Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is about how people learn second languages, not in the first instance about how to teach them. After all, learning a second language does not necessarily involve instruction: generations of immigrants into another linguistic culture have simply picked up the language of their host community. Yet most people recognize that for adults to develop any functional competence in a second language, particularly outside the target language community, organized instruction (be it in a classroom or from a self-study course) is probably necessary.

One of the problems we face in SLA is figuring out to what extent the same or different processes are involved in 'picking up' a language and in trying to 'learn' it. What is clear to language teachers, for example, is that learners do not simply 'learn' and produce what they are taught, no matter how well-organized and motivating the teaching may be. It could be that the same constraints which influence uninstructed second language learners also influence instructed learners. SLA, then, sets out to investigate what those constraints might be and the variety of processes that might be involved in the development of a second language. This is clearly of relevance to language teachers:

The successful educator must be one who understands the complexities of the teaching-learning process and can draw upon this knowledge to act in ways which empower learners both within and beyond the classroom situation. (Williams and Burden,1997: 5)

There is occasionally confusion in SLA with the terms acquisition and learning. Sometimes, the term 'acquisition' is used exclusively to refer to the process of 'picking up' a language implicitly, while the term 'learning' is reserved for formal instruction. However, it is quite possible that even in formal instruction, we engage in implicit processes akin to 'picking up'. Further, if acquisition and learning are distinguished in this way, we need a superordinate term for second language development. Because of this, we have used acquisition and learning more or less interchangeably to refer to the process of second language development. Where a distinction is required, the terms implicit and explicit may be used. The abbreviation SLA is used to refer to the field of study.

SLA is a relatively new field of research that has developed since the 1960s, drawing on different perspectives and research methodologies from Linguistics, Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology and Educational Theory. This module is inevitably selective in its coverage. If you want more detail on the key current research questions in SLA, click here to access Robinson, P. (1998) Issues in SLA Research: an Introduction to the Pacific Second Language Research Forum Symposia. (http://www.als.aoyama.ac.jp/pacslrf/slaissue.html).

SLA has its own specialist terminology. All terms are fully explained when they are first introduced. If at any time you need to check up on a particular meaning, refer to the Glossary at the end of the module (section 2.6).