-research. It was during this period that the first proposal for task-based language teaching – an approach that draws directly on the findings of SLA research – appeared.

Phase 3 - 1980s-1990s - Cognitive period - Coming-of-age

lyahutter — 2021-09-10 13:33:18 UTC

It reflected the impact that constructs taken from cognitive psychology had on thinking about L2 acquisition. Complex Dynamic Systems Theory requires researchers to address the range of linguistic, social, and psychological variables involved in L2 performance and thus demands both
approaches.

Phase 4 - 1990's - The social turn

lyahutter — 2021-09-10 13:33:24 UTC

Social turn researchers prioritized individuals and the claims that L2 acquisition cannot be explained in purely cognitive terms, that learners are complex social beings, and that L2 acquisition is best understood by studying how individual learners both respond to and shape their social context.
Learners can construct their own learning context, social identity is crucial, learners' interactions are common.
Ellis (1999:35) defines interaction as “the social behavior that occurs when one person communicates with another”, he focuses on interaction as an interpersonal and intrapersonal phenomenon. Interaction analysis was initiated in subject classrooms.

Phase 5 - 2000's and 2010's - Recent development - Social and cognitive perspective

lyahutter — 2021-09-10 13:33:30 UTC

Over the years, SLA has grown increasingly more varied and sophisticated in its research methodology.
In part, this was in response to the broadening of the field of SLA but it is also a reflection of researchers’ increased technical expertise and their willingness to subject the procedures used to collect and analyze data to critical scrutiny. The development of technical expertise is evident in
meta-analyses of L2 studies (e.g. Norris & Ortega, 2000) and in the increasing concern for the proper use of statistics (e.g. Plonsky, 2015).
Tensions exist among SLA researchers not just with regard to the details of specific theories but to the overall orientation of SLA.
Not all SLA researchers have been interested in pedagogical applications; not all theories (Universal Grammar being one) have much to say to teachers.

The behaviourist view

lyahutter — 2021-09-13 16:02:26 UTC

View the learner as, a language-producing machine‟. In this model of learning, input comprises the language made available to the learner in the form of stimuli and also that which occurs as feedback which is internalized by the learner imitating them to the formation of habits.
The behaviorist view emphasizes the importance of the linguistic environment, which is treated in terms of stimuli and feedback.

The nativism view

lyahutter — 2021-09-13 16:02:48 UTC

Views the learner as, "a grand initiator". They maintain that exposure to language cannot account satisfactorily for acquisition.
The nativist view minimizes the role of the input and explains language development as the result both input factors and of innate mechanisms.

The interactionist view

lyahutter — 2021-09-13 16:03:08 UTC

The interaction view sees language development primarily in terms of the learner‟s internal process in 14 language acquisition derives from the collaborative efforts of the learner mechanism (Ellis, 1986:129).

lyahutter — 2021-09-13 18:29:50 UTC

Our main objectives in the Second Language Acquisition course are (1) to know
the theories, models and hypotheses that explain and describe the process of acquiring a
language in addition to the mother tongue and (2) know the main variables that affect this process. To
throughout this learning process, we will also reflect on the concepts and proposals that
we are getting to know can contribute to the study and how this theoretical body helps us to understand who
it's us as teachers and users of various languages.

lyahutter — 2021-09-13 20:06:41 UTC

Makes an exceptional contribution to the field of teaching a Second Language, as it not only provides an informed, critical overview of developments since the early beginnings of this area. It also clearly and influentially argues for the requirement for SLA researchers to widen the accepted plan for research in this field by adopting a more multi-disciplinary and socially informed perspective.

The value of this study is its contribution to the discussion about the objectives of SLA. If the aim of those working within SLA is better to understand expansive competence, only be a good thing as proposes to keep the interdisciplinary barriers down.