review on FLA and SLA

What enables the child to acquire his first language?
Each of the theories may help to explain a different aspect of children’s language development. And the nature of language acquisition is still an open question.
1. Behaviorism explains the acquisition of simple grammar.
2. Innatism seems plausible in explaining the acquisition of complex grammar.
3. Interactionism explains how children learn to use language.

Behavioristic Approaches:
1.The role of environment is emphasized.
2. Human learning is equated with animal learning.
3. Language is learned in the same way as other knowledge and skills are learned.
4. Learning is habit formation.

The Nativist Approach
1.Language learning is species specific.
2.Language learning is determined by LAD.
3.Language learning is internalization of linguistic rules.
4.The rule of environment is not significant.

Functional Approaches
1.Interpersonal interaction is emphasized.
2.Language functions rather linguistic form are emphasized.
3.Language learning is viewed as a socialization process.

L1A vs FLL
1) physiological aspect 2) cognitive aspect 3) affective aspect
4) sociocultural aspect 5) learning condition

Additional comparisons between L1A and FLL: difference: Manner subconsciously/consciously
Focus meaning/structure
Environment natural/formal
Learning speed
Achievement universal success/ universal failure

similarities： ① follow the same route ② similar learning strategies

FLA
Stages of first language acquisition
Every normal child can become a competent speaker of his native language in the first five years of life. From observable facts, we can see that a normal child may go through four stages in first language acquisition.
The Babbling Stage
In the first few months, by about 6 to 7 months, infants begins to babble by repeating a consonant-vowel sequence, like babababa. Besides the stimulus-controlled cries and gurgles, the sounds produced in this period seem to include the sounds of human languages. By 10 to 12 months, infants begin to use sentence-like intonational contours.
It is in this babbling stage that infants learn how to distinguish between the sounds of their language and the sounds which are not part of the language.
The one-word stage is also called the holophrastic stage.
The child tends to use single words to express large chunks of meaning that would be conveyed in a phrase or sentence by a mature speaker. After one year, the child has learned that sounds are related to meanings and begin to use the same string of sounds repeatedly to mean the same thing.
The child becomes able to use certain single words as labels for regular features of the immediate, concrete environment, such as toys, members of the family and so on. At the end of the one-word stage, usually at the age of 2 or so, the child starts to put single words into sentences such as "Big house", "Baby cry", "Hit ball". Most of these sentences consist of two words, each word with its own single-pitch contour. Most of the words are contents words, like nouns, verbs and adjectives.
The Telegraph to Infinity Stage
It refers to the time when child begins to produce sentences longer than two words. This stage is characterized by the omission of the small function works such as to, the, can, is, and so on. Their sentences sound as if they were telegraphs. For example, "No sit here", "John build house". They also become more complex in terms of the number of meaning relations they express and the grammatical structures they use.

Behaviorist learning theory (popular in the 1950s and 60s) Viewpoint: Language learning is a kind of behavior similar to other human behaviors. Language is learnt in much the same way as anything else is learnt. stimulus → organism → response
There is nothing linguistic in the mind of the newborn baby.
Language learning is the result of imitation, practice, feedback on success, and habit formation.
The quality and quantity of the language which the child hears, as well as the consistency of the reinforcement offered by others in the environment, should have an effect on the child’s success in the language learning.
Four steps for a child to acquire his/her L1:
Imitation →reinforcement →repetition →habituation 模仿 强化 重复 成形 positive reinforcement: praise or reward negative reinforcement: corrections good habit: correct performance bad habit: errors
Drawbacks of the Behaviorist Approaches
1 The abstract nature of language and integral relationship between meaning and utterance were unresolved.
2 It does not account satisfactorily for the generalization process that is inferred in the theory.
3 It does not account for the creativity evident in even a young child’s ability to comprehend and produce novel utterance.
Criticisms of behaviorist learning theory (1). The behavioristic theory in language learning failed to explain the abstract nature of language as a system and viewed language learning only as acquiring concrete linguistic forms and structures.
(2). It did not adequately account for the child’s ability to acquire language and creative use of language.
(3). It failed to interpret the child’s acquisition of complexity of meaning and communicative functions of language.
Three basic behavioristic ideas about learning
Conditioning
Learning is seen as a question of developing connections (known as stimulus-response bonds) between events. The process of developing connections is called conditioning.
Habit formation
Behaviorists believed that learning was a mechanical process of habit formation. When the behavior to be learned was complex, it might be broken down into small parts, and each part would be taught one at a time, until eventually the whole complex behavior is build up.
The importance of the ‘ environment’
‘ environment’ is here being used in a very wide sense to refer to anything external to the organism( The person or animal that dose the learning.), such as an event or a situation, or even another person (a teacher or a parent for example). Different learning theories give different degrees of importance to the organism and the environment. In behaviorism, the environment is all, and the role of the organism is considered insignificant.

The Nativist Approach
Viewpoint: Children’s ability to learn a language is innate. language learning is species specific; language learning is determined by LAD; language learning is internalization of linguistic rules; the role of environment is not significant.
The innateness hypothesis:
Mind is not a blank. Children are biologically programmed for language and that language develops in the child in just the same way that other biological functions develop. Chomsky originally referred to this special ability as LAD and later as UG, which is considered to consist of a set of principles which are common to all languages. E.g. Children learn to walk and doesn’t have to be taught. Natural language serves as a trigger to activate the device. Once it is activated, the child is able to discover the structure of the language. This approach also claims that this built-in ability is linked in some manner to physiological maturation.
Weakness
It is hard to find out the nature of LAD; It is difficult to observe LAD.
The generative rules that were proposed under the nativistic framework abstract, formal, explicit, and quite logical, yet they dealt specially with the forms of language and not with the very deepest level of language. Besides, they failed to account for the functions of language.
Contribution
1)Freedom from the restrictions of the so-called “scientific method” to explore the unseen, unobservable, underlying, abstract linguistic structures being developed in the field; 2)Systematic description of the child’s liguisitic repertoire as either rule-governed or operating out of a parallel distributed processing capacities; 3) The construction of a number of potential properties of Universal Grammar.
Nativist Approach, sometimes called Innateness Hypothesis or Mentalist Theory. the term ‘ nativist’ is derived from the fundamental assertion that language acquisition is innately determined, that human beings are born with a build-in device of some kind which predisposes them to language acquisition—to a systematic perception of language around them, resulting in the construction of an internalized system of language.
Language Acquisition Device
Nativist strongly held the fundamental assertion that language acquisition is innately determined, that human beings are born with an innate or internalized system of language. This innate knowledge, according to Chomsky, is embodied in a “little black box” of sorts which Chomsky called the language acquisition device or LAD.
Universal Grammar
According to Cook(1997), UG is the black box responsible for language acquisition. It is the mechanism in the mind which allows children to construct a grammar out of the raw language materials supplied by their parents. In other words, all human beings inherit a set of universal principles which control the shape human language can take, and which make human languages similar to one another.UG claims that all human beings inherit a universal set of principles and parameters which control the shape human language can take and which are what make human languages similar to one another.
The cognitive approach viewpoint: Children’s language development relies on their understanding of the world or cognition.

Functional Approaches
This approach probes LA not from the angle of language structure, but from the angle of language communication. viewpoint: Children can learn a language successfully for the reason that they realize language could help do things.
1) interpersonal interaction is emphasized
2) language functions rather linguistic form are emphasized
3) language learning is viewed as a socialization process.

The functional approaches put special emphasis on the functions of language. In the functional view, language was hardly something you could extract and detach from your cognitive and affective framework and consider separately. One of the representatives of functional approaches, Jean Piagent, described overall language development as the result of children’s interaction with their environment, with a complementary interaction between their developing perceptual cognitive capacities and their linguistic experience.
Connections between L1 acquisition and L2 acquisition
In theory, the new findings and advances in L1 acquisition are enlightening in understanding L2 acquisition.
The first language study has served as a backcloth for perceiving and understanding new facts about second language learning (Littlewood, 1986).
Differences between L1 and L2 acquisition
1. The first language is acquired subconsciously, while the second (or foreign) language is learned consciously.
2. In acquiring the first language, children always concentrate on meaning, not on pattern, i.e. structure, while the L2 learning concentrates on rules, i.e. the system of the thought (the grammatical rules).
3. One learns his first language directly from the reality, while the second language is learnt in manageable sequence, i.e. syllabus and course books.
4. In L1 acquisition children apply the rules subconsciously, while the L2 learners are able to verbalize the rules after a period of training.

SLA
SLA refers to the systematic study of how one person acquires a second language subsequent to his native language. SLA is the process by which a language other than the mother tongue is learnt in a natural setting or in a classroom.
Factors affecting SLA
Social factors (external factors)
Social context : Language policy and the attitude of the public sector
Social demand : With the trend of globalization of the world economy, it is widely accepted among educators and national leaders that proficiency in another language is an indispensable quality of educated people
Learner factors (internal factors) (individual difference)
Language aptitude: the natural ability for learning a second language.
Phonemic coding ability: the ability to identify sound patterns in a new language
Grammatical sensitivity: the ability to recognize the different grammatical functions of words in sentences.
Inductive language learning ability: the ability to infer language rules
Rote-learning ability: the ability to remember things
Motivation
The factors that determine a person’s desire to do something. Different types of motivation may affect learning differently.
Instrumental motivation: wanting to learn a language because it will be useful for certain “instrumental” goals, such as getting a job, reading a foreign newspaper, passing an examination. Integrative motivation: wanting to learn a language in order to communicate with people of another culture who speak it.
Age
In the late 1950s and early 1960s age was seen as a factor that determines success. The critical period hypothesis states that there is a period when language acquisition takes place naturally and effectively. It was believed that the optimal age falls within the first ten years.
Based on two assumptions : 1 the neurological basis of language of children is different from that of adults. 2 children outperform adults in all aspects of SLA.

Research shows that age does not change the route of acquisition.
Adults acquired a set of grammatical morphemes in an order similar to that of children (plural-s earlier than 3rd person singular –s )

Although children do better in pronunciation, but they are outperformed by adults in mastering morphology and syntax within the same length of time .
In conclusion, children and adults have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Adults are better in cognitive abilities, while children are better learners in pronunciation.

Learning strategy intentional behavior and thoughts that learners use during learning in order to better help them understand, learn or remember new information.
Cognitive strategies: (认知策略)
Repetition Directed physical response Translation
Note-taking Recombination Key word
Metacognitive strategies: (元认知策略)
Advance organizers Directed attention Self-management
Advance preparation Self-monitoring Delayed production Self-evaluation
Social/affective strategies: (社会/情感策略)
Cooperation Question for clarification

Language learning strategies:
Identifying the material for learning
Distinguishing it from other materials
Grouping it for easier learning
Repeatedly engaging oneself in contact with the material
Language using strategies:
Retrieval strategies: used to call up language materials from storage in memory
Rehearsal strategies: practicing target language structures
Cover strategies: used to cover up the shortcomings in language learning
Communication strategies: used to communicate successfully with others

Personality
The aspects of an individual’s behavior, attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, actions and feelings which are seen as typical and distinctive of that person.
e.g. self-esteem, inhibition, anxiety, risk-taking, and extroversion may influence L2 learning.

Contrastive analysis (对比分析) Came into fashion in 1960s
Based on behaviorist thinking: SLA seen as the development of a new set of habits Positive vs. Negative transfer (of habits)
Main points of Contrastive Analysis: Main source of errors in L2 due to the transfer of L1 habits Errors can be predicted by a contrastive analysis of the L1 and L2 The greater the difference between L1 and L2, the more errors that will occur
Problems with CA: Errors occur that are not due to L1 Errors don’t occur when they are predicted Problems operationalizing the contrastive analysis—how do you measure “difference” and “distance”

Error analysis (错误分析)
In 1970s and early 80s, a large number of papers on error analysis were published throughout the world. Error analysis is the study and analysis of the errors made by second language learners.
Error: (in the speech or writing of a second or foreign language learner) the use of a linguistic item ( e.g. a word, a grammatical item, a sentence, etc) in a way which a fluent or native speaker of the language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning.
Mistake: made by a learner when writing or speaking and is caused by lack of attention, carelessness or “slip” etc.

Interlingual error (语际错误): an error which results from language transfer, that is, which is caused by the learner’s native language e.g.
a) Substitution of /t/for /θ/and /d/for /ð/
b) Shortening of long vowels e.g. Shanghai learners often make /ei/and /i:/ short vowels, thus, ‘sheep’ and ‘meat’ sound like ‘ship’ and ‘mit’.
Intralingual error (语内错误): an error which results from faulty or partial learning of the target language.
Intralingual errors may be caused by the influence of one target language item upon another.
e.g. ‘He is comes’ from the blend of the sentences ‘He is coming’ and ‘He comes’.
Overgeneralization (概括过头): a learner extends the use of a grammatical rule beyond its accepted uses.
e.g. to use ‘mans’ instead of ‘men’ for the plural of ‘man’.
Jane advise me to give up smoking. Jane told me to give up smoking. *Jane hoped me to give up smoking. *Jane suggested me to give up smoking.
Cross-association (互相联想): the confusion of the spellings and pronunciations which are alike.
Performance analysis (语言行为分析)
An approach to the study of a learner’s competence in a language, based on the study of a learner’s total linguistic performance (i.e. what the learner is able to say and do in the language) and not just the learner’s errors.

Interlanguage (语际语)
Interlangauge ---- learners’ independent system of the second language which is of neither the native language nor the second language, but a continuum or approximation from his native language to the target language.
The type of language produced by second- and foreign- language learners who are in the process of learning a language.
Fossilization: a process in which incorrect linguistic features become a permanent part of the way a person speaks or writes a language.
e.g. the pronunciation, vocabulary usage, etc

Native language in L2 learning
Interference: the use of elements from one language while speaking another language.
e.g. mother tongue interference
e.g. a beginner may utter a sentence like I lost my rice bowl. what he actually means is
I lost my job.

Input hypothesis Proposed by Krashen
This hypothesis states that in L2 learning , in order to make language acquisition occur, it is necessary for the learner to understand input language which contains linguistic items that are slightly beyond the learners present linguistic competence.
He defined comprehensible input as “i + 1” : “i” represents learners’ current state of knowledge, the next stage is an “i + 1”.
Krashen mistook input and intake, thus receive criticism