Lg Acquisition

*STRUCTURALISM (Ferdynand de Saussure)
European structuralism:
Main tenets: Language has a structure (in which each elements interact), it is a system of signs (noise is language only when it express or communicates ideas. Sign- car->signifier- /ka:r/ physical dimension of language, signified- car as a thing, The signified is what these visible/audible aspects mean to us.) two levels of language: Langue( abstract system) and parole (actual speech)

*BEHAVIOURISM(John B. Watson)
Lg learning is based on a habit formation • Stimulus -> Response -> Reinforment :positive (reward) or negative (punishment) • Language is acquired through imitation creativity. Trial-and-error method (Ivan Pavlov) • Problems (among others) o language is creative o knowledge of language is very complex (show language puzzles from intro notes) o no clear evidence that parents consistently reward "good" language and not "bad" language
*COGNITIVISM (Chomsky)
LAD- Language Acquisition Device : Every child when born is able to acquire any surrounding language. We acquire lg through interaction with community. A child is constantly exposed to the language, and it developes its own language system.
Interactionism( interaction with community)

* L1 ACQUISITION vs. L2 LEARNING
|L1 ACQUISITION |L2 LEARNING |
|Acquired from birth |Learned with delay |
|subconscious |conscious |
|Bound to be successful |Not necessarily successful |
|3-4 years are necessary to acquire |No limit |
|Not much effort |A lot of effort is recquired |

*The role of age in L2 (Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development)

It is a comprehensive theory about the nature and development of human intelligence

1. Sensorimotor stage (birth- 2) sense and motorial, doesn’t have too much influence on lg acquisition

2.Preopeniration stage (2-7) child isn’t cognitively developed. It must see something to understand. If doesn’t so something it simply don’t exist for the child.

Cognitive operations; generalizations, concluding, analyzing, ordering.

3. Operational stage:

4. Concrete operational stage: children begin to reason logically, and organize thoughts coherently. However, they can only think about actual physical objects, and cannot handle abstract reasoning. They have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.

5. Formal operational stage: (from 11- adulthood) The formal operational stage is characterized by the ability to formulate hypotheses and systematically test them to arrive at an answer to a problem.

|MOTHERESE |TEACHER’S TALK |
|diminutives |No diminutives |
|Simple, common words |Common words |
|Slow speech |
|Simple grammar |
|Exaggerated intonation |Normal intonation |
|Repetition | |repetition | |
| |( reprimend | |( clarification |
|paraphrases | |paraphrases | |

STAGES OF SEQUENTIAL LANGUAGE LEARNING: • home language use – not accepting the language, child refuses to repeat anything in foreign language (lasts 2-3 weeks) • Silent period- There is reception but not production • Telegraphic and formulaic speech- Omitting prepositions, pronouns , association of whole phrases • Productive language – developed speaking, understanding. The most correct grammatically speaking.

Lg acquisition vs. lg learning (S. Krashen)
According to Krashen there are two independent systems of second language performance: 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'. The 'acquired system' or 'acquisition' is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act.
The 'learned system' or 'learning' is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge 'about' the language, for example knowledge of grammar rules. According to Krashen 'learning' is less important than 'acquisition'.

*Krashen’s Monitor Model of Second Language Acquisition

| | |
|Hypotheses |Characteristics |
| |There are two ways of developing a second language. Acquisition is a subconscious process and learning a|
|The Acquisition Order |conscious process that results in ‘knowing about’ the language. |
|Hypothesis | |
| |The monitor has nothing to do with acquisition but with learning. The learned system acts only as an |
|2. The Monitor Hypothesis |editor or ‘monitor’, making minor changes and polishing what the acquired system has produced. According|
| |to Krashen, three conditions are necessary for monitor use: |
| |1. sufficient time, 2. focus on form, 3. knowing the rules |
| |This hypothesis states that we acquire the rules of a language in a certain order that is |
|3. The Natural Order |predictable. However, this does not mean that every acquirer |
|Hypothesis |will acquire grammatical structures in exactly the same order. It states rather that, in general, |
| |certain structures tend to be acquired early and others to be acquired late. |
| |This hypothesis states that it is easier for a learner to acquire a language when he/she is not tense, |
|4. The Affective Filter Hypothesis |angry, anxious, or bored. According to Dulay and Burt, performers with optimal attitudes have a lower |
| |affective filter. A low filter means that the performer is more open to the input language. |
| |This hypothesis states that it is important for the acquirer to understand language that is a bit beyond|
|5. The Input Hypothesis |his or her current level of competence. This means, if a learner is on a level i the input he gets |
| |should be i + 1. This means that the language that learners are exposed to should be |
| |just far enough beyond their current competence that they can understand most of it but still is |
| |challenged to make progress. |

*ATTENTION- PROCESSING MODEL (McLaughlin)
This model connects processing mechanisms with categories of attention to formal properties of language.

|Attention to Formal Properties of |CONTROLLED (conscious) |AUTOMATIC |
|Languages | | |
| |It is less advanced. |More advanced. |
|Focal (central) |Performance based on formal rule learning (theory) |Performance in a test situation (use in practice) |
| |Grammatical explanation of a specific point |Keeping an eye out for sth |
|Intentional attention- was planned |Word definition |Monitoring oneself while talking or writing |
| |Copy a written model |Scanning |
| |Prefabricated patterns (How do you do?, Thank you, You welcome) |Editing, peer-editing |
| |The first states of memorizing a dialog | |
| |Various discrete-point exercises | |
|Peripheral |Performance based on implicit learning or analogic learning |Performance in communication situations |
| |Simple greetings |Open-ended group work |
|Incidental Attention- wasn’t |The later stages of memorizing a dialog |Rapid reading, skimming |
|planned. We pay attention to sth by|TPR/natural Approach |Free writes |
|accident. |New L2 learner successfully completes a brief conversation |Normal conversational exchanges of some length |

*TPR- Total Physical Approach- uczenie poprzez pokazywanie

*BIALYSTOK’S MODEL OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
[pic]

Bialystok’s model make a distinction between explicit and implicit linguistic knowledge.
Explicit linguistic knowledge - the facts that a person knows about language and the ability to articulate those facts in some way.
Implicit linguistic knowledge- information that is automatically and spontaneously used in language tasks.( Children implicitly learn phonological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic rules for language, but do not have access to an explanation, explicitly, of those rules)
Implicit processes enable a learner to perform language but not necessarily to cite rules governing the performance.
The same model feature a distinction between automatic and non-automatic processing, building on Mclaughlin's conception of auto-maticity.
Automaticity refers to the learner's relative access to the knowledge. Knowledge that can be retrieved easily and quickly is automatic.
Knowledge that takes time and effort to retrieve is non-automatic. As was true for the McLaughlin model, both forms of attention can be either analyzed or unanalyzed. An important dimension of this distinction is time. Processing time is a significant factor in second language performance, one that has pedagogical salience in the classroom. The length of time that a learner takes before oral production performance, for example, can be indicative of the perceived complexity of certain language forms in a task.

*COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT HYPOTHESIS(Krashen) Comprehensible input is that input which is slightly beyond the current level of competence of the language learner. If “i” is the language learner’s current level of competence in the foreign language, then ” i + 1” is the next immediate step along the development continuum. Therefore, if the goal is to assist the language learner progress in their task, it is essential to provide the student/learner with comprehensible input [i +1].
Comprehensible input is an essential component in Stephen Krashen'sInput Hypothesis, where regulated input will lead to acquistion so long as the input is challenging, yet easy enough to understand without conscious effort at learning.
*INTERACTION HYPOTHESIS(M. LONG)
According to the interaction hypothesis second language acquisition occurs when learners interact in conversation with native speakers and/or each other. Learner cannot only listen to input but must be active conversational participant who collaborate negotiate

*Krashen’s Input Hypothesis vs. Long’s Interaction Hypothesis
|Output isn’t important |Output is necessary in language development |
| |Input must be followed by output |

*INTERLANGUAGE (L. Selinker)
Emerging linguistic system that has been developed by a learner of a second language who has not become fully proficient yet but I approximating the target language: preserving some features of their first language or over generalizing target language rules.

FEATURES OF INTERLANGUAGE: • Interlanguage continuum (it’s uninterrupted, it developes) • Dynamic (stages of interlanguage development) • Variability (lg changes, it’s not static, errosr are a proof of progress) • Fossilization (an age may also contrubite to fossilization, and lack of lg opportunity)

*SOURCES OF ERRORS • Overgeneralization- learner overgeneralizes rules in L2 • Language transfer- we apply the rules of Polish in English (L1 ( L2) it may be positive or negative (false friends : actually, cabinet, sympathy) • Fossilization – learner reached some level and no matter how hard he/she works and tries there is no progress. It is said that lack of motivation is the main source of fossilization. • Avoidance

*STAGES OF INTERLANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT • RANDOM ERRORS : occur at the very beginning of learning system • EMERGENT STAGE: the learner starts to identify the system and requires the rules but they aren’t always corrent. (BACKSLIDING ( instead of progress there is regration) • SYSTEMATIC STAGE: the learner acquired the rules (more mistakes than errors) • STABILIZATION: fossilization may appear.

*ERROR ANALYSIS THEORY
Is based on the analysis of the learner’s errors made in their learning process.

EARLY APPROACHES TO ERRORS: • Bad teaching gave rise to errors made by learners. • Errors were simply inevitable in the learning process (Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis) • Behaviouristic approach: errors are the result of the existing mother tounge habits in the new language

MISTAKES: performance errors (automatic self-correction)
ERRORS: reveal learner’s underlying knowledge (not likely to be self-corrected)

*CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS HYPOTHESIS
Robert Lado ( comparing languages.
(When 2 languages are different than these differing areas are likely to cause problems and these errors may occur.) It highlights the structural differences between two languages, with the aim of identifying potential sources of difficulty for people learning a foreign language. On the basis of the behaviourist idea that old habits can interfere when learning new habits, it was suggested that knowledge of one\'s first language (L1) might interfere with the learning of a second language (L2). Interference creates difficulties for the L2 learner, leading to an increase in the production of errors.

*MEMORY
It is a process of acquiring, storing and recalling information.

TYPES OF MEMORY: • Mechanical (connected with learning by heart without understanding) and logical (understanding what we learn) both are connected with short time remembering things • Recognition ( we are able to identify sth but we are not able to produce the same, it’s a passive way) and constructive (we are able to form things we didn’t know about before, it’s an active way) • Short-term (what we saw or learn goes to the short-term memory and by constant repetition the things goes to long-term memory) • Visual, audio and kinesthetic (usually one way is dominant and may be combine with other ways. Types may depend on age) • Verbal (zapamietywanie ciagu liter) and iconic (kojarzenie z pewnym obrazem danego slowa) • Episodic (connected with one special episode) semantic (connected with sth more general)

STAGES OF MEMORY • Remembering (selective- we can’t remember everything, it depends on type of learner according to individual features) Remembering depends on: clear context, how many repetition , memory capacity. • Storing ( depends on situation in which storing takes place, and on individual features. Acquired material is forgotten under the influence of a new stimul and information) • Retrieval ( we recognize and we are able to reproduce things

INTENTIONAL MEMORY – develops with age, we remember things because it is necessary, effort is recquired
NON-INTENTIONAL MEMORY- without intention, remembering things in a completely unconscious way

RETENTION LOSS – loss of information already encoded and stored in individual’s long-term memory. It can be reduced by repetition.

LANGUAGE ATTRITION – the loss of L1 or L2 (or their portion) by individuals. Occurs in the case of migrants who move to a country where a lg is spoken which for them is a second or foreign language.

*LANGUAGE LEARNING APTITUDE
(prediction of how well, relative to other individuals, an individual can learn a foreign language in a given amount of time and under given conditions)
Language aptitude refers to the potential that a person has for learning languages. This potential is often evaluated using formal aptitude tests, which predict the degree of success the candidate will have with a new language. • Phonetic coding ability • Grammatical sensivity • Rote lg ability • Introductive learning ability

Stereotype – a picture in your head, or an opinion you have, about a person or group of people based on the actions or behaviours of others that are similar.

*THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY IN SECOND LG ACQUISITION:
1)SELF-ESTEEM: a personal judgment of worthiness that expressed in the attitudes that individuals hold towards themselves.
Types of self-esteem:
-general(global)= relatively stable in mature adult, resistant to change,
-situational(specific)=one’s self-appraisals in specific situations
-task=refers to specific tasks within particular situations
2)INHIBITION - connected with building sets of defences to protect ego. Language ego = (Guiora 1972) very personal, egoistic nature of second lg acquisition. May raise inhibitions that impede lg acquisition.
3)RISK-TAKING - making intelligent guesses
4)ANXIETY- feeling of uneasiness, frustration or worry.
-Trait anxiety=permanent predisposition to be anxious -State anxiety=experienced in relation to some particular act or fact –Debilitative= negative –Facilitative= positive
5) EMPATHY- reaching out beyond self to others, projection of one’s own personality into the personality of another in order to understand him or her better
6)EXTRAVERSION -the extent to which a person has a deep-seated neet to receive ego enhancement, self-esteem
7)INTROVERSION-the extent to which a person derives a sense of wholeness and fulfillment

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: self-actualization, esteem, love, safety, psychological.

*MOTIVATION-something that makes us do things
1)behavioristic approach- anticipation of reward, desire to receive positive reinforcement, external, individual forces in control, 2)cognitive approach-driven by basic human needs, degree of effort expended, internal, individual forces in control 3)constructivist-social context, community, social status and security of group, internal, interactive forces in control.

*TYPES OF MOTIVATION: • Integrative intrinsic – L2 learner wishes to integrate with the L2 culture • Integrative extrinsic- someone else wishes the L2 learner to know the L2 for integrative reasons. • Instrumental intrinsic- L2 learner wishes to achieve goals utilizing L2 • Instrumental extrinsic- external power wants L2 learner to learn L2

*LEARNING STYLES- a general predisposition, voluntary or not, toward processing information in a particular way.
*TYPOLOGY OF LEARNING STYLES:
1)Field independence-ability to perceive a particular, relevant item or factor in a ‘field’ of distracting items. Field dependence- tendency to be ‘dependent’ on the total field (the parts embedded within the field are not easily perceived).
2)Left/right brain functioning- connected with brain lateralization.
3)Ambiguity tolerance – degree to which a lerner is cognitively willing to tolerate ideas and propositions that run counter to his/her belief system.
4)Reflectivity- making slower, more calculated decisions. Impulsivity – making a quick or gumbling guess at an answer to a problem.
5)Visual – preference for reading and studying charts, drawings and other graphic information. Auditiory-preferences to listening to lectures and recordings. Kinaesthetic- needs movements

*LEARNING STRATEGIES- moment-by-moment techniques employed to solve problems posed by second lg input and output.
Communication- employment of verbal or non verbal mechanisms for the productive communication.

*CULTURE- the way people live
Cultural competence:
The ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. It comprises: awareness of one’s own cultural worldview, attitude towards cultural differences, knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews, cross-cultural skills.
*CULTURAL AWARNESS – the ability to look outside ourselves and be aware of the cultural values, and customs of the culture we are in or the culture we are acquiring.
Acculturation process may be impacting presenting problem. 4 stages: • Euphoria- overwhelming excitement over the newess of the surrounding. • Culture shock/alienation- starts when the individual feels the increasing intrusion of cultural differences into their own image of self and security. • Anomie- gradual and tentative and vacillating recovery. General process is made slowly but surely as thinking and feeling that surround them, slowly becoming more empathic with other persons in the second culture. • Assimilation/adaptation-near or full recovery; acceptance of the new culture and self-confidence in the new person that has developed in this culture

*THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNER
A number of researchers have drawn up lists of the characteristics of good language learners. I have referred to some of these in filling out the following list produced by
Wenden.
1. Good language learners find a style of learning that suits them. They are self aware, they know themselves.. When they are in a learning situation which they do not like, they are able to adapt it to their personal needs. They believe they can always learn something, whatever the situation. They also know how they prefer to learn and choose learning situations that are suited to their way of learning.
2. Good language learners are actively involved in the language learning process. They take responsibility for their own learning. Besides regular language classes, they create opportunities to use the language. They know practice is very important. They are willing to take risks, to appear foolish if necessary.
3. Good language learners try to figure out how the language works. They try to come to grips with the language as a system. They pay attention to form and look for patterns. They develop good techniques for improving their pronunciation, learning grammar and vocabulary. They welcome mistakes as a way of learning more about the language.
4. Good language learners know that language is used to communicate. They pay attention to meaning. They have good techniques to practise listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In the early stages of their language learning they do not worry about making mistakes. They speak and try to become fluent. They look for opportunities to speak with native speakers.
5. Good language learners are like good detectives. They are always looking for clues that will help them understand how the language works. They make guesses and ask people to correct them if they are wrong. They compare what they say with what others say. They keep a record of what they have learned and think about it.le they monitor themselves.
6. Good language learners learn to think in the language.
7. Good language learners realize that language learning is not easy. They try to overcome their feelings of frustration and their lack of confidence. They are able to come to terms with the affective demands of language learning, ie they can manage their emotions. They are realistic in their setting of study goals.
8. Good language learners are also good culture learners aware of the very close relationship between language and culture.
9. Good language learners have a long term commitment to language learning. They are realistic in realizing that it takes time and practice.