First Language Attrition and Second Language Acquisition in a Second Language Environment. (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Dynamic Perspective on Late Bilinguals' Linguistic Development in an L2 Environment.
This paper provides a dynamic perspective on the linguistic development of adult bilinguals in an L2 environment, and an empirical test for the principles formulated within a dynamic systems approach to L1 attrition. It presents a qualitative analysis of the personal narratives of the post-migratory linguistic development of 27 adult German–English bilinguals residing in Ireland, with particular focus on two participants’ stories. Participants responded to a comprehensive sociolinguistic questionnaire, providing self-ratings of current and past language proficiency in all their languages, and reflecting on the processes of and factors impacting on L2 acquisition and L1 attrition in the L2 environment. These data are complemented by proficiency data elicited with a test battery in L1 German and L2 English. Analyses revealed that most participants have succeeded both in acquiring English to a high level, and in maintaining German. However, other L2s as a rule show a pattern of decline. The results are discussed with recourse to dynamic conceptions of multilingual development.
Embracing bilingualism: L1 retention amidst L2 acquisition
The Language Learning Journal, 2024
In L1 attrition research, it's recognized that a previously acquired language can transform under the influence of a newly acquired one. However, the precise L1-L2 relationship is intricate and warrants further study. Some research suggest that L2 mastery might reduce L1 proficiency, while others show that both languages can be maintained. Age of onset and L1 use are the factors that have been discussed in the debate surrounding L1 attrition. The study aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion by examining L1 and L2 proficiency of Russian-English bilingual speakers (N = 35). The participants with comparable L2 proficiency but various degrees of L1 attrition who arrived at different ages and differed in their frequency of L1 use were recruited for the study. This diverse group provided an ideal quality sample for investigating the role of age of onset and L1 use, as well as the interplay between L1 and L2. By comparing L1 and L2 lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, and fluency, the study revealed that higher L2 proficiency was not associated with lower levels of L1 proficiency, suggesting that L1 retention is possible amidst L2 acquisition. L1 use played a more significant role in the L1 maintenance of these bilingual individuals.
Language Learning, 2018
This investigation aimed to provide insights into the controversial debate on the role that age at onset of bilingualism plays in human language capacity with a focus on what it entails for first language (L1) attrition. L1 performance of Turkish immigrants (n = 57) in the United Kingdom with age at onset ranging between 7 and 34 years was compared to that of Turkish monolingual controls (n = 29) across two linguistic properties: structural complexity and accent. Findings generally showed that although the immigrants achieved nativelike proficiency with respect to the overall structural complexity of their L1, this was not the case for accent as those with an earlier age of onset were less likely to sound like native Turkish speakers. We discuss these findings in relation to two competing theoretical models of age effects and suggest that attrition data need to be better accommodated within these models.
Does L1 maintenance hamper L2 nativelikeness? A study of L2 ultimate attainment in early bilinguals
2012
Within the fi eld of SLA, the incidence of nativelikeness in second language (L2) speakers has typically been explained as a function of age of acquisition. An alternative interpretation, however, is that L2 learners do not attain nativelike profi ciency because of fi rst language (L1) maintenance. This interpretation has nevertheless remained mostly theoretical due to the lack of empirical evidence. This study sets out to address the role of L1 proficiency in L2 ultimate attainment by examining L1 and L2 proficiency in 30 early L1 Spanish–L2 Swedish bilinguals. Language proficiency was assessed through grammaticality judgment tests and cloze tests, and additional data on language aptitude were collected through the Swansea Language Aptitude Test (v.2.0; Meara, Milton, & Lorenzo-Dus, 2002). The results showed positive correlations between nativelike L1 and L2 behavior. Additionally, it was found that language aptitude was positively correlated with nativelike L1 and L2 performance. In view of these fi ndings, it is suggested that (a) L1 maintenance does not hamper L2 nativelikeness and (b) language aptitude is an important factor for bilingual ultimate attainment.
When does second language learning lead to first language attrition?
Communication & Cognition, 2023
Nowhere is the discussion on the relationship between competence and performance more interesting than in the research on bilingualism. Fortuitously, it is in this field of language acquisition and language learning where proponents of both Universal Grammar and Usage-Based approaches have found space for discussion on a number of language contact phenomena. This dialogue parallels a similar coincidence in the study of literacy learning. On this point, a new proposal for research on second language learning and first language attrition appears to fundamentally redefine basic concepts in the field. This response counters that future research will be best served by continuing to apply current conceptions until the discussion of research findings presents a new framework. In addition, a better understanding of language attrition will benefit from an exchange among researchers who work within the framework of different theoretical models. In the end, the exchange will contribute to better understanding the concept of Language Faculty, beginning with an open-ended discussion.
The attrition of school-learned foreign languages: A multilingual perspective
Applied Psycholinguistics
In the vast body of research on language learning, there is still surprisingly little work on the attrition or retention of second/foreign languages, particularly in multilinguals, once learning and/or use of these languages ceases. The present study focuses on foreign language attrition and examines lexical diversity and (dis)fluency in the oral productions of 114 multilingual young adults, first language German speakers who learned English as their first (FL1) and French or Italian as their second foreign language (FL2), shortly before and approximately 16 months after graduation from upper secondary school. The level of foreign language use after graduation was found to have a noticeable impact on the measured change in output quality in the FL2, but only little in the FL1, where participants’ initial proficiency was considerably higher. The amount of use in the FL1 had no visible connection with attrition/maintenance in a rarely used FL2. Those participants who felt their speaki...
The Role of Language Aptitude in First Language Attrition: The Case of Prepubescent Attriters
Applied Linguistics, 2010
While language aptitude has been investigated actively within second language research, there is a current dearth of research on the effects of aptitude in cases of attrition. The aim of the present investigation was to explore the role of language aptitude for L1 proficiency in speakers who experienced a break with their L1 setting prior to puberty. Twenty-five L1 Spanish-L2 Swedish bilinguals residing in Sweden participated in the study, and 15 native speakers of Spanish living in Chile were recruited as controls. The L1 proficiency was measured by means of a grammaticality judgement test (GJT) and language aptitude data were obtained through the Swansea Language Aptitude Test . Results showed a positive correlation between GJT performance and language aptitude. More specifically, the bilinguals with above-average aptitude were more likely to score within the native range on the GJT than those with below-average aptitude. It was also seen that among the participants with below-average aptitude, GJT scores were related to daily L1 use. In view of these findings, we suggest that language aptitude has a compensatory function in language attrition, helping the attriter to retain a high level of L1 proficiency despite reduced L1 contact.
L2 influence on L1 in late bilingualism (2000)
The purpose of the present paper is to bring together several studies in an emerging area of inquiry - that of second language (L2) influence on the first language (L1) in adulthood - in order to reconceptualize the findings within a unitary theoretical framework. Previous research has convincingly established that L2 may influence and even overtake the L1 ill childhood L2 learning (cf. Wong-Fillmore, /991). In the present paper; evidence is presented that similar processes may take place in adult L2 learning and use, with L2 influencing L1 phonology, morphosyntax, lexis, semantics, pragmatics, rhetoric, and conceptual representations. The processes taking place in these diverse areas are brought together within a single framework as borrowing, convergence, shift, restructuring, and loss. Possible constraints on L2 influence in adulthood are proposed and theoretical implications discussed, in particular with regard to the nature of the L1 competence.
Age of acquisition effects or effects of bilingualism in second language ultimate attainment?
G. Grañena & M. Long (eds.), Sensitive Periods, Language Aptitude, and Ultimate L2 Attainment. (pp. 69-102)., 2013
One of the most robust findings in the field of SLA is the different rates of success with which children and adults achieve nativelike proficiency in a L2. Age-related differences have traditionally been explained in terms of the maturational state of the learner. Recently, however, a growing number of accounts hold that age effects in ultimate attainment are due to L1 entrenchment (e.g. Flege 1999; MacWhinney 2005; Ventureyra, Pallier & Yoo 2004). In this view, an increase in L1 proficiency leads to the progressive entrenchment of L1 representations, with the consequence that L2 acquisition becomes more difficult. Inherent in this interpretation is the assumption that the “less L1”, the less it will interfere with the L2. In this paper, we analyse the theoretical underpinnings of the “L1 entrenchment accounts”, and evaluate the existing evidence for and against such claims.