V IRGINIA M. S COTT Academic Director, Vanderbilt University Center for Second Language Studies CLAS...
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- Slide 1
- V IRGINIA M. S COTT Academic Director, Vanderbilt University
Center for Second Language Studies CLAS & CSLS Teacher Workshop
October 4, 2011 M ULTICOMPETENT S ECOND L ANGUAGE L EARNERS
- Slide 2
- Introduction 2 Confronting realities: Our students often study
a foreign language for two years; soon thereafter they seem to
remember very little. In a class of 20 students, maybe only one has
real talent in the target language; few of them achieve advanced-
or superior-level proficiency. FL teachers dont always agree about
curricular goals and approaches What should we be doing for all
students to prepare them for life and work in our global
community?
- Slide 3
- Introduction 3 double-talk vs. double talk Our future success
as foreign / second language teachers in the United States lies in
adopting an approach to teaching that empowers students to view
themselves as proficient L2 users rather than as deficient native
speakers. My argument is based principally on Cooks notion of
multicompetence.
- Slide 4
- Defining multicompetence This term was first coined by Vivian
Cook (Professor of Applied Linguistics, Newcastle University) at
least 20 years ago. Multicompetence accounts for an individuals
knowledge of language, including both first language competence and
a developing understanding of a second language. is the knowledge
of two languages in one mind. 4
- Slide 5
- Defining multicompetence Cooks notion of multicompetence is
based on 3 principal ideas: 1. A dynamic understanding of
bilingualism 2. The native speaker problem 3. The L2 user 5
- Slide 6
- Defining bilingualism Balanced bilingual: mastery of two
languages is roughly equivalent Covert bilingual:hides knowledge of
another language because of an attitudinal disposition Dominant
bilingual: greater proficiency in one of the two languages Early
bilingual: acquired both languages in childhood Late bilingual:
became bilingual later than childhood Receptive bilingual:
understands but does not read or write Secondary bilingual: second
language has been added to a first via instruction Incipient
bilingual: someone at the early stages of bilingualism (Wei, 2000)
6
- Slide 7
- Defining bilingualism The impasse reached can only be overcome
if bilingualism is no longer regarded as something inside the
speakers head, but as a displayed feature in participants everyday
behavior. You cannot be bilingual in your head, you have to use two
or more languages on stage, in interaction, where you show others
that you are able to do so. (Auer, 1988, p. 167). 7
- Slide 8
- What do bilingual people do? Bilingual people stand between two
languages (L1 and L2), even when apparently only using one. have
the resources of two languages (L1 and L2) readily available
whenever needed. code-switch. 8
- Slide 9
- Code-switching is the alternating use of two or more languages
in a single conversation event. a natural, observable occurrence
among people of all ages who speak more than one language. one
indicator of whether a person is bilingual. is the norm for many
bilinguals. Yeah So, do you want to go prendre un verre now? Le
prof, elle est really nice. 9
- Slide 10
- Code-switching indicates language skill There is a widespread
impression that bilingual speakers code- switch because they cannot
express themselves adequately in one language. This may be true to
some extent when a bilingual is momentarily lost for words in one
of his or her languages. However, code-switching is an extremely
common practice among bilinguals and takes many different forms. It
has been demonstrated that code-switching involves skilled
manipulation of overlapping sections of two (or more) grammars, and
that there is virtually no instance of ungrammatical combination of
the two languages in code-switching, regardless of the bilingual
ability of the speaker. (Wei, 2000, p. 16-17) 10
- Slide 11
- Bilingualism as a dynamic system Cooks notion of
multicompetence has served to frame recent research on
multilingualism: The multicompetence approach allows us to theorize
the interaction between multiple languages in the speakers mind as
a natural and ongoing process and to understand why multilinguals
may perform differently from monolinguals in all of their
languages, including the L1. (Jarvis & Pavlenko, 2008, p.17)
11
- Slide 12
- Bilingualism as a dynamic system Bilingualism is something a
person does with both the first and second languages. A bilingual
person is not two monolinguals in one body but rather a single
speaker-hearer with a unique and complete linguistic system.
(Grosjean, 1997/2000, 2001) A Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) view
offers new ways of thinking about the terms monolingual, bilingual,
and multilingual. Rather than considering them each as distinct
descriptions with particular sets of attributes, they become
variants of one language system. (de Bot, 2008; de Bot, Verspoor,
& Lowie, 2007; Cook 2003; Herdina & Jessner, 2002; Jarvis
& Pavlenko,2008) 12
- Slide 13
- The native speaker problem Second language use is not
comparable to native-like speech. Cook notes that few second
language users can pass for native speakers; their grammar, their
accent, their vocabulary give away that they are non-native
speakers, even after many years of learning the language or many
decades of living in a country (2000, p. 5). His sense that most
people are unable to achieve full mastery of a second language is
supported by research in neuro-linguistics. 13
- Slide 14
- The native speaker problem Given that maturation has [a] strong
influence on second language acquisition, it should come as no
surprise that native-like proficiency in a second language is
unattainable. More surprising are the miraculous levels of
proficiency that second language learners (at all ages) in fact can
reach, despite the constraints that are imposed by our biological
scheduling. (Hyltenstam & Abrahamsson, 2003, p. 578) 14
- Slide 15
- The native speaker problem In recent times, the identity as
well as the authority of the native speaker have been put into
question. The native speaker of linguists and language teachers is
in fact an abstraction based on arbitrarily selected features of
pronunciation, grammar and lexicon, as well as on stereotypical
features of appearance and demeanor.... The native speaker is,
moreover, a monolingual, monocultural abstraction: he/she is one
who speaks only his/her (standardized) native tongue and lives by
one (standardized) national culture. In reality, most people
partake of various languages or language varieties and live by
various cultures and subcultures. (Kramsch, 1998, pp. 79-80)
15
- Slide 16
- The L2 user Cook proposed the term L2 user to describe a
unique, individual speaker-hearer of a target language who stands
in stark contrast to an idealized native speaker. In his view, the
L2 user uses a language other than his or her first language (L1).
exploits whatever linguistic resources he or she has for real-life
purposes, such as reporting symptoms to a doctor, negotiating a
contract, or reading a poem. refers to a person who uses a second
language at any level, however small or ineffective. 16
- Slide 17
- L2 use = a paradigm shift Defining pedagogical goals in terms
of L2 use requires that we rethink the native speaker standard. our
ideas about L1 and L2 use in the classroom. our goals for
lower-level vs. upper-level language students. multicompetent L2
learner 17
- Slide 18
- Promoting multicompetent L2 learners 1. Eliminate a
native-speaker standard. 18
- Slide 19
- Promoting multicompetent L2 learners 2. Establish a
pedagogically coherent understanding of L2 use that is founded on
literacy. What I mean by literacy, then, is more than reading and
writing as skills or as prescribed patterns of thinking. It is
about relationships between readers, writers, texts, culture, and
language learning. It is about the variable cognitive and social
practices of taking and making textual meaning that provide
students access to new communities outside the classroom, across
geographical and historical boundaries. It involves an awareness of
how acts of reading, writing, and conversation create and shape
meanings, not merely transfer them from one individual or group to
another. It is precisely because literacy is not monolithic, but
variable and multiple, tied to the various sociocultural practices
of a given society, that is of key importance in our teaching of
language and culture. (Kern 2003, p. 3). 19
- Slide 20
- Promoting multicompetent L2 learners 3. Design learning goals
that are based on the notion of a multicompetent L2 learner.
20
- Slide 21
- Traditional learning goals GOALS 1. Proficiency in listening,
speaking, reading, writing 2. Grammatical competence 3. Knowledge
about target culture(s) APPROACH 1. Target-language input 2.
Interaction about topics of personal interest related to everyday
life 3. Focus on sentence grammar 4. Discussion of culture in
target language OUTCOME 1. Good language learners identified 2. 20%
of students continue study of target language 3. Rapid attrition of
grammatical knowledge and verbal skills 4. Sense of self as
deficient language learner 21
- Slide 22
- Goals for promoting multicompetent L2 learners GOALS 1. Growing
ability to read and interpret a variety of target language texts
(oral and written) as well as pertinent texts in English 2.
Developing awareness of bilingualism and L2 use 3. Increasing
sensitivity to the ways culture is expressed and perceived in texts
APPROACH 1. Target-language input (oral and written) representing
diverse genres 2. Interaction in both target language and English
3. Focus on words and utterances in oral and written texts 4.
Discussion of bilingualism and second language development OUTCOME
1. All learners identified as L2 users at some level 2. 50% of
students continue study of target language 3. Maintenance of
reading / interpretive abilities 4. Sense of self as L2 user
22
- Slide 23
- The multicompetent L2 learner 23 recognizes acceptable uses of
English (L1) in the classroom. familiarizes him/herself with
features of bilingual and multilingual language use, such as
code-switching, and other cross-linguistic phenomena. articulates
ways that his/her multilingual identity is evolving. seeks out
appropriate target-language texts (oral and written) that
contribute to classroom discussion. reflects critically about oral
and written target-language texts. asks increasingly informed
questions about the target language and culture. exhibits traits of
a multilingual, multi-cultural citizen, such as appreciation of
diversity, tolerance for ambiguity, awareness of human rights
issues, etc. (Scott 2010, p. 163)
- Slide 24
- Suggested reading 24 Cook, V. (2002). Background to the L2
user. In Cook, V. (Ed.), Portraits of the L2 user (pp. 1-28).
Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Herdina, P., & Jessner, U.
(2002). A dynamic model of multilingualism: Perspectives of change
in psycholinguistics. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Jarvis,
S., & Pavlenko, A. (2008). Crosslinguistic influence in
language and cognition. New York, NY: Routledge. Kern, R. G.
(2003). Literacy and advanced foreign language learning: Rethinking
the curriculum. In H. Byrnes & H. H. Maxim (Eds.), Advanced
foreign language learning: A challenge to college programs (pp.
2-18). AAUSC Issues in Language Program Direction. Boston, MA:
Heinle. Kramsch, C. (2006). From communicative competence to
symbolic competence. The Modern Language Journal, 90, 249-252.
Scott, V. M. (2010). Double talk: Deconstructing monolingualism in
classroom second language learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall. Swaffar, J., & Arens, K. (2005). Remapping the
foreign language curriculum: An approach through multiple
literacies. New York, NY: The Modern Language Association.