Second Language Acquisition (SLA) 2014-15
Acquisition vs Learning
Terminology: L1 (first language), L2 (second language),
TL (target language).
Do you agree?
1. First and second language acquisition (FLA and SLA)
are similar.
2. Everyone can learn a second language.
3. After a certain age, acquiring a second language
becomes much more difficult and is rarely 100%
successful.
4. There are predictable sequences in the order of
acquisition of morphemes and syntactic structures:
(i) morphemes (e.g. plural s, progressive –ing)
(ii) syntactic structures (e.g. relative clauses)
5. “Knowing a rule does not mean that the associated
language can be used effectively in interaction.”
(Lightbrown 1985)
6. Correcting errors is not helpful to second language
learners.
7. Learners’ second language usually fossilizes at a
basic interpersonal communicative stage before they
acquire high level academic skills.
8. Classroom instruction is often inadequate and
ineffective.
9. Learning a language is a highly complex activity.
However, a language can be acquired without
instruction.
10. Learning a language is a social phenomenon.
11. There is enormous variation among language
learners.
12. Acquiring a language is a gradual process of
accretion, a process that is not linear but uneven and
recursive.
13. L2 learners bring a great fund of knowledge
(schemata, strategies, skills) to the task of learning a
language.
14. Errors are an essential formative aspect of the SLA
process. There are never “gross” or “wild” errors in
the production of L2 learners.
15. It is remarkable that students learn anything of an
L2 at school given the constraints of environment,
time, curriculum pressure etc.
16. Females are better L2 learners than males.
History of SLA
1. Until 1950s. Grammar-Translation method.
Contrastive analysis (Ellis p. 52)
2. 1950s-1970s. Behaviourist learning theory (Ellis p. 31).
Stimulus-response-reinforcemement.
Skinner & Bloomfield.
The audio-lingual method: highly controlled input and
repetitive structure drills; establisment of good habits.
3. Since 1960s. Mentalist theory (Ellis pp. 13, 31).
Noam Chomsky.
Language is a cognitive phenomenon. The human baby has
an innate capacity for language acquisition. Creativity.
Language is a type of behaviour (USA: behavior)
Influence of the disciplines of anthropology and psychology.
Inductive scientific approach based on empirical research and
drawing conclusions from the data obtained. "The only useful
generalizations about language are inductive generalizations ."
Leonard Bloomfield, 1935: 20.
Linguists inspired by behaviourism are interested only in what
can be directly observed, i.e. actual use of spoken or written
language. They do not speculate on what is in a person's mind.
Mike and Angela are walking along the High Street. Angela
stops outside a jeweller's shop. Her eyes light up. She stoops to
look carefully at a very beautiful necklace. She makes some
sounds. Mike goes into the shop and buys the bracelet. He gives
it to Angela. She smiles and kisses him.
Behaviourist linguists do not just study the language produced,
but also the context before something is said and the result of the
utterance. For Bloomfield it is possible "to explain speech in
terms of what prompted it and what consequences followed
from it." Chapman, 2006: 30.
Verbal Behavior (1957), by B.F. Skinner.
STIMULUS
RESPONSE
REINFORCEMENT
Note the training of circus animals to perform tricks. Ivan
Pavlov (1849-1936) and his work on conditioned reflexes.
Emotions should not be considered in empirical research
because they cannot be observed. Physical symptoms, on the
other hand, should be observed and noted. Therefore, a red
face is a legitimate datum but speculation about someone's
mood (anger, embarrassment etc.) is not. In our story, Angela's
eyes light up. The sounds she makes produce a favourable
response. This will reinforce her verbal behaviour, i.e. will
encourage her to make similar sounds the next time she sees
something she would like to have.
"[...] there is no justification for collating linguistic meanings,
unless in terms of men's dispositions to respond overtly to socially
observable stimulations." (W.V.O. Quine, 1960: ix)
"The only way in which it is possible to talk about the meaning of
any word or phrase is to describe the types of stimuli that typically
prompt speakers to produce it in context." (Chapman, 2006: 33)
The meaning of the utterance "I would love to have that beautiful
necklace" should not be considered without reference to the
stimulus of Angela's seeing it displayed in the shop window.
Meaning does not exist independently of individual instances of
verbal behaviour (Quine’s semantic scepticism).
Implications for translation: Quine's principle of the
indeterminacy of translation.
We cannot translate meanings because independent
meanings do not exist. Instead we have to translate the
verbal behaviours of two language communities (i.e. how,
in specific contexts, people respond to stimuli and
reinforce the responses of others).
Implications for theories of language acquisition and learning.
"[...] when learning a language, whether a first language or a
second or subsequent language, a speaker's task is to learn to
behave verbally in the same way as the other speakers of that
language. The speaker's success in learning the language can be
judged in terms of the extent to which he or she has developed
the dispositions to respond to stimuli and to reinforce the
responses of others in the same way as other speakers of the
language." Chapman 2006: 34
Your views please?
Today certain aspects of "hard" behaviourism - such as the refusal
to consider non-observable mental processes - have been
discredited. However, its influence lives on in the work of
integrationist linguists, who believe that language cannot be
considered separately from other aspects of human behaviour.
"[the integrationist approach] sees language as manifested in a
complex of human abilities and activities that are all integrated in
social interaction, often intricately so and in such a manner that it
makes little sense to segregate the linguistic from the nonlinguistic components." Roy Harris, 1998: 6
A Lesson with the Audio-Visual Method
Mu orvil
Um livro
Mu sipal
Um lapis
Mu onredac
Um caderno
Amu evahc
Uma chave
Amu adeom
Uma moeda
Amu atenac
Uma caneta
Otsi é mu sipal?
Isto é um lapis?
Otsi é amu evahc?
Isto é uma chave?
Mis, otsi é mu sipal.
Sim, isto é um lapis.
Oan, otsi oan é amu evahc.
Não, isto não é uma chave.
Ehco é otsi?
O che é isto?
The Mentalist Approach
Chomskyan linguistics. Noam Chomsky's focus is on what is in
the mind (anathema to behaviourists because the mind cannot
be directly observed). For NC language use is free, independent
of stimuli in the environment, spontaneous and often creative.
Language is not even primarily concerned with
communication. "For Chomsky language exists first and
foremost in the mind and is used above all in thought and
expressing our ideas to ourselves. While the same system is
also used to express ideas to other people and communicate
with them, this is not its primary or most frequent function."
Chapman, 2006: 41. When Robinson Crusoe was alone on his
desert island he had no one to communicate with or to provide
stimuli, but he was still using language in his thoughts.
Language must provide "finite means but infinite possibilities of
expression" Chomsky, 1966: 29. We have a finite number of
words and structures but there is no limit to the ways we can
combine them to produce novel utterances. Behaviourism
implies a collection of socially appropriate responses to certain
stimuli, therefore a lack of creativity. For Chomsky we are all
capable of producing a sentence that has never been said before
in the history of the human species.
Twenty-seven dead kangaroos held a meeting on an iceberg to
discuss changes to the philosophy and female rugby programme
at the Invisible University of Quartucciu.
Is this sentence grammatically correct?
Language is rule-based. Our implicit knowledge of the rules of
our native language allow us to make judgements about
grammaticality.
Held changes an programme female to philosophy kangaroos
Quartucciu discuss on meeting Invisible the and rugby of
female to iceberg dead University twenty-seven a.
Behaviourism stresses imitation. Mentalism (Chomskyan
linguistics) stresses creativity. Mentalist researchers take their
data only from the judgements and intuitions of native speakers.
Implicit knowledge vs explicit knowledge.
Universal Grammar (UG). For Chomsky the essential rules are
universal to all languages. All languages consist of nouns, verbs
and adjectives. All sound systems consist of consonants and
vowels. Individual languages permit different ways of combining
these components but according to the theory of UG the
variations occur within certain parameters.
For Chomsky an extra-terrestrial being visiting our planet would
conclude that all earthlings speak essentially the same language.
Note that the technical terminology of grammatical description is
very easy to translate from one language to another.
The Innate Hypothesis (IH). We are born with the rules of UG;
they are part of our genetic endowment.
This would explain why we all learn our native language
perfectly and quickly (typically in about four years).
So why doesn't UG allow us to learn a second language just as
easily? It is possible that it disappears after it has done its job of
allowing us to acquire our mother tongue, so we have to learn a
second language in other ways and generally do not do so 100%
successfully. Babies brought up with two languages acquire both
with no difficulty. After a certain age, learning becomes much
harder. The case of the feral child Genie (Ellis p.68).
BUT: the phenomenon of hyperpolyglots - Donald Kenrick
speaks 70 languages.
"Language is not defined by the circumstances in which it is used
or the communicative purposes to which it is put. It is manifest
not primarily in speech or writing but in thought." Chapman,
2006: 44.
language
'competence'
'I-language'
(I = internalized)
use of language
'performance'
'E-language'
(E = externalized)
Mentalists focus their research on competence. For them,
performance is not language.
What are the factors that can affect performance?
Chomsky's 'transformational-generative grammar'.
'deep structure' and 'surface structure'
John is easy to please.
John is eager to please.
NP
John
John
VP
is
is
AdjP
easy to please
eager to please
Deep structure: in the first sentence John is the unstated object of
'to please' (It is easy to please John); in the second sentence John
is the unstated subject of 'to please' (John pleases others and he
does so eagerly).
Our knowledge of deep structure in unconscious and is part of a
native speaker’s I-language/competence.
Further evidence of deep structure is provided by our ability to
recognize ambiguity.
Flying planes can be dangerous. (Chomsky, 1966)
What disturbed John was being disregarded by everyone. (Ibid.)
Can you say why these sentences are ambiguous?
Criticism of the mentalists
1. Chomsky imagines an ideal speaker-listener in a completely
homogenous speech-community whose judgements and
intuitions are infallible. This is not the real world.
2. His work is not the result of empirical research based on
observation. Speculations upon what is in the mind is little
more than an act of faith.
3. It is wrong to give so little attention to language as
communication and to ignore performance.
In defence of Chomsky
1. There is no proof that UG or the IH exist but also no
evidence to disprove either claim. There have been no
recorded cases of children with normal brains and with
normal exposure to language failing to learn their mother
tongue.
2. Chomsky's work has led to important insights in how first
and second languages are acquired.
To sum up…
External environment
“Black box”
Behaviourist view--------Interactionist view---------Mentalist view
SLA a fairly new discipline. Some don’t consider it a branch of
linguistics, especially in Italy.
There is not yet a unified theory of SLA, but any such theory will
have to account for at least five phenomena:
(i) transfer from L1 to L2 (positive and negative);
(ii) the staged development of the TL (target language);
(iii) the systematicity of knowledge of the TL;
(iv) variability in production of TL;
(v) fossilization.
Social and psychological factors. Resistance to learning Russian in
E. Europe but enthusiasm for English. British kids’ refusal to learn
French.
Two main strands of research: (i) the nature of the language
acquisition process: (ii) factors that affect language learning (which
can then inform teaching methodology).
Ellis. Research methodology: analysing samples of learner language
(error analysis).
Role of input.
Instructed vs naturalistic settings. Formulae. Item learning vs system
learning. Beginners who say “no have” but “I dunno”.
And you all have to choose an area of SLA to investigate in detail!
What happens to Universal Grammar as we grow older?
UG and the Innateness Hypothesis explain why FLA is so rapid
and so successful. So why can’t we use UG to help us acquire an
L2? It is possible that it becomes deactivated after a certain age.
Four hypotheses:
(i) Zero access
(ii) Partial access (e.g. principles but not parameters)
(iii) Dual access (UG but also other learning mechanisms)
(iv) Full access
Error Analysis (EA)
Ellis (1997: 15-20)
S. Pit Corder, “The significance of learners’ errors” (Ellis, pp 93,94)
“transitional competence”
How can we distinguish between “errors” and “mistakes”?
Errors and Mistakes
__ transfer (interlingual)
|
|__ intralingual (e.g. overgeneralization,
| transitional competence)
____competence (“errors”)______|
|
|__ unique (e.g. induced)
|
errors--|
__ processing problems
|
|
|____performance (“mistakes”)___|
|
|__ communication strategies
(Ellis 1994: 58)
Learners’ errors
A. Where you live?
B. It’s difficult but not impossible. Are you agree?
C. His wife can’t have children. She’s inconceivable.
D. My legs aren’t feet and anyway my mind isn’t round.
E. She couldn’t explained the problem.
A teacher’s reaction
1. Definitely a transfer error. Direct translation of L1 structure.
2. Probably a unique error. Maybe caused by misuse of a dictionary.
3. A mistake. She more or less knows the rule but has applied it badly.
4. Difficult to say whether this is a transfer or an intralingual problem.
5. What has this guy been smoking?
Ellis (2008: 55, 56) lists the principal findings of EA studies as follows:
1. EA has provided empirical evidence to support the mentalist rather than the
behaviourist view of language acquisition.
2. The majority of errors are intralingual, related to the target language itself.
3. Fewer errors are caused by transfer, and transfer errors occur more with adults
than with children.
4. Transfer errors are more likely to be phonological or lexical than grammatical.
5. Errors are an inevitable part of the learning process since they are symptomatic
of the learner’s hypothesising, misapplication of rules, risk-taking, processing
problems, performance pressures, etc.
6. Errors indicate steps in the learner’s creation of a mental grammar.
More on errors:
Classification (e.g. Grammar: omission, misinformation)
Explanation: transfer, overgeneralization
“Errors are, to a large extent, systematic and, to a certain extent,
predictable.” (Ellis 1997: 18)
“Errors are not only systematic; many of them are also universal.”
(Ellis 1997: 19)
Error evaluation: global v. local errors
Development patterns
silent period
acquisition order (e.g. -ing before –ed)
sequence of acquisition: U-shaped course of development
e.g. acquisition sequence for irregular past “wrote”:
write
(lack of competence)
wrote
(system learning)
U
wrote
(item learning)
wroted
(hybrid form)
writed
(overgeneralization)
Past-tense marking: Learners seem to find it easier for verbs that
refer to events (arrived, fell) than for those that refer to activities
(slept, played).
Conclusions: (i) errors are systematic; (ii) some features (e.g. plural
s) are inherently easier than others (e.g. possessive ’s).
Variability in learner language is also systematic e.g. omission of
is/’s is less common with pronoun subjects than with noun subjects,
so one linguistic form can trigger the use/omission of another.
Variability is affected by: situational context, psychological context
(e.g. planning time), form-function mappings, e.g. Don’t stop
(correct negative imperative) but She no want (incorrect negative
declarative).
Sociopragmatic errors
“That’s a nice dress you’re wearing.”
“Yes, I know. It really suits me, doesn’t it?”
A fictitious email from a student:
Dear Teacher,
It is with the deepest sense of shame that I appeal to your kind and generous
nature and beg you with the utmost humility to grant me an extension to the
deadline for the submission of my homework.
Yours most humbly and gratefully,
XXXX
An authentic email from a student:
Salve prof.
Mi può dire quando deve pubblicare gli esiti dell’esame?
XXXX
An authentic conversation
“Sei pneumologo?”
“No, non sono medico.”
“Cosa fai?”
“Sono professore di ingegneria.”
“Bene. E quanto guadagni?”
Correction of errors and/or mistakes
How not to do it:
“I’m sorry I missed the lesson last week. I have been to my baby
daughter’s funeral.”
“I WENT to my baby daughter’s funeral. If it’s LAST WEEK you
use the past simple.”
When and how should we correct errors and mistakes? Your
opinions please.
INTERLANGUAGE THEORY (Larry Selinker, 1972)
An L2 learner’s interlanguage is the mental grammar that s/he
constructs. It is a system of abstract linguistic rules that underlies
the learner’s comprehension and production of the TL.
Interlanguage theory is based on the Chomskyan/Mentalist view
of language as rule-based and language acquisition as a cognitive
phenomenon.
The learner’s interlanguage contains features of both L1 and L2
but is independent of both.
The Characteristics of Interlanguage
The learner’s mental grammar is permeable. It absorbs influences
from outside (input) and inside (transfer from learner’s L1,
overgeneralization).
It is transitional. The rules in the learner’s mental grammar are
incomplete or incorrect according to TL norms. The learner is
constantly restructuring and updating his/her system of
grammatical rules. The interlanguage continuum covers the
entire span between L1 only and L2 mastery. Progress is not
regular and orderly but erratic. Periods of backsliding may occur.
Errors may be the result of competing rules: e.g. He can drives.
Rule 1: infinitive without to after a modal auxiliary verb.
Rule 2: -s inflection on 3rd person singular verbs.
The development of the interlanguage is influenced by the
learning strategies that people employ. Omission errors may
indicate that a learner is consciously avoiding certain
grammatical features that s/he is not yet ready to produce. L1
transfer and overgeneralization may also be strategies.
Usually learners do not achieve L2 competence comparable to
that of a native speaker of the TL. Selinker suggests that the L2
learner’s grammar fossilizes in 95% of cases. Fossilization
never occurs in FLA but is almost inevitable in SLA. (the other
great difference between FLA and SLA is the matter of
transfer).
Ellis’s computational model of L2 acquisition (1997: 35)
input

n.b. Ellis’s “black box” has become blue.
 output
Social and Discourse Aspects of Interlanguage
Social aspects
Prevailing perspective of interlanguage is psycholinguistic but there
are also social aspects: (i) styles; (ii) social factors determine input;
(iii) social identities shape opportunities to speak, and therefore to
learn an L2.
Elaine Tarone’s stylistic continuum: from careful to vernacular.
In SLA style shifts are more psycholinguistic than social. A crucial
factor is planning time.
* When do you use careful and vernacular styles in English? * Is
the careful style always more correct?
Accommodation theory (Howard Giles). Convergence and
Divergence in verbal interaction.
Are learners encouraged to converge on native-speaker norms
(which will lead to high level of proficiency) or to their own
social in-group norms (therefore early fossilization).
* Do you converge on your interlocutor’s norms?
Note English as a Lingua Franca (ELF).
John Schumann’s Acculturation Model. Social and psychological
proximity or distance. His use of pidginization instead of
fossilization.
Hispanics in the USA. Indians and Pakistanis in the UK. Italians
in the USA in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
Bonny Peirce’s theory of social identity and investment.
Successful learners invest effort to acquire cultural capital
(knowledge + modes of thought) and assert themselves as subject
of interaction (rather than subject to interaction).
“A learner’s social identity is, according to Peirce, ‘multiple and
contradictory’. Learning is successful when learners are able to
summon up or construct an identity that enables them to impose
their right to be heard and this become the subject of the
discourse.” (Ellis, 1997: 42).
Discourse aspects of interlanguage and the role of NSs in helping
NNSs acquire the TL.
Discourse rules (related to pragmatics and sociolinguistics). In FLA
we know that caretakers modify their speech (motherese); perhaps
in SLA we employ “foreigner talk”.
Grammatical and ungrammatical foreigner talk (Ellis, 1997: 46).
Negotiation of meaning: do learners signal that they haven’t
understood or do they pretend/bluff?
Stephen Krashen’s input hypothesis (i + 1).
[i = the current state of the learner’s interlanguage]
Input modifications in foreigner talk give learners the right level of
comprehensible input.
i + 1: the input is just slightly more advanced than the learner’s
current interlanguage and is therefore comprehensible.
i + 8: the input is much too advanced and is therefore
incomprehensible.
For Krashen output is the result not the cause of acquisition.
Scaffolding (impalcatura): Evelyn Hatch’s metaphor of how a NS’s
input allows learners to construct the L2.
Vygotsky’s “activity theory”. Key notion is “internalization”.
Developoment manifests itself first through social interaction –
learner + “expert” who provides “scaffolding” – and later is
“internalized” by the learner.
“Zone of proximal development”: Vygotsky’s term for cognitive
level that learner is not yet at (as autonomous person) but is
capable of performing at with adult/expert guidance/scaffolding.
Jerome Bruner (n.b. mentioned in Ellis 1997) and the LASS.
LAD (Language Acquisition Device): Chomsky’s term for the
innate capacity for language acquisition that the human baby has.
LASS (Language Acquisition Support System): Bruner’s term for
the role of mothers/caretakers. Every LAD needs a LASS.
Conflicting views on the role of output
Stephen Krashen
Speaking is the result of acquisition, not its
cause.
Merrill Swain
Output has a consciousness-raising function.
It makes learners aware of gaps in their
interlanguage (when they can’t express
something).
We acquire an L2 thanks to comprehensible
input, i.e. by listening, reflecting and
updating our interlanguage, not by speaking. Output gives learners the opportunity to test
hypotheses and study negative or positive
Output is only helpful if the learner treats it feedback.
as “auto-input”.
Talking about their own output may be
beneficial.
Ideas for mini projects:
1. your own observations/experiences of the stylistic continuum;
2. your own observations/experiences of accommodation and/or
foreigner talk;
3. Schumann’s Acculturation Model applied to an immigrant
community (or an individual) you know something about;
4. in addition to the input hypothesis, Krashen’s work on the monitor
hypothesis, the affective filter and the natural order hypothesis.
Psycholinguistics and Cross-Linguistic Influence (Transfer)
Psycholinguistics is the study of the mental processes involved in SLA.
Why is Cross-Linguistic Influence a better term than Transfer?
When something is transferred from site A to site B, it is no longer
present at site A (think of transferring money from one account to
another).
When a feature of L1 is used in L2, it obviously does not disappear
from L1.
But the term transfer is often used for the sake of brevity. Also
transfer is syntactically flexible; it is a noun that can be used as a
premodifier before another noun (e.g. transfer error).
Cross-Linguistic Influence by Terence Odlin in Doughty and Long
pp 436-486.
Types of Transfer
Substratum transfer (L1 influences L2)
Borrowing transfer (L2 influences L1)
Negative transfer (interference)
Positive transfer
Reverse (Borrowing) transfer
Changing perceptions of transfer
During days of Behaviourism, study of transfer phenomena led
to Contrastive Analysis. Teaching materials focused on the
differences between the two languages. It was assumed that
similarities would produce positive transfer, so were not a
problem (but, overuse). L1 interference was seen as the greatest
impediment to L2 acquisition. Today Contrastive Analysis is
seen as an oversimplification of the situation.
The Mentalists downplayed the importance of transfer, but they
went too far in claiming it was responsible for a very small
percentage of errors (their “Minimalist” view). Error Analysis
studies have shown that transfer does not have a minimal
influence.
For Selinker, transfer is not interference but ‘input from the inside’
(Ellis 1997: 52). Knowledge of L1 is one of the many factors at
work as learners assemble their mental grammar. Selinker sees
transfer as one of the processes involved in fossilization.
Constraints on transfer
Kellerman’s break (English)/breken (Dutch) studies (Ellis 2008:
349-403). Dutch students translated breken as break when it
referred to a literal fracture but were reluctant to do so for more
figurative meranings. Learners have perceptions of which features
of their L1 are basic and which are unique to that L1.
Translate minutes into Italian:
The bus arrives in five minutes.
The secretary kept the minutes of the meeting.
Learners’ stage of development is relevant to transfer phenomena.
Learners at elementary level cannot commit certain transfer errors
because their interlanguage has not yet developed enough to allow
them to attempt advanced structures.
Negative transfer involving speech acts only begins when the
learner has reached a certain level of competence. For example,
excessively elaborate requests:
Might I impinge upon your valuable time for one moment and ask
you if it would be terribly inconvenient to allow me to borrow your
pen for a matter of some seconds?
Politeness is an area in which cross-linguistic influence is often
evident.
The role of consciousness
Krashen’s distinction between implicit knowledge of the language
acquired subconsciously through comprehending input while
communicating
and
explicit knowledge about the language resulting from conscious
learning. He believes there is no interface between the two
Others argue that learners can convert learnt knowledge into
acquired knowledge through practice, which leads to automaticity.
Richard Schmidt’s less extreme position. He distinguishes
between intentionality (conscious learning) and incidental
learning (acquisition through exposure).
But he argues that even in the latter some conscious attention to
input occurs. Schmidt calls this noticing.
The distinction between Implicit and Explicit knowledge is
crucial but the debate concerns the interface between the two.
REFLECT: many people have implicit knowledge of their L1
they they could never explain explicitly:
Italian is a pro-drop language, i.e. one in which it is possible to
omit the subject. In the following sentence does the unstated
subject of the verb phrase avrebbe vinto refer to ognuno or to
somebody “outside” the sentence?
Ognuno credeva che avrebbe vinto la gara.
In some circumstances the L2 learner’s explicit knowledge might
hinder acquisition of implicit knowledge (self-correction of errors);
some say explicit knowledge equips the learner to notice better and
thus convert input into intake. Noticing gaps.
Processing operations: focuses on learners output to deduce the
processing operations they perform.
Operating Principles: from observations of children’s L1 acquisition,
Slobin noted that they adopt strategies he called operating principles. One
example is the avoidance of exceptions: My brother made me to give him
some money. (Italian children: più meglio).
Anderson noted that L2 learners have similar macro principles: an
example is one-to-one relationship of form to meaning/function (no + verb
in affirmatives but don’t + verb in imperatives).
Processing Constraints: these govern when it is possible for the learner to
move on from one stage to the next. The multi-dimensional model
postulates that some grammatical features are learnt according to
developmental sequence but others can be acquired at any time and are
thus variational. The learning of variational features is related to
motivation and Schumann’s idea of acculturation.
Learners’ Communication Strategies from a psycholinguistic point
of view.
Does frequent resort to a strategy (e.g. paraphrase) help learners
notice the gap, or does effective communication thanks to such
strategies obviate the need to acquire the target feature?
Linguistic aspects of interlanguage
Typological Universals: the example of relative clauses and the
accessibility hierarchy (Ellis 1997: 64, Table 7.1). Do you think
you could use the “object of comparative” type of relative clause?
Note the difficulty regarding genitive relative clauses. Maybe all
genitive structures should be classified in a hierarchy of their own.
Universal Grammar: UG principles & parameters
SVO, SOV, VSO + (non) pro-drop etc.
Ellis (1997: 65,66) gives the example of local or long-distance
binding of reflexive pronouns:
The actress blamed herself.
Emily knew the actress would blame herself.
Translate this sentence into English:
Si sono guardati.
Learnability.
Chomsky’s notion of the poverty of stimulus to claim that babies
learning L1 only receive positive evidence of what is right but not
negative evidence of what is wrong (parents do not correct
language of small children), yet before starting school they have
mastered most of the grammatical code. They have an innate
ability to acquire language (LAD – Language Acquisition Device)
which includes instinctive knowledge of what is possible
according to the rules of UG.
[Bruner and LASS – Language Acquisition Support System].
Critical Period Hypothesis
Note evidence from pre- and post-puberty accident victims who
lose language ability and need to recover it.
Pronunciation and grammar are more affected than lexis.
There is not a clear cut-off date and a few exceptional people
appear not to have this constraint.
L1 learners have no negative transfer and no social distance. But it
is also possible that post-puberty L2 learners do not have access to
UG.
Access to UG: (i) complete access, therefore denies existence of
critical period; (ii) no access, so learner can never achieve full
proficiency and her interlanguage grammar may contain ‘impossible
rules’ prohibited by UG; (iii) partial access, so L2 acquisition is a
combination of UG instinctive knowledge and conscious learning;
(iv) dual access, UG and learning strategies exist side-by-side but
do not always complement each other.
Markedness
Unmarked structures are governed by UG (il libro) but marked
structures are outside UG (la mano).
Logically, according to the accessibility hierarchy, unmarked
structures should be acquired before marked, but frequency must
also be considered.
Frequent marked structures are acquired before infrequent
unmarked structures (e.g. frequent irregular past tense verbs).
Positive transfer of unmarked but not marked L1 features (English
speakers do not transfer preposition stranding to L2).
To sum up…
… we have considered how the success of SLA depends on two
factors:
(i) the learner’s cognitive processes, and
(ii) the nature of language learning in general (UG, LAD etc,) and
of the specific TL (transfer, accessibility etc).
What comes next?
In the next two or three lessons we are going to look at individual
differences, i.e. the reasons some people are better language
learners than others. Specifically:
Language aptitude
Age
Cognitive and learning styles
Learning strategies
Anxiety
Gender
Instruction and correction
Attitudes and motivation
Your priorities:
(i) Choose a topic for your mini presentation. Remember, if you
don’t do it now, you will have to do it when you come to the
oral exam. It’s better to do the presentation now because we can
all learn from one another. Last year a student did a really
interesting presentation on a subject I knew nothing about (how
active bilingualism delays the development of Alzheimer’s
disease).
(ii)Make sure you are preparing properly for the written exam.
Write two or three practice compositions and ask Barbara to
correct them.
LESSON SIX: Individual differences in L2 acquisition. Dörnyei &
Skehan in Doughty and Long (eds), pp 589-630
1. Aptitude. What is it?
John Carroll: (i) phonemic coding ability, (ii) grammatical
sensitivity, (iii) inductive language learning ability, (iv) rote
learning ability.
Aptitude is separate from achievement, general intelligence and
motivation. It is a stable factor and almost certainly inate.
Hyperpolyglots: Dr Emil Krebs (1867-1930) could translate from
100 languages and could speak sixty of them. Today Donald
Kenrick speaks seventy languages.
Babel No More (2012), Michael Erard
All agree that L2 aptitude involves auditory ability, linguistic
ability and memory ability.
2. Age
Michael Long, Stabilization and Fossilization in Second
Language Learning, in Doughty and Long.
The Critical Period Hypothesis
CPH and access to UG.
Why is there a critical period for learning language? How long is
that critical period?
The critical period is thought to be related to brain plasticity and
lateralization. Plasticity refers to how flexible the brain is in
learning various functions. Lateralization refers to the
specializations of the two sides, or hemispheres, of the brain.
Scientists believe that the critical period for first language
acquisition ends somewhere between the ages of 4 and 12. At this
age, the brain appears to lose its plasticity for learning language. In
addition, specialized language behaviours become controlled
primarily by the left hemisphere of the brain. In theory, if a child is
not exposed to language during the critical period, he/she will
never be able to acquire it normally. n.b. the case of Genie.
3. Learning strategies
Cognitive styles
Cook (2001:137) describes cognitive style as ‘a person’s typical
ways of thinking, seen as a continuum between field-dependent
(FD) cognitive style, in which thinking relates to context, and
field-independent style (FI), in which it is independent of context.’
FD----------------------------------------------------------------------FI
Cook’s hypothetical test to identify FD and FI individuals (2001:137)
would be to place people in a room that slowly began to tilt to one
side; FD people would lean in order to remain parallel to the walls,
thus adapting to a changed environment, while FI individuals would
crook one knee and endeavour to remain perpendicular, and in so
doing would be acting independently of their surroundings.
The cheaper and altogether more practicable method of
measuring field dependence is the Group Embedded Figures Test
(GEFT), which requires subjects to try to identify certain shapes
in pictures that contain a mass of confusing details that render
the relevant shapes difficult to distinguish. Since FD people are
thought to perceive a wood while FI individuals see a collection
of individual trees, the latter are those who are most able to pick
out the required shapes in the GEFT.
The construct of field dependence was originally proposed by Witkin
et al in 1971 (cited in Ellis 1994: 500) who described the wood v.
trees issue in terms of details that are “fused” or “discrete”:
In a field-dependent mode of perceiving, perception is strongly
dominated by the overall organization of the surrounding field, and
parts of the field are experienced as ‘fused’. In a field-independent
mode of perceiving, parts of the field are experienced as discrete
from organized ground […] ‘field dependent’ and ‘field
independent’, like the designations ‘tall’ and ‘short’, are relative.
(Witkin et al 1971:4)
The analytic predisposition of FI individuals contrasts with FD
people’s preference for a more holistic approach to processing
information. The former ‘are more likely to analyze information
into its component parts, and to distinguish the essential from the
inessential’ (Dörnyei & Skehan 2003: 602), while the latter tackle
information as whole structures.
FI individuals
FD individuals
analytical approach
holistic approach
introverted
sociable, outgoing
individualistic
group-centred
self-motivated
responsive to external stimuli
FD and FI individuals and SLA
The more gregarious FD people are more suited to communicative
language activities and team work.
The analytic FI people have an advantage in such operations as
inferring rules and norms.
Specific research into the influence of field (in)dependence on the
acquisition of additional languages has produced somewhat
equivocal findings but the balance of the evidence available points
to more substantial advantages for the FI style, most of all when
acquisition occurs in the context of formal instruction.
In western society this is hardly surprising given the educational
tradition that favours an analytic approach and ‘pushes students up
the rungs of a ladder of abstraction away from the concrete’ (Cook
2001:138).
THINK ABOUT IT: do tests and exams of second language
competence favour FD or FI people?
Learning styles
Reid (1987) carried out research with learners of different L1s. She
identified four broad categories of learning preference:
1. visual learners, for whom reading and the study of charts and
tables is fundamental;
2. auditory learners, who prefer lectures and audiotapes;
3. kinesthetic learners, for whom physical involvement and
experiential learning are favoured;
4. tactile learners, who require a “hands-on” approach in activities
such as building models or conducting laboratory experiments.
Gender was shown to have an influence, with males preferring
visual and tactile learning significantly more than females.
Cultural background was also a vital parameter: perhaps
surprisingly, native speakers of English were less tactile in their
learning style preferences than all non-native speaker language
backgrounds and significantly less tactile than Arabic, Chinese,
Korean and Spanish speakers, while Japanese speakers were the
least auditory of all the respondents.
AND YOU? Do you prefer studying alone or with others?
Oxford and Anderson (1995) consider the domains of cognition,
sensory preference and personality in identifying eight continua of
particular relevance to second language acquisition:
global v. analytic
field-dependent v. field-independent
feeling v. thinking
impulsive v. reflective
intuitive-random v. concrete-sequential
closure-oriented/judging v. open/perceiving
extroverted v. introverted
visual v. auditory v. tactile/kinesthetic
http://web.ntpu.edu.tw/~language/workshop/read2.pdf
Do you recognize yourself in any of the eight continua?
From style to strategy/ies
Do you have any special strategies for remembering vocabulary?
More general L2 learning strategies? Has a teacher ever tried to
convince you to adopt a strategy that you felt was just not right for
you?
Can strategies be taught?
How can we turn people into autonomous learners?
4. Anxiety
(i) facilitating v. debilitating anxiety
(ii) trait v. situation-specific anxiety
Your experiences? Oral exams? Defending your thesis? Speaking
L2 in front of friends?
5. Sex
sex v. gender
Ellis (208: 313-316). Three pages in book of over 1000 pages
Buckledee (2011: 143-148)
It is possible that females perform better in instructed settings, i.e.
when it is a case of learning rather than acquisition.
Most hyperpolyglots are male. A high percentage of them are gay
and left-handed (Erard 2012).
Some research suggests that females are more sensitive to input.
Does this confirm what many women claim, i.e. that men don’t
listen?
YOUR VIEWS?
6. Instruction and correction
“Com’è il tuo inglese?”
“Scolastico.”
What does scolastico mean in this context? Why do state schools in
some countries do a good job of teaching languages but in other
countries (notably Italy and the UK) schools fail to produce young
people with real L2 skills?
What are your experiences?
Have you ever had a truly inspirational teacher or a truly useless
one? Are you or have you been or do you hope to become a
language teacher? n.b two of our graduates are currently teaching
French in state schools in England. They have full-time, permanent
jobs.
MOTIVATION
Attitudes v. Motivation
“Although motivation and attitudes are clearly related, there is,
however, an essential difference between them; while the former
tends to be unstable, varying in nature and intensity according to
mood, recent experience, peer pressure and many other factors, the
latter, being a fundamental part of an individual’s structure of
beliefs and values, are notoriously difficult to modify.”
Buckledee (2011: 11), The Role of Motivation in Second Language
Acquisition.
Definitions of motivation (pp 17-20)
Hyperpolyglots (pp 21-25)
Types of Motivation and Motivation Theories
Intrinsic v. Extrinsic motivation
Instrumental v. Integrative motivation
Machiavellian motivation
Resultative motivation
Gardner’s Socio-Educational Model
Goal theories
Expectancy-value theories
Self-determination theory
Foraging for knowledge: a neurobiological explanation of motivation
Willingness to communicate
Task motivation
The Cagliari Survey
The Cagliari Case Study
Motivation over time: Dőrnyei and Ottó’s Process Model
Achievement and attribution: Weiner’s Attribution Theory
The Self in L2 motivation
The personal Self and the social/cultural Self
Heritage languages
The influence of age, gender and learning environment on
motivation
THE BIG QUESTION: are you sufficiently motivated to make
enough effort to pass the exam?