Second Language Acquisition in Childhood WORD COUN

johanneparadis:HandbookofLanguageDevelopment1WORDCOUNT:9,038SecondLanguageAcquisitioninChildhoodSecondlanguage(L2)acquisitioninchildrenhasbeenseldomstudiedasasubfieldwithitsownissuesandquestionsseparatefromadultL2acquisitionontheonehand,orbilingualismandeducationaloutcomesontheother.Consequently,weknowlittleaboutsecondlanguageacquisition(SLA)issues,suchasindividualdifferences,astheypertaintochildasopposedtoadultlearners,andweknowlessaboutthedevelopingorallanguageproficiencyofL2childrenthanweknowabouttheirliteracydevelopment.ResearchonchildL2learnersreceivedagreatdealofattentioninthe1970sbecauseSLAwasemergingasafieldofinquiry,andbecauseeducationalprogramssuchasFrenchimmersioninCanadaandbilingualprogramsforSpanish-speakingchildrenintheUnitedStateswerebeingdeveloped.Therehasbeenarecentresurgenceofinterestinthispopulationofchildreninlargemeasureduetoclinicalandspecialeducationresearcherswhoseektounderstandhowtodistinguishbetweenlanguagedifferenceandlanguagedisorderinmultilingualpopulations.ThisrenewedinterestinchildL2learnershascomewithafocusonorallanguageproficiency,becausethisisessentialforassessmentandintervention,aswellasconcernforissuesthataremoreimportanttoL2learningbychildrenratherthanadults,suchastheimpactoflanguagesspokeninthehomeonbothfirstlanguage(L1)andL2development.ThisreviewdiscussesresearchonL2childrenintermsofquestionsthatareparticularlyrelevanttochildratherthanadultSLA,andtoorallanguageratherthanliteracydevelopment:(1)ArechildL2acquisitionpatternsandratessimilartothoseforL1acquisition?(2)HowdochildL2learnerscomparewithnative-speakersofthetargetlanguagetheirownage?(3)WhathappenstotheL1developmentofminoritychildrenlearningaL2thatisthemajoritylanguageofthecommunity?Theterm“childbilingual”isoftenusedsynonymouslywith“childL2learner”,buttheydonotnecessarilydenotethesamepopulation.Simultaneousbilingualchildrenlearnboththeirlanguagesinthepreschoolyears(seeGenesee&Nicoladis,thisvolume),whileL2childrenhaveestablishedonelanguagebeforetheybeginlearningtheother,andtypicallyspeaktheL1athomeandtheL2atschool.EnglishL1childrenwhoacquirejohanneparadis:HandbookofLanguageDevelopment2FrenchorSpanishasaL2throughimmersionschoolingareL1majorityL2learners.Incontrast,childrenwhospeakaminoritylanguageathome,suchasSpanish,ChineseorArabic,andattendschoolinthemajoritylanguagealongsideEnglishnativespeakersareL1minorityL2learners.ThischapterismainlyconcernedwithdevelopmentoftheL2andL1ofminoritychildren,butsomeresearchonL1majorityL2childrenisdiscussed.InitialExposuretotheSecondLanguageTabors(1997)notedthefollowingearlystagesinL2development,basedonobservingminoritychildreninanEnglishpreschoolintheUnitedStates:(1)home-languageuse,(2)nonverbalperiod,(3)formulaicandtelegraphicuse,and(4)productivelanguageuse.ChildreninitiallyusetheirnativelanguageintheL2environment,butthisstageisverybriefbecausewithinafewdaystheyrealizethatusingtheirnativelanguagewillnotfacilitatecommunicationinthenewcontext.Incontrast,thesubsequentnonverbalperiodcanlastafewweeksorextendtoseveralmonths,andyoungerchildrenseemtostaylongerinthisstagethanolderones(Tabors,1997;Winitz,Gillespie&Starcev,1995).Duringthisstage,childrenproducefewornoutterancesintheL2,oftenmakeuseofgesturalcommunication,andmaybesilentforlongerinagroupratherthanaone-on-onecontext.L2children’sfirstutterancesinEnglishtendtobeeitherformulaicortelegraphic,meaningthatchildrenrelyheavilyonmemorizedorunanalyzedphrasesandusefewgrammaticalmorphemes.Tabors(1997)notedthatthefirstutterancesproducedbythechildreninEnglishweremainlysingle-wordslikeobjectandcolournames,orcountingsequences.WongFillmore(1979)listsseveralcommonformulasusedrepeatedlybytheL2childrensheobservedintheearlystages,e.g.lookit,waitaminute,lemmeseeorwhaddyawannado?.L2children’stransitionfromTabors’stage(3)totheperiodofproductivelanguageismarkedbytheirincreasinguseofnovelconcatenationsofcontentandgrammaticalmorphemes.Tabor’sstage(4)resembleswhatL2researcherstraditionallycallinterlanguage(e.g.Selinker,Swain,&Dumas1975).InterlanguagedescribesL2learnerlanguagethatisreasonablyfluentandistheproductofanunderlyingproductivelinguisticsystem,butdiffersfromthetarget-language;itisadynamicsystembalancingL1transferprocesseswithtargetlanguagedevelopmentalprocessesthatgraduallymovesclosertothetargetlanguagesystem.johanneparadis:HandbookofLanguageDevelopment3PhonologicalAcquisitionintheSecondLanguageInfluenceoftheL1ishighlyapparentinL2phonology.AccordingtoFlege’sSpeechLearningModel,thestartingpointforL2speechdevelopmentistheL1phoneticcategories(Flege,1999).Forexample,SpanishL1–EnglishL2childrenaged4-7yearswerefoundtobemoreaccurateintheirproductionofphonemesthataresharedbetweenthetwolanguagesthanforphonemesthatarepresentonlyintheEnglishL2(Goldstein,2004).ThisinitialL1influencecanbelife-long,evenforchildL2learners.RetrospectivedevelopmentalstudiesshowthatadultswhobegantoacquiretheirL2asearlyas6-8yearsofagecanhaveaperceptibleforeignaccent(Flege&Fletcher,1992;Flege,1999).Withrespecttoacousticpropertieslikevoiceonsettime(VOT),SpanishL1-EnglishL2childrencaneven