Transcript Age and acquisition

UNIVERSIDAD CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA
FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES Y EDUCACIÓN
Comisión de Estudios de Postgrado
Área de Lingüística
Maestría en Inglés como Lengua Extranjera
Age and acquisition
Applied Linguistics
Sara Pacheco
Dispelling Myths
1.
Children repeat things over and over again. This is what
we must also do.
2.
Language learning is imitation. You must be a mimic.
3.
First, we practice the separate sounds, then words, then
sentences. Natural order = good for language learning.
4.
First listening then speaking = right order in language
learning.
5.
First listening and speaking
6.
When small, we do not translate.
7.
Children do not use grammar so it is not necessary.
reading and writing.
Types of comparison and contrast
(C1 – C2)
First and
second
language
acquisition in
children,
holding age
constant
Child
Adult
L1
C1
A1
L2
C2
A2
(C2 – A2)
Second language
acquisition in
children and
adults, holding
second language
constant
(C1 – C2)
First
language
acquisition in
children and
second
language
acquisition in
adults.
The critical period hypothesis
Critical Period
Hypothesis
Neurobiological
considerations
The significance
of accent
Cognitive
considerations
Affective
considerations
Linguistics
considerations
Hemispheric
considerations
Bilingualism
Biological
timetables
Interference
between L1 and
L2
Right
hemispheric
participation
Order of
acquisition
Anthropological
evidence
Neurobiological considerations
 Hemispheric lateralization
Lenneberg
(1967)
Geschwind
(1970)
Krashen
(1973)
Scovel
(1984)
Lateralization
Lateralization
Lateralization
Lateralization
begins at
around 2 and is
completed
around puberty
Is completed
much earlier
Is completed at 5
years old
emerges at birth
is evident at 5
is completed at
around puberty
Neurobiological considerations
 Biological Timetables
Scovel (1988)
birds
Sociobiological critical period
mammals
human beings?
Socially bonding accent
(1) To form an identity with
their own community as
they anticipate roles of
parenting and leadership
(2) To attract mates of
“their own kind” in an
instinctive drive to
maintain their own specie.
Not communicative fluency
Not other “higher-order” processes
Neurobiological considerations
 Right-Hemispheric Participation
Obler (1981)
There is a significant right
hemispheric participation
particularly in early stages of
language learning
L2 learners,
particularly adults,
might benefit from
more encouragement
of right-brain activity
in classroom context.
Neurobiological considerations
 Anthropological evidence
Sorenson (1967)
Tukano culture (South America)
12 languages
1 person
1 community => 1 language
“The Language
acquisition seen in adult
language learners in the
largely monolingual
American middle class
speech communities may
have been inappropiately
taken to be universal…”
(Hill, 1970)
L1
is exposed to 2
or 3 languages
1 person
L1
is exposed to 2
or 3 languages
The significance of accent
Speech muscles
gradually develop
control complex sounds
Complete phonemic
control
before
puberty
“Most of the evidence
indicates that persons
beyond the age of puberty
do not acquire what has
come to be called
authentic pronunciation”.
(Brown, 2007)
are sometimes not
achieved until 5
“foreign accent”
•Neuromuscular plasticity
•Cerebral development
•Sociobiological programs
•Environment of
sociocultural influences
Of course… there are exceptions
The significance of accent
We all know people who have less than
perfect pronunciation but who also have
excellent and fluent control of a second
language, control that can even exceed
that of many native speakers
Arnold Schwarzenegger effect
Cognitive considerations
Piaget (1972)
Pro CPH
Intellectual development of a child:
•Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2)
•Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7)
•Operational stage (ages 7 to 16)
•Concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11)
•Formal operational stage (ages 11 to 16)
Singleton and Ryan (2004)
Ausubel (1964)
Vague
lack of empirical data
Grammar in adults is easier because of the
relevance of connection in cognition
Children do learn L2 without formal operation thought
Affective considerations
Affective domains:
 Emphaty
 Self-esteem
 Extroversion
 Inhibition
 Imitation
 Anxiety
 Attitudes…
Children
Adults
egocentricity
inhibitions
Oneself-identity is inextricably bound up with one’s language
Self identity
second identity
Younger children are less afraid because they are less aware of forms
Peer presure
Adults tend to tolerate linguistics
differences more than children so errors
are easily excused
Linguistics considerations

Biligualism
Code-switching

Interference between L1 and L2
Solid foundation of L1

Order of acquisition
Creative construction process
Issues in first language
acquisition revisited
 Competence
and performance
 Comprenhension and production
 Nature or nurture?
 Universals
 Sistematicity and variability
 Language and Thought
 Imitation
 Practice and frequency
 Input
 Discourse
Some “age-and-acquisition-inspired”
language teaching methods
 Total
 The
Physical Response
Natural Approach
Source:
Douglas Brown, H. (2007) Principles of language learning and teaching. White Plains, NY:
Longman.
Chapter 3: Age & acquisition
Thanks