Learner language:
Tools for teachers
Elaine Tarone
University of Minnesota
Workshop on Learner Language, NHLRC
STARTALK 2012
Puzzles in learner language

What do we know from second-language acquisition
research about the development of higher level speaking
and listening skills in a second language, and how
teachers can better understand it?

How does this knowledge affect curriculum
development for speaking/listening (the essential base
for reading/writing)?
Learner language: implicit &
explicit knowledge

What you teach explicitly is different from what
students learn implicitly

INPUT ≠ INTAKE (Corder 1967). Learners
have an implicit built-in syllabus that is different
from the teacher’s explicit syllabus; implicit
learner language structures develop in
particular sequences.
Individual learner languages

Individualized instruction relies on teacher’s ability to identify
individual differences in learner language: what can they DO
with their implicit knowledge? What explicit knowledge
do they have?

The textbook & curriculum provide a framework within
which you can diagnose learner language issues and change
instruction to meet learners’ needs

Being able to see what has been learned allows the teacher
figure out what each learner needs to learn next …. It
impacts the curriculum.
What does it mean to teach a language?
Provide blocks to be
assembled?
Provide an environment for
plants to grow?
Explicit knowledge
Implicit knowledge
GOAL: EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
GOAL: IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
•Explicit descriptions of grammar
rules and vocabulary.
•SLA research: implicit learner
language is like a plant, its growth
guided by its built-in syllabus just
as a plant’s is guided by its DNA.
• Students memorize and
manipulate building blocks to
complete paper and pencil tests.
Low on Bloom’s taxonomy
• When students speak only to
practice memorized sentence
patterns they may not have
communicative competence
• Focus on accuracy can leave out
sentence complexity, discourse
coherence, appropriateness and
effectiveness
• Teachers create an environment
in which learner language can
grow. Assign puzzles for group to
solve using L2 to express thinking
skills higher on Bloom’s taxonomy
• Students need to use language
spontaneously with others to
develop implicit learner language
w/complexity and coherence
Learning a Second Language

Which approach did you follow to learn English?

Which approach do you use to teach a heritage
language? Explain why.

What is your teacher role in the classroom in
following each approach?
How can doing unrehearsed oral activities
help learners acquire L2 (for critical
thinking) implicitly ?
Learners: ‘Rodrigo’ and ‘Antonio’: age 28 & 29, 5-year law
degrees from a university in Mexico City, placed into lowest
level of a university IEP. Strong academic background in L1,
very low proficiency in L2
Data Collection: videorecorded doing unrehearsed
communication tasks for Tarone & Swierzbin (2009): book for
teachers of ESL on how to elicit and analyze learner language
to improve classroom instruction
English Language learners:
Rodrigo:
Antonio
Age: 28
Native Language: Spanish
Other languages: None
Studied English: three years in high
school, starting age 14
Native country: Mexico
Education: Five-year law degree
from university in Mexico City
Length of time in US: 36 days
Occupation in US: university
intensive English program student
Living situation: American friends in
suburbs.
Age: 29
Native Language: Spanish
Other languages: Some French
Studied English: two to three years
in high school, starting age 13
Native country: Mexico
Education: Five-year law degree
from university in Mexico City
Length of time in US: 22 days
Occupation in US: university
intensive English program student
Living situation: American friends in
suburbs.
Rodrigo and Antonio interact
Watch
 Rodrigo wants to talk about social class,
but can’t remember the word in English
 Collaborative scaffolding
 Do you think Rodrigo will acquire the
new word? Why or why not?

Heritage learners need academic
L2 varieties

Academic & professional language requires critical
thinking, w/ cognitive processes that are higher on
Bloom’s taxonomy: memorization is low, while analysis
and evaluation are high (Anderson et al 2001)

Three measurable dimensions of learner language:
accuracy, fluency, complexity (Ellis & Barkhuizen 2005)

Expressing higher level cognitive processes usually
requires more complex syntax (Biber 2006)
Using images to elicit more complex ‘academic’
learner language
(Barnes-Karol & Broner 2010)
Unrehearsed communication tasks using images as prompts
in content-based class elicit more critical thinking and
cognitive complexity
 Goal: learners use USE L2 for the same kinds of
academic & critical thinking skills in their L2 class as they
use in English in all their other college level classes
 Learners ‘read’ culturally rich images as ‘texts’, in addition
to traditional academic texts
 Learners use L2 in collaborative dialogue to construct
hypotheses about SES, education, cultural values
 Learners juxtapose images, use L2 to critically evaluate
them, and revise their hypotheses based on the data
How can a teacher figure out what
students know and don’t know?
1.
Use collaborative oral communication tasks (pref.
academic content) in the classroom that require
implicit use of more complex syntax and
vocabulary
2.
Teacher analyzes students’ learner language as
they do the tasks
3.
Teacher provides students with explicit feedback
and suggestions AFTER their task performance
“Baby steps”

B-K & B achieve success getting their students to
produce academic language in Spanish.

They use image-based critical thinking tasks as part of a
curriculum that also includes written and spoken
samples of academic Spanish.

Can use of B-K & B ‘critical thinking’ tasks have an impact
on the complexity of learner language, even without explicit
instruction?
Data collection w/B-K & B tasks

Two tasks juxtaposed culturally-rich photos of
houses, one in an upper middle class
neighborhood and one in a lower class
neighborhood of the same city.

Administered as totally unrehearsed speaking
tasks, in pairwork: NO previous preparation at
all

Same photos in Jigsaw & Comparison tasks
Doing an unrehearsed oral
activity

Try out a task
Can language learners do the Jigsaw
and Comparison task w/these photos?

Let’s see what happens.
Looking at learner language

Watch the video of ‘Rodrigo’ and ‘Antonio’
doing the two tasks.

Transcripts appear in your workbook, p. 4

Answer the questions in your workbook, p. 4
Questions
1. Are ‘Antonio’ and ‘Rodrigo’s’ critical thinking and the complexity of
their implicit learner language the same or different on each of
these two tasks? Explain.
2. In the Comparison Task:What language do they use to mark
hypotheses about who lives in the houses? What explicit language
could you teach them when you debrief this task with them?
3. In the Comparison Task, do they use language to mark evidence
for WHY they think what they do? What explicit language could
you teach them when you debrief this task with them?
Chinese, Korean, Persian learners do
these tasks
Do you think these same tasks would
encourage critical thinking and more complex
syntax in the language you teach? Let’s find
out.
 Workbook p. 6

Do these tasks work with
learners of critical languages?
Workbook p. 6:
 The learners
◦ Chinese: AnnaLi and Jiulin
◦ Korean: Sophia and Anna B
◦ Persian: Pari and Fereshteh

Next slide: examples of analyses of
Chinese learner language
Mandarin Chinese
Does the Comparison task elicit more
complex syntax? How?
What language expressions do the learners
use to mark inferences?
What language expressions do they use to
justify their inferences?
CARLA activity on inferences and
justifications
Complexity in Comparison Task

Korean learner

Persian learner
Using these tasks w/ heritage learners?
Workbook p. 7: Make Predictions
1. How
do you think heritage learners of
your language would do on these tasks?
Would they do better? How?
2. Would
they have more trouble? How?
Using visual images to encourage
critical thinking & complex syntax
in oral activities

Workbook p. 7
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Maps
Almanac data (facts: geog, demog, educ)
Material World
Hungry Planet
Advertisements & political ads (crit)
Others?