The Role of Learning in L2 Acquisition

ABSTRACT.Our paper contributes to the literature by providing evidence on the relationship between the role of processing mechanisms in L2 acquisition, processing mechanisms in language comprehension, similarities and differences between first and second language acquisition, brain mechanisms specific to language acquisition, and the neural mechanisms supporting language. The paper generates insights about L2 processing of semantic or pragmatic information, the role of learning in L2 acquisition, the nature of learners' developing linguistic knowledge, and the role of transfer as a knowledge source of L2 learners.Keywords: learning, L2 acquisition, language, grammatical knowledge1. IntroductionThis study is grounded in the considerable body of scholarship examining the processing of grammatical information, mental representations of linguistic structures, the nature of linguistic knowledge, and the interconnectedness between pedagogic goals and the language used to achieve them. The theory that I shall seek to elaborate here puts considerable emphasis on the mechanisms underlying language acquisition, the role of UG in explaining the human language making capacity, the nature of the strategies used in second language acquisition, and the interrelatedness of language use and teaching purpose. The current study extends past research by elucidating the mental representation of grammatical knowledge about the L2, the acquisition of grammatical concepts, the nature of the underlying grammatical knowledge base of learners, and the complex relationship between language learning and interaction.2. The Mechanisms Underlying Language AcquisitionChater and Christiansen contend that viewing language as a cultural adaptation1 provides a powerful framework within which to explore the evolution of linguistic structure and its consequences for language acquisition (viewing the evolution of language as the outcome of cultural evolution leads to a different perspective on language acquisition). Language evolution is better understood in terms of cultural evolution. The key to language evolution is evolutionary processes over language itself (language is an evolving system). Language is substantially shaped by the pragmatic constraints involved in linguistic communication (language has been shaped to support flexible and expressive communication). Chater and Christiansen assert that there are many innate constraints that shape language and other culturally based human skills: the fit between the structure of language and the brains of language users comes about because language itself is shaped by the brain (thought profoundly influences language). Language processing involves extracting regularities from complex sequential input. Sequential learning tasks are an important experimental paradigm for studying language acquisition and processing (UG characterizes a set of universal grammatical principles that hold across all languages). The motor and perceptual machinery underpinning language influences language structure, the structure of mental representation and reasoning has a fundamental impact on the nature of language, and the explanation of any given aspect of language requires the inclusion of multiple overlapping constraints deriving from perceptuo-motor factors. Understanding how language changes over time provides important constraints on theories of language acquisition; and recasts, and substantially simplifies, the problem of induction relevant to language acquisition.2Lantolf and Thorne observe that we use language to regulate our mental functioning3 through private speech (the speaker knows the topic addressed in the speech and is having problems figuring out what to do about it). Learners use private speech in language classrooms as a means of internalizing the linguistic features available in their environment. As Lantolf and Thorne put it, Vygotsky develops a unified theory of human mental functioning: to create a truly unified psychology requires a completely new way of thinking about human mental development (private speech need not be fully syntactic in its form). …