L1 versus L2 learning
This brief comparison of L1 and L2 learning is divided into three phases. The first is the initial state, which many linguists and psychologists believe includes the underlying knowledge about language structures and principles that is in learners’ heads at the very start of L1 or L2 acquisition. The second phase, the intermediate states, covers all stages of basic language development. This includes the maturational changes which take place in what I have called “child grammar,” and the L2 developmental sequence which is known as learner language (also interlanguage or IL). For this phase, we will compare processes of L1 and L2 development, and then compare the conditions which are necessary or which facilitate language learning. The third phase is the final state, which is the outcome of L1 and L2 learning.
A simplified representation of these three phases is included in Table 2.2, along with a listing of some major points of contrast between L1 and L2 learning which we will consider here.
Initial state
While the initial state in children’s minds for L1 almost surely is an innate capacity to learn language, it is not at all certain whether or not such natural ability is part of the initial state in older learners for L2 acquisition (hence the “?” in Table 2.2). Some linguists and psychologists believe that the genetic predisposition which children have from birth to learn language remains with them throughout life, and that differences in the final outcomes of L1 and L2 learning are attributable to other factors. Others believe that some aspects of the innate capacity which children have for L1 remain in force for acquisition of subsequent languages, but that some aspects of this natural ability are lost with advancing age. Still others believe that no innate capacity for language acquisition remains beyond childhood, and that subsequent languages are learned by means which are more akin to how older learners acquire other domains of knowledge, such as mathematics or history.
Because it is impossible for us to observe mental capacity for language learning directly, the different beliefs are based largely on theoretical assumptions and are tested by indirect methods which individuals who come from different disciplinary perspectives may not agree on. For example, many linguists rely on learners’ ability to judge which L2 utterances are not possible (such as the Cookies me give example mentioned above), an aspect of children’s L1 competence which is attributed to innate capacity. Many who take a social perspective tend to reject such judgments of (un)grammaticality as convincing evidence because they result from artificial tasks which do not include actual circumstances of L2 interpretation and use. Many who take a psychological perspective in turn reject socially constituted evidence (such as natural language pro duction) because the many variables which go along with actual social usage cannot be controlled for experimental investigation. So, although the question of the extent to which innate capacity for language acquisition remains available in SLA is a very interesting and important one, it is likely to remain unresolved for some years to come.
There is complete agreement, however, that since L2 acquisition follows L1 acquisition, a major component of the initial state for L2 learning must be prior knowledge of L1. This entails knowledge of how language (in general) works, as well as a myriad of language-specific features which are only partially relevant for production of the new L2. This prior knowledge of L1 is responsible for the transfer from L1 to L2 during second language development, which we will consider as part of the second phase of L1 versus L2 learning.
L2 learners also already possess real-world knowledge in their initial state for language acquisition which young children lack at the point they begin learning their L1. This has come with cognitive development and with experience by virtue of being older. The initial state for L2 learning also includes knowledge of means for accomplishing such interactional functions as requesting, commanding, promising, and apologizing, which have developed in conjunction with L1 acquisition but are not present in the L1 initial state.
The initial state of L1 learning thus is composed solely of an innate capacity for language acquisition which may or may not continue to be available for L2, or may be available only in some limited ways. The initial state for L2 learning, on the other hand, has resources of L1 competence, world knowledge, and established skills for interaction, which can be both an asset and an impediment.
Intermediate states
Both L1 and L2 learners go through intermediate states as they progress from their initial to their final state linguistic systems. There is similarity in that the development of both L1 and L2 is largely systematic, including predictable sequencing of many phenomena within each and some similarity of sequencing across languages, and in the fact that L1 and L2 learn ers both play a creative role in their own language development and do not merely mimic what they have heard or been taught.
Processes
Development, as we have seen, is a spontaneous and largely unconscious process in L1 child grammar, where it is closely correlated with cognitive maturation. As noted above, as children mature, so do their language abilities. In contrast, the development of learner language (or interlanguage) for L2 learners occurs at an age when cognitive maturity cannot be considered a significant factor; L2 learners have already reached a level of maturity where they can understand and produce complex utterances in their L1, and level of maturity is not language-specific. Processes other than maturation must be involved to explain development in SLA.
Just as we cannot directly observe mental capacity, we cannot directly observe developmental processes, but we can infer from the utterances which learners understand and produce at different stages what processes are possibly taking place. This addresses the fundamental how question of SLA, which we will explore from different perspectives in the chapters which follow. While answers to this question vary, there is general agreement that cross-linguistic influence, or transfer of prior knowledge from L1 to L2, is one of the processes that is involved in interlanguage development. Two major types of transfer which occur are:
• positive transfer, when an L1 structure or rule is used in an L2 utterance and that use is appropriate or “correct” in the L2; and
• negative transfer (or interference), when an L1 structure or rule is used in an L2 utterance and that use is inappropriate and considered an “error.”
Cross-linguistic influence occurs in all levels of IL: vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and all other aspects of language structure and use. Positive transfer facilitates L2 learning because an L1 structure or rule that also works for L2 means that a new one doesn’t have to be learned. For example, a word that has essentially the same form and meaning in both languages can transfer appropriately from L1 to L2: e.g. exterior ‘outside’ is a word in both Spanish and English (pronounced differently, but with the same spelling and meaning). Negative transfer of L1 features can often be inferred from forms in the second language which are unlike any that are likely to be produced by a native speaker of the L2, or are an integration of elements which would not occur in monolingual speech. Inappropriate transfer of L1 pronunciation to L2 is detectable as a “foreign accent” in a nonnative speaker’s production, and is probably the most common and most easily recognized aspect of L1 influence. Interference at the grammatical level is illustrated in the following utterances made by learners of English L2, which a native English speaker would be unlikely to produce:
We have noted that, in addition to L1 competence, older children and adults have access to world knowledge that has come with cognitive development and with experience, and this is also available for L2 use during the intermediate states. The concepts associated with advanced world knowledge are often much too complex for adequate expression with limited L2 ability, but they may be at least partially conveyed in context, and they are likely to stimulate L2 vocabulary learning. For example, older children in immigrant families may enroll in US schools with prior knowledge of academic subject areas (such as science and mathematics) which are at least equal to or more advanced than US curriculum expectations, but they may lack the English L2 competence to express what they know. These students do not need to learn those concepts again, since the concepts themselves are not dependent on any specific language; they merely require new language-specific forms to represent them in L2. Even advanced international students in such fields as engineering and computer science find it much easier to learn English L2 terms for concepts they have already acquired than native English speakers do for acquiring those terms and concepts to begin with.
Adults in immigrant families to the USA often know how to drive a car, and they are likely to have vocational knowledge and skills which transfer to the new social setting. Some English must be learned before they can pass a test for a driver’s license in the USA along with a few new rules and regulations, but they don’t need to learn how to drive all over again. Similarly, job-related English can generally be added with relative ease to prior vocational knowledge and skills. Transfer of knowledge and skills to an L2 setting is clearly made easier when L1 support is available as part of L2 learning, and when key terminology is shared across languages, but conceptual transfer occurs in any case.
Many skills for social interaction which have been developed in L1 also transfer to L2, as I suggested above. These often also involve positive trans fer and facilitate IL development, but some are inappropriate for L2 con texts. Examples of how communication can be achieved with limited shared linguistic means are presented in Chapter 5.
Necessary conditions
Language input to the learner is absolutely necessary for either L1 or L2 learning to take place. Children additionally require direct, reciprocal interaction with other people for L1 learning to occur. They cannot learn L1 exclusively from such experiences as listening to radio or watching television. In contrast, while face-to-face social interaction generally facilitates SLA, it is not a necessary condition. It is possible for some individuals to reach a fairly high level of proficiency in L2 even if they have input only from such physically or temporally more remote sources as radio, television, or written text. Evidence of such L2 learning is found among highly motivated individuals whose L2 input was limited entirely to electronic media and books because of geo graphical or political isolation. The role of input and interaction in SLA is also discussed in Chapter 5.
Facilitating conditions
While L1 learning by children occurs without instruction, and while the rate of L1 development is not significantly influenced by correction of immature forms or by degree of motivation to speak, both rate and ultimate level of development in L2 can be facilitated or inhibited by many social and individual factors. Identifying and explaining facilitating conditions essentially addresses the fundamental why question of SLA: why are some L2 learners more successful than others? Some of the conditions which will be explored in chapters that follow are:
• Feedback , including correction of L2 learners’ errors
• Aptitude , including memory capacity and analytic ability
• Motivation , or need and desire to learn
• Instruction , or explicit teaching in school settings
Final state
The final state is the outcome of L1 or L2 learning. The final state of L1 development – by definition – is native linguistic competence. While vocabulary learning and cultivation of specialized registers (such as formal academic written style) may continue into adulthood, the basic phonological and grammatical systems of whatever language(s) children hear around them are essentially established by the age of about five or six years (as we have already noted), along with vocabulary knowledge and interaction skills that are adequate for fulfilling communicative functions. This is a universal human achievement, requiring no extraordinary aptitude or effort.
On the other hand, the final state of L2 development – again by commonly held definition – can never be totally native linguistic competence, and the level of proficiency which learners reach is highly variable. Some learners reach at least “near-native” or “native-like” competence in L2 along with native competence in L1, but many cease at some point to make further progress toward the learning target in response to L2 input, resulting in a final state which still includes instances of L1 interference or creative structures different from any that would be produced by a native speaker of the L2 (a “frozen” state of progress known as fossilization in SLA). The complex of factors which contribute to differential levels of ultimate multilingual development is of major interest for both SLA theory and second language teaching methods (see e.g. Davies 2003; Han and Odlin 2006). One question that is receiving increasing attention for SLA theory and research is whether exceptionally successful learners actually become as proficient in their L2 as in their L1. This possibility is blur ring the traditional definition of “native speaker” in interesting ways.
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