LEARNING TO LANGUAGE LEARNING

Wallace,J.(1991)

Training Foreign Language Teachers.

Cambridge University Press

By: Dolly Ramos G

ACQUISITION & LEARNING

Acquisition: It refers to the spontaneous , unconscious

and incidental process of internalization that result from natural language use

Learning: to acquire the knowledge of something

through the conscious and formal study

ACQUISITION & LEARNING

Pick up the lg naturally

Implicit knowdlege Formal teaching is

not necessary Using lg for real

communication

Formal teaching is necessay

Knowing about the lg

Knowledge of the rules

ACQUISTION LEARNING

DIFFERENCES

Innate Exposed all the

time No emotional

barrier Natural motivation No interlanguage

Learned Not used all the

time Might be

emotional barrier Less motivation Reliance on L1

First Language Second Language

FIRST, SECOND AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Concern on children’s learning The main charateristics of Foreign

lg Learning Amount of timeType F or S Responsibility of the teacher

LEARNING THE FRIST LANGUAGE

READING Age 5 L1 incompletely developed Age 5-6 Literacy skill is on process SPEAKING & WRITING Age 7

Narrative & Extended discourse Reference to characters

Age 11& 15 (not fully developed) Relative Clauses & pronouns Logical understanding Co-ordinators & language

LINGUISTIC DOMAINS (P,M,S,L, conversation & discourse) largely independent Child’s early experience(family)

Narative & discourse Vocabulary

Teacher Consider: Childrens’ individual differences and lg strengths

LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE

Children learn faster than adults. (Hypothesis)

Critical Period Hypothesis Children learning is more effectively before puberty

(mechanisim assited the L1)

Lightbown & Spada (1999) Against the Hypothesis Factor needs

Motivation native- profiency SL Context communicative-goal FL

THE INFLUENCE OF L1 ON L2

Competition Model Bates & Whinney(1989) Explain how L1 learning affects L2 &FL

L1 Reliable or Unreliable

Babies (particular cues) transfer to SL Learning the whole & the parts

7-8 age. Sound and rythm 12-14 age. Word order

AGE AND LANGUAGE FIRST

Who has less prolonged attention? FL lesson influence lg development Does conversation develop

independently fron extended discourse? Modelling for scaffolding How can a teacher deal with this?

IS YOUNGER REALLY BETTER

Catherine Snow & Marian Hoefnagel (1978)

X= beginning Y = end TASK CHILD ADOLESCE

NTADULT

PRONUNCIATION

AUDITORY DISC

MORPHOLOGY

SENTENCE REPET

SENTENCE TRANSL

SSENTENCE JUST/

VOCAB TEST

STORY COMPREH

STORY TELLING

IS YOUNGER REALLY BETTER

Catherine Snow & Marian Hoefnagel (1978)TASK CHILD ADOLESCE

NTADULT

PRONUNC Y Y X

AUDITORY DISC XY

MORPHOLOGY XY

SENTENCE REPET XY

SENTENCE TRANSL XY

SSENTENCE JUST/ XY

VOCAB TEST XY

STORY COMPREH Y X

STORY TELLING Y X

ADVANTAGES TO STARTING YOUNG WITH

FOREIGN LG ADVANTAGES

Early starters develop & maintain SOME areas fo the lg skill

Listening comprehension pronunciation Language development

DISAVANTAGES grammar slower Cognitive development

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

“…is a way of comparing languages in order to determine potential errors for the ultimate purpose of isolating what needs to be learned and what does not need to be learned in a second language learning situation..” Gass & Selinker, p72

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS HYPOTHESIS (CAH)

" The most efficient materials are those that are based upon a scientific description of the language to be learned, carefully compared with a parallel description of the native language of the learner. " Fries (1945)

"...those elements that are similar to his native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult." Lado (1957)

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS ASSUMPTIONS (1)

1- Errors are accounted for by considering differences between L1 and L2

2- The greater the differences, the more errors will occur

3- Focus on dissimilarities in learning; similarities require little new learning

4- Difficulty and ease in predicted by differences and similarities between L1 and L2

CAH: Two positions

A priori or strong view: comparison between languages will predict learning outcomes

A posterior or weak view: comparison between languages will help explain learning outcomes, especially errors.

Second Language Acquisition

17

‘MISTAKE’ VERSUS ‘ERROR’

Mistake: Random performance slip caused by fatigue, excitement, etc. Readily self-corrected.

Error: Systematic deviation by learners who have not yet mastered the rules. More difficult to correct. Indication of learner’s attempt to figure out the L2 system

Second Language Acquisition

18

TYPES OF ERRORS: INTERLINGUAL & INTRALINGUAL

Interlingual – based on cross-linguistic comparisons

Intralingual – based on language being learned

Second Language Acquisition

19

A DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCE FOR NEGATION.

Stage Sample Utterance

1. External >> No this one/ No you playing here

2. Internal, pre-verbal >> Juana no / don’t have job.

3. Aux. + neg. >> I didn’t went to Costa Rica

4. Analysed don’t >> She doesn’t drink alcohol. (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991, p94)

THANK YOU

See you next Monday do not forget your

to study and read