Let’s be honest: you can read Understanding Second Language Acquisition by Rod Ellis until your eyes blur, but knowing the theory and passing the exam are two very different beasts. SLA is a field packed with dense terminology—Interlanguage, Affective Filters, Universal Grammar—and it’s easy to get lost in the academic weeds.
Below is the exam paper download link
Past Paper On Second Language Acquisition For Revision
Above is the exam paper download link
The secret weapon for most high-achieving linguistics students isn’t just more reading; it’s strategic retrieval. That’s a fancy way of saying: “Stop reading and start testing yourself.”
To help you get there, we’ve curated a comprehensive collection of previous exam questions.
[Download the Second Language Acquisition Past Paper PDF Here]
Below, we’ve broken down the most common roadblocks in SLA revision through a direct Q&A session.
Why should I bother with past papers when I have the textbook?
Think of the textbook as a map and the past paper as the actual hike. You can study the map all day, but you won’t know where the steep hills are until you’re on the trail. Past papers reveal the examiner’s patterns. You’ll notice that certain themes—like Krashen’s Hypotheses or the difference between “Acquisition” and “Learning”—tend to pop up every single year. If you can answer those, you’ve already secured 40% of your grade.
What is the “Monitor Model,” and why does it keep appearing in exams?
If you see a question about Stephen Krashen, it’s almost certainly about the Monitor Model. In short, it suggests we have an internal “editor” that checks our language for errors.
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The Exam Tip: Don’t just list the five hypotheses. Explain why they matter. For instance, the Affective Filter explains why a stressed student can’t learn as well as a relaxed one, even if the teaching is identical. Examiners love it when you apply theory to real-world classroom scenarios.
How do I tackle the “Nature vs. Nurture” debate in an essay?
This is a classic long-form question. You’ll likely be asked to compare Chomsky’s Universal Grammar (UG) with Skinner’s Behaviorism.
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Originality Hack: Avoid saying “Chomsky thinks we are born with language.” Instead, use the term Poverty of the Stimulus. This argument suggests that children hear messy, incomplete language but still produce perfect grammar—proving we must have an innate “blueprint” for language.
What does “Interlanguage” actually mean for a student?
Coined by Larry Selinker, Interlanguage is that “middle ground” a learner occupies. They aren’t speaking their native tongue, but they aren’t fluent in the target language yet either.
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The Key Insight: If an exam asks about errors, remember that in SLA, errors are good. They are evidence that the learner is testing hypotheses. Fossilization happens when these errors get “stuck.”
Any tips for those tricky “Input vs. Output” questions?
Yes. Remember the “Long vs. Swain” showdown. Long argues for Interaction, while Swain argues for Output.
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The Cheat Sheet: Long says we learn by negotiating meaning (saying “Huh? What do you mean?”). Swain says we learn by being forced to speak, which makes us notice the gaps in our own knowledge.
How to Use This Past Paper Effectively
Don’t just read the questions and think, “Yeah, I know that.” That’s a trap called the fluency illusion.
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The Blind Run: Try to answer three short-form questions without looking at your notes.
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The Gap Analysis: See where you stumbled. Was it the terminology? Or was it the application of the theory?
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The Time Crunch: Set a timer for 15 minutes and outline an essay on the Critical Period Hypothesis.
Revision is about training your brain to “export” data, not just “import” it. By using the link below, you’re giving yourself the exact blueprint used by examiners in previous years.
