Chapter 1 the study of collocations

 
2.3 Phonology 
 
 
In the limited research studies to-date, claims have been made that L2 
phonology also follows certain patterns of development.  For example, Tarone 
(1976) found that L2 learners prefer to use open syllables (i.e. syllables that end 
in a vowel) rather than closed syllables (i.e. syllables that end in a consonant) in 
the early stages of L2 acquisition (Tarone 1976, 1978). 
 
Also, Wode (1977) found that children acquire the L2 phonological 
system in ordered developmental sequences.  In his study of German children 
acquiring ESL, he found that German children follow the same developmental 
route for /r/ as the native, English-speaking children (Wode 1977: 213).  
Similar findings were obtained in an analysis of the production of the English 
syllable-final stops /b d g/ in Spanish, Polish and Mandarin learners by Flege 
and Davidian (1985).  The authors conclude that the observed developmental 
processes are similar to those affecting child L1 speech production. 
 
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Markedness theory has also been applied to L2 phonology.  Eckman 
(1977) claimed that where there are differences between the phonemes of L1 
and L2, those phonemes that are more 'marked' (e.g. word-final voicing 
contrasts are more marked than medial or initial contrasts) will be more 
difficult for the L2 learner. 
 
In her review paper, Tarone (1978) reports that the following processes 
have been utilised in shaping the development of L2 phonology: 
 
 
i) negative transfer from L1 
 
ii) first language acquisition processes 
 iii) 
overgeneralisation 
 iv) 
approximation 
 v) 
avoidance 
 
(Tarone 1978:25, 1987:77). 
 
 
These processes are similar to the general interlanguage strategies 
employed by L2 learners (see Selinker 1972). 
 
As yet there is no substantial evidence as to why some developmental 
processes that occur in the acquisition of a L1 phonology are employed by the 
L2 learner, and some others are not (Ioup & Weinberger 1987).  What these 
studies show, though, is that there are certain developmental processes that 
learners follow in the acquisition of L2 phonology (for a review on the 
acquisition of L2 speech see Leather & James 1991). 
 
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2.4  Vocabulary 
 
 
Until recently, lexical acquisition has been a "victim of discrimination" 
(Levenston 1979:147).  Traditionally, L2 acquisition research has meant 
"grammar" research, in which the focus is on understanding the acquisition of 
rules of structural development.  Largely ignored was the fact that "using the 
right word is the most important aspect of language use" (Politzer 1978:258), 
and that lexis is "the major learning priority" in L2 acquisition (Jones 1994:441).   
 
As a result, research in developmental sequences in ESL has been mainly 
concerned with morphology and syntax.  Lexical development has rarely been 
researched (Meara 1978, 1980) even though it is evident that vocabulary is an 
important aspect of L2 acquisition.  It has been shown that lexical errors 
outnumber grammatical ones by almost four to one (Meara 1984), and that a 
poor knowledge of vocabulary has negative effects in the writing of L2 learners 
(Linnarud 1986).  Also, it was found that L2 learners vocabulary errors are 
corrected more frequently by native speakers than errors in syntax (Chun, Day, 
Chenoweth & Luppescu 1982).