L1 & L2

The Relationship between First Language (L1)

And Second Language (L2)

The relationship between how people learn their first language (L1) and how they learn their second language (L2) and subsequent languages has concerned second language acquisition (SLA) research ever since it became an independent discipline (see Stern, 1967; Cook, 1969, 1973; Ervin-Tripp, 1974 for a selection of early views). The relationship between the two languages is crucial because it defines the very nature of second language acquisition: if L2 acquisition did not differ in some way from L1 acquisition, SLA research would be merely a sub‑field of language acquisition research rather than a field of its own. It is a truism that the defining characteristic of L2 acquisition is the presence of a second language in the same mind as a first and that the characteristic of an L2 community is the use of additional languages to the first language. The unique problem for SLA research is to see how this pre-existing language affects the L2 user’s mind and the L2 user’s community.

The concentrates on the language of the individual rather than of the community. It shows how SLA research emerged out of the chrysalis of L1 acquisition research, looking particularly at acquisition stages and at research techniques. Then it links three contemporary L1 approaches to questions relevant to SLA research. Next it looks at the differences and similarities that have been proposed between L1 and L2 acquisition. Finally it concludes with a plea for the independence of SLA research from L1 acquisition research.