Understanding Second Language Acquisition (2nd ed)

by Rod Ellis

  pragmalinguistic competence This is a term used to refer to L2 learners’ ability to perform speech acts such as requests and apologies in linguistically appropriate ways according to the situational context.

  pragmatic transfer Pragmatic transfer occurs when learners attempt to conform to the pragmatic norms of the L1. When these norms are the same as the L2 positive transfer occurs; when they differ negative transfer is evident.

  pre-modified input This is input that is modified to make it more comprehensible prior to the learner’s exposure to it. It can involve both simplification and elaboration of the input.

  presentation-practice-production (PPP) This is a type of explicit instruction that involves a fixed sequence of activities, commencing with the presentation of the target feature, followed by controlled practice activities, and finally free-production activities. It constitutes a type of explicit instruction of the isolated instruction kind.

  pre-task planning Pre-task planning is a term used in task-based research to refer to the planning that learners do before they start the task. See also online planning.

  private speech This is speech that is addressed to oneself. Some L2 learners who go through a silent period engage in private conversations with themselves, thus, perhaps, preparing themselves for social speech later. It constitutes one type of mediation.

  procedural knowledge Two related but different uses of procedural knowledge can be found in SLA research. On the one hand, it is used in contrast to declarative knowledge to refer to knowledge that has become proceduralized so that it is available for automatic and unconscious use. On the other hand, it refers to knowledge of the various strategies that learners employ to compensate for lack of L2 knowledge in communication—for example, communication strategies.

  Processability Theory Pienemann’s Processability Theory seeks to explain what is known about acquisitional orders/sequences in terms of a set of processing routines. As Pienemann (2005: 2) put it ‘once we can spell out the sequence in which language processing routines develop we can delineate those grammars that are processable at different points of development’.

  Processing Instruction VanPatten (1996) defined Processing Instruction as ‘a type of grammar instruction whose purpose is to affect the ways in which learners attend to input data. It is input-based rather than output-based’ (p. 2). It is intended to assist learners to construct form-function mappings in line with target language norms.

  Process Model of L2 Motivation Dornyei and Otto (1998) developed this model of motivation to account for how motivation changes over time. It views motivation as continuously changing both in the short and long term.

  production-based instruction This is a type of instruction that aims to teach linguistic features by means of activities that involve controlled or free production of the target features.

  prototypicality This term is used by Kellerman (1977) to refer to perceptions that learners have regarding the structure of their own language.

  psychotypology Kellerman (1978) has suggested that learners have perceptions regarding the distance between their L1 and the L2 they are trying to learn. These perceptions constitute their psychotypology.

  pushed output This is a term used by Swain (1985) to refer to learner output that is produced with effort and reflects the outer limits of the learner’s linguistic competence. See also comprehensible output hypothesis and modified output.

  recast An utterance that ‘rephrases the learner’s utterance by changing one or more components—subject, verb, object—while still referring to its central meaning’ (Long 1996).

  rehearsal In information processing theories of L2 acquisition, ‘rehearsal’ refers to the recycling of input that has been attended to—i.e. entered short-term working memory—in complex working memory.

  repair Repair refers to the conversational work undertaken to deal with ‘trouble’—i.e. anything that the interlocutors consider is impeding communication. Repair is viewed as something accomplished jointly by the participants in the conversation. See conversation analysis.

  restructuring This is a term used in information-processing theories of L2 acquisition to refer to the qualitative changes that take place in learners’ interlanguage at certain stages of development. For example, learners may begin by representing past tense forms as separate items—for example, ‘ate’—and then shift to representing them by means of a general rule for past-tense formation—for example, ‘eated’.

  rule-based system Symbolic theories of L2 acquisition view interlanguage as consisting of abstract rules that are drawn on when processing input and output. Such theories contrast with theories that view interlanguage as consisting of an exemplar-based system.

  scaffolding Scaffolding refers to the process by which one speaker—an expert or a novice—assists another speaker—a novice—to perform a skill that they are unable to perform independently. It is a term used in sociocultural SLA. See also dynamic assessment.

  Self-determination Theory This is a theory of motivation and personality that emphasizes the choices people make that are not influenced by external factors—i.e. are self-determined. In terms of motivation in L2 acquisition, it emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation.

  self-regulation This is the ability to monitor one’s learning and make changes to the strategies that one employs. It involves both the ability to exercise control over one’s attitudinal/motivational state and to engage in self-critical reflection of one’s actions and underlying belief systems. In sociocultural SLA, however, it has a different meaning. It refers to the ability to exercise self-control over a function as a result of the internalization that occurs through other-regulation.

  sequence of acquisition L2 research has shown that learners pass through a series of identifiable stages in acquiring specific grammatical structures such as negatives, interrogatives, and relative clauses. To a large extent, these sequences are viewed as universal—i.e. common to all L2 learners. However, the universality of sequences of acquisition is now challenged. See Dynamic Systems Theory.

  semantic transfer This occurs when the L1 and the L2 share the same concept and the learner attempts to represent this concept by selecting the L1 word or structure. See also conceptual transfer.

  Similarity Differential Rate Hypothesis This hypothesis proposes that L2 sounds that are dissimilar to the L1 may be difficult to acquire initially but over time improvement takes place more rapidly than with similar sounds.

  Skill-learning Theory Skill-learning Theory is based on the view that language learning, like any other skill, is characterized by a progression from an initial declarative knowledge stage involving controlled processing, to a final procedural stage, involving automatic processing. Skills are developed as a result of ‘practice’.

  social context According to a structural view of social context, social factors such as power and prestige are seen as determining social context. In an interactional view the social context is seen as constructed in each situation through interaction.

  social distance This is a term used by Schumann (1978a) to account for why some L2 learners learn very slowly or achieve low levels of proficiency. Various factors such as the size of the learner’s L2 group and the learner’s desire to acculturate influence the ‘distance’ between the learner and the target-language community.

  social identity Norton defined ‘social identity’ as ‘the relationship between the individual and the larger social world, as mediated through institutions such as families, schools, workplaces, social services, and law courts (Norton 1997: 420).

  social identity approach/theory This approach involves examining the role of social identity in L2 learners’ ‘right to speak’. Norton (2000) demonstrated through a series of case studies of immigrant women in Canada how the social identity that figured in interactions with native speakers facilitated or impeded their access to opportunities for learning English.

  socialization See language socialization.

 
; Social-interactionist SLA In social-interactionist SLA researchers seek to demonstrate how language learning takes place in the social interactions in which learners participate. It contrasts with research based on the Interaction Hypothesis which sees interaction as triggering internal changes in learners’ interlanguage.

  sociocognitive approach The sociocognitive approach emphasizes learning-as-participation when mind, body, and world come together through the interactions that take place in specific situational contexts. L2 acquisition is viewed as involving local, embodied, and situated language use.

  sociocultural SLA This is a branch of SLA that draws on the work of Vygotsky in viewing learning as the product of mediated activity. Higher order language functions are seen as developing both in and out of social interaction. Learners progress from other-regulation to self-regulation through interacting with others. See also zone of proximal development and scaffolding.

  Socio-educational Model This is a model of L2 learning developed by Gardner (1985). It posits that the social and cultural milieu in which learners grow up determines the attitudes and motivational orientation they hold towards the target language, its speakers, and its culture. These in turn influence learning outcomes.

  sociolinguistic competence Sociolinguistic competence refers to speakers’ knowledge of the social meanings of different linguistic forms and the ability to use these forms in ways that are appropriate in different situations.

  sociopragmatic competence This is a term used to refer to the L2 learner’s ability to perform the right speech act for the situational context. For example, in many English-speaking communities it is considered normal to thank a person after visiting their home for a meal. However, in other cultures—for example, Japanese—it would be more appropriate to apologize for inconveniencing them.

  speech styles Speech style varies in accordance with the social context or topic. A common distinction is between a careful style and a vernacular style.

  stabilization Stabilization refers to a state where L2 development has temporarily ceased. It contrasts with fossilization, which refers to the permanent cessation of development.

  stimulated recall This is a research technique for eliciting a retrospective report. It seeks to explore learners’ thought processes at the time they performed an activity by asking them to report their thoughts about it after they have completed the activity. It has been used to investigate corrective feedback.

  strategic competence This concerns the ability to deal with communication breakdown and to cope with gaps in one’s linguistic competence. See communication strategy.

  strategy instruction This involves attempts to teach learners how to make use of specific communication strategies or learning strategies. Strategy instruction studies measure the effect that such instruction has on language learning.

  strong interface position This claims that explicit knowledge can transform into implicit knowledge and in this respect contrasts with the non-interface position. The strong interface position underlies skill-learning theory. That is, the transformation can take place through practising the use of a declarative rule.

  structural and semantic simplification Structural simplification is evident in the omission of grammatical functors—for example, ‘I buy a car’ when referring to a past event. Semantic simplification is evident in the omission of one or more propositional elements—for example, when a learner says ‘Hitting sister’ instead of ‘Kurt is hitting his sister’. Both types of simplification are common in beginner learner language.

  structured input This is input that has been specially designed to expose learners to exemplars of a specific linguistic feature. It constitutes the essential component of Processing Instruction.

  style-shifting Both native speakers and L2 learners use different variants of a linguistic form depending on the degree of attention they pay to their speech (i.e. whether they are accessing their vernacular or careful style). Labov refers to these changes in speech as ‘style shifting’.

  systematic variation Variation in the use of two or more variants of a feature is systematic if it can be explained (and also predicted) by reference to the situational or linguistic context.

  task A task is a language-teaching activity where meaning is primary. There is some kind of gap, students are required to use their own linguistic resources, and there is an outcome other than the display of language for its own sake (Ellis 2003).

  task-based language teaching Task-based language teaching is an approach to the teaching of second/foreign languages based on a syllabus consisting of communicative tasks and utilizing a methodology that makes meaningful communication primary but which also allows for incidental attention to form.

  Teachability Hypothesis Pienemann’s (1985) Teachability Hypothesis ‘predicts that instruction can only promote language acquisition if the interlanguage is close to the point when the structure to be taught is acquired in the natural setting (so that sufficient processing prerequisites are developed)’ (p. 37).

  teacher talk Teachers address classroom language learners differently from the way they address other kinds of classroom learners. They make adjustments to both language form and language function in order to facilitate communication. These adjustments are referred to as ‘teacher talk’. See also foreigner talk.

  token frequency Token frequency is the frequency with which particular items occur in the input or output. For example ‘ate’ is a token. Token frequency also affects acquisition; learners are more likely to acquire those tokens that occur with high frequency than those with low frequency. Frequent exposure to ‘ate’, for example, can lead to it replacing ‘eated’ which has been overgeneralized from the verb + -ed pattern. See type frequency.

  Trade-off Hypothesis This is a hypothesis developed by Skehan (1998) based on his Limited Processing Model. It proposes that learners will have difficulty in focusing on all aspects of production (i.e. complexity, accuracy, and fluency) at the same time and this will prioritize one aspect to the detriment of the other aspects.

  Transfer Appropriate Processing The principle of transfer-appropriate processing states that ‘the learning environment that best promotes rapid, accurate retrieval of what has been learned is that in which the psychological demands placed on the learner resemble those that will be encountered later in natural settings’ (Lightbown 2006).

  Transfer to Nowhere Principle In contrast to the Transfer to Somewhere Principle, this principle claims that L1 features can be transferred even if they are not licensed by natural acquisition principles.

  Transfer to Somewhere Principle This claims that L1 transfer is more likely to occur if the L1 feature is compatible with natural acquisition principles. For example, Spanish learners of English are more likely to maintain the ‘no’ +verb construction as this construction occurs in the natural acquisition of all L2 learners.

  transitional construction Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982) define transitional constructions as ‘the interim language forms that learners use while they are still learning the grammar of a language’. For example, before learners master the rule for English negatives, they operate with interim rules (such as ‘no’ + verb).

  transnational identity Migrants have been shown to establish identities related to the social fields in which they operate that cross geographic, cultural, and political borders. Transnational identities arise out of the multiple relations they develop and maintain.

  turn-taking Conversation analysts have identified a number of rules or regularities that underlie speaker selection and change in conversations—for example, only one speaker speaks at a time.

  type frequency Type frequency refers to the frequency of a pattern in the input or output. For example, verb + -ed constitutes a syntactical pattern. It has high type frequency in English because a large number of different lexical verbs can be fitted into this pattern. Learners are more likely to acquire those patterns that have a high type frequency. See also token frequency.

  U
niversal Acquisition Hypothesis This is a term used by Lantolf (2011) to refer to the claim that the acquisition of an L2 grammar follows a common route for all learners irrespective of their age or the setting in which learning takes place. See also order of acquisition and sequence of acquisition.

  Universal Grammar This is a term used by Chomsky to refer to the abstract knowledge of language which children bring to the task of learning their native language, and which constrains the shape of the particular grammar they are trying to learn. Universal Grammar consists of various abstract principles which govern the form grammatical rules can take. See also Language Acquisition Device.

  usage-based theories Usage-based theories of L2 acquisition view learning as a process that originates in chunk-learning and progresses gradually towards a more schematic, inventory of linguistic resources. In other words, rule-like behaviour is not the starting point but arises out of experience with the use of the L2.

  U-shaped pattern of development L2 learners have been observed to manifest a target-language form in their output at an early stage of development, only to manifest an interlanguage form in its place at a later stage. Eventually the correct target-language form reappears—for example, ‘came’ becomes ‘comed’ and, later still, ‘came’ again. This pattern of development is known as ‘U-shaped behaviour’.

  variable rule A variable rule is used by sociolinguists to describe the uses of a linguistic feature that has two of more variants. For example, there are two variants of the negator ‘not’ in English – the full form (‘not’) and the contracted form ‘nt’ – whose use varies stylistically.

  vernacular style This is a term used by Labov (1970) to refer to the language forms evident when speakers are communicating spontaneously and easily with interlocutors familiar to them. It contrasts with careful style, and for this reason is also sometimes referred to as ‘casual style’. See also stylistic continuum.