Explaining Second Language Learning

1. Explaining Second Language Learning • Contexts for Language Learning • Behaviorism (see Learning a First Language ppt) • Innatism (see Learning a First Language ppt) • Cognitive/developmental perspective • Information Processing • The Sociocultural Perspective

2. Contexts for Language Learning • A child or adult learning a second language is different from a child acquiring a first language in terms of both 1) learner characteristics and 2) learning conditions

3. Differences in Learning L1 & L2 Learner Characteristics 1. Knowledge of another language 2. Cognitive maturity 3. Metalinguistic awareness 4. World Knowledge 5. Anxiety about speaking

4. Differences in Learning L1 & L2 Learning Conditions 6. Freedom to be silent 7. Large time & contact 8. Corrective feedback: (grammar and pronunciation) 9. Corrective feedback: (meaning, word choice, politeness) 10. Modified input

5. Differences in Learning L1 & L2 • Summary: SLA (Second Language Acquisition) theories need to account for language acquisition by learners with a variety of characteristics and learningin a variety of contexts.

6. Information processing • Cognitive psychologists working in this model • compare language acquisition to the capacities of computers for storing, integrating, and retrieving information. • do not think that humans have a language-specific module (i.e. LAD) in the brain. • do not assume that ‘acquisition’ and ‘learning’ are distinct mental processes.

7. Information processing • Attention-processing • Skill learning • Restructuring • Transfer appropriate processing

8. Information processing • Attention-processing: • This model suggests that learners have to pay attention at first to any aspect of the language that they are trying to understand or produce. • Gradually, through experience and practice, information that was new becomes easier to process, and learners become able to access it quickly and even automatically. • This can explain why L2 readers need more time to understand a text, even if they eventually do fully comprehend it.

9. Information processing • Skill Learning: • Some researchers regard SLA as ‘skill learning’. They suggest that most learning, including language learning, starts with declarative knowledge(knowledge that) and becoming procedural knowledge. • In SLA, the path from declarative to procedural knowledge is often like classroom learning where rule learning is followed by practice.

10. Information processing • Restructuring: • Restructuring may account for what appear to be sudden bursts of progress and apparent backsliding. • It may result from the interaction of knowledge we already have and the acquisition of new knowledge (without extensive practice). e.g. “I saw” → “I seed” or “I sawed” – overapplying the general rule.

11. Information processing • Transfer appropriate processing: • This hypothesizes that Information is best retrieved in situations that are similar to those in which it was acquired. This is because when we learn something our memories also record something about the context and the way in which it was learned. • This can explain why knowledge that is acquired mainly in rule learning or drill activities may be easier to access on tests that resemble the learning activities than in communicative situation. • On the other hand, if learners’ cognitive resources are occupied with a focus on meaning in communicative activities, they may find grammar tests very difficult.

12. Connectionism (I) • Connectionists attribute greater importance to the role of the environment than to any specific innate knowledge. • They argue that what is innate is simply the ability to learn, not any specifically linguistic principles. • They emphasize the frequency with which learners encounter specific linguistic features in the input and the frequency with which features occur together.

13. L2 Applications • The interaction hypothesis (see Learning a First Language ppt) • Input processing • Processability theory • The Sociocultural Perspective

14. Input Processing • Input processing (VanPatten, 2004) - Learners have limited processing capacity and cannot pay attention to form and meaning at the same time. - They tend to give priority to meaning. When the context in which they hear a sentence helps them make sense of it, they do not notice details of the language form.

15. Processability Theory • Processability theory (Pienemann, 1999, 2003) - The research showed that the sequence of development for features of syntax and morphology was affected by how easy these were to process. - It integrates developmental sequences with L1 influence. - Learners do not simply transfer features from their L1 at early stages of acquisition. - They have to develop a certain level of processing capacity in the L2 before they can use their knowledge of the features that already exist in their L1.

16. The Sociocultural Perspective The difference between Vygotsky’s socialcultural theory and the interaction hypothesis:

17. Summary • There is no agreement on a “complete” theory of second language acquisition yet. • Each theoretical framework has a different focus and its limitations. • Behaviorism: emphasizing stimuli and responses, but ignoring the mental processes that are involved in learning. • Innatism: innate LAD, based on intuitions • Information processing and connectionism: involving controlled laboratory experiments where human learning is similar to computer processing. • Interactionist position: modification of interaction promotes language acquisition and development.