Chp 10 2nd lang acquisitiona & bilingualism Flashcards
Dixon, L.Q., & Zhao, J. (2017). Bilingual language development. In J.B. Gleason 7 N.B. Ratner, The development of language (pp. 285-307). Boston: Pearson.
In order to know what a language impairment (LI) is
- We need to know what is typical for ELLs who are developing English
- Many times, typical characteristics of second language acquisition and bilingualism are MISTAKEN FOR SYMPTOMS OF LI
TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BILINGUALISM AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: LANGUAGE LOSS
- Many ELL students’ L1 is not maintained in school through bilingual education
- Unfortunately→ language loss in L1
- Thus, LOW test scores in BOTH L1 and English
TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BILINGUALISM AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION:Interference/Transfer
- When students are learning an L2, they make ERRORS that reflect the INFLUENCE OF L1
- For example: in Spanish, a child would say “la casa verde” (the house green)
- If a Spanish-speaking child pointed to a picture and said, “look—I see the house green” (instead of “I see the green house”) this would be transfer from Spanish, not a sign of a clinically significant problem with syntax
Transfer:
- syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, pragmatics
- Errors of transfer from L1 are NOT signs of a communication disorder—just a DIFFERENCE
Silent Period
- In the early stages of learning an L2, most students focus on COMPREHENSION and do very little speaking
- The YOUNGER the student, the LONGER the silent period usually lasts
- Students introduced to L2 during the PRESCHOOL YEARS may speak very little in L1 or in L2 for more than one year
Interlanguage
System that has structurally intermediate status between L1 and L2 Student is approximating L2 Errors are INCONSISTENT
Codeswitching
-ALTERNATING BETWEEN 2 LANGUAGES within a single phrase, sentence, or discourse
-Bilingual ch commonly use this strategy
-Normal communication behavior
Codeswitching is used by
-multilingual adults and children around the world
Avoidance
-Students will AVOID COMMUNICATING in L2 for fear of being laughed at or made fun of
-They may be SELF-CONSCIOUS about their accent, use of English grammatical structures, and people asking “Where are you from?” (especially older learners)
Formulaic Language
Ch use this to give impression that they speak the L2 well – increase opportunities to converse in L2
Sociocultural Variables
A. Socioeconomic status —low-income children have difficulty with knowledge-based tests
B. Cultural styles—e.g. reduced eye contact with adults, being silent in the presence of an adult
Impact of Affective Variables in Second Language Acquisition*
A. Motivation— instrumental vs. integrative (Dixon & Zhao, 2017) instrumental= motiviated for a specific purpose; succeed in school or job, not motivated to integrate w/ mainstream culture learn slowly
integrative= learn L2 faster, they want to integrate w/ mainstream culture
B. Personality: is ch. introverted or extroverted
C. Self-esteem:
The Impact of Simultaneous and Sequential Bilingual Acquisition
-Simultaneous: child is exposed to 2 languages from infancy in natural situations
-Interference between L1 and L2 is minimal
Early infancy is the ideal time for
child to be exposed to 2+ languages**
Sequential acquisition
-Child is exposed to L1 during infancy, learns L2 at a later time
-Sequential learners–↑ diversity in rates and stages of acquisition
If L2 is introduced sequentially
-BEFORE a strong L1 foundation has been established (e.g., 6-8 years of age), L1 development may be ARRESTED or even REGRESS while L2 is being learned
-These students, for a while, achieve low test scores in both L1 and L2—this can cause them to APPEAR LI when they are not
-PRESCHOOL CHILDREN who learn English in a sequential manner are ESPECIALLY VULNERABLE to this situation
4 Stages of Second Language Acquisition in Sequential Learners: STAGE 1
- preproduction:
- 10 hours-6 mos. English exposure
- Beginning to COMPREHEND- SILENT PERIOD
- Beginning to communicate – gestures, body lang, pointing
4 Stages of Second Language Acquisition in Sequential Learners:Stage 2
early production
- 6 mos. – 1 year English exposure
- 1-2 word verbal responses
- Answers simple yes-no, wh-questions
- Uses routines or formulas
4 Stages of Second Language Acquisition in Sequential Learners:Stage 3
Speech Emergence
- 1-3 years English exposure
- Using phrases and sentences
- Answers “why” and ”how” ?s
- Understands a lot, expresses effectively in simple sentences; SOME GRAMMATICAL ERROS
4 Stages of Second Language Acquisition in Sequential Learners: Stage 4
Intermediate Fluency
- 3-4 years exposure to english
- Beginning to develop solid ACADEMIC ENGLISH
- Engages in extended discourse (communication)
- Writes essays, critiques and analyzes information
Separate vs. Common Underlying Proficiency
-The Separate Underlying Proficiency (SUP) model holds that L1 and L2 proficiencies are totally separate, and building skills in one language will not help the other language
-Believers of SUP try to ERADICATE STUDENTS’ L1 through placing these students in “sink or swim” all-English classrooms and telling parents to “SPEAK ONLY ENGLISH AT HOME”
Cummins promoted the CUP model, which states
“the literacy-related aspects of a bilingual’s proficiency in L1 and L2 are seen as common or INTERDEPENDENT across languages… EXPERIENCE WITH EITHER LANGUAGE can promote development of the proficiency underlying both languages, given adequate motivation and exposure to both either in school or in the wider environment”
According to the theory of Common Underlying Proficiency
-Building up one language positively affects the development of the other language
-Parents need to speak to their child in the language in which they are MOST COMFORTABLE
Practical Implications of CUP
-Build up L1 skills
-The stronger the students L1 foundation, the more easily she will learn concepts in English
-Additive bilingualism – academic success
Often older learners with a solid L1 foundation perform quite well academically
Because their solid L1 foundation supports the learning of English and academic content
Unfortunately, many of our ELL students experience limited bilingualism*
-These students do not receive L1 support, and they try to learn L2 (English) with a foundation that is not fully developed
-These students experience negative cognitive effects and frequent ACADEMIC FAILURE
-They can appear to be “language impaired,” when in reality, they are merely not strong in either L1 or English
CILF and FALF
- We can distinguish between two types of language fluency
- When conducting assessments of ELLs for the possible presence of a language impairment, it is extremely important to understand
- a) what TYPE of language PROFICIENCY we are assessing, and
- b) if our EXPECTATIONS are REASONABLE given the student’s length of exposure to Englis
Conversational Informal Language Fluency (CILF)
- “picked up” quickly and easily from environment
- Oral lang fluency – facilitates social interaction in daily life
- Context-embedded, SHARE REALITY between speakers
FALF (Formal Academic Language Fluency)
- Oral and written language
- Gained through FORMAL SCHOOLING
- Taught explicitly in ACADEMIC settings
- LITTLE context or SHARED REALITY between communicators
- ABSTRACT– formal communication contexts
For some ELLs
-FALF TAKES MUCH LONGER TO DEVELOP THAN CILF
-If an ELL is proficient and literate in her first language, FALF can develop more quickly
-However, if an ELL is from a lOW-INCOME background and has NO LITERACY SKILLS in the first language, there can be a gap between CILF and FALF development—CILF develops much faster
In these cases, when we extrapolate from CILF to FALF…
-Create DEFICITS in students – may be erroneously identified as Lang impaired
-Students with adequate CILF may still need MORE TIME to develop FALF
Many English language proficiency tests assess just CILF
-A problem with this is that when a CILF-oriented proficiency test labels an ELL student as “FULLY ENGLISH PROFICIENT” professionals assume the student is ready to handle FALF-oriented TESTS in ENGLISH
-These can include statewide school achievement tests, speech-language and psychological tests, etc.
-The GAP between the student’s CILF and FALF performance may lead to erroneous special education placement.
BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS
- American attitudes
- Monolingual norm assumption/limited capacity hypothesis
Most students in
-Europe begin compulsory foreign lang instruction before age 10
Dixon & Zhao, 2017
Bilingualism Is a growing trend in the U.S.
ttp://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/sealofbiliteracy.asp 2017
-The state seal of biliteracy (SSB), became effective January 1, 2012
-This program recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing one or more languages in addition to enlgish
Power Differential
- Some langs – more political and $$ power than others
- Ch quickly figure this out
- U.S: English has miore power than spanish
- Holland: Dutch has more power than Turkish
- Philippines: taglog has more power than odionganon
- Haiti: French creole has more power than haitian
Ideal Bilingual Education Situation
-Minimum 6 YEARS of bilingual instruction
-In K and 1st grade, 90% PRIMARY lang and 10% English instruction
-50% + 50% enlgish and primary lang by grade 6
-Leads to ADDITIVE bilingualism
Additive vs. Subtractive Bilingualism
SUBTRACTIVE bilingualism COMMON in U.S. School
Students L1 is not nurtured or SUPPORTED
It is REPLACED by L2; lang loss in L1
Academic failure – student not strong in either lang
Additive bilingualism
-the ideal situation, where the student’s L1 is nurtured and developed along with L2
-Research shows that additive bilingualism has great cognitive and linguistic benefits
Dixon & Zhao, 2017
-Bilingualism increases executive functioning skills
-Switching between 2 languages increases frontal lobe activation
Research in Canada…(Bialystok & colleagues)
In elderly adults, being bilingual postpones onset of dementia for 4-5 years
Elderly bilingual brain increases sophisticated and physiologically complex than monolingual brain
Neuropsychologist Tamar Gollan at UC San Diego…
-Studied 44 elderly Spanish-English bilinguals
-Individuals with increase degree of bilingualism more RESISITANT than others to onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s
-The HIGHER the degree of BILINGUALISM, the LATER the age of onset
Other benefits:
-Bilingualismgreater EMPLOYMENT opportunities
-Children: ethnic PRIDE, cultural TRADITION, ability to communicate with non-English speaking family members
When we account for second language acquisition phenomena
- We make many fewer misdiagnoses
- We AVOID MISLABELING typically-developing ELL students as having language impairments
- We honor our students’ linguistic and cultural identities as they engage in the challenging and rewarding process of becoming successful, and hopefully proficient bilingual CONTRIBUTORS to our society.
We need increasing numbers of
-bilingual U.S. citizens to do business in our continually shrinking world
