/SPAN>Incorrect utterances that are produced but not imitated ?揑 goed to the bathroom?/P>
/SPAN>Novel utterances that are produced even though the speaker has never heard that particular combination produced before
/SPAN>Researchers observe that 1st language learners typically receive reinforcement for meaning rather than grammar, further diluting the Behaviorist model
/SPAN>However, 2nd language learners typically receive reinforcement for grammar
Innatist (Nativist) ?Key Concepts
nThe Basic Concept: Every human being is born with an innate knowledge of language structures, giving them access to the universal principles of human language
n Attention focuses on theoretical evidence, abstract relationships & linguistic development with emphasis on:
/SPAN>Common structural element across languages
/SPAN>Genetic and Neural-Physiological relationship that could explain language acquisition universals
/SPAN>Grammar rules and transformations
/SPAN>Does not attempt to address the role of the social environment in language development
nKey terms: - Universal Grammar, Innate Parameters, hypothesis testing, Language Acquisition device,
Concepts?/P>
nInnatism does not attempt to account for feelings and other cognitive processes
nChildren learn complex language with relatively little input where input does not account for the complexity of output (poverty of stimulus)
nHuman are born with the capacity for any human language
nThis capacity takes the form of innate access to general or universal principles of all human languages
nThis innate knowledge allows us to select any particular language, and, based on a few instances of input, to produce very complex outputs never encountered as input
nThis process may be linguistically based, physiologically based, or both
U.G. & the Innate Parameter Hypothesis
nWe are born with an understanding if innate parameters of language and minimal instances of input will allow us to set the parameters for our own language.
nE.g. the head-first/head-last parameter of language?/P>
In English, phrases are head-first; a noun is at the head of a phrase, a preposition at the head of a PP, a verb at the head of a verb phrase. The parameter is that if one of these phrases is head-first in a language, they all will be. A few inputs is enough to understand the head-first parameter, which allows the learner to correctly construct other phrases.
In Korean and Japanese, phrases are head-last. This relates easily with English speakers learning Korean or Korean speakers learning English based on the discovery that everything is basically backwards and is dealt with correctly, automatically and innately on that premise
Innatism (Nativist) ?Key Theorists
nChomsky ?(1960) American: Father of Innatism and generative linguistics, more recently a leading political dissident whose critiques of American media and foreign & domestic policies have been scathing.
/SPAN>away from empiricism (the observation of naturally occurring data) and towards rationalism (theory of mind and cognitive plausibility )
/SPAN>Tranformational Generative Grammar Theory - all languages share a common "core grammar" that differs only in their "superficial grammars."
/SPAN>Universal Grammar - if a scientist from another planet were to observe the languages of the earth, he would find that aside from their differing vocabularies, that they were the "same" language
The Basis of Chomsky抯 contribution to Linguistics?/SPAN>
Instead of starting with minimal sounds, as the structural linguists had done, Chomsky began with the primitive or rudimentary sentence; from this base he developed his argument that innumerable syntactic combinations can be generated by means of a complex series of rules.
According to transformational grammar, every intelligible sentence conforms not only to grammatical rules that are peculiar to its particular language, but also to 揹eep structures,?- a universal grammar that underlies all languages and corresponds to an innate capacity of the human brain. Chomsky and other linguists who have built on his work have formulated transformational rules, which transform a sentence with a given grammatical structure (e.g., 揓ohn saw Mary?) into a sentence with a different grammatical structure but the same essential meaning ( 揗ary was seen by John?).
nDulay and Bert (1982) American, The Creative Construction Theory
/SPAN>The process of SLA is very similar to that of FLA
/SPAN>Second language learners creatively construct the rules of the second language in a manner that is similar to that observed in first language acquisition
/SPAN>Most English language errors produced by SLA learners are similar to errors made by children acquiring English as a first language and are not attributable to the learner抯 mother tongue (refuting contrastive analysis)
nSteven Krashen, (1992), American, The natural Approach, consisting of 5 hypothesis (following)
/SPAN>Continuing in the innatist tradition, Krashen developed a series of hypothesis about second language acquisition that have been widely accepted in the field of second language teaching.
/SPAN>The wide acceptance is largely based on the fact that his hypothesis attempt to address classroom-based second language learning
/SPAN>The initial work and research was accomplished by Krashen (a theorist) and Terrell (an ESL teacher with extensive experience teaching English in Mexico and the US) which added an important practical perspective
/SPAN>The first notable multidisciplinary approach to SLA
Innatist Theory (FLA & SLA)
Krashen抯 theories continue to be very influential in promoting language teaching practices within the constructs of SLA theory for both 1st and 2nd LA.
Application of the various theories (next 4 slides) can be summarized as follows?/P>
/SPAN>Focus on communication, not on form
/SPAN>Allow students a silent period rather than forcing immediate speech production
/SPAN>Create a low-anxiety environment
/SPAN>Comprehensible input provides the theoretical cornerstone for Sheltered Instruction and Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE)
ACQUISITION-LEARNING HYPOTHESIS
/SPAN>Language Acquisition Device (LAD) NEVER shuts off. The LAD grinds slow but sure.
/SPAN>Acquisition requires conscious focus on meaning.
/SPAN>Learning requires conscious focus on form.
/SPAN>Acquisition and learning are in complementary distribution; can not consciously focus both on form and meaning at the same time.
/SPAN>When speaking fluently (natural spontaneous conversation), you can only use your (subconscious) acquired competence (AC).
/SPAN>Learning does not become acquisition through practice (Non-interface position).
/SPAN>You can acquire what you have learned only through exposure to input, and not through conscious practice.
/SPAN>.Acquisition with or without conscious learning is basically the same.
NATURAL ORDER HYPOTHESIS (NO)
/SPAN>Grammar rules of any language are acquired in a predetermined order.
/SPAN>NO concerns acquisition - not learning.
/SPAN>NO remains the same irrespective of learning environment, language background, intelligence etc.
/SPAN>Teaching/learning order does not correspond to NO of acquisition.
/SPAN>Inalterability of NO supports the non-interface position.
/SPAN>LAD is immune to conscious teaching/learning intervention.
/SPAN>You cannot acquire a rule unless you are psycholinguistically ready.
INPUT HYPOTHESIS (IH)
/SPAN>Acquisition is inevitable when exposed to comprehensible input (CI).
/SPAN>Acquisition takes place when conscious focus is on meaning
3.If you try consciously to focus both on form and meaning, acquisition will not take place.
4.Comprehension precedes production.
5.Speaking emerges on its own after a silent period of active listening (as does writing, after extensive reading).
MONITOR HYPOTHESIS
/SPAN>Learned competence (LC) act as a monitor or editor.
/SPAN>LC can correct utterances initiated by AC over time.
/SPAN>LC enhances comprehension and increase CI potential
/SPAN>Enhanced comprehension & more CI = faster acquisition
/SPAN>The goal of LC is the facilitation of comprehension (receptive grammar), not the conversion from LC to AC.
AFFECTIVE FILTER (AF) HYPOTHESIS
/SPAN>Only errors causing meaning problems should be corrected.
/SPAN>Error correction does not necessarily lead to the correction of those errors.
/SPAN>Error correction strengthen AF which will block acquisition
/SPAN>Forcing premature production strengthens AF as well.
Notes on Innatist Theory: Interlanguage
nA learner抯 language, at any given point, is a legitimate linguistic system in its own right.
nA learner抯 linguistic development is not a process of developing fewer 搃ncorrect structures, nor is it the production of malformed, imperfect language. Instead, it is a complete and legitimate linguistic system representing a creative human process that continues to evolve, the result of forming and testing hypothesis that are based on input.
nAs the learner抯 language develops, these hypotheses are continually revised, reshaped, replaced, and sometimes abandoned and reinvented.
Interactionist Theory ?Key Concepts
nThe Basic Concept: Children have some innate knowledge of the structures of language, but also require meaningful interaction with others to acquire language structures.
nWhile the behavior and innatist models represent two opposite extremes in language development theory, the interactionist approach to language development recognizes and accepts major arguments from both approaches. Interactionists support the belief that many factors including social, linguistic, maturational/biological, and cognitive skills affect the course of development. These cognitive and social factors not only modify language acquisition, but language acquisition in turn modifies the development of cognitive and social skills
Interactionism: Schools of Thought
This theory believes that language acquisition is innate and is dependant on interaction with native speakers.
Two smaller schools stem from this approach; they are the Cognitivist School and the Social Interactionist school.
The Cognitivist believes that learning language is nothing special and is just a process that fits under regular cognitive development. Therefore, a child learns language like it learns anything else, by doing day-to-day activities.
The Social Interactionist believes that language is mainly picked up through social activity, such as a mother bonding with her baby and caregiver input (FLA) and social language interacting or scaffolding (SLA).
Comprehensible Input
nComprehensible Input is the result of modified interaction (the various modifications that native speakers and learners create in order to make their input comprehensible to the learner
nAn obvious example of this is caregiver speech, where adults modify their speech to children. When native speakers talk to non-native speakers, they may slow down speech, over-pronounce, speak deliberately, etc.
nNon-native speakers may use a trial-and-error process of give-and-take in communication, exerting considerable control over the communication process, causing their partner to provide input that is more comprehensible.
nThey may do this by eliciting repetitions, indicating they don抰 understand, or responding in ways that indicate lack of comprehension.
nThis causes the native/advanced speaker to modify their communication to make the input more comprehensible, e.g. modified caregiver speech, paraphrasing, non-verbal clues, gestures, drawing, etc.
Notes in Interactionist Theory
nInteractionism focuses on causes and consequences of the multiple variables inherent to the interactive classroom.
nInteractionism in SLA research centers on the language classroom, not just as a place where learners of varying abilities, styles and backgrounds come to learn, but also as a place where the contexts for interaction are carefully designed. Through material and curriculum development, the focus is on creating optimal environments in a socially constructed process that ______________input and learner language
nInteractionism forms the basis for Student Centered and Learner-Centered methods
Information Processing Theory (G. Miller)
Miller has provided two theoretical ideas that are fundamental to cognitive psychology and the information processing framework. The principles of Millers theories are?
nShort term memory (or attention span) is limited to seven chunks of information.
n2. Planning in the form of TOTE units (test-operate-test-exit) is a fundamental cognitive process.
n3. Behavior is hierarchically organized (e.g., chunks, TOTE units).
Chunking
The first concept is "chunking" and the capacity of short term memory.
short-term memory can only hold 5-9 chunks of information (seven plus or minus two) where a chunk is any meaningful unit. A chunk could refer to digits, words, chess positions, or people‘s faces. The concept of chunking and the limited capacity of short-term memory became a basic element of all subsequent theories of memory.
The phenomenon of chunking has been verified at all levels of cognitive processing.
TOTE (Test-Operate-Test-Exit)
Miller et al. suggested that TOTE should replace the stimulus-response as the basic unit of behavior. In a TOTE unit, a goal is tested to see if it has been achieved and if not an operation is performed to achieve the goal; this cycle of test-operate is repeated until the goal is eventually achieved or abandoned.
Connectionism (E. Thorndike)
nConnectionism is based on the original stimuli/responses framework of behavioral psychology: Such associations or "habits" become strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-R pairings. The paradigm for S-R theory is trial and error learning in which certain responses come to dominate others due to rewards. Learning is explained without regard to unobservable internal states.
/SPAN>Learning requires both practice and rewards (laws of effect /exercise)
/SPAN>2. A series of S-R connections can be chained together if they belong to the same action sequence (law of readiness).
/SPAN>3. Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered situations.
/SPAN>4. Intelligence is a function of the number of connections learned.
Connectionism was meant to be a general theory of learning. Thorndike was especially interested in its application to education including mathematics, various language applications, measurement of intelligence and adult learning
Thorndike‘s theory consists of three primary laws:
/SPAN>law of effect - responses to a situation which are followed by a rewarding state of affairs will be strengthened and become habitual responses to that situation,
/SPAN>law of readiness - a series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some goal which will result in annoyance if blocked
/SPAN>law of exercise - connections become strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinued. A corollary of the law of effect was that responses that reduce the likelihood of achieving a rewarding state (i.e., punishments, failures) will decrease in strength.
nConnectionism that transfer of learning depends upon the presence of identical elements in the original and new learning situations; i.e., transfer is always specific, never general.
nIn later versions of the theory, the concept of "belongingness" was introduced; connections are more readily established if the person perceives that stimuli or responses go together (Gestalt principles).
nAnother concept introduced was "polarity" which specifies that connections occur more easily in the direction in which they were originally formed than the opposite.
nThorndike also introduced the "spread of effect" idea, i.e., rewards affect not only the connection that produced them but temporally adjacent connections as well.
Subsumption Theory (D. Ausubel)
nConcerned with how individuals learn large amounts of meaningful material from verbal/textual presentations in a school setting (rather than laboratory experiments). Key principles are?
/SPAN>The most general ideas of a subject should be presented first and then progressively differentiated in terms of detail and specificity.
/SPAN>Instructional materials should attempt to integrate new material with previously presented information through comparisons and cross-referencing of new and old ideas.
nlearning is based on superordinate, representational, and combinatorial processes that occur during the reception of information. New material is related to relevant ideas in the existing cognitive structure (subsumption). Cognitive structures represent the residue of all learning experiences, and forgetting occurs because certain details get integrated and lose their individual identity.
nSubsumption involves reorganization of existing cognitive structures not the development of new structures as constructivist theories suggest.
nSubsumption theory only applies to reception (expository) learning in school settings. He distinguishes reception learning from rote and discovery learning. (expository = presentation if information in clear precise form)
Experiential (Humanistic) Learning (C. Rogers)
Rogers distinguished two types of learning: cognitive (meaningless) and experiential (significant). The former corresponds to academic knowledge such as learning vocabulary or multiplication tables and the latter refers to applied knowledge such as learning about engines in order to repair a car. The key to the distinction is that experiential learning addresses the needs and wants of the learner.
/SPAN>Significant learning takes place when the subject matter is relevant to the personal interests of the student
/SPAN>Learning which is threatening to the self (e.g., new attitudes or perspectives) are more easily assimilated when external threats are at a minimum
/SPAN>Learning proceeds faster when the threat to the self is low
/SPAN>Self-initiated learning is the most lasting and pervasive.
Experiental Learning applies primarily to adult learners and has widely influenced other theories of adult learning s
To Rogers, experiential learning is equivalent to personal change and growth. Rogers feels that all human beings have a natural propensity to learn; the role of the teacher is to facilitate such learning. This includes:
nsetting a positive climate for learning,
nclarifying the purposes of the learner(s),
norganizing and making available learning resources,
nbalancing intellectual and emotional components of learning
n sharing feelings and thoughts with learners but not dominating.
According to Rogers, learning is facilitated when:
/SPAN>the student participates completely in the learning process and has control over its nature and direction
/SPAN>it is primarily based upon direct confrontation with practical, social, personal or research problems
/SPAN>self-evaluation is the principal method of assessing progress or success. Rogers also emphasizes the importance of learning to learn and an openness to change.
For example, person interested in scuba diving might seek out books or classes on the subject. Such an individual would perceive (and learn) any information provided on this subject in a much different fashion than a person who is assigned a reading or class.
More Key Concepts
nTransfer The learner抯 use of patterns of the 1st language in second language production & the processes by which the learner抯 L1 interferes with the acquisition and use of an L2. Transfer can be positive (beneficial) or negative (disruptive)
nInterference is essentially negative transfer whereby previously learned material interferes with subsequent material and learning
nOvergeneralization describes errors that occur as a result of trying to use a rule in the context where it does not belong ?e.g. a regular past-tense morpheme 揺d?ending on an irregular verb ?goed for went, buyed for bought
Inductive/Deductive Reasoning
Attitudes and Intelligence
THE END
Lecture 4
Second Language Acquisition
Dr. Robert Schwab, TESOL at Hanyang University, 2002
