Language Acquisition Theory

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The purpose of this chapter is to review the theoretical and empirical works related to this research s' subjects and to explore how the present study is joined with the current leading views in the field. This section contain a summary of historical background of the First Language (L1) interference and then will discussed set of the different research which did scholars. 2.2 Theoretical Background In the past, according the behaviorist learning theory of language, the learner's errors were considered the result of the interference of the rules of the first language. According to the keshavarz (2003, 2006), theoretical analysis of the errors tries to find out the problems and issues related to language learning and it investigates the…show more content…
Sweet (1899), for instance, suggests that the perfect way for acquiring a new language is through a comprehensive knowledge of the peculiarity of the mother tongue, a notion which according to Odlin (1989) was widely accepted at the time. However, Odlin also mentions that the significance of transfer was not recognized during those early years. In the 1950s, in the context of language learning, behaviorist learning theory regarded language as “habit and that language learning involves the establishment of a new set of habits” (Gass & Selinker, 2001, p. 72). Then, the role of the mother tongue was very important because it was the major cause of failure in second language learning. It can be argued that the history of the transfer concept is closely related to the different theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) as Gass & Selinker (2001) mention which makes us shift our attention to examine the association of L1 transfer with some of these…show more content…
In this important study, Carl James reviews the role that contrastive analysis can play in understanding and solving problems in second or foreign language learning and teaching. Using both psycholinguistic and linguistic analysis, he establishes a sound theoretical basis for CA before going on to illustrate its contribution to the study of linguistic universals, bilingualism, and language pedagogy. The book offers a range of examples to support its arguments, enabling readers to grasp the principles and then to pursue their own work in this area. Contrastive Analysis presents a successful theoretical and practical case for the value of CA as a research tool, both for those studying applied linguistics and for teachers needing to adjust their teaching to the state of knowledge of their
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