Читать книгу Introducing Second Language Acquisition - Kirsten M. Hummel - Страница 30

In his entertaining book The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference (2000), Malcolm Gladwell reports that during an episode of Sesame Street, when the character Big Bird changes his name to “Roy” because he does not like the fact that his name describes him physically (a “big bird”), the producers discovered children watching the episode appeared to fail to understand the plot: they were unable to attach another name to Big Bird. Gladwell points out that this illustrates the principle of mutual exclusivity that young children follow – that objects (and big birds) normally only have one label – but it also reveals their metalinguistic limitations, i.e. their inability to reflect on language as an object.

Another important difference that distinguishes L2 from L1 acquisition is that the older learner already has one linguistic system to fall back on when necessary. This contributes to affective and emotional differences. Learning an L1 is essential to satisfying a person's basic needs for food, as well as ensuring other basic care and security. For the older learner of an L2, one linguistic repertoire is already in place to ensure efficient communication to satisfy basic needs and desires. Furthermore, for the older L2 learner, having to acquire another set of language skills can lead to feelings of alienation from the strongly embedded native language and culture. While the child's crucial first events and emotions are accompanied by communication in the L1, for individuals learning an L2 those deeply embedded feelings are already linked with their native language and as a result similar feelings are less tightly linked to the L2. Related to this is the occurrence of anxiety in situations where speakers have to resort to a not fully mastered L2.

The fact that L2 learners by definition already have another linguistic system to rely on leads to other differences. L2 learner language illustrates the ubiquitous phenomenon of transfer or interference that occurs when aspects of the L1 are used in the L2, whether in the form of pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar. For instance, a common error made in English by French speakers is to use the present perfect tense in contexts requiring the simple past, such as “I have studied last night” instead of “I studied last night,” most likely due to the fact that French requires the structurally similar past form, conjugated with “to have” to describe a past action (e.g. J'ai étudié hier soir). Obviously, and by definition, the young child learning her L1 does not have another language that can interfere in the learning process. Note that for the L2 learner a second language system can both hinder (interfere) and help (where structures across languages are similar) in the learning process.

transfer

Influence of the L1 in using the L2, or vice versa.

interference

Influence of L1 in the L2 when it leads to an error, or vice versa.

From the perspective of the social context, expectations are very different in the two cases. The child learning to speak his first words is not expected to carry on a conversation easily with interlocutors, and every new utterance may be met with joy and encouragement by his entourage. For the older L2 learner, particularly adults learning a language in a new country, social expectations may be relatively high: it is expected that an adult should normally be able to communicate accurately and fluently. Even when there is considerable tolerance for second language learners on the part of members of the target language group, adult learners themselves are used to being able to communicate more or less flawlessly in their L1, and having to stumble and hesitate in another language can be a frustrating and intimidating experience.

Another significant difference between learning the first language and learning a second language is the actual context of learning. A young child normally learns his first language in the home, as well as through interactions with caregivers outside the home. For the older learner, school age and above, most often L2 learning is at least partly carried out in an instructional setting, such as in a local school classroom or private language school. Teaching strategies and materials may differ considerably from one classroom to another, contributing to additional learning outcomes among learners. Instructional settings generally use a structured presentation format; certain linguistic aspects are presented before others. Due to time and contextual limitations, importance may be given to learning some linguistic features rather than others. The choices that an instructional setting implements are likely to impact learners in different ways, depending on the extent to which the methodology is in synchrony or not with a given individual's learning preferences.

Related to differences in learning contexts is the amount of exposure time allotted to the language. The young child learning her L1 is commonly exposed to a significant amount of that language: feeding, bathing, and social interactions may primarily or exclusively take place in the L1. For the second language learner, apart from cases of total immersion in the target language environment, L2 exposure may be limited to as little as an hour once a week, or several hours a day in the case of more immersion‐type instructional settings; still, the absolute exposure time is likely to be significantly less in the case of the second language learner compared to a child's L1 exposure.

As pointed out earlier in the discussion of L1 acquisition, in many societies, although not all, children learning their native language are exposed to particular linguistic and paralinguistic (prosodic) adaptations; this has been referred to as CDS or caregiver talk. In contrast, older children and adults learning a second language are not systematically exposed to a significant amount of adaptation in the L2 input they hear. Some studies do report that native speakers make some speech adjustments, such as slowing the flow of speech when conversing with someone they know is a new language learner, or using conversation devices to negotiate meaning. However, CDS used with children learning their L1 appears to be a much more predictable phenomenon.

Although, as pointed out in the previous section, in some cases L2 learners begin primarily with oral expressive skills just as do L1 acquirers, the sequencing of language skills is often different in the two learning situations: young children learn to understand the speech they hear around them before uttering their first words; only later do they learn how to read and write, and these skills are especially developed during the school years. In contrast, many older learners, and adults in particular, build on their already acquired literacy skills and may learn to read in an L2 and even write, before honing their speaking and oral comprehension skills. In many instances, adults opt to learn a new language on their own, outside of a classroom. For many such individuals, their method may largely consist of learning to read in the L2; acquiring speaking and listening skills may not be their primary goal, or even a goal at all.

Finally, we can point out another fundamental area of contrast in terms of attainment: while the L1 acquirer invariably becomes a fluent speaker of the language spoken in the environment, except for some exceptional cases (see Chapter 8), it is rare for an adult L2 learner to be able to pass for a native speaker in all respects (especially with regard to pronunciation). Almost invariably, noticeable pronunciation, lexical, and grammatical differences distinguish the learner from the native speaker. L2 learning has a much more variable outcome, with a broad range of proficiency levels resulting from the process. In contrast, although significant stylistic and dialectal differences occur among native speakers, the L1 is generally fully and fluently acquired regardless of environmental circumstances, although highly abnormal situations of deprivation or mental incapacity can indeed have substantial effects on language acquisition. A lively debate revolves around the issue of the extent to which learning a language after a given age (which some studies suggest is puberty while others set as young as 5 or 6 years of age), might be qualitatively different from language learning before such an age. The strongest evidence appears to be for an age‐determined limit for native‐like pronunciation in an L2. Many anecdotal as well as empirical studies indicate that individuals are much less likely to pass as native speakers when they are exposed to a language past a given age, an age limit that has been placed as young as birth (e.g. Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson 2003), although most studies suggest important changes occur somewhere from age 6 to 12 (e.g. Johnson and Newport 1989; Oyama 1976). We will look more closely at the evidence for age‐related language learning differences in Chapter 8, “The Age Factor.”