1. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND INSTRUCTION IN L2

2. Revision: some terminology
Input
Overuse
Developmental pattern
Variability in learner language
Form-function mapping

3. LAD
Language typology
Universal grammar (UG)
Learnability

4. How L2 is learnt ? UG
Other learning strategies:
Resetting parameters (word order, NPs, VPs)
Instruction?
Language typology:
Markedness

5. Social aspects of interlanguage
Interlanguage as a stylistic continuum
A number of different styles that learners access
according to a variety of factors
The Accomodation Theory
Social accomodation and the part this plays in L2
acquisition
Social identity; a learner’s social identity is ’multiple and contradictory’
Explain!

6. Discourse aspects of interlanguage
The role of input and interaction in L2 learning
Grammatical foreigner talk
Krashen’s input hypothesis (comprehensible input)
Long’s interaction hypothesis
What is negotiation of meaning?

7. Psycholinguistic aspects of interlanguage
L1 transfer (negative and positive)
Avoidance and overuse
What is Contrastive analysis?
The role of consciousness in L2 acquisition (Schmidt: noticing)
Communication strategies

8. Individual differences
Affective factors:
Learners’ personalities: are they anxious or prepared
to take risks in learning and using an L2?
Learners’ learning styles and strategies
Aptitude
Motivation
Aptitude and motivation come back here to be dealt with in more detail

9. APTITUDE, MOTIVATION AND INSTRUCTION
Phonemic coding ability, the ability to handle sound-symbol relationships
Grammatical sensitivity, the ability to recognize the grammatical functions of words in sentences
Inductive language learning ability (discover patterns between form and meaning)
Rote learning ability (to form and remember associations between stimuli, important in vocabulary learning)
Grammatical relations: subject, object. Inductive: The opposite is deductive. To, at = location
Rote learning ability (form and remember associations between stimuli). This is in vocabulary.

10. Motivation
Instrumental motivation: learners learn an L2 for some functional reason
Integrative motivation: interested in the people or culture; English-speaking Canadians learning French
Resultative motivation: If learners are successful, they become more interested to learn. Is also the opposite true? Do they become less interested?
Instrumental: learning a foreign language
Also integrative (interested in the people or culture): English-speaking Canadians learning French
Resultative motivation (if learners are successful, they become more interested to learn). Is also the oppsite true? Do they become less interested?Intrinsic motivaton: no particular reason for learning an L2. Foreign language learners?
Cognitive:analysis, constructing a sentence from known elements, metacognitive: planning, selective attention, social: interaction with other speakers.
Rote learning ability (form and remember associations between stimuli). This is in vocabulary.

11. Intrinsic motivation: no particular reason for learning an L2
Intrinsic motivation: no particular reason for learning an L2. Foreign language learners? Unmotivated?
Unmotivated? Certainly not! Remember when I asked you about your reasons for learning English

12. Learning strategies
Learning strategies can be cognitive, meta-cognitive and social/affective
Cognitive: constructing a meaningful sentence by recombining known elements of the L2 in a new way
Metacognitive: planning, monitoring and evaluating learning; ’selective attention’
Cognitive:analysis, constructing a sentence from known elements, metacognitive: planning, selective attention, social: interaction with other speakers.

13. Social/affective strategies: how learners chose to interact with other speakers (questioning for clarification)

14. What are good language learners like?
A checklist:
Pay attention to both form and meaning
Very active
Show awareness of the learning process and their own personal learning styles
Flexible and appropriate in their use of (more) learning strategies (metacognitive strategies), different strategies for different aspects and stages of L2 learning
Metacognitive: planning, evaluation

15. What impact does teaching have on L2 learning?
Things to consider: The teaching of grammar:
Grammar-translation method
Audiolingual method – Dialogues, listening and speaking first, then reading and writing, grammatical structures and rules are taught inductively (through planned exposure).

16. Communicative language teaching (CLT) – the goal of language teaching is the learners’ ability to communicate in the target language. There is no place for the direct teaching of grammar except in communicative situations, it should be grammar in functional terms (asking the way etc.) Task-based learning

17. Individual learner differences: Extrovert vs
Individual learner differences: Extrovert vs. introvert learners Thinking (the truth even if hurts other people’s feelings) vs. feeling learners

18. Intuitive-random (theories, new possibilities) vs
Intuitive-random (theories, new possibilities) vs. sensing-sequential learners (facts, specific instructions from the teacher) Closure-oriented/judging (completion, clarity) vs. open/perceiving learners (don’t like deadlines)

19. Strategy training:
How can you train your students?
Those strategies used by good language learners could be examples
The strategy relates well to the L2 task at hand
The strategy fits the particular student’s learning style
The student employs the strategy effectively and links it with other relevant strategies

20. Strategies that fulfill these conditions ”make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford 1990: 9) Research text: p (from Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know) Oxford (2011) Teaching and researching language learning strategies

21. Form-focused instruction. Does it work
Form-focused instruction? Does it work? In teaching items but not in teaching systems?
The acquisition of the French definite articles: le, la + a special noun but no real understanding of why a noun is masculine or feminine
German word order: (adult classroom learners vs. migrant workers) teaching had no effect on the processing strategies involved in acquiring these word-order rules (see Ellis, p. 81)

22. Quite a few interesting studies: Pica, Pienemann and others; tutored vs. untutored learners
The Pica study: the tutored group more accurate on pl –s but less accurate on the progressive than the untutored group. No accuracy differences between the groups as regards the acquisition of articles

23. Conclusion: the effects of instruction are highly dependent on the target structure that is being taught
The Pienemann study: (German word order, inversion) important to be on the right stage, i.e. when the structure is acquired naturally, of your learning process

24. The Teachability Hypothesis (Pienemann)
The interlanguage must be close to the
point when the structure to be taught is
acquired in the natural setting. Difficult!
How can you have this information about
your learners??

25. The Trahey study on the acquisition of English adverbs by 11-year old French learners (input-flooding)
Anne quietly watched television but also
Anne watched quietly television
Positive evidence not sufficient to reset a parameter at this age!

26. The White study: explicit information about English adverbs + negative evidence did enable learners at least temporarily to reduce their errors in the SVAO pattern

27. What kind of form-focused intrsuction works best?
Production-based instruction
Input-based instruction (see the model, p. 84 in Ellis); could induce noticing in learners
Consciousness-raising (positive or negative evidence can be supplied)
Here is some terminology… The question is: should form-focused teaching be production or input-based? Van Patten and Cadierno study. Focus should be on input-processing. Processing is a keyword in this context (teachability hypothesis (Pienemann). Consciousness-raising: providing either negative or positive evidence (spotting the error). Learners become aware of speific linguistic features in L2 (inductive learning). Trahey study on the acquisition of English adverbs by French learners (input-flooding). The White study: explicit information + negative evidence.Teachability: the interlanguage must be close to to the point when the structure to be taugh tis acquired in the natural setting. Difficult! How can you have this information about your learners? Learning must come before a certain age (pubert) .CLT that’s the model that is used now, refereed to in applied lingusitics handbooks and in the Swedish curriculum.

28. Learner - instruction matching: some learners are good at phonology, some at spelling, others at grammar; input-based instruction doesn’t suit all learners either
Strategy training: helping learners to take responsibility for their own learning

29. Why teach grammar. Thornbury (2008: Ch
Why teach grammar? Thornbury (2008: Ch. 2) The case for and against teaching grammar
The sentence-machine argument: The ability to form sentences, not just use words
The rule of law argument: Grammar offers teachers a structured system that can be taught and tested in methodological steps
The fine-tuning argument: Grammar allows for greater subtlety of meaning
The learner expectations argument