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How languages are learned

INTRODUCTION

There is a variety of different language teaching approaches, methods, and materials that may influence the practices of language teachers.

INTRODUCTION

THE BIG QUESTION IS...

How to evaluate (and adapt) these approaches according to

  • the teacher's previous experiences?
  • the needs and abilities of the students?
  • the teacher's understanding of how languages are learned?

1

language learning in early childhood

1

Second language research and second language teaching have been influenced by changes in the understanding of how children acquire their first language.

2

theories that have been trying to explain second language acquisition/learning

2

3

how individual characteristics of the learners affect their success

3

4

second learners' developing knowledge and their ability to use it

4

5

a comparison of natural and instructional environments for second language learning

5

6

proposals for second language teaching and researches, leading to a discussion of the evidence available for assessing their effectiveness

6

7

discussion of what research findings suggest about the most effective ways to teach and learn a second language

7

THE BEGINNING

  • Language learning in early childhood
  • Explaining second language learning

LANGUAGE LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

  • How do children learn a language?
  • What enables them to learn words and put them together in meaningful sentences?
  • How do they develop complex grammatical language?
  • How do bilingual children acquire more than one language?

Milestones and developmental sequences (0-3)

High degree of similarity in the early language of children all over the world.

Milestones and developmental sequences (0-3)

Early vocalizations

The involuntary crying babies do to indicate they are hungry or uncomfortable or the cooing and gurgling sounds of contented babies.

  • little control over the sounds they produce
  • able to hear very subtle differences between sounds of human languages

The first year

Most babies understant quite a few frequently repeated words and are able to respond to some of them:

  • wave when hear bye-bye
  • go to the kitchen when hear 'juice' or 'cookie'
  • produce one or two clear words

the second year

Children are able to produce something about 50 different words and begin to combine some of them in very simple sentences.

TELEGRAPHIC LANGUAGE

  • no use of articles, prepositions or auxiliary verbs.

'Mommy juice.'

'Baby fall down.'

Is that just repetition?

The word order of a baby's telegraph language reflects the same word order as adult language. The combined words have a meaning and a relationship that makes them more than a words list. The tow or three-words sentences signs that children are able to combine them creatively.

'Kiss baby'

'Baby kiss'

Children's cognitive development

Stages in language acquisition are related to children's cognitive development.

Children do not use temporal adverbs (tomorrow, last week) until they develop some understanding about time.

Sequence of grammatical morphemes

  • pressent progressive -ing
  • regular plural -s
  • irregular past forms
  • possessive 's
  • copula (Annie is happy)
  • regular past -ed
  • 3rd person singular simple present
  • auxiliary be

The wug test

Children are shown drawings of imaginary creatures with novel names of people performing mysterious actions.

The wug test

Negation

Children learn the functions of negation very early. They may express this with words and gestures. But it may get some time until they can express this in sentences using the appropriate words/word order.

Negation

stage 1

stage 1

Negation uses the word NO.

No!

No cookie.

No comb hair.

stage 2

  • Utterances grow longer.
  • Subject is often included in the sentence.
  • Negative word before the verb.
  • Rejection or proibition sentences using DON'T.

Daddy no comb hair.

Don't touch that!

stage 3

  • More complex sentences.
  • Use of more forms of negation words.
  • Follow the correct order of attaching the auxiliar and the negative.
  • The auxiliar may not vary according to the persons or tense.

I can't do it.

He don't want it.

stage 4

The use of the correct form of auxiliary verbs according to person and tense.

Children may have some difficulties with other features of negative sentences, sucu as double negative.

You didn't have supper.

She doesn't want it.

I don't have no more candies.

Questions

There is a predictable order in which the wh- words emerge.

WHAT

WHERE and WHO

WHY

HOW and WHEN

stage 1

Single words or two- or three-word sentences with rising intonation.

Cookie?

Mummy book?

stage 2

Word order of declarative sentences with rising intonation.

You like this?

I have some?

stage 3

Children gradually notice that questions have a different structure.

Can I go?

Are you happy?

Fronting

The children's rule is that questions are formed by putting an auxiliary verb or question word at the 'front' of a sentence, leaving the rest in its statement form:

Is the teddy bear is tired?

Do I can have a cookie?

Why you don't have one?

Why you catched it?

stage 4

Questions formed by subject-auxiliary inversion.

More variety in the auxiliaries that appear before the subject.

Are you going to play with me?

Do dogs like icecream?

stage 4

stage 5

Wh- and yes/no questions are formed correctly.

Negative questions a bit difficult.

Are these your boots?

Why did you do that?

Does Daddy have a box?

Why the thedy bear can't go outside?

stage 6

All question types correctly formed, including negative and more complex questions.

This developmental process does not follow an uninterrupted path. Children may fall back on older patters as they learn new things.

Pre-school years

By the age of 4, most children are able to ask questions, give commands, report real events, and create stories using correct word order and grammatical markers most of the time.

Children now try to develop their abilities to use the language they have acquired in a widening social environment.

sensible language

Children began to understand that people they often talk to on the telephone cannot see what they see.

sensible language

aggressive language

Children use this language to defend their toys in the playground.

aggressive language

pretenting language

Children see the difference between how adults talk to babies and how they talk to each other, and begin using different voices in elaborate pretend play, practicing and exploring these voices.

pretenting language

metalinguistic awareness

Children develop the ability to treat language as an object separate from the meaning it conveys.

'drink the chair'

'cake the eat'

school years

The school setting will require new ways of using language and bring new opportunities to develop it.

Children also develop more sophisticated metalinguistic awareness, and learning how to read is a booster for this process.

ambiguity

Metalinguistic awareness permits children to discover that words can have multiple meanings. Then, they gain access to jokes, tricky questions, and riddles.

ambiguity

Vocabulary growth

Vocabulary grows at a rate between several hundreds and more than one thousand words a year, coming mainly from reading for assignments or for pleasure.

Vocabulary growth

language registers

  • spoken language vs written language
  • speaking to the the school's principal is different from speaking to friends at the playground
  • a science report is different from a narrative

first language acquisition theories

the behaviourist perspective

  • Children imitate the language of those around them when they are given the positive reinforcement.
  • Children continue imitating this language until the practice become habit, leading to use language correctly.
  • The environment is the great source of everything children need to learn.

example 1

Peter

Lois

Peter

Patsy

peter

Lois

Peter

Get more

You're gonna put more wheels in the dump truck?

Dump truck. Wheels. Dump truck.

What happened to it (the truck)?

(looking under chair for it) Lose it. Dump truck! Dump truck! Fall! Fall!

Yes, the dump truck fell down.

Dump truck fell down. Dump truck.

Peter

Peter (24 months) repeats 30-40% of what he hears from others, but this imitation is not random. He imitates words or/and sentences structures that are new for him and stops saying them when they become solidly grounded in his language system.

That shows that children select what they are going to imitate. More than that, they seem to imitate what is new to them, not just what is available.

example 2

Cindy

Patsy

Cindy

Patsy

Cindy

Patsy

Cindy

Cindy

Cindy

Patsy

Kawo? kawo? kawo? kawo? kawo?

What are the rabbits eating?

They are eating... kando?

No, that's a carrot.

Carrot. (point to each carrot on the page) The other carrot. The other carrot. The other carrot.

A few minutes later, Cindy brings Patsy a stuffed toy rabbit.

What does the rabbit like to eat?

(incomprehensible) eat the carrots.

Cindy gets another stuffed rabbit.

He (incomprehensible) eat the carrots. The other one eat carrots. They both eat carrots.

One week later, Cindy opens the book to the same page.

Here's the carrots. (pointing) is that a carrot?

Yes

Cindy

Cindy remembers a week later and return right to the page of the lesson. Like Peter, her imitations is focused on what she is currently working on.

Though the examples of Peter and Cindy give some support to the behaviourist theory, their choice of what to imitate is determined by something inside them rather than by the environment itself.

Cindy

patterns and generalizations

Maybe we need to take you to the doctor.

Why? So he can doc my little bump?

Mother

Randall

patterns and generalizations

TO DOC

Randall form the verb 'doc' from the noun 'doctor', by analogy with

farmers who farm

swimmers who swim

actors who act

order of events

You took all the towels away because I can't dry my hands.

Children tend to mention events in the order that they occur.

The towels were taken away.

Randall couldn't try his hands.

the innatist perspective

Noam Chomsky suggests that language is acquired because

  • it is stored in the mind of individuals
  • all human languages are innate and based on the same universal principles
  • children are biologically programmed for language development, just as learning how to walk
  • the environment only provides other language speakers

innatism vs. behaviourism

Children come to know more about language structures than they could actually learn by the samples of language they hear.

Children are exposed to incomplete sentences, grammatical errors, and other variations, but they know how to distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical sentences.

innatism vs. behaviourism

Universal Grammar

Children are born with the innate ability to discover for themselves the underlying rules of a language system on the basis of the samples they are exposed to.

All human languages lie in some kind of common template.

example

a. John saw himself.

b. Himself saw John.*

In (a) and (b) it looks as the reflexive pronoum must follow the noun it refers to. But

c. Looking after himself bores John.

increasing complexity

d. John said that Fred liked himself.

e. John said that Fred liked himself. *

f. John told Bill to wash himself.

g. John told Bill to wash himself. *

Considering these sentenses we might conclude that the noun closest to the reflexive pronoum is the antecedent. But

h. John promised Bill to wash himself.

even more complex

The reflexive can be in the subject position as in (i), but not as in (j):

i. John believes himself to be intelligent.

j. John believes that himself is intelligent.*

even more complex

a little bit more

k. John showed Bill a picture of himself.

The reflexive pronoun could refer either to Jhon or Bill.

a little bit more

CPH

The Critical Period Hypothesis suggests that all animals, including humans, are genetically programmed to acquire certain kinds of knowledge/skills at specific times of life.

Beyond this critical period, it is difficult, or even impossible to acquire those abilities.

That way, children who are not given access to language in infancy and early childhood will not learn language if these deprivations go on for to long.

CPH

contrasting CPH

It is difficult to presume the evidence of the CPH based only on unusual cases.

It is possible to attribute this kind of language disability to several factors such as:

biological maturity

brain damage

developmental delays

specific language impairment

deaf children

Profoundly deaf children with hearing parents, coming from ordinary homes do not have access to language at the appropriate time.

The parents may not realize that their children cannot hear because they are able to use the other senses to interact.

After sometime in early childhood, children may learn sign language.

the interactionist perspective

Language acquisition is an example of the ability children have of learn from experience, due to thousands of hours of interaction with people and objects around them.

Interactionists emphasize there is a close relationship between children's cognitive development and their acquisition of language.

the interactionist perspective

Jean Piaget

The children's cognitive development partly influences their use of language.

Language can be used to represent knowledge that children have acquired through physical interaction and manipulation of objects in the environment.

The use of the term bigger depends on the children's understanding of the concepts it represents.

Lev Vygotsky

Language develops primarily from social interactions .

In a supportive interactive environment children are able to advance to higher levels of knowledge and performance.

Lev Vygotsky

ZPD

A metaphorical place in which children could do more thant they would be capable of independently.

It is important for children to have conversations with adults to improve their use of language.

ZPD

Connectionism

What children need to learn is essentially available to them in the language they are exposed to.

Connectionistis explain language acquisition in terms of how children acquire links or connections between words and phrases and the situations they occur.

Connectionism

How it works

When a child hears a word or phrase in an specific context, an association is made in the child's mind between the word and the what it represents.

Hearing the word brings to mind the object.

Seeing the object brings to mind the word.

How it works

example

The word CAT refering to the family's cat.

cats

All CATS are CATS.

furry creatures

All furry creatures with feline caracteristics are CATS.

EXPLAINING SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING

A second language learner is different from a child acquiring a first language, both in terms of learner's characteristics and the environment in which the learning occurs.

  • a young child learning a first language
  • a child learning a second language in a day care or on the playground
  • adolescents taking a foreign language class in their own country
  • an adult immigrant with limited or disrupted education working in a second language environment with no opportunity of going to a foreign language class

learner characteristics

  • Do they already know at least one language?

  • Are they cognitive mature?

  • How well developed is their metalinguistic awareness?

  • How extensive is their knowledge of the world?

  • Are they likely to be anxious about making mistakes and concerned about sounding 'silly' when speaking the language?

learning conditions

  • Does the learning environment allow to be silent in the early stages of learning?

  • Do they have plenty of time for learning? What about availability to talk to proficient speakers?

  • Do they frequently receive corrective feedback?

  • When do they receive this feedback?

  • Is modified input available?

learners characteristics

By definition, all second language learners have already acquired at least one language and have an idea of how languages work.

This knowledge, on the other hand, can lead learners to make incorrect guesses about how the second language works, resulting in errors first language learners would not make.

cognitive maturity and metalinguistic awareness

  • allow older learners to solve problems and engage in discussions about language

cognitive maturity and metalinguistic awareness

Successful language acquisition draws on different mental abilities, specific to language learning. It has been suggested that older learners draw on their problem solving and metalinguistic abilities because they can no longer access their innate language acquisition ability.

attitudinal and cultural differences

Children are often willing to use the second language, even whey their proficiency is quite limited.

Many adults and adolescents find it stressful when they are unable to express themselves clearly and correctly.

attitudinal and cultural differences

learning conditions

informal settings

  • silent period
  • many hours of exposure
  • errors may be overlooked

formal settings

  • speaking for evaluation
  • time of exposure limited to the classroom
  • correction of errors

learning conditions

second language learning theories

How do the first language learning theories apply to second language learning?

second language learning theories

Behaviourism

Behaviourist perspective had influenced the development of the AUDIOLINGUAL teaching materials and teacher training, which emphasized mimicry and memorization.

Language development is about the formation of habits: the habits of the first language can interfere in the development of habits needed for the second language learning.

Behaviourism

CAH

The Constrative Analysis Hypothesis suggests that, in some aspects, the first language and the target language are similar and learners are able to acquire the similar structures easily.

On the other hand, students may face difficulties when the two languages structures differ from each other.

CAH

Innatism

Chomsky argued that the principles of the Universal Grammar permits all children to acquire the language of their environment during a critical period of development.

Innatism

Lydia White

Lydia White (2003a) suggests that Universal Grammar offers the best perspective from which to understand second language acquisition.

Lydia White

Robert Bley-Vroman and Jacquelyn Schachter

Bley-Vroman (1983) and Schachter (1990) argue that UG is not a good explanation for the acquisition of a second language, especially for those who have passed the critical period.

Robert Bley-Vroman and Jacquelyn Schachter

Vivian Cook

Vivian Cook (2003) points out that learners know more about the language than they could reasonably have learned depending only on the input they are exposed to, even if they have failed in mastering the target language.

Vivian Cook

Bonnie Schwartz

Bonnie Schwartz (1993) concludes that formal instruction and feedback change the superficial appearance of language performance and do not affect the systematic knowledge of the new language. Rather, acquisition is based on the avaliability of the language in the learner's environment.

Bonnie Schwartz

Lydia White

Lydia White (1991) thinks that the nature of the UG is altered by the acquisition of the first language. The language learners may sometimes need explicitly information about grammatical and ungrammatical, or they may assume some equivalents is first and second.

Lydia White

the monitor model

Stephen Krashen's (1982) Monitor Model assumes that the formal learning, which is a conscious process, is often used to evaluate the informal learning, an unconscious process.

the monitor model

the acquisition-learning hypothesys

We acquire as we are exposed to samples of the second language, with no conscious attention to the language form. On the other hand, we learn consciously, learning rules and forms.

the acquisition-learning hypothesys

the monitor hypothesis

We have two different systems: The LEARNED system and the ACQUIRED system. The acquired system is responsible for language use spontaneously. The learned system acts as an editor to polish what the acquired system has produced.

the monitor hypothesis

the natural order hypothesis

Second language acquisition unfolds in predictable sequences, or pre-determined order.

the natural order hypothesis

the input hypothesis

Acquisition occurs when one is exposed to language that is comprehensible and that contains i+1.

i+1

level of language acquired

language that is one step beyond the level

the affective filter hypotesis

The affective filter is a metaphorical barrier that prevents learners from acquiring language even when appropriate input is available.

  • feelings
  • motives
  • needs
  • attitudes
  • emotional states

Information processing

The information processing model of human learning see second language acquisition as the building up of knowledge that can eventually be called on automatically for speaking and understanding.

Information processing

new learners

Learners at the earliest stages will use most of their resources to understand the main words in a message, not noticing grammatical morphemes attached to some words, specially those that do not affect meaning.

Gradually, through experience and practice, information becomes easier to process and access.

new learners

proficient users

Proficient speakers give their full attention to the overall meaning of a text or conversation. Their word choice and pronunciation is essentially automatic.

proficient users

skill learning

J. R. Anderson (1995) and Robert DeKeyser (1998, 2001) suggest the existence of the DECLARATIVE KNOWLEDGE and the PROCEDUAL KNOWLEDGE.

skill learning

DELARATIVE KNOWLEDGE

PROCEDUAL KNOWLEDGE

to know what

to know how

Connectionism

Connectionists argue that learners build up their knowledge through thousands of instances of linguistic features they hear. Hearing language features over and over again helps learners to develop a strong network of connected language elements.

Connectionism

The competition model

Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney (1981) argued that learners come to understand how to use language functions through the exposure to thousands of examples of language associated with meanings.

The competition model

The interaction hypothesis

Conversational interaction is essential for second language acquisition.

The interaction hypothesis

modified interaction

A mechanism to make language comprehensible.

The learner does not necessarily need simplification of the linguistic forms, but an opportunity to interact with other speakers, working together to reach mutual comprehension.

  • comprehension checks
  • clarification requests
  • self-repetition or paraphrase

The sociocultural perspective

Vygotsky assumes that cognitive development, including language development, arises as a result of social interactions.

The sociocultural perspective

ZPD vs. i+1

The ZPD is a metaphorical location in which learners co-construct knowledge in collaboration with an interlocutor. in Krashen's i+1 the input comes from outside the learner and the emphasis is on the comprehensibility of input that includes language features that are just beyond the learner's current developmental level.

ZPD vs. i+1

socioculturalism vs. interactionism

In the interaction hypothesis, the emphasis is on the individual cognitive processes in the mind of the learner. Interaction facilitates those cognitive processes by giving learners access to the input they need to activate internal processes. In Vygostkian theory, greater importance is attached to the conversations themselves, with learning occurring through social interaction. People gain control of and reorganize their cognitive processes during meditation as knowledge is internalized during social interactions.

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