1. Chapter 1
Introduction: Describing
and Explaining L2
Acquisition
Second Language Acquisition
(Rod Ellis)
LUTFIANA TYAS MAHARANI
2201410072
Rombel 403-404

2. What is “Second Language
Acquisition”?
Second itself can refer to any
language that is learned
subsequent to the mother tongue.
L2 acquisition can be defined as
the way in which people learn a
language other than mother
tongue, inside or outside of a
classroom and Second Language
Acquisitions as the study of this.

3. What are the Goals of
SLA?
• One of the goals of SLA is the
descriptions of L2 acquisition.
• Another is explanation.

4. Explanation means identifying
The external The internal
factors factors
that account for why learners
acquire an L2 in the way they do.

5. The external factors are:
• The social milieu in which
learning take place. It can
influence the opportunities that
learners have to hear and speak
the language and the attitudes
that they develop towards it.
• The input that learners receive.

6. The internal factor
• Learners possess cognitive
mechanisms which enable them
to extract information about L2
from the input.

7. The goals of SLA, then, are to
describe how L2 acquisition
proceeds and to explain this
process and why some learners
seem to be better at it than
others.

8. How language help to learn a
particular language?
Make an
How learned Possess
effective use
mother Learn L2 general
of L2
tongue knowledge
knowledge

9. The two case studies which we
will examine are :
• A case study of an adult learner
learning English in surroundings
where it serves as a means of
daily communication.
• A case study of two child learners
learning English in classroom.

10. For example of a case study of an
adult learner learning :
Omit –s from plural nouns, rarely
put –s on the third person singular
of verbs, and never used the
regular past tense

11. For example of a case study of
two child learners:
R just pointed at a piece of card
to let the teacher know that he
wanted him to put a staple in it.
He saying „Sir, give me a paper‟
Then sometimes after this, they
learned to use „Can I have _____?‟

12. The purposes
• Raise a number of important
methodological issues relating to
the description of learner
language.
• Raise issues relating to the
description of learner language.
• Point to some of the problems
researchers experience in trying
to explain L2 acquisition.

13. Methodological Issues
• Issues in the description of
learner language
• Issues in the explanation of L2
acquisition

14. Issues in the description of
learner language
1. Learners make errors of
different kinds.
2. Second language learners
acquire a large number of
formulaic chunks, which they use
to perform communicative
functions.
3. Learners acquire the language
systematically.

15. Issues in the explanation of L2
acquisition
1. Learners internalize chunks of
language structure but on the
other hand they acquire rules.
So, learners must engage in both
of item learning and system
learning.
2. The systematic nature of second
language acquisition also
requires explanation.