FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

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Creative Contruction
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Creative Construction

• The idea of CC
• L2 learner constructs a series of internal
  representations of the L2 system. That is, the
  learner makes pictures of the elements (sound
  structure) of the L2 in his mind.

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Creative Construction

• The idea of CC
• This will happen when the learner is exposed to
  the L2 in communication situations.

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Creative Construction

• The idea of CC
• This exposure will activate the natural
  processing strategies (e.g. generalization,
  transfer) to internalize (acquire) the L2 system.

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INPUT
L2 exposure
Natural processing strategies
Internal representation of L2
Learners actual utterances
OUTPUT
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Creative Construction

• Note
• It is INPUT which operates the internal
  processing mechanisms (natural processing
  strategies) not learners practice or repetition.

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Natural processing strategies
Thinked,mouses
generalization
Layla good girl
transfer
He,the boy,came late
redundancy
The letter sent to Ali
simplification
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Creative Construction

• HOW ACQUISITION TAKES PLACE?
• Acquisition takes place internally as learners
  hear and read samples of the language that they
  understand.

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Creative Construction

• HOW ACQUISITION TAKES PLACE?
• The learners production is seen as an outcome
  of the learning process rather than the cause of
  learning.

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INPUT
L2 exposure
Natural processing strategies
Internal representation of L2
Learners actual utterances
OUTPUT
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Creative Construction

• Evidence of CC
• The evidence of CC comes from the analysis of
  the learners ERRORS and the order of sequence
  which certain structures are acquired.

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Creative Construction

• Five hypotheses constitute the CC
• 1. The Acquisition-Learning.
• 2. The Monitor.
• 3. The Natural Order.
• 4. The Input
• 5. The Affective Filter

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The Acquisition-Learning
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Acquisition-Learning

• It is the type of INPUT which makes a difference
  between acquisition and learning

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Acquisition-Learning

• If the learner lives in a rich environment where
  he is actively involved, INPUT becomes intake.
• This is called Acquisition.

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Acquisition-Learning

• But, if INPUT is only available to him through
  explicit teaching of grammatical rules, then he
  will process INPUT differently.
• This is called Learning.

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Acquisition
A subconscious process
Learners are not usually aware that they are
acquiring the language, but are only aware that
they are using the language for communication.
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Learning
A conscious process
Learning is knowing the rules, having a conscious
knowledge about grammar.
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Acquisition-Learning

• In performance,
• Acquired knowledge serves as the major source
  for initiating both the comprehension and
  production of utterances.

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Acquisition-Learning

• In performance,
• Learnt knowledge is available for use only by
  the Monitor!

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The Monitor
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The Monitor

• The Monitor is a device that learners use to edit
  their own language performance

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The Monitor

• This device makes use of the learnt knowledge
  (the grammatical rules) by modifying utterances
  generated from acquired knowledge. This occurs
  either before or after the utterance.

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Learned competence (The Monitor)
Acquired competence (system)
Utterance (output)
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The Monitor

• Conditions of the Monitor
• 1. The learner has knowledge of the specific
  grammatical rule required

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The Monitor

• Conditions of the Monitor
• 2. The learner needs sufficient time to sort out
  through various linguistic possibilities

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The Monitor

• Conditions of the Monitor
• 3. The learners attention is focused on the L2,
  specifically on the location and nature of the
  grammatical form.

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The Natural-order
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The Natural-Order

• The idea of the Natural-Order
• Learners may follow a more or less similar order
  in the acquisition of formal grammatical features.

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The Natural-Order

• When the Natural-Order works?
• The natural or standard order works when the L2
  learner is engaged in natural communication tasks.

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The Natural-Order

• When the Natural-Order works?
• When the L2 learner is engaged in tasks that
  require the use of metalinguistic or grammatical
  knowledge a different order will emerge.

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The Natural-Order

• Evidence for the Natural-Order Hypothesis
• Studies of morphemes and conjunctions
  acquisition have shown an evidence for this
  hypothesis

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The Natural-Order

• Evidence for the Natural-Order Hypothesis
• These studies show that data collected under
  conditions which need communication show similar
  order of difficulty while tests focused on
  grammatical correctness led to different order of
  acquisition.

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The Input
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The Input

• The importance of Input
• Input is the most important factor in SLA. It
  affects the progress of the learner in learning
  the L2.

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The Input

• The importance of Input
• If the learner has to make a progress beyond a
  given stage of acquisition, he must be exposed to
  the most comprehensible input (I 1).

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i 1
Learners current competence
i

new
morpheme
syntactic feature
or

should be comprehended
i new element
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The Input

• The characteristics of Input
• Input, in order to be comprehensible, should
  have the following three characteristics

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The Input

• The characteristics of Input
• 1. Comprehensive
• Covers the area to be presented
• 2. Adequate
• Up to the level of the learners
• 3. Clear/Correct
• In the pronunciation and grammar

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The Affective filter
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The affective filter

• What is the affective filter?
• The affective filter is an imaginary barrier
  (mental faculties) which prevents learners from
  using input available in the environment.

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The mental faculties
motives
attitudes
emotional stress
needs
tense
anxious
bored
doesn't like
screen out input
No acquisition
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The Filter
up
down
The learner is stress, self-conscious, or
unmotivated
The learner is relaxed and motivated
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