Second Language Acquisition and Second ... - Stephen Krashen

to have a more limited use in actual speech performance than propositional
language, all performers must eventually come to generate creative utterances at
some point in their language development.
Automatic Speech in Child Second Language Acquisition
The impression one gets from the literature on child second language acquisition is
that the second language performer relies far more on routines and patterns than
does the first language acquirer. As we shall see below, Hatch and Hakuta provide
evidence and slightly different, although complementary, reasons for this
phenomenon. Then we will examine a study by Wagner-Gough which supports
position 2. After this, we will review what is easily the most thorough treatment of
routines and patterns in the language acquisition literature, L. Fillmore's
documentation of routines and patterns in five Spanish-speaking children acquiring
English as a second language.
Hatch (1972) describes the case history of Paul, a 4-year-old acquirer of English as
a second language (see also Huang, 1971; Huang and Hatch, 1978). Paul, a Chinese
speaker, was exposed to English in an informal environment, interacting with
American children in school and in the playground. He made early use of the gestalt
style. During the first month, "it seemed as if Paul was learning by imitation. He
might repeat the sentence immediately after the other person said it, or he might
remember it and use it later in the appropriate situation" (p. 31). "Propositional"
speech appeared in the second month and looked quite similar to the analytic speech
one generally sees in descriptions of child first language acquisition. Some typically
analytic sentences included
This kite.
Ball no.
Paper this.
Wash hand?
At the same time, Paul was using complex routines such as
Get out of here.
It's time to eat and drink,
90