Adult Language

This report will focus on Vol. II of Adult Language Acquisition: Cross-Linguistic Perspectives. This book covers the results of an international research study (whose design and purpose is covered in Vol. I) on immigrant adult second language acquisition. The book summarizes the results in three main sections: Production; Interaction; Synthesis. The production section of the book is broken down into four sections, including utterance structure, word formation processes in talking about entities, the acquisition of temporality, and reference to space in learner varieties (Purdue vii-viii). Ways those acquiring a second language achieve understanding and the importance of feedback in second language acquisition are the focus of the second section of the book. The final section examines adult language acquisition from a child language study point of view and gives concluding remarks encompassing a variety of aspects, including theoretical applications in light of the results of this study.

In part one of the book, production is covered. The first chapter deals with utterance structure. By utterance structure the authors refer to syntax or the ways in which learners put their words together. Every language has syntactic descriptions such as the subject immediately precedes the finite verb. However, many people would think if this is the case that many learner varieties are

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processes of pidginization and creolization. These similarities are striking evidence of universal processes of language acquisition that are independent of source language, target language, and age, but which work on language specific structures. (Purdue 71) The study of results focuses on the dependent variables of structure, speed and final result and the independent variables of access to the TL, learning capacity and propensity. Where structure and final result are concerned, the study illustrates that the process is either a complex basic one or a process that comes close to the TL. The results provide no evidence for the speed of the process, except possibly that the speed of the process is slow. Where causal considerations are concerned, the types of motivation (propensity) a learner had are connected to their communicative needs versus social similarity. The results in this study express that it is the second factor which motivates learners to move past the basics. Duration of stay proved insignificant as a measure because intensity of the interaction during a learner’s stay is the truly significant factor in affecting acquisition. The findings do suggest that there is a third causal factor that is sign
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Some common words found in the essay are:
SL TL, Interaction Synthesis, Cross-Linguistic Perspectives, language acquisition, adult language, adult language acquisition, utterance structure, results study, Book Report, utterance organization, word formation, learner varieties, Press GB, Vol II, language acquisition cross-linguistic, space learner, acquisition cross-linguistic, reference space, acquisition cross-linguistic perspectives, Acquisition Cross-Linguistic, Language Acquisition, Adult Language, finite utterance organization, language acquisition based,
Approximate Word count = 1538
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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