SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

AFFECTIVE FACTORS IN SLA Does/is the learner; 1. Know at least one language? 2. Cognitively mature? 3. Have a well developed metaling. awaremess? 4. Have an extensive knowledge of the world? 5. Anxious about making mistakes 6. Exposed to an environment s/he has to speak or not? 7. Have time to practice? 8. Receive corrective feedback in terms of grammar? 9. Receive corrective feedback in terms of meaning? 10. Have access to modified input?

LEARNER CHARACTERISTICS AND LEARNING CONDITIONS + usually -- usually absent ? sometimes

EXPLAINING SLA: BEHAVIOURISM AUDIOLINGUAL method AUDIOLINGUAL method Classroom activities that emphasize mimicry and memorization Classroom activities that emphasize mimicry and memorization Repeated practice of sentence patterns and dialogues Repeated practice of sentence patterns and dialogues The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis

EXPLAINING SLA: BEHAVIOURISM The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis comparison of linguistic structures in the learning task between the native language and the target language. since learning is habit formation, similar patterns will be learned more easily. Reaction: InterLanguage Approach – comes from the innatist perspective Reaction: InterLanguage Approach – comes from the innatist perspective

INNATISM A UG approach to SLA A UG approach to SLA The Hypothesis: UG principles are available to SLL after critical period, but may be altered by the acquisition of the first language The Hypothesis: UG principles are available to SLL after critical period, but may be altered by the acquisition of the first language The Problematic Aspect: Experiments on CPH The Problematic Aspect: Experiments on CPH The Interlanguage approach (Corder (1967), Selinker(1972)) The Interlanguage approach (Corder (1967), Selinker(1972)) Learners were viewed as active and rational agents who engaged in the discovery of underlying L2 rules. Error analysis Krashen’s monitor model Krashen’s monitor model

INNATISM KRASHEN’S MONITOR MODEL 1. Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis: 2. Monitor Hypothesis: 2. Monitor Hypothesis: Learned system is an editor for the acquired system Natural order hypothesis: Unfolding in certain sequences The Input Hypothesis: the famous i+1, whatever it is ! Affective filter hypothesis: may be the best part of the whole theory!! Some criticism: can be tested empirically? how do we differentiate between acquired or learned?

APPLICATION OF KRASHEN The Communicative Approach No apparent instruction of grammar forms Content based curriculum design/skill based rather than grammar based ordering of topics Exposure to comprehensible input (a) the core ingredient of additional language learning is meaningful, comprehensible input; (b) the processes of additional language acquisition are implicit and subconscious and any explicit and conscious processes that may be summoned in the classroom can only help careful monitored performance but will have little effects on true language knowledge or on spontaneous performance (c) the main obstacles to additional language learning for adults stem from affective inhibitions.

COGNITIVE SCIENCE APPROACH Information Processing building up of knowledge that can eventually be called on automatically for speaking and understanding. building up of knowledge that can eventually be called on automatically for speaking and understanding. learners have to pay attention at first to any aspect of the language that they are trying to understand or produce. learners have to pay attention at first to any aspect of the language that they are trying to understand or produce. learners at the earliest stages will use most of their resources to understand the main words in a message. learners at the earliest stages will use most of their resources to understand the main words in a message. Through experience and practice, information that was new becomes easier to process, and learners become able to access it quickly and even automatically. Through experience and practice, information that was new becomes easier to process, and learners become able to access it quickly and even automatically. This frees them to pay attention to other aspects of the language that, in turn, gradually become automatic. This frees them to pay attention to other aspects of the language that, in turn, gradually become automatic. 'practice' needed for the development of automaticity is not limited to the production of language. 'practice' needed for the development of automaticity is not limited to the production of language. Exposure to, and comprehension of, a language feature may also be counted as practice. In information processing, practice involves cognitive effort on the part of the learner, but it need not necessarily be available for the learner’s introspection. It can occur below the level of awareness. Exposure to, and comprehension of, a language feature may also be counted as practice. In information processing, practice involves cognitive effort on the part of the learner, but it need not necessarily be available for the learner’s introspection. It can occur below the level of awareness.

COGNITIVE SCIENCE APPROACH: Connectionism (also emergentist) No innate ability No innate ability the emphasis is on the frequency with which learners encounter specific linguistic features in the input and the frequency with which features occur together. (Neural) Networks between situational and linguistic contexts = connectionism presence of one situational or linguistic element will activate the other(s) in the learner's mind The more learners hear a linguistic structure, the stronger the connections between the linguistic items between those structures learners might get subject verb agreement correct, not because they know a rule but because they have heard examples such as 'I say' and 'he says' so often that each subject pronoun activates the correct verb form. Transfer appropriate processing Empiricist, associationist, generalist view.

COGNITIVE SCIENCE APPROACH (also emergentist) A neural network consists of large number of units joined together in a pattern of connections. Units in a net are usually segregated into three classes: input units, which receive information to be processed, output units where the results of the processing are found, and units in between called hidden units. If a neural net were to model the whole human nervous system, the input units would be analogous to the sensory neurons, the output units to the motor neurons, and the hidden units to all other neurons. Each input unit has an activation value that represents some feature external to the net. An input unit sends its activation value to each of the hidden units to which it is connected. Each of these hidden units calculates its own activation value depending on the activation values it receives from the input units. This signal is then passed on to output units or to another layer of hidden units. Those hidden units compute their activation values in the same way, and send them along to their neighbors.

COGNITIVE SCIENCE APPROACH: SLA APPLICATIONS “structures that are easier to process, that take up less amount of mental effort, are acquired first by the learners” Which Cognitive Abilities require what kind of mental effort? 1. Paying attention to and noticing structures: requires a good deal of mental effort, so learners can’t pay attention to every single detail at first. Only pay attention to main words, do not realize the morphological markers. 2. Automatization: Noticed structures get easier to process. Does not require a lot of mental effort to process them. 3. As information and strucutures are automatizes, mental focus can be given to meaning and text processing. 4. Transfer appropriate processing

COGS PERSPECTIVE: SLA APPLICATIONS Interaction hypothesis Interaction hypothesis Modified conversational interaction 1. interactional modification makes input comprehensible 2. comprehensible input promotes acquisition 3. interactional modification promotes acquisition Types of interactional modification elaboration slower speech rate gestures comprehension checks clarification requests self-repetition/paraphrase

COGS PERSPECTIVE: SLA APPLICATIONS Noticing Hypothesis Noticing Hypothesis nothing is learned unless it has been noticed. Noticing does not itself result in acquisition, but it is the essential starring point. nothing is learned unless it has been noticed. Noticing does not itself result in acquisition, but it is the essential starring point. The extent to which learners' awareness of language affects their second language development?? The extent to which learners' awareness of language affects their second language development??Consciousness?? Processability Hypothesis Processability Hypothesis “structures that are easier to process, that take up less amount of mental effort, are acquired easier by the learners”

THE SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH Lev Vygotsky Lev Vygotsky Language development as a result of social interactions Language development as a result of social interactions Conversations motivate thinking, which makes learners to gain control over their mental abilities. Conversations motivate thinking, which makes learners to gain control over their mental abilities. It is through interaction that higher order thinking emerges, the place where this is most likely to be facilitated is the zone of proximal development; ZPD. It is through interaction that higher order thinking emerges, the place where this is most likely to be facilitated is the zone of proximal development; ZPD. ZPD: ZPD: the distance between the actual developmental level [of the learner] as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers More capable peers (and teachers) aid or ‘scaffold’ learners in the ZPD, thus contributing a socially oriented rationale for interactive and collaborative pair and group work (Lantolf 2000). Task-based cirriculum: learning by doing, semantic and procedural syllabi