Second language acquisition

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Ezra Lawrence
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1 Second language acquisition

2 Children vs. adults in second-language acquisition Who do you think is better at 2 nd language acquisition? Why? 2 factors involved in 2 nd language acquisition: 1.psychological Intellectual processing, memory, motor skills. 2. social

3 P SYC H O LO G I C A L FAC TO R S I n t e l l e c t u a l p r o c e s s i n g : explication vs. induction Explication: dog/z/, duck/s/ Induction: John danced and then John (he) sang Work in pairs on the following assignment (devise a suitable task for each method): Teach past simple tense by using the 1. explication method, 2. induction method? Which method, in your opinion, would be more suitable for a) young learners, b) adults? Why? M e m o r y How do children acquire new words? Abstract words? How, in your opinion children acquire the question forms or the negative? The simple memorization where words, phrases and sentences are remembered just as they are rote memorization. Items are stored as they are, without any analysis or processing. Decline in rote memorization around 8 years of age and then again around 12. Why? By 50 years of age-20% memory loss (decrease of brain cells in the cortex), by 75 40% loss. In the normally aging brain, long-term memories seem unaffected, but short-term are. M o t o r s k i l l s Good pronunciation > ability to control the organs of speech > under the control of the brain Are children better than adults in acquiring foreign language pronunciation? If yes, then at what age does this ability begin to decline?

4 SOCIAL SITUATIONS AFFECTING SECOND-LANGUAGE LEARNING Learning language in a natural setting The paradigm case: a young child living in another country and learning the language Adults have a limited opportunity to experience appropriate second-language data. For them social interaction mainly occurs through the medium of language > The older the child, the greater the role that language plays in social interaction. Since language is essential for social interaction, foreign adults often tend to stick together in the new environment. Learning language in the classroom Planned, artificially constructed situation: teacher is the planner Language itself is the prime aspect of life around which everything revolves; teacher is the prime source of the new language Exposure to good native speech, role playing and games help for natural self-discovery of language and its use Learners must follow classroom rules ESL vs. EFL (SLA vs. FLA)

5 Who is better? In the natural situation, younger children will do best (social interaction, induce grammar and syntax, better memory and motor skills (pronunciation)). Young adults will do better than adults. In the classroom situation, adults will do better than young children (better concentration, attention and ability to sit still for a long time). Young adults (around 12) will do better than adults. C r i t i c a l a g e Do you think there is a critical age for second-language acquisition? Consider the cases of both syntax and pronunciation? Syntax: Can be learned perfectly (no critical age) Pronunciation: Thomas Scovel The Joseph Conrad Syndrome (native speaker of Polish started studying English at 20)

6 Psychological and social factors affecting second-language learning for children and adults Children under 7 Psychological factors Intellectual Social factors Situation Inductive Explicative Memory Motor skills Natural Classroom High Low High High High Low 7-12 High Medium Med/High Med/High Medium Medium Adults over 12 High High Low Low Low High

7 BILINGUALISM & COGNITION

8 Varieties of bilinguals (vs. bidialectalism) Proficiency is evaluated with respect to a variety of variables: knowledge of syntax, vocabulary and pronunciation Is bilingualism beneficial or detrimental? Is it harmful linguistically/ intellectually?

9 Effects on the development of language Negative reports 1930s, Madorah Smith, data from Iowa (monolingual children English) and Hawaii (ethnically diverse bilingual children (English and Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese). - Hawaii children had many errors in their English speech > bilingualism caused retardation in language development? (followed by Bereiter, Engelmann and Bernstein, 1960s, non-standard speakers had poor language knowledge compared to standard English speakers). - Steinberg: Smith s research was not correct for several reasons; Labov 1960s/ 70s Positive reports Lambert and his associates, Canada (Eng.& French, official languages): research with children in so-called language immersion programmes. 1976, Bruck et al., long-term study - by 4 th or 5 th grade the second language French skills were almost as good as those of native French-speaking children. - The immersion group did better than the English monolingual control group on creativity tests + mathematics and science Conclusion: inconclusive evidence

10 Effects on the development of intelligence Negative reports 1917, Goddard, 30 recently arrived Jewish adult immigrants at Ellis Island, English language version of the Binet intelligence test Result: less than half could provide 60 words (much below the 200 words that 11-year-old American children could provide). > request to Congress to restrict immigration to US. Psychological researchers: Brigham and Florence Goodenough foreigners were inferior in intelligence 1950s- psychologists: knowledge of language was not a fair measure of intelligence; it was biased. Positive effects 1980, Bain and Yu, compared monolingual and bilingual young children (6-8 months of age) in different parts of the world (Alberta, Canada, France, Hong Kong) bilingual in either English and French/Chinese raised under the guidance of the researchers. Tests: puzzles and having to carry out verbal instructions. Result: bilinguals were superior to monolinguals (1986, Hakuta, challenges these results on methodological grounds) Conclusion: research evidence shows no harmful effects either regarding language or intelligence (VIDEO)

11 Simultaneous and sequential learning situations Simultaneous: 1P-1L (e.g. mother speaks Macedonian, father speaks English) 1P-2L (e.g. mother and father use both Macedonian and English) Mixed input sandwiched language Trilingual children e.g. English, Japanese and Russian -Whether the child must be conscious of the existence of two languages in order to make progress in acquiring them is impossible to determine! Advice: use 1P-1L fashion right from the start Sequential: parents speak one language and community another - In acquiring the second language, speed, proficiency and fluency will be determined by certain psychological and social variables

12 Transfer effect of L1 and L2 learning Similarity of syntax, vocabulary and sound system Compare for instance English, French, Russian, Japanese. Which one of these languages will be easiest/ most difficult to learn for a Macedonian/ Korean/ German learner? - The greater the similarity between two languages, the more rapid the rate of acquisition Facilitation Knowledge of first language facilitates the learning of a second language (even when they are very different) Task: Give an example of your own for first language (Macedonian) facilitation in learning a second language (English). Errors, interference and second and first language strategies Error analysis: What might be the cause of errors? (interference) First language strategy: apply first language knowledge to the second Second language strategy: apply general knowledge of the second language to the second language (e.g. go-ed) Task: Give examples of your own for interference/ first and second language strategy. Question: Would a bilingual person necessarily make a good professional translator or interpreter? (VIDEO-20 lang.)

Fulfilling World Language Requirements through Alternate Means

Fulfilling World Language Requirements through Alternate Means OUSD Board Policy 6146.1 allows students to meet graduation requirements through demonstration of proficiency. Both University of California