One Functional Approach to L2 Acquisition

Functionalism views language in terms of form-to-function and function-to-form mappings. Functional approaches to second language acquisition investigate such mappings in interlanguage and are especially interested in how these change over time in the developing interlanguage system. Studies in the concept-oriented framework typically take as evidence language used communicatively, a subset of what is generally called production data. Looking at language production over time shows that the learners exhibited variable rates of emergence for reverse-order reports. The study of interlanguage development from a concept-oriented approach highlights the relationship of the various linguistic devices that learners may employ to express a given concept. The basic claim of functional approaches is the centrality of meaning and function in influencing language structure and language acquisition. The concept-oriented approach is particularly compatible with other meaning-oriented or function-oriented approaches to language and linguistic universals, such as semantic or notional typology, which investigates the expression of semantic concepts across the world’s languages.