THE HONG KONG INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
Course Outline
Programme Title
: Doctor of Education
Course Title
: Theories of Language Learning
Department
: English
Credit Points
: 3
Contact Hours
: 39
Pre-requisite(s)
: Nil
[If applicable.]
Level
:
[If applicable. For example, for Discipline Studies under the BEd Core Curriculum, there are three levels of modules
to reflect the progression of study or the extent of in-depth knowledge.]
Synopsis:
This course will examine how people learn a second language, providing a base that will allow
candidates to select/generate and apply theoretical concepts to address, analyze and propose
solutions to educational issues in this area. It will also provide a rapid summary of the first
language acquisition field, if only to show how the second language area relates back to this. The
course will begin by considering the concepts of acquisition and learning, looking first at early
behaviourist concepts of language learning, then at how acquisition theory was developed by
borrowing Chomsky’s concepts of an LAD (language acquisition device) and UG (Universal
Grammar) from the first language field. It will consider theories of contrastive analysis, early
cognitivist notions of automatision and their development towards the concept of explicit and
implicit knowledge. It will introduce Selinker’s (1972) notion of an interlanguage and error
analysis. Krashen’s (1985) stress upon input within the SLA field will be examined, as will the
development of this concept within a generative framework through such notions as a fixed order
(Brown 1973), the critical age hypothesis and ‘equal access, equal transfer’ (Schwarz 1999). It will
also consider the application of theories pidginisation and creolisation and look at bilingualism,
carrying this study towards immersion studies. A more contemporary perspective will be obtained
by looking at connectionist theory, the development of socio-cultural approaches, and of usagebased cognitivist theory within the SLA field. Finally, a central feature will be the development of
methodologies for classroom or field-based acquisition studies.
Objectives :
1
To enable candidates to:
(a) make a critical appraisal of current second language learning theories, contributing to the
debate concerning their merits and defects through the achievement of a new perspective or the
discovery of new evidence;
(b) distill the appraisal of different SLA theories into a deep and original critique of different
classroom methods; and
(c) formulate research studies in second language learning and error analysis, or in the appraisal
design of practical classroom methods from the perspective of learning theory.
Content
1.
Core perspectives on first language acquisition and cognitive development: Piaget and
Vygotsky
2.
Linguistic perspectives on first language acquisition: behaviourism, generativism,
functionalism
3.
Constructing a language and Cognitivism, bridging the gap between FLA and SLA
4.
From contrastive analysis to error analysis
5.
Learning v. acquisition, Krashen’s input hypothesis, and a natural approach
6.
A natural order and processability
7.
The critical age hypothesis (from Long to Olson)
8.
Modularity, UG and generative perspectives
9.
Bilingualism, native and non-native speaker competence, and the politics of immersion
10. Socio-culturalism- Swain and Lantolf
11. Connectionism
12. Cultures of Learning: construal and conceptualization
13. Study methods for SLA: qualitative and quantitative
14. Study methods for SLA: cross-sectional v longitudinal
15. Study methods for SLA: observational v experimental
Assessment
An essay (about 5,000 words) of publishable quality to be based on a small research project, dealing
with one or more of the following:
(a) the observation of teaching and the relationship of methods to learning theory
(b) the appraisal of second language learning
(c) error analysis
(d) bilingualism
Candidates are expected to demonstrate the ability to select/generate and apply theoretical concepts
to address, analyze and propose solutions to educational issues in the selected issue(s).
Required Text
Lantolf, J. P. and Thorn, S. L. (2006). Socio-cultural theory and the genesis of second language
development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Long, M and Doughty C. (Eds) (2005). Handbook of second language acquisition. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Tomassello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition.
Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
2
Recommended Reading
Bloom, P. Ed. (1996). Language acquisition: Core readings. Cambridge, MIT Press, 1996.
Brown, P. R. (1973). A first language: The early stages. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Butler, Yuko and Hakuta, Kenji (2004). Bilingualism and second language acquisition. In Bhatia and
Ritchie (Eds.) The handbook of bilingualism. Malden, MA: Blackwell: 114-144.
Chomsky, N. (1959). A review of B. F. Skinner’s verbal behavior. In Language, 35, No. 1, 26-58.
Cummins, J. (1981). The role of primary language development in promoting educational success
for language minority children. In Schooling and Language Minority Students: A Theoretical
Framework. Los Angeles: Evaluation, dissemination and Assessmen Center.
De Guerrero, M. C. M (2000). Form and functions of inner speech in second language learning. In
Lantolf, J. and Appel, G. Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Research. Norwood,
NJ: Ablex, pp 83-116.
Doughty, C. and Williams, J. (Eds) (1998). Focus on form in classroom second language
acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (1984). Classroom second language development: A study of classroom interaction and
language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Ellis, R. (1995). Instructed second language acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell.
Firth, Alan & Wagner, Johannes (1997). On discourse, communication and (some) fundamental
concepts in SLA research. Modern Language Journal 81(3): 285-299.
Fletcher, P. and MacWhinney, B. (Eds) (1995). The handbook of child language. Cambridge, M A.:
Blackwell.
Fodor, J. (1985). The modularity of mind. Cambridge: Mass. and London: MIT Press.
Goodman, Y. M. and Goodman, K. S. (1990). Vygotsky in a Whole Language Perspective. In Moll,
L.C. (Ed.) Vygotsky and Education: Instructional Implications and Applications of
Sociohistorical Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 223-250.
Hakuta, K. (1986). Mirror of language: The debate on bilingualism. New York: Basic Books.
Holme. R. (2004). Mind metaphor and language teaching. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jenkins, J. (2006). Points of view and blind spots: ELF and SLA. International Journal of Applied
Linguistics 16(2): 136-162.
Kaplan, R. (Ed). The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp
104-114.
Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1987). Function and process in comparing language and cognition. In
Hickman (ed.) Social and Functional Approaches to Language and Thought. Orlando,
Academic Press.
Kennedy, G. (1973). Conditions for language learning. In J. Oller and R. C. Richards (Eds) Focus
on the Learner: Pragmatic perspectives for the language teacher. Rowley, MA: Newbury
House Publishers.
Kormos, J. (2006). Speech production and second language acquisition: Cognitive science and
second language acquisition: New York: Lawrence Erblaum.
Krashen, S. D. (1985). The input hypothesis. London: Longman.
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Lantolf, J. P. (2002). Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Acquisition. In R. Kaplan (Ed)
The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 104-114.
Lantolf, J. P. and Thorn, S. L. (2006). Socio-cultural theory and the genesis of second language
Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lantolf, J.P. and Appel, G. (2000). Theoretical framework: An introduction to Vygotskian
Approaches to second language research. In J. P. Lantolf and G. Appel (Eds) Vygotskian
Approaches to Second Language Research. Ablex: Norwood, New Jersey, y, pp 2-32.
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Larsen Freeman, D. and Long, M. (1991). An introduction to second language acquisition research.
London and New York: Longman.
Leung, C. (2005). Convivial communication: Recontextualising communicative competence.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 15(2):119-144.
Long, M. (1988). Maturational constraints on language development. Mimeograph, University of
Hawaii.
MacWhinney, B. (1991). The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk. 2nd ed. Hillsdale, N.J. L.
Erblaum.
McLaughlin, B. (1987). Theories of second language learning. London: Edward Arnold.
Mytchell, R. and Myles, F. (1998). Second language learning theories. London: Hodder Arnold.
O’Malley, J. M. and Uhl Chamot, A. (1990). Learning strategies in second language acquisition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Robbins, D. (2003). Vygotsky’s and A. A. Leotniev’s semiotics and psycholinguistics: Applications
for education, second language acquisition, and theories of language. Westport CT: Praeger.
Romaine, S. (1989). Bilingualism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Schiefflin, B. and Ochs, E. (1986). Language socialisation across cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Slobin, D. (1982). Universal and particular in the acquisition of language. In L.R. Gleitman and E.
Warner (Eds) Language Acquisition. The State of the Art. Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press.
Swain, M. and Lapkin, S. (2001). Focus on form through collaborative dialogue: Exploring task
effects. In M. Bygate, P. Skehan and M. Swain (Eds) Researching Pedagogic Tasks: Second
Language Learning, Teaching and Testing. London: Addison-Wesley Longman.
Swain, M. and Lapkin, S. (1998). Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French
immersion students working together. The Modern Language Journal 83, pp 320-338.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. The development of higher psychological processes. M.
Cole, V. John Steiner, S. Scribner, and E. Souberman (Eds). Cambridge Mass: Harvard
University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1981). The Genesis of higher mental functions. In J. V. Wertsch (Ed.), The
Concept of Activity in Soviet Psychology. Armonk, NY: Sharpe.
Wong-Fillmore, L. (1979). Individual differences in second language acquisition. In C. J. Fillmore,
D. Kempler, and W. S. Y. Wang, (Eds) Individual Differences in Language Ability and
Language Behaviour. Chicago: Academic Press.
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