Transcript UNIT 3 FACTORS AFFECTING SECOND/FOREIGN LANGUAGE …

UNIT 3
FACTORS AFFECTING
SECOND/FOREIGN LANGUAGE
LEARNING
3.1. Children and adults in L2 learning
3.2. Basic psychological factors affecting
L2 learning
3.3. Social situations affecting L2
learning
3.4. Explanation for differential success
among L2 learners
3.4.1. Age factor
3.4.2. Community context
3.4.3. Motivation
3.4.4. Attitude
3.1. Children and adults in L2 learning
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Who is better? (discussion in small groups)
It’s difficult to state with certainty who is more
privileged in L2 learning.
Children enjoy certain biological advantages for
some aspects of language (young learners have
over the adults in picking up language quicklyespecially vocabulary and pronunciation and often
just by exposure, without teaching), on the other
hand, adults have an enormous cognitive advantage
for others.
Are the processes of L2 and L1
acquisitions the same?
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Read Text 1 (provided in class) and discuss
in groups. Provide written summary of the
group discussion and hand in to your
teacher.
Until today, the researchers haven’t reached
any consensus regarding either the utility of
L1 research for L2 acquisition, or the general
applicability of the L1 language paradigm to
the issues of L2 language research.
Neurolinguistic, linguistic, and
psycholinguistic points of view
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. The research that has addressed the
problem of how learners learn a L2 has been
conducted from different disciplinary points of
view: neurolinguistic, linguistic, and
psycholinguistic.
Neurolinguistic approach in L2
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Neurolinguistic approach in L2 concerns the
localization of language functions and
studies mostly how a bilingual brain
functions. (In 5.3. we’ll talk about the issue in
detail); it is also concerned with some
biological constraints in both L1 and L2
acquisitions.
Linguistic theories
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Linguistic theories are not typically or necessarily
theories of L1 or L2 acquisitions, but each linguistic
theory has implications for the kind of cognitive or
psychololinguistic acquisition theory that is
compatible with it. (Example: the theory of Universal
Grammar had implications on the structure of the
language that is designed to fit within the given
theory.) The main concern of this approach would
be, for example, learnability theories, what linguistic
input and processes would brought up the
emergence of the target grammar, etc.
Psycholinguistic approach
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Psycholinguistic approach is based on the premise
that learner’s mental processes are responsible for
acquisition of language. It concentrates on meaning
and language and their relation, also how these
meanings are learned (the cognitive aspect).
Psycholinguistic approach also studies multilingual
speakers and if they have separate or unified mental
representations for each known language.
Although each approach contributes to
an explanation of several aspects of
language acquisition, each of them is
suited to explain one in particular:
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Neurolinguistic approach (explains the
phonological components of the language
acquisition).
Psycholinguistic approach (explains how
lexical system is acquired).
Linguistic approach (explains how syntax is
acquired).
To compare how the three approaches
work more clearly, we can use a
computer analogy:
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“If one wanted a complete explanation of how a particular
computer at program worked, it would be necessary to
characterize at least three parts of the system. The explanation
of how each of the three parts functioned would be based on a
different type of theory or analysis. Principles of mechanics and
electronics would be necessary to explain the functioning of the
computer hardware (cf. neurolinguistic approach), structural
and engineering principles would be needed to describe the
nature of the data entered into the program (cf. linguistic
approach), and logical and computational principles would
guide the description of the software that ran it (cf.
psycholinguistic approach). To take the analogy further, it would
also be necessary to describe the environment in which the
computer is functioning: what other kinds of devices it is
connected to, and what kind of power supply it has.
Descriptions of this sort would correspond to sociolinguistic
analyses of second language learning” (Bialystok, 1994, p.
135).
Psychological and social factors
involved in L2 acquisition
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There is variety of factors involved in L2
acquisition. For the purpose of our study,
we’ll divide them roughly into: psychological
and social. In addition to these basic
divisions (psychological/social), we’ll take
into consideration also other individual
variables.
3.2. Basic psychological factors
affecting L2 learning
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Intellectual processing, memory, and motor
skills are the basic psychological factors
affecting L2 learning.
Intellectual processing
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Explication
Induction
Usually in our common teacher practice, we
observe that the rules and structures of L2
are explained to a learner. It is done either in
his/her (learner’s) L1 or L2 and he/she has to
apply these rules in the L2. The explanation
in the target language (L2) is usually given to
more advanced L2 learners.
Explication
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It’s important to state that not all the language features can be
learned entirely by explication. Language is always undergoing
changes and not all the rules have been written down or have
been completely explained in grammar books. (Also some
common topics as English tenses or articles, prepositions, etc.
are still topics for discussion in linguistic journals.)
When you are using the method of explication, you should
be aware that it’s a method that is rarely applicable to young
children. (Some of you, who are already parents, or teachers of
small children, will probably know that.) Young children learn
language (their L1) by the process of induction, mostly.
Parents, who will try to use the method of explication, will
probably fail, as in the following example:
Example
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“ Parents do not even attempt to explain a relatively
simple rule morpheme rule, like that one of the
plural. You do not hear a parent saying: ‘Now, Mary,
to make the plural of “dog” you add a “z” sound to
the end of the word, while with “duck” you add an “s”
sound. You do this, Mary, because the last sound of
“dog” has a voiced consonant and the last sound of
“duck” has an unvoiced one!’” (Steinberg, 2001, p.
170).
Do you find the previous example
amusing?
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There are many syntactic rules, some are simple,
others complex. Some of them may be so complex
and abstract that few people other than students of
linguistics (and sometimes not even them) can
understand them (or use them correctly). Studies
done by various researchers (Hammerly, 1975;
Robinson, 1996; both in Steinberg, 2001,p. 171)
proved that explication seemed to work better for
simple rules, whereas induction (implicit instruction)
was better for complex rules. Learning rules by selfdiscovery is the essence of the process of induction.
What do you think?
What do you think?
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The learner remembers what he/she heard,
must analyze the information and figures out
the rule that underlines that speech. Once
that person discovered “the rule”, he/she
tries to see how or if this rule applies in other
cases.
Memory
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crucial for language learning
If the person has suffered from memory impairment,
he/she won’t be able to learn his/her L1 (and much
less L2) because learning of L2 words requires
memory. The learner of L2 has to be able to link the
sound /written representation of the word with its
meaning. Such connection between the form and
meaning is absolutely arbitrary (with the exception of
onomatopoeic words); thus the word for the man’s
best friend is “dog” in English, “perro” in Spanish,
“Hund” in German, “chien” in French, “pes” in Czech,
“sabaka” in Russian, etc.
Memory
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Memory is crucial for learning grammatical
structure and rules, and it is only through the
memory that a learner can accumulate the
vast amount of speech and relevant
information.
For some of this linguistic information, the
learner needs time to process it, and further
on, to use it independently.
Memory
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Young children display a phenomenal ability at rote
memorizing.
Have you ever read a bedtime story to your child
(nephew/niece)? You were reading the story that
your child was familiar with because children like to
watch, or to be told the same story many times. So,
you were reading the story, tired, your head nodding
off to sleep and thus you decided to skip some parts
of the story. What happened?
When does the decline in memory
start?
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According to some researchers, around 8 years of age some
decline in memory begins, and progressing with more decline
from about 12 years of age. Thus we can say children under 7
have better memory than children 7-12. Young children (under
7) tend to rely more on memory than older children but older
children began to apply their cognitive abilities in analyzing the
syntactic rules of L2. One possible suggestion, or interpretation
of the phenomenon could be the presumption that older
children in L2 perform syntactic analyses relatively soon
because they have realized that they have problems
memorizing all the sentences they have heard; in that way their
mental processing in L2 is being speeded.
Short term memory, some interesting
investigations
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Some interesting findings, results of the
research on short-term memory, seem to
prove that this type of memory increases up
to the age of 15 (Hunter, in Steinberg, 2001,
p. 174) Other interesting research (Cook, in
Larsen-Freeman, 1992, p. 202) found that
adults were able to apply their memory better
than children in many classroom learning
situations but this was not valid all the time.
Adults/children (investigations)
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They outperform children on language tasks because they can
develop certain language learning strategies that children cannot.
Memory seems to begin its sharpest decline around the age of puberty
(due to some changes in the brain). L2 learning becomes more difficult
for 15-20-year-old than for 5-10-year-old (for the short-term memory).
However, previously acquired long-term memories remain intact. It’s in
the L2 (new learning) where a problem with older adult begins.
Nevertheless, such problems cannot be attributed exclusively to the
decline in memory ability, it goes together with the question whether
the adults continue to engage in higher thinking and analysis or not. If
they remain intellectually active, there is no reason to think they would
not be able to master L2 structures. Yet, there are indicators that L2
learning in a classroom situation becomes more difficult with age.
Motor Skills
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Good pronunciation is clearly part of learning a foreign
language.
The better our pronunciation, the better is our chance to
communicate with others.
Motor skills is a term which psychologists use to describe the
use of muscles in performing certain skills. It applies to more
general skills, and for speech production, we utilize the
articulators of speech. These include: the mouth, lips, tongue,
vocal cords, hard and soft palates, etc., which are controlled by
muscles (and they are subsequently controlled by the brain).
The articulators of speech have to perform certain movements
and positions so that the sound is produced correctly.
When does the general decline of our
motor skills start?
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Around the age of 12 years or so.
The reason for such decline in fine control of
muscles of the body is yet unknown, but it
could be caused by changes in the brain,
mainly by the loss of its plasticity. A number
of studies, and also our experience in
teaching practice, confirm that the earlier the
age at which acquisition of the L2 begins, the
more native-like the accent will be.
3.3. Social situations affecting L2
learning
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There are many situations in which L2 is learned. They can be
divided into two main categories:
Natural situations (in which L2 is learned in similar way as L1).
Classroom situations (which involves the social situation of the
school classroom).
Each of these types of social situations has its own advantages
and disadvantages. If an adult is given the same conditions, i.e.
the same amount of exposure to the given language, he/she
would need more time and probably will not acquire true nativespeaker like pronunciation. As one gets older, there is a decline
in the kind of social interaction that promotes language
learning. Children obviously have more good L2 interactions.
The Natural Situation
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In those situations L2 is learned in events of
everyday life.
Who benefits more, children or adults?
When parents of a 5-year-old child, for reasons of
job, have to move temporarily to other country, their
child will soon be translating for them (obviously if
they did not know the foreign language beforehand).
Social acceptance
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We have to take into consideration that almost all
social interaction occurs through language, which is
especially true with adults (children don’t need in
many cases language interaction to be able to
socialize), although adults seem to be in
disadvantageous position in that respect, given the
fact that very few native speakers are willing to
spend time socializing with someone who does not
speak their language.
The older the child gets, though, the greater the role
of language in social interaction and also of the
social acceptance resulting from the previous.
Social acceptance
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In puberty, peer acceptance becomes a great
problem; even the children who speak the same
language (sometimes with different accent because
he/she is coming from the different part of the
country, or with the same accent, coming from
different town or even from the same town but from
different school) have often difficulty in gaining
acceptance. Without social acceptance, L2 learning
in natural situation can hardly begin for a learner.
Social Acceptance
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Sometimes older L2 do not accept the social norms
of a new community; they try to maintain their
cultural identity and cultural beliefs by avoiding
situations with necessary L2 interactions (people of
the same L1 stick together in the new environment).
The Acculturation Model Theory of language
learning (Schumann, in Steinberg, 2001, p. 180)
states that the more acculturated (=adapted to the
new culture), the higher interaction in L2 and
increasing opportunities of L2 acquisition.
“Parenthese”/ ‘The foreigner talk’
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Many native speakers sometimes use a kind of
simplified speech when they talk to foreigners (it’s
similar to L1 acquisition situation when parents talk
to children in simplified speech called sometimes
“Parenthese” or “Baby talk”).
The ‘foreigner talk’ and “Parenthese” share many
characteristics: well-formed utterances with fewer
subordinate clauses and more common vocabulary,
but with children the talk is more simplified (with
foreign learners it can’t be so simplified because
they could get offended).
Summary
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We may say that the ability to learn in a classroom
situation improves with age because older children
and adults can adapt better to the classroom
regimen and understand better when explications of
L2 topics is provided. To be able to respond the
question: who is better, children or adults, we must
therefore consider whether we are dealing with
natural situation or the classroom situation. Each
situation must be considered separately in relation to
the psychological factors which affect the learning of
a language.
The Classroom Situation
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The classroom situation is isolated from other social life in a
context of L2 language community. L2 learning is a planned
situation. It’s a very different situation compared to community
situation where L2 learner is performing different activities while
learning and using L2.
In the classroom situation, language itself becomes the prime
aspect, around which all revolves, while in the natural situation
language is only one aspect of life accompanying other events.
In classroom situation, the teacher is the prime source of L2
and language planning occurs. In that situation, older L2
learners, and older children, seem to do better than young
children.