语言学单元自测11

1、I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False.L1 development and L2 development seem to involve the same processes. The capacity to acquire ones first language is a fundamental human trait that all human beings are equally well possessed with. All normal children have equal abi

2、lity to acquire their first language. Children follow a similar acquisition schedule of predictable stages along the route of language development across cultures， though there is an idiosyncratic variation in the amount of time that takes individuals to master different aspects of the grammar. 5.Hu

3、mans can be said to be predisposed and biologically programmed to acquire at least one language. 6.Some languages are inferior， or superior， to other languages. 7.Language acquisition is primarily the acquisition of the vocabulary and the meaning of language. 8.Human beings are genetically predeterm

4、ined to acquire language； this genetic predisposition is a sufficient condition for language development. 9.Children who grow up in culture where caretaker speech is absent acquire their native language more slowly than children who are exposed to caretaker speech. 10.In mother tongue acquisition， n

5、ormal children are not necessarily equally successful. 11.For the vast majority of children， language development occurs spontaneously and requires little conscious instruction on the part of adults. 12.The available evidence to date indicates that an explicit teaching of correct forms to young chil

6、dren plays a minor role at best. 13.Correction and reinforcement are not key factors in child language development as they were claimed to be. 14.Imitation plays at best a very minor role in the childs mastery of language. 15.Observations of children in different language areas of the world reveal t

7、hat the developmental stages are similar， possibly universal， whatever the nature of the input. 16.A childs babbling seems to depend on the presence of acoustic， auditory input. 17.In general， the two-word stage begins roughly in the second half of the childs first year. 18.Childrens two-word expres

8、sions are absent of syntactic or morphological markers. 19.Children first acquire the sounds in all languages of the world， no matter what language they are exposed to， and in late stages acquire the more difficult sounds. 20.Language acquisition begins at about the same time as lateralization does

9、and is normally complete， as far as the essentials are concerned， by the time that the process of lateralization comes to an end. II. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given. 21.The first language a_ refers to the development of a first or native language. 22.Accord

10、ing to a n_ view of language acquisition， humans are quipped with the neural prerequisites for language and language use， just as birds are biologically pre-wired to learn the songs of their species. 23.A caretaker speech， also called m_ or b_， is the type of modified speech typically addressed to y

11、oung children. 24.B_ learning theory suggested that a childs verbal behavior was conditioned through association between a stimulus and the following response. 25.Childrens one-word utterances are also called h_ sentences， because they can be used to express a concept or predication that would be as

12、sociated with an entire sentence in adult speech. 26.The early multiword utterances of children lack inflectional morphemes and most minor lexical categories， they are often referred to as t_ speech. 27.A_ refers to the gradual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using i

13、t naturally in daily communicative situations. 28.The C_ Analysis was founded on the belief that it was possible， by establishing the linguistic differences between the native and target language systems， to predict what problems learners of a particular second language would face and the types of e

14、rrors they would make. 29.The language that a learner constructs at a given stage of SLA is known as i_. 30.Learners subconsciously use their first language knowledge in learning a second language. This is known as language t_. 31.Motivation in language learning can be defined in terms of the learne

15、rs overall goal or orientation. I_ motivation occurs when the learners goal is functional and i_ motivation occurs when the learners goal is social. III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the one that can best complete the statement：32. In first language acquisition， imitation pl

16、ays _. A. a minor role B. a significant role C. a basic role D. no rule 33. Linguists have found that for the vast majority of children， language development occurs _. A. with much imitation B. with little conscious instruction C. with much correction from their parents D. with little linguistic inp

17、ut 34. The development of linguistic skills involves the acquisition of _ rules rather than the mere memorization of words and sentences. A. cultural B. grammatical C. behaviour D. pragmatic 35. _ has been found to occur usually in childrens pronunciation or reporting of the truthfulness of utteranc

18、es， rather than in the grammaticality of sentences. A. Punishment B. Instruction C. Reinforcement D. Imitation 36. According to the _， the acquisition of a second language involves， and is dependent on， the acquisition of the culture of the target language community. A. acculturation view B. mentali

19、st view C. behaviorist view D. conceptualist view 37. In general， a good second learner is an adolescent _. A. who has a strong and well-defined motivation to learn B. who seeks out all chances to interact with the input C. who is willing to identify himself with the culture of the target language c

20、ommunity D. all the above 38. The optimum age for second language acquisition is _. A. early teenage B. after puberty C. at puberty D. after the brain lateralization 39. The formal instruction in second language acquisition _. A. has no effect at all B. has a powerful delayed effect C. has very litt

21、le effect D. has unsatisfactory effect 40. _ is believed to be a major source of incorrect forms resistant to further instruction. A. The second language learners unwillingness to learn B. The poor classroom teaching C. The fossilization of the learners interlanguage D. The learners lack of instrume

22、ntal motivation 41. Which of the following is not true？A. Interlanguage is a product of communicative strategies of the learner. B. Interlanguage is a product of mother tongue interference. C. Interlanguage is a product of overgeneralization of the target language rules. D. Interlanguage is the repr

23、esentation of learners unsystematic L2 rules. 42._， except those with mental or physical impairments， are better or worse first language acquirers. A. Some men B. Almost all men C. No men D. Few men IV. Explain the following terms. 43. caretaker speech 44. holophrastic sentences 45. telegraphic spee

24、ch 46. second language acquisition 47. acquisition 48. learning 49. transfer 50. interlanguage 51. fossilization 52. instrumental motivation 53. integrative motivation 54. acculturation V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary.55.W

25、hats the difference between acquisition and learning， according to Krashen？56.How do the learner factors potentially influence the way in which a second language is acquired？57.What is the role of input for SLA？58.How do you understand interlanguage？59.Discuss the contrastive analysis in detail. 60.

26、What are the major stages that a child has to follow in first language development？ What are the features of the linguistic forms at each stage？61.3What is the role of correction and reinforcement in first language acquisition？62.Why do we say language acquisition is primarily the acquisition of the

27、 grammatical system of language？63.Discuss the biological basis of language acquisition. 64.What is the role of imitation in first language acquisition？Suggested Answers I. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False. l. F 2.T 3. T 4. T 5. T 6. F 7. F 8. F 9. F 10. F 11. T 12. T

28、 13. T 14. T 15. T 16. F 17. F 18. T 19. T 20. T II. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given. 21. acquisition 22. nativist 23. motherese， baby talk 24. Behaviorist 25. holophrastic 26. telegraphic 27. Acquisition 28. Contrastive 29. interlanguage 30. transfer 31. In

29、strumental， integrative III. There are four choices following each statement. Mark the one that can best complete the statement.32. A 33. B 34. B 35. C 36. A 37. D 38. A 39. B 40. C 41. D 42. C IV. Explain the following terms.43. Caretaker speech： It is the modified speech typically addressed to you

30、ng children. Such modified speech is called baby talk， motherese， or parentese. 44. Holophrastic sentences： They are childrens one-word utterances. They are called holophrastic sentences， because they can be used to express a concept or predication that would be associated with an entire sentence in

31、 adult speech. 45. Telegraphic speech： They are the early multiword utterances of children which typically lack inflectional morphemes and most minor lexical categories. Some function words are altogether missing. What occur in these multiword utterances are usually the substantive or content words

32、that carry the main message. Because of their resemblance to the style of language found in telegrams， utterances at this acquisition stage are often called telegraphic speech. 46. Second language acquisition： Second language acquisition （SLA） is a general term which refers to the acquisition of a s

33、econd language （L2）， in contrast with first language acquisition （FLA）. SLA is also used as a general term to refer to the acquisition of a foreign or subsequent language （such as a third or fourth language）. Thus， SLA is primarily the study of how learners acquire or learn an additional language af

34、ter they have acquired their first language （L1）. 47. Acquisition： According to Krashen， acquisition refers to the gradual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations. 48. Learning： Learning， however， is defined by Krashen as

35、a conscious process of accumulating knowledge of a second language usually obtained in school settings. 49. Transfer： It refers to the phenomenon that learners subconsciously use their L1 knowledge in learning a second language. 50. Interlanguage： It is a series of internal representations that comp

36、rises the learners interim knowledge of the target language. This is the language that a learner constructs at a given stage of SLA. Interlanguage consists of a series of interlocking and approximate linguistic systems in-between and yet distinct from the learners native and target languages. It rep

37、resents the learners transitional competence moving along a learning continuum stretching from ones L1 competence to the target language competence. 51. Fossilization： it is a process that sometimes occurs in second language learning in which incorrect linguistic features become a permanent part of

38、the way a person speaks or writes in the target language. 52. Instrumental motivation： Adults are motivated to learn a second language in order to use it functionally. In other words， the learners desire to learn a second language because it is useful for some functional， “instrumental” goals. This

39、motivation is called instrumental motivation. 53. Integrative motivation： Adults are motivated to learn a second language in order to use it socially. In other words， the learners learn a second language in order to communicate with native speakers of the target language. 54. Acculturation： It is th

40、e process of adapting to the new culture of the L2 community. V. Answer the following questions as comprehensively as possible. Give examples for illustration if necessary.55.Whats the difference between acquisition and learning， according to Krashen？According to Krashen， acquisition refers to the g

41、radual and subconscious development of ability in the first language by using it naturally in daily communicative situations. Learning， however， is defined as a conscious process of accumulating knowledge of a second language usually obtained in school settings. A second language， Krashen argues， is

42、 more commonly learned but to some degree may also be acquired， depending on the environmental setting and the input received by the L2 learner. A rule can be learned before it is internalized （i.e. acquired）， but having learned a rule does not necessarily prevent having to acquire it later. For exa

43、mple， an English language learner may have learned a rule like the third person singular -s， but is unable to articulate the correct form in casual and spontaneous conversation because the rule has not yet been acquired. This shows that conscious knowledge of rules does not ensure an immediate guida

44、nce for actual performance.56.How do the learner factors potentially influence the way in which a second language is acquired？1） The optimum age for second language acquisition： First language acquisition is most successful when it occurs during the early years of ones life before puberty， but the o

45、ptimum age for SLA does not always accord with the maxim of the younger the better. The optimum age for SLA is early teenage. This claim is justifiable because this is the age when the learners flexibility of the language acquisition faculty has not been completely lost while ones cognitive skills h

46、ave developed considerably. 2） Motivation： Motivation in language learning can be defined in terms of the learners overall goal or orientation. Instrumental motivation occurs when the learners goal is functional， and integrative motivation occurs when the learners goal is social. If the target langu

47、age functions as a foreign language （used in a limited environment such as in school）， the learner is likely to benefit from an integrative motivation； but if the target language functions as a second language （used as a primary means of communication in the community of the learner）， an instrumenta

48、l motivation is more effective. 3） Acculturation： The acculturation hypothesis focuses on the social and psychological conditions under which L2 processing is most likely to take place successfully. It states simply that the more a person aspires to acculturate to the community of the target languag

49、e， the further he or she will progress along the developmental continuum. 4）Personality： Intuitively， an outgoing personality may contribute to language acquisition. Research results， however， only partially support this hypothesis. No significant relationship has been found between talkativeness on

50、 the one hand and overall proficiency in a second language on the other. But it is recognized that as a result of being frequently exposed to and interacting with the target language， learners with an extroverted personality are likely to achieve better oral fluency than otherwise. In sum， a good se

51、cond language learner is， among other things， an adolescent who has a strong and well-defined motivation to learn. He is able to respond and adaptable to different learning situations. He seeks out all opportunities and makes maximum use of them to interact with the input. He employs appropriate lea

52、rning strategies. And he is willing to identify himself or herself with the culture of the target language community. 57.What is the role of input for SLA？ It is evident that SLA takes place only when the learner has access to L2 input and the opportunity to interact with the input. It appears that

53、what learners need is not mere exposure to L2 data， but the kind of input data that are specially suited to their current stage of development. There is， however， no agreement as to precisely what constitutes optimum input. Some scholars advise that access to comprehensible input is a necessary cond

54、ition for acquisition to take place. It is suggested that input can be made comprehensible by the use of learned structures and vocabulary， the linguistic and extralinguistic contexts of the input data， and the learners general knowledge to interpret new language items. It is also suggested that int

55、eraction （i.e. taking part in communicative activities） and intake （i.e. the input that is assimilated and fed into the interlanguage system） are more important for SLA than input. 58.How do you understand interlanguage？ Interlanguage consists of a series of interlocking and approximate linguistic s

56、ystems in-between and yet distinct from the learners native and target languages. It represents the learners transitional competence moving along a learning continuum stretching from ones LI competence to the target language competence. As a type of linguistic system in its own right， interlanguage

57、is a product of L2 training， mother tongue interference， overgeneralization of the target language rules， and communicative strategies of the learner. 59.Discuss the contrastive analysis in detail. Contrastive Analysis was developed in order to identify and predict the areas of learning difficulty. Given this approach， it was