DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS: ORDER AND SEQUENCE OF ACQUISITION

I. ON L1 ACQUISITION

A. Methods for investigating developmental patterns

1. obligatory occasion analysis

a. samples of naturally occurring language are collected
b. obligatory occasions for the use of specific TL features are identified in the data
c. percentage of accurate use of the features is then calculated (90% in 3 consecutive data
collection points = acquisition)
 no regard for overgeneralizations and misuses / TL-based

2. target-like use analysis – overuses and misuses of language/TL-based

3. frequency analysis –
 focuses on learner language system
 catalogue linguistic devices
 shows vertical variation in learner’s development and best way to examine
developmental sequences

Longitudinal studies – data collection over a period of many months, and in some cases
many years

Cross-sectional design studies – data were collected only at a single point in time

Areas of Language where developmental patterns are investigated:

 linguistic (phonological, lexical, grammatical)

 semantic
 functional

B. Acquisition of English Morphemes

C. Acquisition of English Negatives

D. General Outline of the Development of English as an L1

II. ON L2 ACQUISITION

A. The Early Stages

1. Silent Period – children go through a lengthy period of listening to people talk to them before
they produce their first word/necessary for the child to discover what language is and what it
does
2. Formulaic Speech – consists of expressions which are learnt as unanalyzable wholes and
employed on particular occasions/ can consist of entire scripts such as getting sequences, which
the learner can memorize because they are fixed and predictable/ called lexical phrases (for
native speakers)/happens regardless of age
3. Structural and Semantic Simplifications - creative utterances which are typically truncated,
consisting of one or two words, with both grammatical functions and content words
missing/strong resemblance with pidgin language/
Structural simplification - omission of grammatical factors such as auxiliary verbs, articles, and
bound morphemes
Semantic simplification – omission of content words – nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

B. Proposed Natural Order for L2 Acquisition of Morphemes

C. Acquisition of Possessive Pronouns by Francophone Learners of English

D. General Stages in the Sequence of Acquisition in L2 English Negation

E. Generalized Pattern of Acquisition for L2 English