ROZDZIAŁ 7 (Spada)
Languages are learned mainly through imitation
First language acquisition (FLA)
some children imitate a great deal
their language doesn’t develop faster/better than that of children who rarely imitate
children often imitate selectively
Second language acquisition (SLA)
learners produce many novel sentences that they couldn’t have heard before
for some advanced learners careful listening and imitation can be valuable in developing proficiency in pronunciation and intonation
for beginning learners the recite bits of perfectly accurate language become a just a collection of sentences, waiting for the moment when they would be useful
Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors
Pre-schoolers
Parents rarely comment on grammatical errors
They correct lapses in politeness or the choice of word that doesn’t make sense
School age
Parents correct kinds of ‘non standard’ speech (‘Me & Fred are going outside now’)
OBSERVATION of parents and children show: parents tend to focus on meaning rather than form when they correct children’s speech.
Parents correct:
An word choice
Statements of facts
A rude remark
SL learners may persist in using certain ungrammatical forms for years, without corrective feedback and guidance.
People with high IQs are good language learners.
The kind of intelligence:
Is a good predictor for success where the emphasis is on learning ABOUT the language (grammatical rules, vocabulary items)
People who do well on IQ tests may do well on other kinds of tests
BUT in this items a wide variety of intellectual abilities is successful:
In natural language settings (LA through interactive language use)
Oral communication skills rather than metalinguistic knowledge
The most important factor in SLA success is motivation.
Learners who want to learn better than those who don’t
True, but there shouldn’t be too strong an interpretation for this.
Adults who begin learning a SLA rarely achieve the fluency and accuracy that children do in FLA it doesn’t seem that adult SL learners are not motivated!
In a group of highly motivated SL learners there are those who are more successful than others!
The role of teacher: make a classroom a supportive environment
Stimulation
Engaging in activities
Activities appropriate to learners’ age, interests, cultural backgrounds
The possibility of success
Learners are from different backgrounds and life experiences, all of which have contributed to their attitudes toward and motivation to learn the target language.
The earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the greater the likelihood of success in learning.
RESEARCH EVIDENCE: Only those, who begin SL learning at an early age can acquire it native-like.
When to introduce foreign language instruction?
It depends on the objectives of the language program in the social context of the school.
It is important to recognize disadvantages of an early start:
Sometimes it means that children have little opportunity to develop their first language
For children from minority-language backgrounds:
the development of the first language at home and at school is BETTER for long-term success in the SLA THAN an early start in second language itself.
RESEARCH EVIDENCE: the good foundation in the first language is a sound base to build on. Children:
are more self-confident
are able to learn more effectively in the early school years
don’t lose their time struggling just to understand what is happening in the classroom
Many children who are members of a small minority group no opportunity to have their early schooling in their first language
Teachers:
sensitive
respect the children’s difficulty
encourage parents to maintain home lang.
understand these children need more time and effort
Foreign/second language instruction where the level of proficiency is not native-like performance by all students.
IF
The goal of educational program is
basic communicative skills for all students
strong commitment to maintaining first language
THEN
More efficient to begin SL teaching later
e.g. 10-year olds are able to catch very quickly on e.g. 6,7-years olds
one, two hours classes a week will not produce very advanced SL speaking (‘dripfeed approach’)
Most of the mistakes which SL learners make are due to interference from their first language.
The transfer of patterns from the native language is one of the major sources of errors in learner language difficult to overcome
BUT
Other causes of errors
Overgeneralization of target-language rules SL learners from different first language backgrounds make the same kinds of errors in particular SL
In this case learners make an effort t the structure of the target language rather than transfer patterns from their first language
RESEARCH EVIDENCE: aspects of SL which are different from the FL will not be acquired later or with more difficulty than those aspects which are similar
Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time and learners should practice examples of each one before going on to another.
Learners are incorporating new information about the language into their own internal system of rules
e.g.:
Learners learn ‘went’ as a memorized ‘chunk’
Then they learn to use regular –ed inflection for past tense marking they stop using ‘went’ and produce ‘goed’
Then they learn about the exceptions to the –ed past tense rule they begin to use ‘went’ again
Language development is not just adding rule after rule but integrating new rules into an existing systems of rules.
SL development isn’t linear.
However…
Some structure-based approaches to teaching are based on the false assumption:
Textbook organization
First unit and several subsequent units particular language feature
Then next feature
No opportunity for learners to discover how different language features compare and contrast in normal language use.
Teachers should teach simple language structures before complex ones.
RESEARCH has shown: certain structures are acquired before others no matter how language is presented to learners
There is no necessity to exposure linguistic structures which are perceived to be ‘simple’.
SL learners benefit from:
Native speakers they make efforts to modify their speech to help SL learners
Fluent bilinguals understand
MODIFIED SPEECH
Contains a variety of linguistic structures
Omits complex forms
Includes range of conversational adjustments
Teachers, like parents, crease the complexity of their language intuitively.
Linguistic forms that are rare in everyday speech learners have very little opportunity to hear or use if the teacher doesn’t make a point of providing them.
NOT NECESSARILY DIFFICULT OR COMPLEX!
Learners’ errors should be corrected as soon as they made in order to prevent the formation of bad habits.
Errors = natural part of language learning
Reveal the patterns of learner’s developing interlanguage systems
where SL rule is overgeneralized where FL rule was transferred
When errors are persistent/shared by almost all students in a class it is useful to bring the problem into the learners attention.
learners shouldn’t be expected to adopt the correct form/structure immediately
correction is only useful when the learner is ready for it
correction require many repetitions
excessive feedback on error can have negative effect on motivation
teachers must be sensitive to the way their students react to correction
the kind of correction must vary according to the specific characteristic of the students
immediate reaction to errors in oral communication setting may embarrass some students (for others it’ll be exactly what is needed to notice error just a moment when it occurs
RESEARCH SHOWS:
corrective feedback given exclusively in the form of conversational ‘recasts’ passes unnoticed
corrective feedback as a signal through tone of voice, a gesture, a facial expression, which says to the students, ‘I understand what you’re saying and I’m telling you how you can say it better’ will be recognize as correction
Teachers should use materials that expose students only to language structures which they have already been taught.
It can provide comprehensive input.
Several negative consequences:
Loss of motivation if students are not sufficiently challenged
Students need to deal with ‘authentic’ material if they’d use language outside classroom
WHEN
A particular form introduced for the first time
The teacher feels there is a need for correction
THEN
It is appropriate to use narrow-focus materials which isolate one element in a context where other things seem easy it shouldn’t be use exclusively!
When learners are allowed to interact freely (e.g., in group or pair activities), they learn each others’ mistakes.
RESEARCH: if tasks are well designed, learners get more practice in speaking in group work than they ever could in a teacher-centred class.
Learners don’t produce more/less errors when talking to learners at similar levels or more advanced l.
Learners at similar levels cannot provide each other with info which helps to correct errors
The task can be planned in such a way that learners can discover knowledge about the SL they didn’t know they have.
Group work in combination with individual work and teacher-centred activities
Students learn what they are taught;)
SL learners can only learn the language they are exposed to.
- +
| Some teaching methods a restricted number of words/structures | Vocabulary can be taught at any time |
|---|---|
| Sth is taughtit doesn’t mean learners will acquire it right away | Learners can learn a great deal that no-one ever teaches them |
| Students can be frustrated when they are taught sth what is too far away from they current stage | Sometimes students can learn much more they are taught |