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To provide an overview of second language acquisition theories
To review research which has investigated individual differences in second language acquisition
To familiarize students with some of the instruments used to collect research data
To provide students an opportunity to design and carry out the teaching of a lesson with a certain theory in mind
Aims of the course
An overview of SLA Theories
Second Language Acquisition as a cognitive skill
Individual Differences in SLA
Ways of selecting information
Language learning strategies
Language learning strategy instruction
Learner Motivation & Attitudes
Learner beliefs & Culture
Learner characteristics: age, gender, language proficiency
Teaching/learning situations: learning context, type, rate & quality of instruction, task requirements & materials
Topics to be discussed
Behaviourism (nurture)
Ιnnatist theory (nature)
Del Hymes’ “Communicative
competence” model
The Interlanguage theory
The cognitive theory
The interactionist view
Vigotsky’s socio-cultural theory
Theories of SLA
What each SLA theory needs to
explain (VanPatten & Williams 2015) Central areas Observations
Knowledge & cognition
A good deal of SLA happens incidentally.
Lrs come to know more than what they have been
exposed to in the input.
Interlanguage Lrs’ output (speech) often follows predictable
stages in the acquisition of a given structure.
SL learning is variable in its outcome.
SL learning is variable across linguistic systems.
First language There are limits on the effect of a Lr’s L1 on SLA.
Linguistic environment
There are limits on the effects of frequency on SLA.
There are limits on the effects of Lr production on
LA.
Instruction There are limits on the effects of instruction on
SLA.
different views about the nature of
language and its acquisition
how linguistic knowledge is processed
the influence of the L1
the contribution of the L2 language
learner to the learning process
cognitive and affective learner
characteristics
Differences in theories of SLA
Behaviourism (nurture)
In LA learners form habits as a result of stimulus-response-reinforcement
In SLA the learners’ first language (L1) habits interfere with those required for the L2
Learners must be nurtured in order to copy and memorise behaviours from the surrounding environment
Drilling and repetition
Taking initiatives in LL is not allowed – learners’ passive role
No provision for individual decision making
The innatist theory (nature)
Human beings are endowed with an innate mechanism which allows them to acquire language
Universal Grammar: abstract knowledge allowing learners to know more about language than they might learn by mere exposure to linguistic input
The ideal native speaker has linguistic knowledge (competence) of a particular natural language
The human mind is modular involving distinctive mechanisms operating on different types of knowledge (i.e. linguistic or cognitive)
Language processes do not need to make reference to cognitive processes
UG emphasises study of universal characteristics of language rather than study of the speaker or learner as a social being
Learners’ intervening role in the learning process is NOT accepted
Recent developments in UG
theory
Extension of interest from the acquisition of L2
narrow syntax and the grammatical features of
the lexicon to the interfaces (eg., the syntax-
discourse/pragmatics interface (external), the
syntax-semantics interface (internal), and the
syntax morphophonology interface (internal).
This development tries to account for existing
inconsistency in adult L2 learners who exhibit
‘variability’ in their L2 linguistic behaviour
(Tsimpli, 2005; Sorace, 2005).
Child language Specialists
Acceptance of a basic notion of an innate
predisposition to language.
BUT
Language development results from an
interaction between innate and
environmental factors.
Active involvement in language use,
equally essential for the development of
communicative competence (Foster-
Cohen, 1999).
Hymes’ ‘communicative’
competence “There are rules of use without which the rules of
grammar will be useless” (Hymes, 1972: 278).
Components (Canale & Swain 1980)
Grammatical competence
Sociolinguistic competence
Discourse competence
Strategic competence
Communicative competence develops through
interaction assisted by learning & communication
strategies
Types of competence
Grammatical cpmpetence “will be understood to include knowledge
of lexical items and of rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-
grammar semantics, and phonology”
Sociolinguistic competence specifies “the ways in which
utterances are produced appropriately… within a given
sociocultural context depending on contextual factors such as
topic, role of participants, setting, and norms of interaction”
Discourse competence concerns knowledge of rules “in terms of
cohesion (i.e., grammatical links) and coherence (i.e., appropriate
combination of communicative functions) of groups of utterances”
Strategic competence is “made up of verbal and non verbal
communication strategies that may be called into action to
compensate for breakdowns in communication due to performance
variables or to insufficient competence”
The Monitor Theory
Krashen’s theory accepts cognitive &
affective aspects in language learning
Hypotheses
The acquisition-learning hypothesis
The monitor hypothesis
The natural order hypothesis
The input hypothesis
The affective filter hypothesis
Interlanguage theory
Interlanguage: the successive mental
grammars constructed by learners during
language development
It considers LL from a cognitive
perspective
The language learner’s language is a
system of its own, being constantly revised
Mental processes responsible for L2
acquisition
Cognitive processes
In interlanguage theory (Selinker 1972)
language transfer
transfer of training
strategies of second language learning
strategies of second language
communication
overgeneralisation of target language
material
It is concerned with the way people process information and the role cognitive processes play in learning.
It allows for the possibility of improving the language learning ability (especially interesting for formal language learning contexts (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990).
It looks at how individual learners approach learning and what processes they use.
Even when learning takes place in highly similar situations, there is the assumption that individuals construct their own reality and acquire different types of knowledge in different ways (Williams and Burden, 2001).
This view accepts the existence of individual differences among learners and promotes pedagogical implications for L2 teachers (Oxford and Ehrman, 1993).
The cognitive theory
Individual differences seem to influence
different aspects of L2 acquisition
the process of L2 acquisition
rate of acquisition
ultimate level of achievement
L2 performance
Why we study IDs
how learners access linguistic
information in real time
what strategies they employ when they
have to deal with incomplete knowledge
of the SL system
why some individuals are better than
others at learning other languages
Central issues for cognitivists
Second language acquisition as a
cognitive skill
SLA is a complex cognitive skill
Operating cognitive systems: perception, memory, and information processing
The cognitive approach does not look simply at learning itself but looks at how individual learners approach learning and what processes they use
Individuals construct own reality and acquire different types of knowledge in different ways
how memory processes and stores new
second language information,
how this information becomes automatised
How it is restructured through repeated
activation
Cognitive systems
Perception
Memory
Information processing
The information processing
approach
Types of memory
short-term or working memory stores
modest amounts of information for a
short period of time conscious effort
and attention are required.
long-term memory has larger storage
capacity
Processing of new information
(Weinstein and Mayer, 1986)
selection
acquisition
construction
integration
Models of information processing
McLaughlin’s information-processing
(1987, 1990)
Anderson’s Adaptive Control of
Thought (ACT) (1983, 1985)
McLaughlin’s information-
processing model
Processing of information
Controlled
Automatic
Restructuring moves continuously
from controlled to automatic
processing
Strategies facilitate restructuring
Anderson’s ACT Model
Types of knowledge
declarative (i.e., know about something):
static
procedural knowledge (i.e., know how to do
something): dynamic
The interactionist view
L2 development is affected by the environment in which the L2 is used.
For learning to take place, L2 input and L2 output are important.
interaction hypothesis (Long 1983): L2 input becomes comprehensible by ‘modified’ interaction
output hypothesis (Swain 1985, 1995): effort to produce output ‘pushes’ learners to become aware of gaps in their current L2 system
noticing, consciousness -raising, hypothesis-testing, attention, and reflection turn new language into intake (=learning)
The socio-cultural theory
Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural theory of cognitive development: language develops as a result of supportive social interaction between a child and a more capable individual
Language is controlled by the same general learning mechanisms that apply to other forms of knowledge and skill development
Language develops first socially (interpersonal use) and then individually (private/inner speech)
The Zone of Proximal
Development
The help provided by the knowledgeable individual to the learner, who is not yet capable of functioning in an autonomous way
Adults direct and support children in their efforts to pay attention to significant features of the environment, rehearse information, formulate plans, articulate steps to be taken, solve problems (scaffolding)
Relevant to classroom learning
Learning strategies operate during language development
Compatible theories
Hymes’ ‘communicative competence’
theory
The ‘Monitor’ theory
The ‘Interlanguage’ theory
Cognitive theory McLaughlin’s information-processing model
Anderson’s Adaptive Control of Thought Model
The interactionist view
The socio-cultural theory
How to teach/learn
effectively & efficiently
For teachers: Do not focus only on HOW to teach
Also focus on how students LEARN
Discuss with students the process of learning and how they can improve that process
Learning requires direction and guidance by the teacher
Teach students to become independent learners with the dexterity and wisdom to use learning strategies appropriately in a variety of contexts
Study material
Doughty, C.J. and M.H. Long (eds) (2003). The handbook of second
language acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell.
Mitchell, R. and F. Myles (2004). Second language learning theories (2nd
edn.). London: Arnold.
Μπέλλα, Σ. (2007). Η δεύτερη γλώσσα: κατάκτηση και διδασκαλία.
Αθήνα: Ελληνικά Γράμματα.
Psaltou-Joycey, A. (2010). Language learning strategies in the foreign
language classroom. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press. (1st chapter)
Richards, J.C. & Rogers, T.S. (2001). Approaches and methods in
language teaching, 2nd Edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
VanPatten, B. & Williams, J. (eds) (2015). Theories in Second Language
Acquisition: An Introduction, 2nd Edn. New York & London: Routledge.