State University of Semara

DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS: ORDER AND SEQUENCE IN SECOND

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Methods for investigating developmental patterns:
1. First approach
a) examine whether learners' errors change over time.
b) examine samples of learner language collected over a period of time: to identify when
specific linguistic features emerge

Acquisition is first occurence

2. Obligatory Occasion Analysis (target based)

Steps:
a) samples of naturally occurring learner language are collected
b) obligatory occasions for the use of specific TL features are identified in the data
Example: 'My sister visited us yesterday' or 'My father arrive yesterday', obligatory
occasions for the use of past ed have been created in both utterances.
c) the percentage of accurate use of the feature is then calculated by establishing whether
the feature in question has been supplied in all the contexts in which it is required.
Problem:
It takes no account of when a learner uses a feature in a context for which it is not
obligatory in the TL. For example, the learner who says '*I studied last night and now I
understood better' has overgeneralized the past tense, using it where the TL requires the
present tense.
The way to overcome: Target use analysis (target based: to compare learner language
and the Target Language) (Pica, 1983)
Comparative fallacy (Bley-Vroman, 1983): it ignores the fact that learners create
their own unique rule systems in the process of learning an L2
DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS IN L1 ACQUISITION
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children appear to follow a fairly well-defined pattern of development.

children typically begin with one-word utterances which function as holophrases.
they gradually extend the length of their utterances,
at the same time, they systematically acquire the various syntactical and morphological
rules.

Children do not usually jump from one stage to the next bur rather progress gradually with
the result that new' and 'old' patterns of language use exist side by side at any one point in
time (Wells, 1986b).
DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS IN L2 ACQUISITION
The early Stages
a) The silent period: children go through a lengthy period of listening to people talk to
them before they produce their first words
b) Formulaic expression: consists of 'expressions which are learnt as unanalyzable
wholes and employed on particular occasions' (Lyons 1968: 177).
c) Structural and semantic simplification: rhe learner's early creative utterances are
typically truncated, consisting of just one or two words, with both grammatical
functors and content words missing. For example:
- me no blue(= I don't have a blue crayon)
- eating at school{= She eats meat at school)

THE ACQUISITION OF MORPHEMES: ORDER AND SEQUENCE

Morpheme Studies
to investigate the order of acquisition of grammatical functors such as articles and

inflectional features such as plural -s.

employes obligatory occasion analysis
Criticism in Morpheme Studies
the method of scoring morphemes does not take account of misuse in inappropriate
contexts. Meanwhile Pica's ( 1983) study suggests that even when overuse is taken into

account it does not affect the order

the use of rank order statistics hides meaningful differences, but Krashens grouping of
features into a 'natural order' goes some way to overcoming that objection.

THE ACQUISITION
MORPHEMES:
Learners
do not progress OF
fromINDIVIDUAL
a state of non-acquisition
to a PRONOUNS
state of acquisition, but

rather pass through a series of stages

In the pronoun system of a language, a number of semantic distinctions are to be found.
English distinguishes:
- Gender
- Person
- Number
- Case

Similar patterns of pronoun acquisition are evident in other languages

THE ACQUISITION OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES
The acquisition of negatives in English and German

German negation differs from English in a number of respects

German does not have a dummy auxiliary
The acquisition of relative clauses in English and Swedish
Relative clauses acquisition:
-

learn that relative clauses can modify noun phrases that occur both before the verb

(i.e. as subject of the main clause) and after the verb

learn the various functions that the relative pronoun can serve

The acquisition of German word order rules

Whereas learners with romance language backgrounds begin with SVO, other learners

(for example, Turkish) begin with different basic word orders that reflect their Ll
A GENERAL PATTERN OF L2 GRAMMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
Learners vary in how they progress through the sequence. Some are fast, some are low

THE L2 = LI HYPOTHESIS

The similarities in learner language in L 1 and L2 acquisition are perhaps most

pronounced in the early stages of development.

The morpheme order acquisition is not the same in the two types of acquisition.
The process by which individual morphemes are acquired displays both similarities and

differences.
The similarities between Lt and L2 acquisition are strongest in syntactical structures.
L2 learners appear to tackle the problem of learning a language in similar ways to LI

learners
Formal and informal earn ng can also be differentiated n the kind of memory learners rely

on
L2 learners have access to a previously acquired language, in some cases to several.