exam 4 1-2 Flashcards
Subtractive bilingualism and its effect on L2 development
Learner is deprived of his L1 and that results in an arrested development of L1 And L2.
B.F. Skinner’s behaviourist perspective of language acquisition
Children acquire language by imitating and practicing what they hear until they form habits of/or language use.
The positive reinforcement corollary to Skinner’s behaviourist perspective Cross-reference this to Vygotsky’s interactionist perspective of language acquisition and the ZPD.
Children’s language is considered to be correct because of positive reinforcement from an interlocutor.////. Children develop language because of social interaction. In the ZPD, the child/learner becomes capable of higher performance because of modified interaction and support from an interlocutor who possesses greater knowledge than the child/learner does.
Continued language acquisition–inference from the behaviourist perspective Cross-reference this to the notion of automaticity.
Continued language acquisition–inference from the behaviourist perspective: Once children understand that their utterance is correct, they will listen to, imitate, and practice new language forms… until these are deemed to be correct to by an interlocutor. Cross-reference this to the notion of automaticity. Automaticity renders acquired information subconscious so that children/learners can focus all of their cognitive resources on new information only.
Universal grammar: Cross-reference Chomsky’s innatist perspective to Piaget’s interactionist perspective
According to Chomsky’s innatist perspective of language acquisition, children acquire language through their “biological endowment.” They are biologically programmed to acquire language. Children’s biological endowment makes it both possible and necessary for them to express their responses to interaction with their physical environment, which, according to Piaget, is the basis for language development. According to Chomsky, children’s innately developed Universal Grammar enables them to connect the language forms in their social environment (people who speak the same language) with their responses to interaction in their physical environment… and thus verbally communicate using mutually intelligible language forms.
The dismissal of IQ as a relevant factor in language proficiency
The current trend in SLA that demonstrates the limitation of defining language proficiency solely in terms of meta linguistic knowledge. Metalinguistic knowledge is not an accurate predictor of communicative competence… Communicative competence is an essential basis of language competence.
- The 5 non-linguistic factors in communicative competence
- Personality
- Social condition
- Attitude
- Learning styles
- Motivation
Erlam’s findings: language gain and the 3 types of input in language instruction
Learners in the deductive group received explicit-rule based grammar instruction followed by the opportunity to practice the rules they had learned (e.g. short productions with a focus on words and word forms).
Learners in the inductive group received no grammar instruction but participated in activities that encouraged them to figure out meanings conveyed by [words and word forms in the target language] and to produce them (e.g. exposure to authentic L1 language samples… short films… online exchanges with native speakers).
Learners in the structured input group received explicit rule-based instruction, but did not produce the target forms; they participated in activities that exposed them to spoken and written examples of [authentic L1 language samples] but were not required to produce the target forms.
All learners benefited from deductive input.
Learners with greater language analytic ability and memory capacity–but not all learners!–benefited from inductive and structured input.
Conclusion: Learners with lesser language analytic ability and memory capcacity did not benefit from inductive and structured input.
Corollary: Learners with lesser language anaytic ability and memory capacity benefit predominantly from deductive input.
Warning! Just because learners don’t initially benefit from a particular type of input doesn’t mean that they will never benefit from this type of input. It means that they need more support and resources in order to develop the ability to benefit from other types of input.
Application: Learners should be grouped in terms of compatibility (heterogeneous grouping)–not exclusivity (homogeneous grouping)
- Dörnyei’s reorientation of Gardner & Lambert’s conception of motivation
Their conception of motivation is process-oriented.
