The following

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is provided as an overview of and topical guide to second-language acquisition:

Second-language acquisition Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning — otherwise referred to as L2 (language 2) acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific dis ...

– process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition (often abbreviated to SLA) also refers to the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. ''Second language'' refers to any language learned in addition to a person's first language, including the learning of third, fourth, and subsequent languages. It is also called second-language learning, foreign language acquisition, and L2 acquisition.

What is second-language acquisition?

Second-language acquisition can be described as all of the following: *

Language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...

– process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits, because nonhumans do not communicate by using language. *

Academic discipline An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

– branch of knowledge that is taught or researched at the college or university level. Also called a ''field of study''. Disciplines are defined (in part) and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong. A discipline incorporates relevant knowledge, expertise, skills, people, projects, communities, problems, challenges, studies, inquiry, approaches, and research areas. * Branch of

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

– systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. "Science" also refers to a body of knowledge itself, of the type that can be rationally explained and reliably applied. ** Branch of

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

– academic discipline concerned with the society and the relationships of individuals within a society, which primarily rely on empirical approaches. *** Branch of

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

– scientific study of human language. **** Branch of

applied linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, communication rese ...

– interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, computer science, anthropology, and sociology. * A form of

language education Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: ...

– teaching and learning of a foreign or second language. Language education is a branch of applied linguistics.

Branches of second-language acquisition

* English as a second or foreign language – use or study of English by speakers with different native languages. It is also known as English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL), and English as a foreign language (EFL). *

Chinese as a foreign language Chinese as a foreign or second language is when non-native speakers study Chinese varieties. The increased interest in China from those outside has led to a corresponding interest in the study of Standard Chinese (a type of Mandarin Chinese) as a ...

– study of the

varieties of Chinese Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...

by non-native speakers. *

Spanish as a second language The term Spanish as a second or foreign language is the learning or teaching of the Spanish language for those whose first language is not Spanish. Regional programmes Argentina In October 2001, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology ...

– teaching and learning of Spanish for those whose mother tongue is not Spanish, particularly immigrants, tourists, indigenous peoples and refugees. * Etc.

Learning objectives: language skills

* Foreign-language vocabulary – * Linguistic competence – * Linguistic performance – *

Language fluency Fluency (also called volubility and eloquency) is the property of a person or of a system that delivers information quickly and with expertise. Language use Language fluency is one of a variety of terms used to characterize or measure a person ...

– *

Language proficiency Language proficiency is the ability of an individual to use language with a level of accuracy that transfers meaning in production and comprehension. There is no singular definition of language proficiency: while certain groups limit its scope to ...

– *

Multilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

– **

Bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

–

Second-language acquisition resources

Second-language acquisition methods and activities

* Extensive listening – similar to extensive reading, it's the analogous approach to listening. One issue is that listening speed is generally slower than reading speed, so simpler texts are recommended. *

Extensive reading Extensive Reading (ER) is the process of reading longer easier texts for an extended period of time without a breakdown of comprehension, feeling overwhelmed, or the need to take breaks. It stands in contrast to intensive or academic reading, which ...

– large amount of reading, to increase unknown word encounters and associated learning opportunities by inferencing. The learner's view and review of unknown words in specific context will allow the learner to infer and thus learn those words' meanings. * Intensive reading – slow, careful reading of a small amount of difficult text – it is when one is "focused on the language rather than the text". * Language immersion – teaching and self-teaching method in which the second language is the medium of instruction, with no use of primary language allowed. All educational materials and all communication are in the second language. * Paderborn method – learn a simple language first, such as

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

, and then the target second language. Saves time by making the second language easier to learn. *

Vocabulary acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...

–

Second-language acquisition tools

Dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...

– collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other relevant information. ** Mono-lingual dictionary – dictionary in a single language. A mono-lingual dictionary in the language being acquired assists the reader in describing words (and thinking about the language) in the language's own terms. ** Bilingual dictionary – also called a ''translation dictionary'', is a specialized dictionary used to translate words or phrases from one language to another. *** Unidirectional bilingual dictionary – lists the meanings of words of one language in another *** Bidirectional bilingual dictionary – presents translation to and from both included languages. ** Talking dictionary – some online dictionaries and dictionary programs provide text-to-speech pronunciation. ** Visual dictionary – dictionary that primarily uses pictures to illustrate the meaning of words. Each component within each picture is labeled with its name. Visual dictionaries can be monolingual or multilingual. Visual dictionaries in the language being acquired are especially useful in language immersion approaches. * Media in the target language ** Books *** Audio books ** Encyclopedias *** Wikipedia ''( see language editions list)'' ** Music *** Lyrics (to read along) (see

ColorSounds ''ColorSounds'' was a national music video program televised on PBS stations in the mid-1980s. ''ColorSounds'' taught viewers how to read and speak English creatively through the use of music videos. In this series, a music video, the same one th ...

) ** Videos *** Movies *** TV shows ** Websites *

Subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

– **

Closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio por ...

– * Word lists by frequency – lists of a language's words grouped by frequency of occurrence within some given text corpus, either by levels or as a ranked list, serving the purpose of vocabulary acquisition.

History of second-language acquisition

Second-language acquisition phenomena

Second-language attrition Second-language attrition is the decline of second-language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring lang ...

– decline of second-language skills due to lack of use or practice of the second language and/or lack of exposure to it. * Code-switching – switching between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation. *

Communication strategies in second-language acquisition In the course of learning a second language, learners will frequently encounter communication problems caused by a lack of linguistic resources. Communication strategies are strategies that learners use to overcome these problems in order to convey ...

Interlanguage An interlanguage is an idiolect that has been developed by a learner of a second language (L2) which preserves some features of their first language (L1), and can also overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics ...

– * Second-language phonology – *

Silent period The silent period (also called pre-production period) is a phase reported to have been observed in second-language acquisition where the learner does not yet produce but is actively processing the L2 (second language). This silent period has been c ...

– stage in second language acquisition where learners do not attempt to speak. Silent periods are more common in children than in adult learners, as there is often more pressure on adult learners to speak during the early stages of acquisition.

Factors affecting the learning of a second-language

Individual variation in second-language acquisition Individual variation in second-language acquisition is the study of why some people learn a second language better than others. Unlike children who acquire a language, adults learning a second language rarely reach the same level of competence as ...

– *

Foreign language anxiety Foreign language anxiety, also known as xenoglossophobia, is the feeling of unease, worry, nervousness and apprehension experienced in learning or using a second or foreign language. The feelings may stem from any second language context whether ...

Language-learning aptitude Language learning aptitude refers to the "prediction of how well, relative to other individuals, an individual can learn a foreign language in a given amount of time and under given conditions". Foreign language aptitude itself has been defined as ...

– aptitude measurement via tests, the results of which correlate with how well the test takers will succeed at picking up a new language. Language aptitude test include: **

Modern Language Aptitude Test The Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) was designed to predict a student's likelihood of success and ease in learning a foreign language. It is published by the Language Learning and Testing Foundation. The Modern Language Aptitude Test was deve ...

– mainly authored by John B. Carroll, for adults, mainly used by government and military institutions to select employees for language training **

Defense Language Aptitude Battery The Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) is a test used by the United States Department of Defense to test an individual's potential for learning a foreign language and thus determining who may pursue training as a military linguist. It consis ...

– developed and used by the United States Department of Defense to select candidates for jobs that will require them to attain fluency in a foreign language **

Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery The Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB) was developed to predict student success in foreign language learning, or language learning aptitude, and for diagnosing language learning disabilities. It is published by the Language Learning and T ...

– authored by Paul Pimsleur, used to assess the language learning aptitude of students in grades 7 to 12 ** Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary – mainly authored by

John B. Carroll John Bissell Carroll (June 5, 1916 – July 1, 2003) was an American psychologist known for his contributions to psychology, linguistics and psychometrics.Stansfield, Charles W. “Carroll, John Bissell.” ''Concise Encyclopedia of Educat ...

, designed to test children in grades 3 to 6 ** Cognitive Ability for Novelty in Acquisition of Language - Foreign – developed by Grigorenko, Sternberg, and Ehrman in 2000, using a new concept of language aptitude as a theoretical base *

Motivation in second-language learning The desire to learn is often related to the concept of ‘motivation’. Motivation is the most used concept for explaining the failure or success of a language learner. Second language (L2) refers to a language an individual learns that is not his/ ...

– *

Willingness to communicate Willingness to communicate (WTC) was originally conceptualised for first language acquisition, and seeks to demonstrate the probability that a speaker will choose to participate in a conversation of their own volition (McCroskey & Baer 1985, cited i ...

– students willing to communicate in the second language learn how, those who are not willing, not so much. *

Metalinguistic awareness Metalinguistic awareness, also known as metalinguistic ability, refers to the ability to consciously reflect on the nature of language. The concept of metalinguistic awareness is helpful in explaining the execution and transfer of linguistic know ...

–

Hypothesized success factors

* Acculturation model – hypothesis in which effectiveness in acquiring a second language is due in part to how well the learner acclimatizes to the culture (and members) of the target language. Increases in the social and psychological distances the learner has from the members of the target culture leads to fewer opportunities to learn the language. *

Input hypothesis The input hypothesis, also known as the monitor model, is a group of five hypotheses of second-language acquisition developed by the linguist Stephen Krashen in the 1970s and 1980s. Krashen originally formulated the input hypothesis as just on ...

– * Interaction hypothesis – the development of language proficiency is promoted by face-to-face interaction and communication. *

Comprehensible output hypothesis In the field of second language acquisition, there are many theories about the most effective way for language learners to acquire new language forms. One theory of language acquisition is the comprehensible output hypothesis. Developed by Merril ...

– *

Competition model The Competition Model is a psycholinguistic theory of language acquisition and sentence processing, developed by Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney (1982). The claim in MacWhinney, Bates, and Kliegl (1984) is that "the forms of natural languag ...

– posits that the meaning of language is interpreted by comparing a number of linguistic cues within a sentence, and that language is learned through the competition of basic cognitive mechanisms in the presence of a rich linguistic environment. *

Noticing hypothesis The noticing hypothesis is a theory within second-language acquisition that a learner cannot continue advancing their language abilities or grasp linguistic features unless they consciously notice the input. The theory was proposed by Richard Schmid ...

– concept proposed by Richard Schmidt, which states that learners cannot learn the grammatical features of a language unless they notice them.H.S. Venkatagiri, John M. Levis "Phonological Awareness and Speech Comprehensibility: An Exploratory Study" Language Awareness. Vol. 16, Iss. 4, 2009 That is, noticing is the essential starting point for acquisition. Whether the noticing can be subconscious is a matter of debate.

Second-language acquisition research

Good language learner studies The good language learner (GLL) studies are a group of academic studies in the area of second language acquisition that deal with the strategies that good language learners exhibit. The rationale for the studies was that there is more benefit from s ...

* Second-language acquisition classroom research

Second-language acquisition-related organizations

Eataw The European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW) is an academic association supporting scholarly activity in academic writing. The association was first established in 1999 with the first conference being held in 2001. The Eu ...

European Second Language Association The European Second Language Association (EuroSLA) is a learned society for researchers with an interest in second language and second language acquisition. History EuroSLA was established in Colchester, the United Kingdom, in 1989 and the first ...

National Association of Bilingual Education National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

– * National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) – * Language camps – summer camps hosted by high schools, colleges, and universities; high schools, colleges, and universities around the United States have developed programs such as summer programs, to meet the growing demand for language education. Many of these summer programs are language camps.

Second-language acquisition publications

* Applied Linguistics (journal) *

Journal of Second Language Writing The ''Journal of Second Language Writing'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the fields of linguistics and language education. Its scope encompasses all aspects of second and foreign language writing, including writing instruction and assessme ...

* Language Learning (journal) *

Language Teaching Research ''Language Teaching Research'' is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research within the area of second or foreign language teaching. Although articles are written in English, the journal welcomes studies dealing with the teaching of languages ...

* Second Language Research *

System A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...

* TESOL Journal * TESOL Quarterly

Persons influential in second-language acquisition

Alexander Arguelles Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

– *

Ellen Bialystok Ellen Bialystok, OC, FRSC (born 1948) is a Canadian psychologist and professor. She carries the rank of Distinguished Research Professor at York University, in Toronto, where she is director of the Lifespan Cognition and Development Lab, and i ...

– * John Bissell Carroll – *

Kees de Bot Cornelis Kees de Bot (born 1951) is a Dutch linguist. He is currently the chair of applied linguistics at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, and at the University of Pannonia. He is known for his work on second language development and th ...

- bilingualism *

H. Douglas Brown Henry Douglas Brown (born 1941 in Ngawi) is a professor emeritus of English as a Second Language at Yogyakarta State University State University of Yogyakarta ( id, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, abbreviated as UNY) is a state university es ...

– *

Pit Corder Stephen Pit Corder (6 October 1918 – 27 January 1990) was a professor of applied linguistics at Edinburgh University, known for his contribution to the study of error analysis. He was the first Chair of the British Association for Applied Lin ...

– *

Marijn van Dijk Marijn van Dijk (born 6 August 1972) is a Dutch linguist. She is currently an Associate Professor of Developmental psychology at the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences of the University of Groningen, Netherlands. Career van Dijk obta ...

- child language acquisition * Nick Ellis – *

Rod Ellis Rod Ellis is a Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize-winning British linguist. He is currently a research professor in the School of Education, at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He is also a professor at Anaheim University, where he serves as th ...

– * Susan M. Ervin-Tripp – *

Paul van Geert Paul van Geert is a Dutch linguist. He is currently a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. He is renowned for his work on developmental psychology and the application of dynamical systems theory in so ...

- developmental psychology *

Fred Genesee Fred Genesee is a Professor of psychology at McGill University. He specializes in second language acquisition and bilingualism research. In particular, his research examines the early stages of the acquisition of two languages in order to bette ...

– * David W. Green – * François Grosjean – *

Luke Harding Luke Daniel Harding (born 21 April 1968) is a British journalist who is a foreign correspondent for ''The Guardian''. He was based in Russia for ''The Guardian'' from 2007 until, returning from a stay in the UK on 5 February 2011, he was refu ...

- Language testing *

Judit Kormos Judit Kormos () (born 1970) is a Hungarian people, Hungarian-born British people, British linguist. She is a professor and the Director of Studies for the MA TESOL Distance programme at the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lanca ...

Motivation in second language learning The desire to learn is often related to the concept of ‘motivation’. Motivation is the most used concept for explaining the failure or success of a language learner. Second language (L2) refers to a language an individual learns that is not his/ ...

Stephen Krashen Stephen D. Krashen (born May 14, 1941) is an American linguist, educational researcher and activist, who is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. He moved from the linguistics department to the faculty of the Sc ...

– * Judith F. Kroll – *

Diane Larsen-Freeman Diane Larsen-Freeman (born 1946) is an American linguist. She is currently a Professor Emerita in Education and in Linguistics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An applied linguist, known for her work in second language ac ...

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory Complex Dynamic Systems Theory in the field of linguistics is a perspective and approach to the study of second, third and additional language acquisition. The general term Complex Dynamic Systems Theory was recommended by Kees de Bot to refer to bo ...

* Ping Li – * Michael Long – *

Wander Lowie Wander Marius Lowie (born 14 October 1959) is a Dutch people, Dutch linguist. He is currently a professor of applied linguistics at the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. He is known for his work on Comp ...

* Brian MacWhinney –

Viorica Marian Viorica Marian is a Moldovan-born American Psycholinguist, Cognitive Scientist, and Psychologist known for her research on bilingualism and multilingualism. She is the Ralph and Jean Sundin Endowed Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorder ...

– *

Paul Kei Matsuda Paul Kei Matsuda (born 1970) is a Japanese-born American applied linguist. He is currently a professor of English and the director of second language writing at Arizona State University He has published several articles and edited books on the ...

–

Second language writing Second language writing is the study of writing performed by non-native speakers/writers of a language as second language, a second or foreign language. In addition to disseminating research through the ''Journal of Second Language Writing'', schol ...

Stephen Matthews (linguist) Stephen Matthews () is a British linguist in Hong Kong. He is Co-Director of the Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His specialist areas include language typology, syntax and semantics. His current in ...

– * Jurgen M. Meisel – * Carol Myers-Scotton * Paul Nation – Second language vocabulary * Teresa Pica * Paul Pimsleur - *

Wilga Rivers Wilga Marie Rivers (13 April 1919 – 23 June 2007) was an Australian linguist and Professor of Romance Languages. While she taught at both the secondary-education and college level throughout her life, she spent the majority of her career on the ...

– * Richard Schmidt – *

Norbert Schmitt Norbert Schmitt (born 23 January 1956) is an American applied linguist and Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. He is known for his work on second-language vocabulary acquisition and ...

- Second language vocabulary * Carmen Silva-Corvalan – *

Dan Slobin Dan Isaac Slobin (born May 7, 1939) is a Professor Emeritus of psychology and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Slobin has made major contributions to the study of children's language acquisition, and his work has demonst ...

– *

Merrill Swain Merrill Swain is a Canadian applied linguist whose research has focused on second language acquisition (SLA). Some of her most notable contributions to SLA research include the Output Hypothesis and her research related to immersion education. Swa ...

– * Tracy D. Terrell – *

Michael T. Ullman Michael T. Ullman (born July 29, 1962, San Francisco, California) is an American neuroscientist whose main field of research is the relationship between language, memory and the brain. He is best known for his Declarative/Procedural model of lan ...

– *

Jyotsna Vaid Jyotsna Vaid is a Professor of Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience and Women's and Gender Studies at Texas A&M University. Vaid's research examines the impact of multiple language experience by considering properties of specific languages and ...

* Bill Van Patten – *

Marjolijn Verspoor Marjolijn Verspoor (born 1952) is a Dutch linguist. She is a professor of English language and English as a second language at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. She is known for her work on Complex Dynamic Systems Theory and the applicati ...

* Lydia White – *

Virginia Yip Virginia Yip (葉彩燕), is a Hong Kong linguist and writer. She is director of the Childhood Bilingualism Research Centre. She is a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include bilingual language acquisiti ...

–

References

External links

Didactics of English
A lecture series in SLA by Timothy Mason, run from 1993 to 2002 at the Université of Versailles St. Quentin.
Second Language Acquisition Topics by Vivian Cook
information on SLA, applied linguistics and language teaching research, including a large bibliography.
''Bilingualism FAQ'', National Literacy Trust
– questions and answers for parents of young children. {{Outline footer *Outline