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A Critical Review of the Interactionist Approach to Second Language Acquisition
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research Volume 1, Issue 1, 2014, pp. 62-74 Available online at www.jallr.ir A Critical Review of the Interactionist Approach to Second Language Acquisition Saeid Najafi Sarem PhD Candidate of TEFL, English Department, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran Yusef Shirzadi MA in TEFL, English Department, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran Abstract The realm of language acquisition, either first or second language, has been under the influence of three major theories, namely Behaviorism, Innativism, and Interactionism. The key figures in these schools of thought are Skinner, Chomsky, and Vygotsky respectively. Each theory has contributed to the field by highlighting a specific aspect of the language acquisition process. Behaviorist theory has given the main role to the environment, introducing the concepts of imitation and habit-formation. On the other hand, the innativist theory has focused on the role of mind and cognitive processes in language learning. Taking advantage of both the behaviorist and innativist theories, in the 19th century, the interactinist approach emerged which concentrated on the role of social interaction in language learning. Based on this approach, learners should be exposed to comprehensible, negotiated, or modified input in their attempts to acquire a language. In the same line, the present article tries to provide a critical literature on the interactionist approach in second language learning. Therefore, this review first sheds light on the major theoretical points introduced by this theory; then it tries to discuss some of the main implications and applications of the social interactionist approach in the domain of second language learning. -
SLA in Uncertain Times: Disciplinary Constraints, Transdisciplinary Hopes
Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL) Volume 33 Number 1 Spring 2018 Article 1 Spring 2018 SLA in Uncertain Times: Disciplinary Constraints, Transdisciplinary Hopes Lourdes Ortega Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/wpel Part of the Education Commons, and the Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Ortega, L. (2018). SLA in Uncertain Times: Disciplinary Constraints, Transdisciplinary Hopes. 33 (1), Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/wpel/vol33/iss1/1 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/wpel/vol33/iss1/1 For more information, please contact [email protected]. SLA in Uncertain Times: Disciplinary Constraints, Transdisciplinary Hopes Abstract We live in uncertain times in an uncertain world. While large-scale efforts exist to end poverty, promote peace, share wealth, and protect the planet, we are witnessing serious deterioration of solidarity and respect for human diversity, coupled with alarming tides of authoritarian populism in the West. Many multilinguals—even more so multilinguals in marginalized communities—are vulnerable in the present climate. Researching bi/multilingualism is the business of second language acquisition (SLA) researchers. How well equipped is this field to respond to the present challenges? In this article I unpack four constraints that I believe hamper SLA’s capacity to generate useful knowledge about multilingualism. One is a disciplinary identity that is built around the language two of learners and the late timing of learning. The second constraint is the adherence to an essentialist ontology of language that considers it a system separate from the act of communication. A third constraint is a teleological view of linguistic development benchmarked against an ideal monolingual native speaker model. -
21 Individual Differences in Second Language Learning
Individual Differences in Second Language Learning 525 21 Individual Differences in Second Language Learning ROD ELLIS 21.1 Introduction Learners vary enormously in how successful they are in learning a language. This is true for both first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition, although there is an important difference. In the case of L1 acquisition, children vary in their rate of acquisition but all, except in cases of severe environmental deprivation, achieve full competence in their mother tongue; in the case of L2 acquisition (SLA), learners vary not only in the speed of acquisition but also in their ultimate level of achievement, with a few achiev- ing native-like competence and others stopping far short. How can we explain these differences in achievement? Broadly speaking, three different sets of explanatory factors have been identified; social, cognitive, and affective. This chapter, however, will consider only those factors that lie inside the learner – the cognitive and affective factors – and will focus on L2 learning. Individual difference research has a considerable history in applied lin- guistics. Horwitz (2000a), reviewing publications in The Modern Language Journal from the 1920s up to the end of the 1970s, documents how interest in L2 learners’ differences evolved over the decades. She notes a marked change in the labels used to refer to individual differences: “The terms good and bad, intelligent and dull, motivated and unmotivated have given way to a myriad of new terms such as integratively and instrumentally motivated, anxious and com- fortable, field independent and field sensitive, auditory and visual” (p. 532, original emphasis). -
Written Corrective Feedback for L2 Development. John Bitchener & Neomy Storch
Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research 7(1), (Jan., 2019) 140-142 140 Content list available at http://ijltr.urmia.ac.ir Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research Urmia University (Book Review) Written Corrective Feedback for L2 Development. John Bitchener & Neomy Storch. Multilingual Matters, Buffalo (2016). 155 pp., ISBN: 978-1-78309-503-2 Hongbo Yi a, * a Anhui Technical College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, China Written corrective feedback (CF) is a traditionally ubiquitous pedagogical practice in L2 teaching, but its contribution to L2 development has been relatively ignored. Since Truscott (1996) claimed that written CF is ineffective in L2 development and should be abandoned, a lot of researchers and practitioners have extensively investigated its role within the framework of second language acquisition and L2 writing (Ene & Kosobucki, 2016). However, no conclusive results have been obtained. Written corrective feedback for L2 development comprehensively reviews available studies on written CF from cognitive and sociocultural perspectives and outlines the directions of future research. The book consists of six chapters. Chapter 1, a general introduction of the book, begins with the aim of the book, which is to explore the impact of written CF “on the learning of the L2” (p. 1). Then two key terms, written CF and L2 development, are defined, and the pedagogical and theoretical importance of written CF for L2 development is noted, followed by the presentation of the structure of the book. The next two chapters theoretically and empirically explore the contribution of written CF to L2 development from a cognitive perspective. Chapter 2 examines the theoretical foundations of written CF from the cognitive perspective. -
Passages Into College Writing by Jason Schneider
Current Issue From the Editors Weblog Editorial Board Editorial Policy Submissions Archives Accessibility Search Composition Forum 40, Fall 2018 Passages into College Writing: Listening to the Experiences of International Students Jason Schneider Abstract: Enrollments of international students are at very high levels in the U.S., a development that has altered the demographics of first-year composition classes in recent years. Nonetheless, writing instructors and administrators often know little about these students’ backgrounds, which can make it difficult to design pedagogies that are responsive to their specific needs. Drawing on data from a qualitative, longitudinal study with a cohort of undergraduate international students, this article addresses three interrelated issues: 1) pre- college writing experiences of international students in both their first languages and English; 2) key points of challenge and discovery for international students as they enter the culture of U.S. academic writing; and 3) possible pedagogic interventions designed to better support international students. Situating findings in relation to recent scholarship on students’ transitions from high school to college, the article explores ways in which the experiences of international students are both similar to and different than those of their U.S.-educated peers. Introduction A few years ago, two colleagues and I who teach first-year composition (FYC) for international students organized an event for writing faculty at our institution. The goal was to provide guidance for instructors who do not have expertise in teaching international students, but who often have these students in their classes. We talked about teaching strategies, and then we invited three international students to talk about their experiences and answer questions. -
Matthew H. Ciscel
MATTHEW H. CISCEL CURRICULUM VITÆ (last revised 9/14/2017) Professor and TESOL Coordinator 214 Beacon Street Department of English Hartford, CT 06105, U.S.A. Central Connecticut State University (1-860) 232-5223 1615 Stanley Street personal e-mail: [email protected] New Britain, CT 06050-4010 U.S.A. university e-mail: [email protected] (1-860) 832-2749 URL: http://www2.ccsu.edu/faculty/CiscelM EDUCATION 2002 Ph.D. in Linguistics, Areas: sociolinguistics and second language acquisition theory, University of South Carolina, Columbia (August 1998-December 2002) Dissertation Title: Language and Identity: L2 acquisition in post-Soviet Moldova 1996 M.A. in German, Areas: Germanic linguistics and 20th Century German culture, University of Iowa, Iowa City (August 1993-May 1996) 1991 B.A. cum laude in German, Areas: German and psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Sept 1987-Aug 1991) 1989-1990 Academic exchange to Philipps-Universität, Marburg, Germany (course work in German language and literature, and psychology) ACADEMIC POSITIONS 2012-present Full Professor, Department of English, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT 2007-2012 Associate Professor, Department of English, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT (tenure granted 2008) Spring 2010 Senior Fulbright Scholar, Faculty of Letters and Arts, Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, România 2002-2007 Assistant Professor, Department of English, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT Fall 2001 Visiting Instructor, Faculty of Modern Languages, -
Implicit and Explicit Knowledge About Language
Comp. by: TPrasath Date:27/12/06 Time:22:59:29 Stage:First Proof File Path:// spiina1001z/womat/production/PRODENV/0000000005/0000001817/0000000016/ 0000233189.3D Proof by: QC by: NICK ELLIS IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT LANGUAGE INTRODUCTION Children acquire their first language (L1) by engaging with their caretakers in natural meaningful communication. From this “evidence” they automatically acquire complex knowledge of the structure of their language. Yet paradoxically they cannot describe this knowledge, the discovery of which forms the object of the disciplines of theoretical lin- guistics, psycholinguistics, and child language acquisition. This is a difference between explicit and implicit knowledge—ask a young child how to form a plural and she says she does not know; ask her “here is a wug, here is another wug, what have you got?” and she is able to reply, “two wugs.” The acquisition of L1 grammar is implicit and is extracted from experience of usage rather than from explicit rules—simple expo- sure o normal linguistic input suffices and no explicit instruction is needed. Adult acquisition of second language (L2) is a different matter in that what can be acquired implicitly from communicative contexts is typically quite limited in comparison to native speaker norms, and adult attainment of L2 accuracy usually requires additional resources of explicit learning. The various roles of consciousness in second language acquisi- tion (SLA) include: the learner noticing negative evidence; their attending to language form, their perception focused by social scaffolding or explicit instruction; their voluntary use of pedagogical grammatical descriptions and analogical reasoning; their reflective induction of metalinguistic insights about language; and their consciously guided practice which results, eventually, in unconscious, automatized skill. -
The Language Learning Processes of Students with Specific Learning
The multilingual aspects of dyslexia and the learning of additional languages in classroom contexts Prof. Judit Kormos Lancaster University Department of Linguistics and English Language Overview of the talk The landscape: Divide, iceberg and pyramid The relationship between first and second language learning difficulties How can we identify SpLDs in the multilingual classroom? Recent research findings on promoting the second language learning success of dyslexic students Multilingualism and diversity 2011 Census: • 726,000 people in the UK could speak English but not well • 138,000 people could not speak English at all 2017: • 20 % in primary education and 16% in secondary children are EAL speakers (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system /uploads/attachment_data/file/650547/SFR28_2017_Main_Text.pdf) • 360 different languages spoken in UK classrooms (https://www.naldic.org.uk/research-and- information/eal-statistics/eal-pupils/) Division and diversity Proportion of children learning other languages in the UK Early literacy skills Number of children’s books at home GDP per capita Number of books at home Socio-economic Reading skills status R Parents’ attitude to reading e a d i n g School-mates’ early s literacy skills k i l l s Home-school School resources involvement School climate Reading attitude Reading self-concept Gender Chiu, McBride-Chang Lin (2012). Geva, E., & Wiener, J. (2014). Psychological assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents: A practitioner's guide. Springer Publishing Company. First language predictors of L2 reading performance of Slovenian learners of English (Kormos et al., in press) Predictors of L2 reading 6.8 15.8 1.3 76.2 Phonological awareness in L1 Timed word and non-word reading L1 Dictation in L1 Other Kormos, J. -
Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages Patrick Rebuschat
Introduction: Implicit and explicit learning of languages Patrick Rebuschat (Lancaster University) Introduction to the forthcoming volume: Rebuschat, P. (Ed.) (in press, 2015). Implicit and explicit learning of languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Implicit learning, essentially the process of acquiring unconscious (implicit) knowledge, is a fundamental feature of human cognition (Cleeremans, Destrebecqz, & Boyer, 1998; Dienes, 2012; Perruchet, 2008; Shanks, 2005; Reber, 1993). Many complex behaviors, including language comprehension and production (Berry & Dienes, 1993; Winter & Reber, 1994), music cognition (Rohrmeier & Rebuschat, 2012), intuitive decision making (Plessner, Betsch, & Betsch, 2008), and social interaction (Lewicki, 1986), are thought to be largely dependent on implicit knowledge. The term implicit learning was first used by Arthur Reber (1967) to describe a process during which subjects acquire knowledge about a complex, rule-governed stimulus environment without intending to and without becoming aware of the knowledge they have acquired. In contrast, the term explicit learning refers to a process during which participants acquire conscious (explicit) knowledge; this is generally associated with intentional learning conditions, e.g., when participants are instructed to look for rules or patterns. In his seminal study, Reber (1967) exposed subjects to letter sequences (e.g., TPTS, VXXVPS and TPTXXVS) by means of a memorization task. In experiment 1, subjects were presented with letter sequences and simply asked to commit them to memory. One group of subjects was given sequences that were generated by means of a finite-state grammar (Chomsky, 1956, 1957; Chomsky & Miller, 1958), while the other group received randomly 1 constructed sequences. The results showed that grammatical letter sequences were learned more rapidly than random letter sequences. -
Classroom Discourse Analysis in EFL Elementary Lessons
International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 2015 Classroom Discourse Analysis in EFL Elementary Lessons Dorota Domalewska communication. Language thus activated and internalized Abstract—The present study is an attempt to confront the becomes part of the students’ cognitive resources [2]. problem of many Thai students’ failure to communicate fluently Learning needs to be meaningful as it allows “new pieces of and accurately in English. For this reason the study investigates information [to be] attached to existing knowledge so that a the patterns of teacher-student interaction in beginner EFL (English as a Foreign Language) lessons in a Thai elementary new, meaningful whole, like the completed puzzle, is formed” school. The analysis of classroom discourse shows that one-way [3]. Learning needs to be based on the processes of communication prevails in the lessons with the teachers leading assimilation, accommodation, developing meaningful teacher-fronted discussion and students listening and then either cognitive sets (i.e. forming logical connection and repeating after the teacher or responding briefly. If the students organization in the material), and using advanced organizers are engaged in a discussion, they are asked mainly comprehension, assent or educational (grammar and vocabulary) (i.e. general concepts that help the learner to organize and questions. Furthermore, an examination of the teachers’ and understand new material). Meaningful learning allows the students’ verbal behaviors shows frequent code-switching information to be retained for a longer period of time; the practices. information may be retrieved faster; furthermore, the student’s cognitive structure is developed. Index Terms—Classroom discourse analysis, code switching, Teachers tend to limit speaking opportunities for their elementary education, English as a foreign language. -
The Shanghai Center for Research in English Language Education (SCRELE)
The Shanghai Center for Research in English Language Education (SCRELE) The Shanghai Center for Research in English Language Education (SCRELE) was established in 2016 by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission to push forward city-wide English curriculum innovations in basic education through in-depth university-school collaborations. Based at Shanghai International Studies University, SCRELE involves researchers, teacher educators and teachers from major universities, education development institutes, and schools in Shanghai and scholars from other parts of China. In particular, as one of the key research centers for humanities and social sciences in Shanghai, SCRELE aims to establish strong connections and collaborations with researchers, teacher educators and practitioners from overseas educational institutions. Currently, SCRELE has over 70 full-time and part-time researchers and keeps close contact with English teachers in primary and secondary schools in Shanghai, with Professor Rod Ellis, Professor Xiaotang Cheng, Professor Yuko Butler and a number of other prominent EFL scholars on its advisory board. In addition, SCRELE is now working with schools in Shanghai (e.g. Haitong Primary School, Shanghai Foreign Language School Affiliated to SISU, Fuxing Senior High School, Shanghai Beijiao School, etc.) and other parts of China in their school-based curriculum innovation projects through ongoing collaborations. As part of its first five-year plan, SCRELE has been: (1) conducting research projects on important aspects of English language education for young learners, including foreign language curriculum innovation, material development, teacher education, and assessment; (2) developing textbooks and instructional resources for Year 1 to Year 12 in alignment with the new national curriculum standards; (3) educating teachers to enable them to implement the new curriculum standards. -
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Salem State University From the SelectedWorks of Sovicheth Boun March 24, 2014 A Critical Examination Of Language Ideologies And Identities Of Cambodian Foreign-Trained University Lecturers Of English Sovicheth Boun Available at: https://works.bepress.com/sovicheth-boun/2/ Table of Contents General Conference Information ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3-‐13 Welcome Messages from the President and the Conference Chair ........................................................................................................................ 3 Conference Program Committee .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Registration Information, Exhibit Hall Coffee Hours, Breaks, Internet Access, Conference Evaluation ................................................ 4 Strand Coordinators and Abstract Readers .................................................................................................................................................................. 5-‐6 Student Volunteers, Individual Sessions and Roundtable Sessions Instructions ............................................................................................ 7 Conference Sponsors .............................................................................................................................................................................................................