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CHAPTER 4 Human Learning

By:

RODHIAH AMZAHZANARIAH ABDULLAH

ZAM ZARINA MD ZAIN

NUR WAHIDA ZAINAL KAMARUDDIN


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APTITUDEBy RODHIAH AMZAH

2007143767


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APTITUDE

The identification of a number of

characteristics of successful languagelearners

CHARACTERISTICS

OF SUCCESSFUL

LANGUAGE

LEARNERS.

- risk-taking behavior

- memory efficiency

- intelligent guessing

- ambiguity tolerance (Brown 1991 and Robin & Thompson 1982)


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Modern

LanguageAptitude Test

(MLAT) (Caroll &

Sapon 1958)

Required

prospectivelanguage learners

(before learn L2

to perform suchtasks:

- learning numbers

- listening

- detecting spelling

clues and grammatical

patterns

- memorizing all ( either

L1 or L2)

- utilizing words &

morphemes from a

constructed hypothetical

language.

Independent of

a specific foreign

language(predictive ofsuccess in the

learning of anylanguage)


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Peace Corps volunteer training programshelp predict successful lang. learners

PimsleurLanguage

AptitudeBattery (PLAB)

(Pimsleur1996)

- quite well received by foreign lang.teacher

- their popularity steadily waned

- few attempts to experiment withalternative lang. aptitude (Skehan 1998,Parry & Child 1990)

Results forMLAT & PLABtests:


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F

actors account for the decline:

1. Became apparent that they simply reflected the

general intelligence/academic ability of Ss. (Skehan1998)

- pros: measured ability to perform focused, analytical, context -reducedactivities (occupy Ss in traditional lang. classroom).

- cons: began to tap into the kinds of learning strategies andstyles that crucial in the acquisition of communicativecompetence in context-embededsituations. (Cohen 1998, Reid1995, Ehrman 1990, Oxford 1990b, 1996)


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2. How is one to interpret a lang.aptitude test?

Test clearly biases both Ss and T.

Led to believe that they will be succesful orunsucessful (depend on the aptitude test score)

Self-fullfilling prophecy is likely to occur

What T should do?

- optimistic to Ss

- monitor styles and strategies carefully

- leading Ss toward effective strategies


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INTELLIGENCEBy ZANARIAH ABDULLAH

2007143775


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Intelligence

Traditional definition smart person capable of learning 2nd

language more successfully because of greater intelligence

Howard Gardner (1983)

Comprehensive picture of intelligence:

1. Linguistic

2. Logical-mathematical

3. Spatial (adapt to environment)

4. Musical (pitch and rhythmic patterns)

5. Bodily-kinesthetic (movement)

6. Interpersonal (understand others)

7. Intrapersonal intelligence (see oneself, develop self-identity)


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Robert Sternberg (1985, 1988)

triarchic view of intelligence

Componential ability for analytical thinking

(examine things very carefully)

Experiential ability to engage in creative

thinking, different experiences in insightful

ways (deep & clear)

Contextual ability: street smartness- enables

people to play the game of manipulatingtheir environment (others, situation)


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Daniel Goleman (1995)

Emotional Intelligence Highest level of hierarchy of human ability

Management of core emotions anger, fear,

enjoyment, love drives & controls efficientmental & cognitive processing

The emotional mind is far quicker than the

rational mind, springing into action without

even pausing to consider what it is doing.


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Intelligence is language-based

Oller

Language may not be merely a vital link in

the social side of intellectual development, itmay be the very foundation of intelligence

itself

A deep relationship, perhaps even an identity,

between intelligence and language ability


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TRANSFERBy ZAM ZARINA MD ZAIN

2007143773


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Information related to one topic cansometimes either help or hinder the

acquisition Definition: Carryover of previous

performance/knowledge to subsequent

learning. Language learners apply L1 to L2


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TYPES OFTRANSFER

POSITIVETRANSFER

NEGATIVETRANSFER


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Occurs when prior knowledge benefits the learningtasks.

Give facilitating effects of the first language.

This positive transfer is most likely to occur when thelearner

1. recognizes common features among concepts,

principles, or skills;

2. consciously links the information in memory; and

3. sees the value of using what was learned in one

situation in another (Schunk, 1996b).


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Factors ofpositivetransfer

Similaritiesbetween L1

and L2

vocabulary

Similaritieswithin vowel

system

Similaritiesbetween writing

system

Similarities insyntactic

structures


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Ways to promote positive transfer

Teach targetlanguage inmeaningfulrather than rote

contexts.

Employ informedinstruction. learn

not only todescribe aconcept orstrategy, but alsoto understandwhen and whythe concept orstrategy is useful(Paris et al.,1982).

Provideopportunities fordistributed

practice after theinformation has

been initiallylearned.

Promotepositiveattitudes towardtarget language,so that studentswill feel inclinedto deal withrather than avoidtopics


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Occurs when previous performance disrupts the

performance of a second task.

When the native language is negatively transferred, it

means interference has occurred.

Misconception : Important type of negative transfer.

Learner store information incorrectly in long-term memory

or retrieve the improper information to working memory


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Factors ofNegativeTransfer

Age

Focus

Limited quantityof L2 input

Linguisticdistance

between L2and L1


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Errors in Negative Transfer

Underproduction:avoidance ofdifficult L2structures.

Overproduction:produces L2

structure withmuch greater

frequency than

natives of L2 do.

Misinterpretation:L1 structuresinfluence the

interpretation ofL2 messages.

production errors:

substitution: use of L1forms in L2

Under differentiation:inability to make a

distinction made inanother L

hypercorrection:exaggerated attemptto imitate linguisticforms (b/p)

Calques: word ordererror


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INTERFERENCE

NUR WAHIDA BT ZAINAL

KAMARUDIN2007143759


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Interference is the process in which acommunicative behavior for the first languageinfluences the second language.

Students tend to demonstrate interference whenusing English in formal settings, i.e., in a testingsituation, rather than playing on the playground.

L1 interference when speaking or writing in asecond language is generally a lifelongexperience.


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Practitioners are recommended to consider thepossibility that L2 learners errors in English may

result from language interference or from limitedEnglish experience.

An illustration of interference would be when

children literally translate phrases from theirnative language to English i.e., the Spanish formfor Have a seat is Toma asiento, whentranslated literally, second language learners maysay, Take a seat.

In such situations, the L2 learners language usedifference is due to language interference.


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Interference may be viewed as the

transference of elements of one language toanother at various levels including

phonological, grammatical, lexical and

orthographical (Berthold, Mangubhai &

Batorowicz, 1997).


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Phonological interference as

items including foreign accentsuch as stress, rhyme,

intonation and speech soundsfrom the first languageinfluencing the second.

Grammatical interference is

defined as the first languageinfluencing the second in

terms of word order, use ofpronouns and determinants,

tense and mood.

Interference at a lexical levelprovides for the borrowing of

words from one language andconverting them to soundmore natural in another.

Orthographic interference

includes the spelling of onelanguage altering another.


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According to Hagge, interference between L1 and L2is observed in children as well as in adults.

In adults it is more obvious and increases continuously,as a monolingual person gets older and the structuresof his first language get stronger and imposethemselves more and more on any other language the

adult wishes to learn. In contrast, as regards children, interference features

will not become permanent unless the child does nothave sufficient exposure to L2.

If there is sufficient exposure, then instead of reachinga point where they can no longer be corrected (asoften happens with phonetics features), interferencefeatures can be easily eliminated.


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Questions

1. Differentiate between intelligence and

aptitude

( Oct. 2008)2. Explain Emotional Intelligence by Daniel

Goleman (1995)

3.

Explain production errors and the types


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Reference

http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/

Odlin, T. (1989). Language transfer: cross-

linguistic influence in language learning. Cambridge ,United Kingdom: Cambridge

University Press

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