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1-1-Whatis'secondlanguageacquisition'?Sometimesadistinctionismadebetweena'second'anda'third'orevena'fourth'language.However,theterm'second'isgenerallyusedtorefertoanylanguageotherthanthefirstlanguage.Inonerespectthisisunfortunate,astheterm'second'whenappliedtosomelearningsettings,suchasthoseinSouthAfricainvolvingblacklearnersofEnglish,maybeperceivedasopprobrious.Insuchsettings,thetermADDITIONALLANGUAGEmaybebothmoreappropriateandmoreacceptable.However,giventhat'second'hasbecomethegenerallyacceptedepithet,Iwillusetheterm'secondlanguageacquisition'torefertotheacquisitionofanylanguageaftertheacquisitionofthemothertongue.AnotherdistinctionthatisoftenmadeisthatbetweenSECONDandFOREIGNLANGUAGEacquisition.Inthecaseofsecondlanguageacquisition,thelanguageplaysaninstitutionalandsocialroleinthecommunity(i.e.itfunctionsasarecognizedmeansofcommunicationamongmemberswhospeaksomeotherlanguageastheirmothertongue).Forexample,EnglishasasecondlanguageislearntintheUnitedStates,theUnitedKingdom,andcountriesinAfricasuchasNigeriaandZambia.Incontrast,foreignlanguagelearningtakesplaceinsettingswherethelanguageplaysnomajorroleinthecommunityandisprimarilylearntonlyintheclassroom.ExamplesofforeignlanguagelearningareEnglishlearntinFranceorJapan.Thedistinctionbetweensecondandforeignlanguagelearningisbesttreatedasasociolinguisticoneratherthanapsycholinguisticone.Thatis,forthetimebeingatweneedtokeepanopenmindastowhetherthelearningprocessesfoundineacharethesameordifferent.Somewhatconfusingly,theterm'secondlanguageacquisition'isusedasasuperordinatetermtocoverbothtypesoflearning.ArelateddistinctionisthatbetweenNATURALISTICandinstructedsecondlanguageACQUISITION,accordingtowhetherthelanguageislearntthroughcommunicationthattakesplaceinnaturallyoccurringsocialsituationsorthroughstudywiththehelpof'guidance'fromreferencebooksorclassroominstruction.Thesetermsclearlyimplypsycholinguisticdifferences.Kleinarguedthelearnerfocusesoncommunicationinnaturalisticsecondlanguageacquisitionandthuslearnsincidentally,whereasininstructedsecondlanguageacquisitionthelearnertypicallyfocusesonsomeaspectofthelanguagesystem.However,again,thereisaneedtokeepanopenmindastowhethertheprocessesofacquisitionarethesameordifferentinnaturalisticandclassroomsettings.2-2-ThemaingoalofSLAresearchistocharacterizelearners'underlyingknowledgeoftheL2,i.e.todescribeandexplaintheirCOMPETENCE.Researchersdiffer,however,inhowtheyview'competence'.ThoseworkinginthegenerativetraditionassociatedwithChomskyhavedefineditsomewhatnarrowlyasLINGUISTICCOMPETENCE(i.e.knowledgeofthegrammaroftheL2).Otherresearchers,however,haveadoptedabroaderperspective,examininghowlearnersacquireCOMMUNICATIVECOMPETENCE(i.e.knowledgeofboththeL2grammarandofhowthissystemisputtouseinactualcommunication).SLAhasincreasinglyadoptedthebroaderperspectiveand,thus,whilethisbookwillconsiderthegrammaticalpropertiesofL2sindetail,reflectingthelargenumberofstudiesinthisarea,itwillalsopayattentiontootheraspects,especiallythelearner'sPRAGMATICCOMPETENCE.Inordertostudyhowlearnersacquireasecondlanguage,aclear,operationaldefinitionofwhatismeantbytheterm'acquisition'isneeded.Unfortunately,researchershavebeenunabletoagreeonsuchadefinition.'Acquisition'canmeanseveralthings.AdistinctionissometimesmadebetweenACQUISITIONandLEARNING.Theformerreferstothesubconsciousprocessof'pickingup'alanguagethroughexposureandthelattertotheconsciousprocessofstudyingit.Accordingtothisview,itispossibleforlearnersto'acquire'orto'learn'L2featuresindependentlyandatseparatetimes.Althoughsuchadistinctioncanhavestrongfacevalidity-particularlyforteachers-itisproblematic,notleastbecauseofthedifficultyofdemonstratingwhethertheprocessesinvolvedareorarenotconscious.Inthisbooktheterms'acquisition'and'learning'willbeusedinterchangeably.However,itisusefultomakeadistinctionbetweenIMPLICITLEARNINGandEXPLICITLEARNING,termsthatarewidelyacceptedincognitivepsychologyandwhichhavebecomeincreasinglycommonincurrentaccountsofL2acquisition.Implicitlearningistypicallydefinedaslearningthattakesplacewithouteitherintentionalityorawareness.Itcanbeinvestigatedbyexposinglearnerstoinputdata,whichtheyareaskedtoprocessformeaning,andtheninvestigating(withoutwarning)whethertheyhaveacquiredanyL2linguisticpropertiesasaresultoftheexposure.Forexample,learnerscouldbeaskedtoreadabookandthentestedtoseeiftheyhadacquiredanynewvocabularyintheprocess.However,whilesuchanapproachcanguardagainstintentionallearningitcannotguaranteethatthelearningtookplacewithoutawareness.Infact,researchersdisagreeastowhetheranylearningispossiblewithoutsomeofawareness.Explicitlearning,however,isnecessarilyaconsciousprocessandislikelytobeintentional.Itcanbe3-3-investigatedbygivinglearnersanexplicitruleandaskingthemtoapplyittodataorbyinvitingthemtotrytodiscoveranexplicitrulefromanarrayofdataprovided.Thesetwotypesoflearningclearlyinvolveverydifferentprocessesandarelikelytoresultindifferenttypesofknowledge(i.e.implicitknowledgeorexplicitknowledgeoftheL2).Finally,therearesomeimportantmethodologicalissuestoconsider.First,whatandhowlearnerslea