Learning & Acquisition

Learning is considered a conscious process where we focus on linguistic forms.

Acquisition is considered as a more natural way of learning a language because the form of the language is SECONDARY to DOING something with the language. We acquire the language UNCONSCIOUSLY.

Consciousness

Being conscious means you you are paying attention

You have some degree of control

BUT We cannot attend to different things unless one of them is automatic

Limited processing space means learners find it hard to ATTEND to form and meaning AT THE SAME time

Attention/ noticing

If you ATTEND to something you NOTICE it.

To acquire the grammar of a language, you need to notice aspects of the language.

Noticing is necessary for INPUT to be processed for FORM.

The noticing hypothesisLearners must first consciously

‘notice’ some particular form in the input before any processing of that form can take place.

Why does noticing help the language learner You become more aware of the language and thus

more receptive to it. You notice the gaps in your own knowledge. Noticing is realised through FOCUS ON FORM

APPROACHES OR Fonf approaches. The focus is STILL on communication but you draw

learners’ attention to linguistic forms as they arise in natural, authentic communication

Noticing

Influences on noticing (adapted from Skehan)

NOTICING

QUALITY OF INPUT VARIATION BETWEEN

FREQUENCY & INDIVIDUALS – E.G. ARE

SALIENCE THEY READY? (CF zpd)

DEMANDS OF TASK

ON PROCESSING CAPCITY

Helping learners notice form whilst still being a communicative task

(See Ellis Task Based Learning)Structure based production tasks (you need to use the structure to complete the task)Input enrichment tasks (you make a particular structure stand out)Consciousness raising tasks (these aim to get you to notice aspects of your IMPLICIT knowledge & develop explicit knowledge.

Implicit vs. Explicit Language Learning

Area Implicit Explicit

How the knowledge is represented

In chunks, lexical bundles or examples –called ‘exemplar’

Intuitive

Rule based

Getting and using the knowledge

Automatic and effortless

Fluent and skilled

Deliberate: (so needs more effort). Perhaps slower

How do we learn Incidental/unaware

Inductive

Deductive/intentional

Noticed

Attention Unconcious Concious

What does the teacher do?

Unobrustive/none Teacher intervenes/ often uses metalinguistic terms

An interface position

consciousness raising

Implicit explicit

Knowledge knowledge

automatization

Explicit learning does not mean the TEACHER TELLS you the rules.