CHAPTER 7. POPULAR IDEAS ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING REVISITED Flashcards
Popular Ideas:
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–Neither L1 nor L2 is learned mainly through imitation.
–Learners produce many novel (original) utterances in addition to language they’ve heard before.
–Even children learning their first language imitate selectively.
Languages are learned mainly through imitation
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–Parents usually focus on correcting meaning, not form (grammar and pronunciation)
Parents usually correct young children when they make mistakes
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–Highly intelligent people have an advantage in memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary, but not in learning to use language
Highly intelligent people are good language learners
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–Motivation is important, but there are also many other factors.
–Motivation increases success, but success also increases motivation.
The best predictor of success in second language acquisition is motivation
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–It depends on the objectives of the program and the amount of time spent.
–Starting earlier may lead to more native-like acquisition eventually (especially for pronunciation), but children who start later catch up quickly.
The earlier a second language is introduced in school programmes, the greater the likelihood of success in learning
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–There are many causes of error; L1 interference is just one of them.
–Learners with different L1s make the same errors when learning a particular L2.
Most of the mistakes that second language learners make are due to interference from their first language
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–True, but not the whole story.
–Second language learners benefit from opportunities to read material that is interesting and important to them.
–However, those who receive guidance from instruction and develop good strategies for learning and remembering words will benefit more than those who simply focus on getting the main ideas from a text.
The best way to learn new vocabulary is through reading
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–Second language speakers’ ability to make themselves understood depends more on their ability to reproduce the phrasing and stress patterns than on their ability to articulate each individual sound.
It is essential for learners to be able to pronounce all the individual sounds in the second language
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–Pragmatic features are also important.
–The decline in accuracy may show that learners are incorporating new information about the language into their own internal system of rules.
Once learners know roughly 1,000 words and the basic structure of a second language, they can easily participate in conversations with native speakers.
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–Language learning is not linear in development, but involves integrating new rules into the existing system (i.e., “interlanguage”).
–Learners may use a rule correctly for a while, then begin using it incorrectly, and then relearn it.
Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time, and learners should practice each one before going on to another
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–No matter how language is presented, certain structures are acquired before others (i.e., there is a “natural order”).
–Teachers should provide “comprehensible input” that is understandable to learners, but also contains some new words and structures.
Teachers should teach simple language structures before complex ones
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–Errors are a natural part of language learning.
–Correction may only be useful when the learner is ready for it.
–Too much error correction can have a negative effect on motivation, but teachers should point out persistent errors.
Learners’ errors should be corrected as soon as they are made in order to prevent the formation of bad habits
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–Learners can comprehend the general meaning of many forms they have not learned completely.
–Students need to be challenged; otherwise, they may lose motivation.–Students have to learn to deal with real language, not just artificial classroom language.
Teachers should use materials that expose students only to language structures they have already been taughth
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–Research says that isn’t true; they don’t produce more errors, and they can give useful feedback to each other.
–Group and pair activities can give students more chances to produce meaningful language
When learners are allowed to interact freely (for example, in groups or pair activities), they copy each other’s’ mistakes
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–While students can only learn the language they are exposed to, they don’t learn everything they are taught, of course.
–For learning to be successful, the language taught must be appropriate for their level of development.–Students learn a lot of language that they are not taught.
Students learn what they are taught
