Second Language Acquisition

Question 1

interlanguage

Answer 1

intermediate grammar that evolves as a learner acquires an L2

Question 2

error analysis

Answer 2

attempts to identify patterns in interlanguage forms

Question 3

contrastive analysis

Answer 3

1950-60s, attempted to account for learner errors by examining differences and similarities between the L1 and L2

Question 4

hierarchies of difficulty

Answer 4

predictions about the ease with which a particular L2 structure could be acquired, given facts about the L1

Question 5

negative transfer

Answer 5

some property of L1 impedes L2 acquisition

Question 6

positive transfer

Answer 6

some property of L1 promotes L2 acquisition

Question 7

area with most negative transfer

Answer 7

phonology

Question 8

area with least negative transfer

Answer 8

syntax

Question 9

projection problem

Answer 9

hypothesis that language learners (L1 and L2) acquire linguistic principles that cannot be inferred solely from the data they are exposed to (proof of language universals)

Question 10

implicational language universal

Answer 10

a property whose presence implies some other property (if a language has property X, it also has property Y)

Question 11

nonimplicational language universal

Answer 11

a property whose presence doesn’t imply the presence or absence of any other property

Question 12

absolute universal

Answer 12

a language universal that is without exception

Question 13

statistical universal

Answer 13

properties that occur frequently but do have exceptions

Question 14

parametric universal

Answer 14

a two-value property such that all languages have one value or the other

Question 15

markedness

Answer 15

properties consistent with universals (common) are unmarked, while those inconsistent with universals are marked (rare)

Question 16

markedness differential hypothesis

Answer 16

of those structures not shared by the L1 and L2, difficulty increases with markedness (rarity)

Question 17

developmental processes

Answer 17

an L2 learner appears to go through the same stages that L1 speakers go through when acquiring their native language as children

Question 18

development processes: phonology

Answer 18

consonant clusters are simplified

Question 19

development processes: morphology

Answer 19

lexical morphemes acquired before grammatical ones
inflectional affixes acquired before derivational ones
temporary absence of verb morphology

Question 20

development processes: syntax

Answer 20

Wh-movement acquired before I-movement

Question 21

phonotactic constraints

Answer 21

restrictions on the permissible sequences of segments in a language
often transferred from an L1 to L2

Question 22

deceptive transparency

Answer 22

morphemes that lead to a misinterpretation of a word (outline vs. out of line)

Question 23

subcategorization

Answer 23

restrictions on syntactic categories that can co-occur with a particular lexical item, causing negative transfer (ex: verbs that are subcategorized for prepositions in some languages and not subcategorized in others)

Question 24

circumlocutions

Answer 24

substituting a descriptive phrase for a word that a learner has not acquired or cannot retrieve

Question 25

polysemes

Answer 25

one form with related meanings (ex: mouth, one used for eating or opening of a river)

Question 26

nonlinguistic influences on L2 acquisition

Answer 26

age, cognitive style, personality traits, social-psychological forces

Question 27

field independence

Answer 27

style of learning where the individual is able to focus on specific data and analyze individual parts (typically more successful)

Question 28

field dependence

Answer 28

style of learning where the individual attempts to analyze all data at once

Question 29

integrative motivation

Answer 29

desire to learn a language to become part of the community or culture (seen as more important component)

Question 30

instrumental motivation

Answer 30

desire to learn a language for some practical purpose (such as work)