Discourse and Second Language Acquisition

ANI LESTARI

( 1613042065 )

ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM LANGUAGE AND ART

DEPARTMENT

TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY

LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY

2019
 Main Principles of Discourse Theory

A. In second language acquisition, the rules of grammar are acquired in a

natural order. This is largely influenced by the learner’s age, context of
learning and learner’s L1 background.

 SLA has a controlling factor called “faculty for language” that all human
beings possess and which is also responsible for the first language
acquisition.

B. When communicating with a non-native speaker, the native speaker adjusts

his discourse to negotiate meaning with the speaker.

 In this principle, the native speaker enables non-native speaker to

communicate while the latter uses various strategies in the negotiation of
meaning. Together, they strive to overcome the
communicative difficulties which are always likely to arise as a result of
the learner’s limited second language resources.

C. The strategies and means used in discourses and the adjusted language will
influence the speed and order of second language acquisition in the
following aspects:

1. The learner learns the grammar of the L2 in same order as the frequency order
of the various features in the input. It means the first structures that the L2
learner acquires are those that he/she is
exposed to most frequently.

2. The learner acquires commonly occurring formulas and then later analyzes
these into their
component parts.

3. The learner is helped to construct sentences vertically. Learner

utterances are constructed by borrowing chunks of speech from the preceding
discourse.

D. The natural order of second language acquisition is the result of the

learner’s learning to make discourse interactions (how to hold
conversations).

This is the strongest claim for the role of interaction in SLA.

It emphasizes the role of the linguistic environment, which is shaped jointly by
the L2 learner and the native speaker in discourse, and plays down the role of
internal processing factors.
 EVALUATION OF DISCOURSE THEORY

 Hatch tries to provide an answer to the way of describing the process of

SLA by qualitative analysis of face-to-face interactions involving L2
learners.
 The strength lies in the detailed insights her approach provides into how
the process of constructing discourse contributes to the process of
building an interlanguage.
 Some argueable aspectsof Discourse Theory:
1. Hatch has not been able to demonstrate conclusively that negotiation
of input is the necessary and sufficient condition of SLA
2. Discourse Theory needs to accommodate the fact that successful
SLA can take place even when there is no negotiated input
3. Discourse Theory does not address the nature of the learner strategies
responsible for SLA. There is no specification of the relationship
between external and internal processing. The cognitive side of SLA
is not emphasized enough.

CONCLUSION

• The Discourse Theory is similar to the Behavioristic view of language

acquisition in that environmental factors and input (or positive stimulus) are at
the very center in attempting to explicate the acquisition process.

• The discourse theory is of course more sophisticated than the skinner’s views in
accounting for the complex structure of communication. Yet it overstresses the
role of “knowledge of competence and function” in acquiring a language, and
hence fails to notice universal principles that guide language acquition.