L1 versus SLA

As others have mentioned in their blog posts, this week's readings (Saville-Troike 3 & Lightbown-Spada 1 & 2) present a wealth of information, theories, and terms related to first and second language acquisition.

While reading these chapters, the first things that came to my mind was that I would definitely have to re-read these chapters a few times in order to effectively process and store all of this information. Hopefully, our class discussion will also aid in my understanding of these concepts. However, something that I found very interesting when reading was how easily I was able to relate the concepts presented regarding second language acquisition to my own experience as a foreign language learner. Many of the concepts that are practiced and taught in SLA have formal names that I previously was not aware of. For example, the process of 'Stimulus- Response- Reinforcement', I learned was really just a fancy way of saying 'Practice makes perfect', a term I have always heard associated with language development and that is essential for the mastery of any skill.

It was also interesting to me to read through the chart on page 33 of Saville-Troike, which discussed all of the different levels and concepts that must be mastered by a L1 or L2 learner, including not only the lexicon, which many people solely associate with language learning, but additionally syntax, morphology, and discourse. Reading about and becoming aware of all these concepts as processes have enabled me to critically think about how I go about L2 learning and what techniques I need to adopt in order to get the best skills I can.