Psycho Linguistics' Reflection

Psycholinguistics The Reflection of The Study

1. What I learned 2. Why I need to learn it 3. How I

learned it 4. The Implications of the material

2012

Resty Maya Sari

A1B009031

Psycholinguistics 2012

TÜÜtÇzxw uçM exáàç hv{|{t Page 1

PREFACE

I'm sure we all know what psycholinguistic is. Psycholinguistic is study about

psychology and linguistic. It is about the human brain and language.

This paper are arranged to reflect the materials of psycholinguistic lesson that have

been learned before. The reflections consist of:

1. What I learned

2. Why I need to learn it

3. How I learned it

4. The Implications of the material

In this moment, the writer would like to express her gratitude to Mrs. Hilda Puspita,

M.A, as a psycholinguistic lecturer which has given guidance and lesson about this

assignment, so the writer can finish this paper. The writer will also say “thank you” to many

people who assisted in completing this paper.

The writer realizes that this paper is still far from being perfect, therefore any

suggestions and constructive critics are always welcome for the improvement of this paper.

Bengkulu, May 2012

Resty Maya Sari



LIST OF CONTENT

Preface Preface Preface Preface ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................2222

List of Content List of Content List of Content List of Content ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3333

Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Chapter 1

What I learnedWhat I learnedWhat I learnedWhat I learned ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................4444


Why I need to Learn it Why I need to Learn it Why I need to Learn it Why I need to Learn it ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................12121212


How I learned it How I learned it How I learned it How I learned it ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................13131313


The Implications of the MaterialThe Implications of the MaterialThe Implications of the MaterialThe Implications of the Material................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................14141414



CHAPTER 1

What I learned

Definition of Psycholinguistics

In the first meeting of this lesson, we studied

about definition of psycholinguistics.

Psycholinguistics is a study of language processing..

Psycholinguistic study how people perform the

functions of language comprehension and production.

It has relation with language processing and

acquisition. Language processing is the study of

how humans comprehend and produce language (sentences, words within sentences, and

sequences of sentences, etc.) in real time. We can divide this into language comprehension

(understanding what is spoken and what is written) andlanguage production (choosing what to

say or write basedon what you want to “mean”). Language acquisition is the study of how

humans acquire knowledge of their native language (as infants and as children).

Brain and Language

There are two hemispheres of the brain:

1. Left: Dominant in analytic reasoning, temporal

ordering, arithmetic, and language processing

2. Right: processing music, perceiving nonlinguistic

sounds, visual and spatial skills



Corpus callosum: bundle of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the brain for the

purpose of exchanging information between the two halves

Cortex: outer surface of the brain responsible for many of the cognitive abilities or functions of

the brain.

Language center: parts of the cortex used only for the production and comprehension of

language. Language center is included Broca's area which is located in motor cortex. The

functions of Broca’s area are to organize the articulatory patterns of language and directing the

motor cortex when talking and control the use of inflectional and functional morphemes. The

second is Wernicke's area which is located in auditory cortex. The functions of Wernicke’s area

are to comprehension of words and selection of words when producing sentences and to crucial

to the human capacity to read and write. The third is Arcuate fasciculus which have the

functions to bundle of nerve fibers connecting Broca’s and Wernicke’s and to let Broca’s area

and Wernicke’s area share information. The last one is Angular gyrus that is located between

Wernicke’s and visual cortex, the functions of Angular Gyrus are to convert visual stimuli into

auditory stimuli and vice versa , and to allow us to match the spoken form of a word with the

object it describes.

Language disorder

Aphasia: inability to perceive, process, or produce language because of physical damage to

the (mainly left) brain.

1) Broca’s aphasia

a. inability to plan the motor sequences used in speech or sign� phonological

impairment



b. telegraphic speech (expressive disorder) � absence of function, grammatical

morphemes

c. relatively intact comprehension

2) Wernicke’s aphasia

d. characterized by being apparently grammatical but lacking in meaning:

e. inability to understand others’ speech (cannot follow instruction)

f. circumlocutions often used

g. jumbled word order (receptive disorders)

3) Conduction aphasia

h. damage to the arcuate fasciculus

i. shows sign of Wernicke’s aphasia but is able to understand speech of others

j. cannot repeat: problem of transmission between Broca’s and Wernicke’s area

First Language Acquisition

According to behaviorism theory, definition of the first language acquisition is we learn

language through a process of stimulus (hearing, input) and response (our trials). Correct

responses are rewarded, as is our correct language

use, which increases over time.Key phrase: Habit

Formation.

On the other hand, definition of the first

language acquisition according to nativism theory is

we are born with a Language Acquisition Device

(LAD) and access to Universal Grammar (UG). We

are not born knowing English, or French, or Thai. Rather, we are born with innate knowledge of



certain universal structures. Children are born with abstract, structural knowledge about

Language, which allows them to discover the rules of particular languages -- “to engage in

constant evaluation … so as to construct the simplest possible system [to explain] the linguistic

data” (Brown, p. 24). Key Phrase: Rule Formation.

Negative formation:

� 1st stage - attach no/not to beginning of sentence (sometimes at end)

� 2nd stage – negatives appear between subject and verb (don’t stayed at beginning in

imperatives, but not can’t)

� 3rd stage – appearance of nobody/nothing&anybody/anything& inconsistent use of “to be”

verb is and auxiliary “dummy” do verb.

Question formation:

2 years old

1. Yes/no question (Raising intonation)

2. WH question

◦ 1st stage – wh- word placed in front of rest of sentence: Where daddy go?

◦ 2nd stage – addition of an auxiliary verb: Where you will go?

◦ 3rd stage – subject noun changes places with the auxiliary: Where will you go?

Critical period:

Critical period is period in which the children expose language during a particular time. In

this period the children will acquire language better from two years until puberty. Example case

study involved Chelsea, a deaf child who was misdiagnosed as retarded and emotionally disturb.

Chelsea grew up without language and was not expose to speech until the age of thirty-one,

when she was finally fitted with hearing aids. After intensive therapy, she is able to hold a job



and to live independently. However, her vocabulary consists of only 2000 words and her

sentences are badly formed. Positive critical period believes that human can acquire the language

even though he/she learns the language after critical period, but the negative believes that

acquiring the language after critical period can’t be successful.

Second Language Acquisition

The study of second language acquisition involves:

1. How second languages are learned ( The process);

2. How learners create a new language system with limited exposure (interactions);

3. Language proficiency levels (competence and performance of the language); and

4. Why some learners achieve native-like proficiency.

Learners acquire a second language by drawing on their background experiences and prior

knowledge in their first language. They experiment with the second language by using features

found in their first language which are similar to those in the second language. This dependence

on the first language serves to help the learner construct an

interlanguage, a transitional system consisting of the

learner’s current second language knowledge.

Communication strategies help the learners use what they

already know to overcome breakdowns in communication.

The speech of second language learners can exhibit non-native like characteristics in any

linguistic domain. When the inter-language grammar stops changing, it is said to have fossilized.

Motivation

Motivation is a desire to achieve a goal, combined with the energy to work towards that

goal.Educational psychologists point to three major sources of motivation in learning :



The learner’s natural interest: intrinsic satisfaction

The teacher/institution/employment: extrinsic reward

Success in the task: combining satisfaction and reward

In general source motivation divided into: Extrinsic

(outside the person) such as, Satisfaction and intrinsic (inside the person), such as Reward .

Types of motivation

Instrumental motivation

It is motivation involves wanting to learn the L2 for specific goal or reason

Integrative motivation

It is motivation involves wanting to learn the L2 in order to learn more about a particular

culture or fit into it better

Anxiety

Anxiety is psychological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and

behavioral.Anxiety divided into two parts:

The positive anxiety is a result of being in a

situation of real danger.

The negative anxiety, which answer to,

fears that only exists in our imagination.

Causes of Anxiety arenegative experiences

of learning a language at school , fear of

making mistakes, fear of not being

understood, fear of critical reaction from

others ,worrying about my accent, 'Freezing' when called upon to speak, getting to grips with



grammar, remembering vocabulary, and wanting to translate every word but finding it doesn't

help.

Teacher’s Talk

Teachers Talk brings the voice of teachers to the debate around safety and discipline in

schools.

1. Instruction

2. Question

3. Explanation

Teachers Talk Characteristics are: Rate of speech appears to

be slower, pauses which may be evidence of the speaker

planning more are, possibly more frequent and longer,

Pronunciation tends to be exaggerated and simplified,

vocabulary use is more basic, degree of subordination is slower,

more declaratives and statements are used than questions, teachers may self-repeat more

frequently.

Questions

The questions of teacher talk are necessary in the learning process. So, the functions of

questions for teacher talk are: Students or learners 'negotiate' by showing whether they

understand or not, to stimulate student’s ‘ Silent Period’, to get student’s response, to build good

communication, so students not only listen, sit, and silent in classroom. They need’ high quality

input’, to assess student’s understanding, to invite student’s interest, to make sure that students

get the message well, to get regular feedback through questions, and to increase learner

involvement in the class.



• Feedback is teachers’ evaluation of the students’ response.It can be given by means of

praise, by any relevant comment or action, or by silence.

• Functions of giving feedback to let learner know how well they have performed, increased

motivation, and build a supportive classroom climate.

There are so many ways or strategies on giving feedback like, be honest, be positive but do

not offer empty praise, use nonverbal feedback, and try not to compare one learner to another.

Two main components of feedback

a. Teacher’s correction

Correction helps students to clarify their understanding of meaning and construction of

the language.

b. Teacher’s assessment

Confirmation (such as That is perfectly correct, Excellent, Good, No, that is wrong).

Encouragement (such as that is better, Try it again, don’t worry).

Multiple Intelegence

Multiple intelegence is a theory that challenged the dominant definition of intelligence as

limited to mathematical and linguistic abilities (verbal and computational intelligences). Howard

Garner suggested that all individuals have personal intelligence profiles that consist of

combinations of nine different intelligence types.

Intelligence Smart

linguistic intelligence

Logical-mathematical intelligence

Visual-spatial intelligence

“Word smart”

“number/reasoning smart”

“picture smart”



Bodily kinesthetic intelligence

Musical intelligence

Intrapersonal intelligence

Interpersonal intelligence

Naturalist intelligence

Existentialist intelligence

“body smart”

“music smart”

“self smart”

“people smart”

“nature smart”

“existence smart”

Learning Styles and Strategies

Learning style is the general approaches that students use in acquiring a new language or in

learning any other subject.

Sensory preferences can be broken down into three main areas:

1. Visual: Visual students like to read and obtain a great

deal from visual stimulation.

2. Auditory: auditory students are comfortable without

visual input and therefore enjoy and profit from

conversations, and oral directions.

3. Kinesthetic: Kinaesthetic and tactile students like

lots of movement and enjoy working with tangible

objects, collages, and flashcards. Sitting at a desk for

very long is not for them; they prefer to have frequent

breaks and move around the room.



CHAPTER II

Why I Need to Learn It

As an English teacher to be, I need to understand all about the relation between psychology

and linguistics. Of course, it is helpful when I’ll be an English teacher later. Firstly, I need to

learn this subject in order to understand about all of the things that related to the students

psychology in learning language, especially English. The things is such as; students’ motivation,

anxiety, multiple intelligence, learning style, learning strategy, etc. By learning this subject, I as

an English teacher feel easier to understand about the students’ psychology in language

acquisition and comprehension. Secondly, I need to learn this subject in order to help me in

solving the students’ problem. For instance; if there is a student who has low motivation in

learning English, I will get the problem solving for this case easily by looking the student’s

psychology in learning English. And finally, I also can use some techniques in teaching process

in order to make students feel interesting. The teaching techniques and approaches based on the

students’ intelligence and learning style. That’s why I need to learn psycholinguistics lesson then

apply it when I be an English teacher.



CHAPTER III

How I Learned It

All of the materials of psycholinguistics lesson are explained by groups of the class, except

the first material [definition of psycholinguistics]. The class was divided into seven groups who

explained one material for each group. After the group explained the material, Mrs. Hilda

Puspita, M.A , as the lecturer re-explained about the material was discussed. Moreover, the clear

and simple explanation from her made me feel interesting for this lesson even though I still feel

confuse about the differences implications for each material. I think that all of the materials give

the same implications for teaching and learning process. Thus, I still have a big question in my

mind, “What will happen if the teacher is not applying the implications of the materials well?”

“Will it be a big trouble?”

So far, the teaching technique which was used by Mrs. Hilda Puspita M.A is so good. I am

so appreciate to understand about this subject more because her clear explanations. I learned all

of the material by seeing and hearing the groups’ and lecturer’s explanation in the class, I tried to

search the material in internet then learned it by myself. It is not easy to understand about this

subject but it is enough interesting to learn about psycholinguistics. However, I think it is enough

interesting because if we learn about psycholinguistics, we learn about human brain.



CHAPTER IV

The Implications of the Material

The implications of the material in teaching:

1. Individual differences affect second language acquisition. These differences may be

developmental, cognitive, affective or social. The implication of the inter-language

continuum for teachers is that with assistance from learning strategies, learners are

able to build mental grammars (rules) of the second language. The continuum

represents different inter-language stages (overlapping grammars) that the learners go

through to use the rules they have learned to interpret and produce speech. Rules are

classified hypotheses because the learner tests certain language rules in his/her

development.

2. The identification of errors that language learners make is important in order to

understand the source of errors and the corrective measures teachers can offer.

Errors happen when learners lack knowledge of second language rules, while mistakes

occur when learners are unable to perform their competence (underlying knowledge that

is non-observable). Overt errors are deviations in form and covert errors are those that are

well-formed but do not communicate what the learner intended.

3. For teachers of English language learners, it is important to understand the role of

errors in second language learning. Error analysis is important because it gives us the

opportunity to examine learner errors and determine if errors are a consequence of first

language interference or not. Implications for teachers come in planning instruction that

addresses patterns in errors made by students experiencing language interference,



grouping practices to target the identified errors, and instructional methodologies and

strategies for helping learners overcome some of their errors. Errors made by a language

learner can give teachers insight as to how much knowledge the learner has in the second

language. They are a means of diagnosing progress or lack of progress in second

language development. Errors are to be seen as part of a process of second language

acquisition not just as the result of imperfect learning.

4. Contrastive analysis helps teachers understand potential errors language learners

make. This understanding will allow teachers to identify what needs to be learned and

what is already in the learner’s system. What needs to be learned will be the focus of

instruction and what is already learned will be the knowledge the learner brings to the

learning situations.

5. As teachers, we should have a good idea of the motivationalbeliefs that our students bring

into the classroom. It is important that we must aware that our students may already

have formed favourable or unfavourable beliefs about a topic before they come into

class. Knowledge about our students’ motivational beliefs will allow us to plan learning

activities that make good use of their favourable motivational beliefs and prompt them to

reconsider unfavourable beliefs. Students are very successful in hiding their thoughts and

feelings, leading to misconceptions about their values, self-efficacy beliefs and outcome

expectations.

6. As a teacher we should know about what the things that can make the students become

anxiety. We have to know the problem solving of this case while we face it. It can be

done by the teacher self or by students’ friends.



7. Teachers talk is variety of language that sometimes used by teachers when they are in

the process of teaching. It is to communicate with learners, teachers often simplify their

speech, giving it many of the characteristics of foreigner talk and other simplified styles

of speech addressed to language learners.

8. It is important that a teacher create an “intelligence profiles” for each student.

Knowing how each student learns will allow the teacher to properly assess the child's

progress and allow students to explain the material in their own ways using the different

intelligences.

9. If there is harmony between (a) the student (in terms of style and strategy preferences)

and (b) the combination of instructional methodology and materials, then the student

is likely to perform well, feel confident, and experience low anxietymake stuedents feel

comfortable with the mothod of learning the teacher gives.

10. The teacher can set the appropriate materials for teacing by giving one-by one or

combine all of styles of learningStrategies that fulfill these conditions “make learning

easier, faster, more Interesting”

11. The more that teachers know about their students' style preferences, the more

effectively they can orient their L2 instruction , as well as the strategy teaching that can

be interwoven into language instruction, matched to those style preferences.

Documents

Psycho Linguistics' Reflection