Camelia Nunez

• What is Third Language Acquisition?

• Why a Third Language Acquisition course?

• The course– Description

– Distribution of covered content

– Methodology

– Workload

– Evaluation

– Learning Outcomes

Today’s Presentation

Everyone grows up hearing many different

languages. Sometimes they are called

‘dialects’ or ‘stylistic variants’ or whatever, but

they are really different languages. It is just

that they are [sometimes] so close to each

other that we don ’ t bother calling them

different languages. So everyone grows up in

a multilingual environment. Sometimes the

multilingual environment involves systems

that are so unlike that you call them different

languages. But that is just a question of

degree; it is not a question of yes or no.

(Chomsky, 2000:59)

• First Language Acquisition

• Second Language acquisition

• Bilingualism

• Multilingualism

• Multiple Language Acquisition

• Multilingual Acquisition

• Third or Additional Language Acquisition

• Third Language Acquisition

Terminology

“ … we will use the term L3 for thelanguage that is currently beingacquired, and L2 for any other languagethat the learner has acquired after L1. Itshould be noted that L3 in this technicalsense is not necessarily equal to languagenumber three in order of acquisition.”

(Hammarberg, 2001: 22).

Third Language Acquisition

What is an L3 Learner?

--Björn is from Sweden and his mother is as well, but his father is from England and

he is bilingual from childhood. Now, as an adult, he is learning German.

--Cindy is from Los Angeles, both of her parents are from Mexico and only speak

Spanish. Cindy’s first language is Spanish, but she started learning English at 6 when

she went to school and is now dominant in English. At the age of 20, she starts to learn

Portuguese.

--Carl is from Indiana. He took Spanish in school starting at 14 and was

successful, and now at age 30 he is learning Italian.

--David lives in Canada and although his first language is English

he has taken French since he was 8. At age 11, he is not totally

fluent yet in French but has begun this year to take Spanish.

What is an L3 Learner?

--Martha is 20 and is from Portugal. Like all Portuguese people her age, she took

English since she was in the second grade. Now at age 20, she has moved to Brazil

and is being confronted with what seems to her like a new language, although she

already understands it.

.

-- Shrey is from New Delhi. In his community everyone speaks Hindi and Kannada.

He is taking English at school this year at the age of 9.

--Patsy is from Chicago. Her native language is English, but she

has lived in a highly Hispanic community and learned Spanish

from her friends and at church as a child. At the age of 13 she

decides to take French as her foreign language requirement in

school.

Examples taken from Rothman’s Presentations at QODAS 2011

• A comprehensive theory of non-native language acquisition cannot be based only on L2 learner behaviour.

Third Language Acquisition: WHY?

• multilingualism in society as the norm rather then the exception.

TLA: PRACTICAL REASONS

TLA: THEORETICAL REASONS

• “... a multilingual is neither the sum of three or more multilinguals, nor a bilingual with an additional language. ... a multilingual is a speaker of three or more languages with unique linguistic configurations ...”

(De Angelis & Selinker, 2001)

TLA: THEORETICAL REASONS

SLA

L1 < - > L2

TLA

L1 < - > L2

L2 <-> L3

L1 < - > L3

VS.

THIRD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: THE COURSE

• INTRODUCTION TO TLA

• THREE MAIN MODULES • FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND SECOND

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.

• THIRD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

• RESEARCH WORKSHOPS

WORKSHOPS1. SETTING UP A RESEARCH PROJECT

2. DESIGNING A LINGUISTIC TEST

3. CODING AND ANALYZING DATA

THIRD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

MAIN STUDIES IN TLA THEORIES OF TLAIMPLICATIONS FOR

EDUCATION

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION • Main theoretical frameworks

THIS COURSE: METHODOLOGY

The class: open discussion.

The student: active participator in the learning process.

The instructor learningfacilitator the expert thatdelivers information.

THIS COURSE: METHODOLOGY

• YUTZU

• WORKSHOPS

• CLASS DISCUSSIONS

THIS COURSE: WORKLOAD DISTRIBUTION

Readings & Yutzus

Article Presentation

Workshop

Written Test

PER MODULE

THIS COURSE: STUDENT WORKLOAD

Readings: 25 pages/wk

3 workshops

2 written exams

PER STUDENT

1 final project

1 article presentation

STUDENT EVALUATION

35%

30%

15%

20% Final Project

Tests

Workshops

Attendance and Participation

COURSE OUTCOMES

• Recognize the importance of TLA as a field of research.

• Understand and identify some of the current theoretical approaches to third language acquisition.

• Identify and evaluate different factors that play a role in the process of third language acquisition.

• Understand the relationship between Second Language Acquisition research and its implication for third language acquisition.

• Learn how to design and implement a linguistic task.

• Develop a basic understanding of how to collect, code and analyselinguistic data.

THANK YOU!

HAVE A HAPPY SUMMER!