"The Child is Father to the Man". A look at the ways in which second language acquisition theorists and researchers have appealed to child (L1) language learning as a model for what happens in second language learning. What are the implications for the cl
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The L1=L2 hypothesis is important because it raises so many key issues. The evidence that I have presented in this paper has at least partially supported the idea. If one considers the great cognitive and affective differences be-tween very young children and adults, the similarities in the language they produce is striking. This is shown by the research into morphemes indicating a similar order of acquisition as well as arguments supporting the fact that L2 learners might have continued access to Universal Grammar. However, as Ellis (1994) states : "Much of this research has made use of grammaticality judgment tasks, which are problematical in a number of ways, in particular because we do not know whether they tap implicit or explicit knowledge. The research does not provide a clear answer as to whether UG is alive or dead in the L2 learner." (Ellis 1994 : 451). Consideration of a 'Critical Period' for language learning further undermines the case for similarity of acquisition arguing that a 'socio-biological' timetable is ultimately responsible for our ability to learn a new language. Perhaps the greatest indication of the controversy surrounding the issue are the very different approaches shown by Ervin-Tripp (1974) and Bley-Vroman (1988). Bley-Vroman examines the product of the differences between L1 and L2 acquisition. He ends up with the claim that adults achieve a lack of mastery of L2 acquisition with variations in levels of attainment, have vastly different goals, display signs of fossilisation and expresses a need for a formal learning environment and continuous correction. The child, on the other hand, accor-ding to Bley-Vroman, achieves a complete mastery of the L1, shows very little variation in the level of attainment, is subjected to informality of approach characterised by a lack of correction and success which is not influenced by personality, motivation or attitude. Ervin-Tripp emphasises the similarities in the process of language acquisition between L1 and L2 learners and perhaps it is this approach that might be the most relevant for second language teachers. She states : "That in all second language learning we will find the same processes : over generalisation, production simplification, loss of sentence-medial items, and so on." (Ervin-Tripp ct Hatch 1978 : 205). Any future research which considers similarities between L1 and L2 acquisition will have to differentiate between the product of the learning as supposed to the process. Any classroom pedagogy will have to consider the point : Does the adult learner need to achieve the same goals as the L1 child and if not how can similar processes of child learning help?
- 中村学園大学の論文
- 2006-03-15
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- "The Child is Father to the Man". A look at the ways in which second language acquisition theorists and researchers have appealed to child (L1) language learning as a model for what happens in second language learning. What are the implications for the cl