Republic of the Philippines

SAMAR COLLEGES, INC.

Catbalogan City, Samar

I. Discussants :Alzenda P. Pepito

Rizaldy T. Tion
II. Program :Graduate Studies
III. Course Descriptive Title :CLL 103
Language Acquisition in the
Classroom
IV. Time :7:00-11:00 am., Saturdayand Sunday
V. Academic Term & School Year:Summer2017-2018
VI. Instructor :Manilyn O. Serpajuan, M.E.
VII. Topic :L1 Inference and
Psychological Factors inL2
Learning and Acquisition

L1 interference and Psychological Factors in L2

LearningandAcquisition

L1 Interference
Introduction:

Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the

making of mistakes. L2 learning is a process that is clearly not like L1
learning in its trial-and-error nature.

L1 or Mother Tongue

L1 is a speaker’s first language and it is also known as mother

tongue,first language and native language.

L2 or second Language

This term is used to refer to a language which is not a mother

tongue but which is used for certain communicative functions in a society.
It is learned after the first language (L1) or mother tongue.

For example: English is a second language in Pakistan

L1 Interference

L1 interference or language transfer occurs when a learner’s

primary language influences his/her progress in the secondary
language.Interference most commonly affects pronunciation, grammar,
structures, vocabulary, and semantics.
Types of Interference

Positive Transfer:

When the L1 and L2 of the learners have common rules, it is

called positive transfer.

Example of negative Transfer:

English I like to read

Urdu I read to like

Negative Transfer

Negative transfer occurs when the rules of L2 and L1 of the

learners are conflict with each other. This is the cause of
numerous mistakes that the L2 learners may encounters.

Example of positive Transfer:

Police is coming.

Police are coming.

Examples:
Phonological interference

Phonological interference is a common type of interference, its

most prominent manifestation being a “foreign accent including stress,
rhyme, intonation and speech sounds from the first language influencing
the second language”.

Lexical errors

Meaning related words that have similar or related meanings are

confused and the wrong choice is made.

Syntactic errors

They include errors in verb form and tenses and in sentence

structure.

Grammatical interference:

Grammatical interference is defined as the first language

influencing the second in terms of word order, use of pronouns, and tense.

Factors that cause interference

According to Wienrich (1970:64-650)

 Speaker’s bilingualism background.

 Disloyalty to target language.

 The limited vocabulary of TL mastered by learner.

  Needs of synonym.

 Prestige and style

According to Lott (1983: 258-59)

 The Interlingua factor.

 The over extension of analogy.

 Transfer of structure.

L1 INFLUENCE AND LEARNER LANGUAGE

 Learner’s knowledge of their L1 helps them to learn the parts

of the L2 that are similar to the L1.

 The L1 may interact with learner’s developmental sequences

of the L2.

 When learner's Inter language form does not cause any

difficulty in communication meaning, they may find it
difficult to get rid it of. (i.e. fossilization)

Conclusion
Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the
making of mistakes. First Language interference influences in
learning the target language. It has positive and negative effects.
The greater the differences between the two languages, the more
negative the effects of interference are likely to be.

Suggestion
It is important for teacher to know the differences and
similarities between learner’s native language and the target
language. By knowing them teacher will be easier to decide what
strategy, methodology or what material that will be used in
teaching second or foreign language.

Second language acquisition Psychological factors

Psychological factors play an important role in a learner´s success
in acquiring and using a second language. A learner is simultaneously an
individual and a member of a group.

Psychological factors can be divided into two categories:

I. AFFECTIVE/EMOTIONAL FACTORS.

The affective domain is the means through which individuals

become aware of their environment, respond to it with feelings,
and act according to them. Some of these feelings are:
Self-esteem :

A large part of a person´s feelings revolve around the way

that person feels about himself/herself. According to Schumann,
there are three aspects of self-esteem:

 Global (overall assessment of one´s worth)

 Specific (self-evaluation in various life situations, e.g., at

work, and in individual characteristics, such as personality
and intelligence)

Task (self-evaluation in particular tasks)

Motivation:

It´s the impulse, emotion or desire that causes one to act in

a certain way.Various individual, sociocultural and instructional
factors impact motivation. There are two types of motivation
according to Gardner and Lambert:

 Instrumental motivation (the need to acquire a language for

a specific purpose, e.g.,getting a job)

 Integrative motivation (the desire to become a member of

the culture of the second language group)

Anxiety:

Anxiety when learning a second language can be seen as

similar to general feelingsof tension that students experience in the
classroom. Almost everyone feels some anxiety when learning, and
having to perform in a new language compounds anxious feelings.

Attitudes:

Attitudes play a critical role in learning a second language,

for example English. Attitudes toward self, toward language,
toward English-speaking people, and toward the teacher and
the classroom environment affect students.

Empathy:

It´s the capacity to be aware of another´s feelings and to

share them. It involves the connection of oneself with others. When
learning a second language, listeners must understand the
intentions and emotions of a speaker and attempt to comprehend
the message.

II. COGNITIVE FACTORS

The cognitive perspective helps educators to understand

language learners as people who are active processors of
information.
 Learners need information to solve problems, reorganize
what they know, their prior knowledge to achieve new learning,
and actively choose to pay attention, ignore, and make other
responses as they pursue their goals.

GENERAL COGNITIVE PROCESSES

 COGNITIVE ACADEMIC LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

 BICS – (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills)

BICS involves those language skills and functions that

individuals use to communicate in everyday contexts. This
language is context embedded.

 CALP – (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)

CALP is the language needed to perform schools tasks

successfully. Such tasks generally are more abstract and
decontextualized. This is also called context-reduced
commnunication.

 CUP ( Common Underlying Proficiency )

CUP believes that a second language and the primary

language have a shared foundation and that once a student has
a foundation in the native language, a second language builds
upon this foundation.

 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION PROCESSES

 Transfer is applying old learning to new situations.

 Generalization involves inferring or drawing conclusions in

order to respond to a situation.

 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT Krashen and Terrel(3 stages)

 Comprehension stage, also called the silent period or

preproduction stage. The learner simple needs to absorb
the sounds and rhythms of the new language, becomes
familiar with words, etc.

 Early production stage. The students feels more confident

and attempt to say words and phrases.

 Extending production or speech emergence. The student

produces longer and more complex utterances, begins to
recognize and correct his/her own errors and becomes
more comfortable at initiating or sustaining conversations.
 LEARNER STRATEGIES(2 types)

 Communication strategies, which are employed to transmit

an idea when the learner cannot produce precise linguistic
forms.

 Learning strategies, which relate to the individual´s

processing, storage, and retrieval of language concepts.

Some verbal and non-verbal devices:

 Avoidance- avoiding use of sounds, structures, etc,

that are beyond current proficiency.

 Prefabricated Patterns- memorizing phrases to use

when everything else fails.

 Appeal to Authority- asking a native speaker for help

or consult a dictionary.

 Language Switch (code switching)- using the primary

language for help in communication, but also for
other purposes:

 emphasize a point

 because a word is unknown in one of the

languages

 for ease and efficiency of expression

 as a repetition to clarify

 to express group identity and status

 to quote someone

 to interject in a conversation

 to exclude someone

 to cross social or ethnic boundaries

 to ease tension in a conversation

References:

www.aldadis.net/revista9/documentos/07.pdf
https://www.slideshare.net/KhawajaShafique/l1-interference