theories of l2 acquisition dr. chen chin-fen. introduction an integrated understanding of the...
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Introduction
An integrated understanding of the principles of SLA that underline the pedagogical process.
A number of disciplines attempting to explain the complex phenomena, each with its claims and hypotheses, which reflect the intricacy of SLA and the variability of individuals and contexts.
Current Generalizations, Hypotheses, and Models of SLA
Elements for a language theory:1. What language is, what learning is, and
what teaching is. 2. Knowledge of kids’ learning of their L1.3. Differences between adult & child
learning, and between L1 & L2.4. SLA is part of general principles of
human learning. 5. Variations across learners in cognitive
style and learning strategies.
Age
Children 1-5 5-10
Adolescents 11-15
Adult 16-on
Biological Cognitive factors Social – parental influence, schooling,
peer group pressure.
Critical period, social factors
Critical period, social factors
Input -I
Free learners: place of learning (foreign L., L2
L., bilingual environments) Type of language contact Family L. environment Peer L. Environment
Input -II Instructed learners: Types of instruction (formal, informal, intensive, non-intensive) Length of instruction (No. of years, No. of contact hours) Place of instruction (Foreign, L2, bilingual environment) Material of Instruction ( graded (sequencing), ungraded, skill-oriented materials) Source of instructor (teacher attitude/training)
Affective Domain
Social-cultural factors : attitude toward native culture, L2 culture,, native people and to L2 people.
Egocentric Factors : depression, anxiety, homesickness, ego
permeability, rejection, and self-consciousness
Motivation: integrative, instrumental (own or forced choice)
Educational Background
IlliterateLiterate : professional (educational system, specialization) non-professional (number of years, place of study)
Innatist model: Krashen’s hypothesis –subconscious
Krahsen
The Acquisition –learning hypothesis Monitor hypothesis
The Natural Order hypothesis
The Input HypothesisAffective Filter hypothesis
McLaughlin’s Attention-processing -conscious
Controlled:
New skills, capacity limited
Automatic:
Well trained, practiced skill capacity is unlimited
Focal
Intentional attention
Grammatical explanation
Word definition
(p. 284)
Keeping an eye out
Modals, clause formation
Monitoring oneself
Scanning, Editing, peer -editing
Peripheral Simple greeting, TPR, natural approach
Open-ended work
Rapid reading, Free writing
Attention-processing model
Controlled process: capacity limited, temporary: primitive learned skills
Automatic process: more accomplished skills , which is done by a process of restructured, in which the components of a task are coordinated, integrated, or reorganized into a new unit.
In every act, focal and peripheral attention actually occur simultaneously.
Attention-processing model
When a child says “Nobody likes me.” Focal – to express verying emotion, mental an
guish, or loneliness.Peripheral - attend to words and morphemes t
hat underline the central meaning. Go between: to read parents’ facial Features, mental recall of an uncomfortable in
cident of rejection, awareness of a sibling overhearing the communication.
Cognitive Models- Implicit and Explicit Models
Implicit knowledge: automatically and spontaneously used in the tasks. Kids learn phonological, syntactic,, semantic and pragmatic rules of their L1 but cannot explain the rules explicitly. (Bialystok’s, 1978)
Rod Ellis’s: Grammar raising- some explicit attention to language form is blended with implicit communicative tasks.
Cognitive Models-Implicit and Explicit Models Input
Output
Language exposure
Other knowledge Explicit linguistic
Knowledge
Implicit linguistic knowledge
Response
Automatic
Time-delayed
Social Constructivist Model Long’s interaction hypothesis, 1985
Emphasize the dynamic nature of interplay between learners, their peers, their teachers and others.-socially mediated interaction.
IH: comprehension input is the modification of interaction- native speakers and other interlocutors create in order to render their input comprehensible to learners.- mother tone, slowing down, more deliberate, with clarification/ repair requests, paraphrases
Van Lier (1996), Curriculum as interaction: principles of awareness, autonomy, authenticity leading to Vygotsky’s ZPD
Social Constructivist Model
Pedagogical research for Optimal Learning Environment:
classrooms is a place where the contexts for interaction are carefully designed. Material and curriculum developers are supposed to create the Optimal Learning Environments and tasks for input and interaction, where learners will create their own language knowledge in a socially constructed process of discovery.
Ecology of Language Acquisition (Brown, 1991)
Input: Teacher talk, textbook, materials, other students, nonverbal, outside of class, self.
Leaves of Strategies: scanning, skimming, keyword attention, nonverbal, self-practice, dictionary use, appeal to authority, error monitoring
Branches of Affective variables: extroversion, anxiety, risk-taking, empathy
Fruit of performance: speaking, listening, writing (production) , reading (comprehension) –Trunk of feedback.
Ecology of Language Acquisition (Roots)
Seeds of predisposition: Innate factors, previous
experience, cultural schemata, aptitude.
Soil of Style: problem solving, cognitive style, personality style input generator
Germination strategies: direct, memory, affective social, metacognitive strategies.
Inferred competent intake: Phonologicla, grammatical,
discourse, socialinguistic, pragmatic rules; reception & production rules; interlanguaeg system.
Proper Attitude toward Language Theories
Balancing believing games and doubting games: try to find something wrong in one’s claims or hypotheses.
Appreciate the art and science of SLATrust your intuition: when problems
are elusive and hard to define