LOOKING At

INTERLANGAGE PROCESSES

What is interlanguage ?



The type of language produced

by

second-and foreign-language
learners who are in the process

of

learning a language

Approaches to

Second Language Acquisition



Competition Model (section 8.1)



Monitor Model (Sections 8.2 and 8.3)



Alternative modes of knowledge
representation (section 8.4)



Connectionism (section 8.5)

The Competition Model



Bates and MacWhinney (1982)



the ways monolingual speakers inter
pret sentences



Form and function cannot be separat
ed.



Competition among various cues



Example (English and Italian)

English



(8-1) The cows eat the grass



Cues :

(1) relationship of word order
(2) The meaning of lexical
(3) animacy criteria
(4) morphology ( subject-verb agree

ment)

Italian



P.194



Cues:

(1) morphological agreement

(2) semantics

(3) pragmatics

Second language acquisition



How to adjust ?



Resort to meaning-based cues

Scholar : Harrington, 1987; Kilborn & I

to,1989 ; Sasaki,1991,1994 (p.195)



Resort to their NL interpretation strate

gies

Research : Sasaki, 1994 (p.196)

The Monitor Model

Krashen 1982



The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis



The Natural Order Hypothesis



The Monitor Hypothesis



The Input Hypothesis



The Affective Filter Hypothesis

The Acquisition-Learning

Hypothesis

Acquisition

Learning

Definition

Picking up a

language

Knowing

about a

language

Process

Subconscious

process

Conscious

process

Emphasis

Meaning

Form

Function

Produce

language

Ensure the

correctness

The Acquisition-Learning
Hypothesis



Learning cannot become

Acquisition



Fluency in second language

performance is due to what we
have acquired, not what we have
learned.

CRITIQUES



We have no ability to identify
conscious and subconscious
distinctions.



The dichotomies in human behavior
almost always define the end-points
of a continuum (not exclusive)

The Natural Order Hypothesis



(Dulay and Burt)



Grammatical Morpheme

1. plural “-s” “Books”

2. progressive “-ing” “John going”

3. copula “be” “John is here”

4. auxiliary “be” “John is going”

5. articles “the/a” “The books”

6. irregular past tense “John went”

7. third person “-s” “John likes books”

8. possessive “’s” “John’s book”

CRITIQUES



there is no true evidence that

everyone learns certain things in
a set pattern or “natural order.”



it is not clear how we decide

whether a morpheme has been
acquired or not

The Monitor Hypothesis



Acquired

competence

Learned

competence

Output

(The Monitor)

The Monitor Hypothesis



The three conditions

(1)

Time

sufficient time at learner’s disposal

(2) Focus on Form (correctness)
pay attention to how we are saying
something, not just to what we are saying
(3) Know the Rule
In order to apply a rule, one has to know it

CRITIQUES



How do learners in a classroom
setting in which only the NL is used
ever comprehend the L2? (Grammar
Translation Method)



Learned knowledge can be used in
decoding (e.g. Gregg,1984,p.204)

The Input Hypothesis



Second languages are acquired by
receiving “comprehensible input” .



Current state of knowledge as i and the
next stage as i+1



Zero option (don’t ever teach grammar)



Speech emerge in a context of
comprehensible input sounds promising

CRITIQUES



(1)Little credit to learners

(seliger,1983 ) HIGs & LIGs
(2)The distinction between input and

intake



We can not define i and 1



Conscious rule learning can aid learner



What to do about the other half (or mo
re) of our language students

The Affective Filter Hypothesis

Input

Language

acquisition device

Acquired

competence

Filter

high anxiety, low self-esteem or low motivation

CRITIQUES



How does this filter work



this filter is present in adults but

not in children

Alternative Modes

of Knowledge Representation



Introduction



The Nature of Learning



The Nature of Knowledge



Automaticity and controlled process



Restructuring

Alternative Modes

of Knowledge Representation



In terms of general cognition, we
describe how linguistic knowledge is
acquired and organized in the brain.



Cognition

The process by which knowledge is

developed in mind.

The Nature of Learning



Implicit learning

learning complex information without the

ability to provide conscious recollection of
what has been learned.



Explicit learning

It might refer to explicit classroom

explanations. Patterns or rules are stored in
long-term memory.

The Nature of Knowledge



A continuum raging from implicit to
explicit knowledge. (N. Ellis,1994)

Explicit

Linguistic

Knowledge

Implicit

Linguistic

knowledge

Formal
Practicing

Inference

The Nature of Knowledge



Bialystok and Sharwood Smith (1985)



Knowledge representation & control o

ver that knowledge



The four point

(1) qualitative & quantitative differences

(2) Prefabricated patterns ( p.207)

(3) reanalysis does not necessarily imply de

pth

of analysis (p.208)
(4)

I have no idea

Automaticity



a consistent and regular association

between a certain kind of input and

some output pattern.



Example (p.210) :

Speaker 1 : Hi.
Speaker 2 : Hi, how are you?
Speaker 3 : Fine, and you ?
Speaker 4 : Fine.

Controlled process



Learning is regulated by controlled
processes, capacity limited and
temporary and involves the transfer of
information to long-term processes.



With time and with experience, learners
begin to use language more
automatically, thus leaving more
antinational time for new information that
require more control.

McLaughlin’s Attention-Processing
Model

Attention to
Formal Properties

of Language

Information Processing

Controlled

Automatic

Focal

Performance
based on formal

rule learning

Performance in
a test situation

Peripheral

Performance
based on

implicit learning
or anagogic

learning

Performance in
communication

situations

Practical applications of

McLaughlin’s attention-processing

model

Controlled

New skill, capacity
limited

Automatic

Well practiced skill
capacity is relatively

unlimited

Focal



Grammatical

explanation



Word definition



Prefabricated patterns



discrete-point

exercises



Monitoring oneself

while talking or

writing



Scanning



Editing, peer-editing

Peripher

al



Simple greeting



TPR/Natural Approach



New L2 learner

successfully completes
a brief conversation



open-ended group work



Free writes



Normal conversational

exchanges of some
length

Restructuring



If a new element were added,
disturbing

the existing system and thereby

necessitating reorganization,

restructuring

would have taken place.

Restructuring



Evidence of Restructuring

(1) (TABLE 8.2 ,P213)

(2) U-shaped behavior



Three stages of linguistic use



Evidence (Lightbown,1983
p.214)

French learners of English

Connectionism



knowledge is seen as network of
interconnected exemplars and
patterns rather than abstract rule.



Parallel distributed processing (PDP)

Information processing in which two or

more processing operations are carried
out at the same time or in parallel