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Chapter 3. Usage-based approaches to second language acquisition

  • Stefanie Wulff and Nick C. Ellis
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Bilingual Cognition and Language
This chapter is in the book Bilingual Cognition and Language

Abstract

We present an overview of the cognitive underpinnings of usage-based approaches to second language acquisition (L2A). Not all constructions are equally learnable, even after years of (frequent) exposure. We present a usage-based analysis of this phenomenon in terms of fundamental principles of associative learning: Low salience, low contingency, and redundancy all lead to form-function mappings being less well learned. Compounding this, adult acquirers show effects of learned attention and blocking as a result of L1-tuned automatized processing of language. We also describe form-focused instruction studies that aim to recruit learners’ explicit, conscious processing capacities for noticing novel L2 constructions before subsequent implicit processing consolidates it into the system. We conclude with further readings which discuss wider coverage of usage-based L2A.

Abstract

We present an overview of the cognitive underpinnings of usage-based approaches to second language acquisition (L2A). Not all constructions are equally learnable, even after years of (frequent) exposure. We present a usage-based analysis of this phenomenon in terms of fundamental principles of associative learning: Low salience, low contingency, and redundancy all lead to form-function mappings being less well learned. Compounding this, adult acquirers show effects of learned attention and blocking as a result of L1-tuned automatized processing of language. We also describe form-focused instruction studies that aim to recruit learners’ explicit, conscious processing capacities for noticing novel L2 constructions before subsequent implicit processing consolidates it into the system. We conclude with further readings which discuss wider coverage of usage-based L2A.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Studies in bilingualism 1
  4. Part I. Theoretical accounts
  5. Chapter 2. Bilingual child acquisition through the lens of sociolinguistic approaches 15
  6. Chapter 3. Usage-based approaches to second language acquisition 37
  7. Chapter 4. Formal linguistics and second language acquisition 57
  8. Part II. Child bilingualism
  9. Chapter 5. Simultaneous child bilingualism 81
  10. Chapter 6. Child L2 acquisition 103
  11. Chapter 7. The role of language input environments for language outcomes and language acquisition in young bilingual children 127
  12. Chapter 8. Literacy development in linguistically diverse pupils 155
  13. Chapter 9. CHILDES for bilingualism 183
  14. Part III. Adult bilingualism
  15. Chapter 10. Syntactic representations in late learners of a second language 205
  16. Chapter 11. First language attrition and bilingualism 225
  17. Chapter 12. Different situations, similar outcomes 251
  18. Part IV. Bilingual cognition, neuroscience and impairment
  19. Chapter 13. Bilingualism and executive function 283
  20. Chapter 14. Words on the brain 307
  21. Chapter 15. Neurobiology of bilingualism 325
  22. Chapter 16. Bilingualism and children with developmental language and communication disorders 347
  23. Chapter 17. Understanding the nature of bilingual aphasia 371
  24. Index 401
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.54.03wul

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Studies in bilingualism 1
  4. Part I. Theoretical accounts
  5. Chapter 2. Bilingual child acquisition through the lens of sociolinguistic approaches 15
  6. Chapter 3. Usage-based approaches to second language acquisition 37
  7. Chapter 4. Formal linguistics and second language acquisition 57
  8. Part II. Child bilingualism
  9. Chapter 5. Simultaneous child bilingualism 81
  10. Chapter 6. Child L2 acquisition 103
  11. Chapter 7. The role of language input environments for language outcomes and language acquisition in young bilingual children 127
  12. Chapter 8. Literacy development in linguistically diverse pupils 155
  13. Chapter 9. CHILDES for bilingualism 183
  14. Part III. Adult bilingualism
  15. Chapter 10. Syntactic representations in late learners of a second language 205
  16. Chapter 11. First language attrition and bilingualism 225
  17. Chapter 12. Different situations, similar outcomes 251
  18. Part IV. Bilingual cognition, neuroscience and impairment
  19. Chapter 13. Bilingualism and executive function 283
  20. Chapter 14. Words on the brain 307
  21. Chapter 15. Neurobiology of bilingualism 325
  22. Chapter 16. Bilingualism and children with developmental language and communication disorders 347
  23. Chapter 17. Understanding the nature of bilingual aphasia 371
  24. Index 401
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