Language Acquisition and Comprehension Flashcards
Language Acquisition
Process by which people acquire the ability to understand and use words. Chomsky explained this process with the theory of Universal Grammar/Language Acquisition Device. Capacity is innate. Children acquire knowledge in a series of iterative stages. Age 2 basic vocab, increases, learns rapidly, by 4-6 child masters basic sentence and grammar.
Genetic Predisposition or Innate Capacity
Refers to Chomsky’s theory of a Universal Grammar that is programmed into every human brain and facilitates language development.
Social Interaction
Some experts believe that a child’s social environment is crucial to language development. Adults play an important role by giving children examples of correct usage to imitate. Exposure to more complex vocabulary. Emphasis on actually using language rather than just hearing it. Most successful second-language learners are those who want to integrate into the culture.
Sociocultural Factors
Social class has a major effect on how children use language. Sociocultural factors determine degree og language usage and skills.
Affective Factors
Personal qualities such as empathy, self-esteem, extroversion, lack of inhibition or anxiety, ability to imitate, and overall outlook tat would positively affect that acquisition of language skills
4 factors that affect language development
Genetic Predisposition or innate capacity, social interactions, sociocultural factors, and affective factors.
Bilingualism
System in which students are taught in their native language
Transitional
System that allows students to speak their own language until they have learned enough English to participate in English-only classes.
Total Immersion (Sink or Swim Approach)
Students must immediately take part in English-only classes with no transitional period.
Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition
The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Monitor Hypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, The Affective Filter Hypothesis
The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis
Two independent systems for learning a second language- the acquired system and the learned system. The acquired system uses a subconscious process much like the one that children go through in learning a first language. Depends on natural, meaningful communication in the target language, so that the speaker is concentrating mainly on communicating instead of on forming sentences. The learning system is the traditional process of formal instruction in a language. Acquisition is significantly more important than learning.
The Monitor Hypothesis
Acquisition and learning are related with acquisition being the initiator of an utterance and learning being its monitor or editor. The role of the monitor is minor, useful only in correcting deviations from standard speech and giving speech a more polished look. The monitor function is also used only when certain conditions are met, i.e., the learner of a second language must have time to monitor, a focus on form or correctness, and a knowledge of the rule to be monitored.
The Natural Order Hypothesis
Acquiring grammatical structures in a second language always follows a ‘natural order’ regardless of the student’s age, first language background, and conditions of exposure to the second language.
The Input Hypothesis
Concerned with acquisition and not learning, posits that a second language learner makes progress along the “natural order” of development each time he or she receives input from the second language that is one step beyond his or her current level of competence in the language.
The Affective Filter Hypothesis
A number of affective variables such as motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety, play an important ‘facilitative but non-causal’ role in language acquisition. Low motivation, lack of self-esteem, and high levels of anxiety act as filters that form a mental block, preventing the student from using comprehensible input for acquisition.
Ex. Business person who is embarrassed of misspeaking so he/she uses only known vocab and sentence structures
Syntactic Errors
Often due to the deployment of First Language rules to Second Language. Constitutes an Interlanguage, which is a crucial step in development.
Factors that affect second language development
Linguistic distance between languages, student’s level of proficiency in the first language, student’s prior knowledge of the second language, desire to integrate into language culture, peer group pressure and family influence, age of the language learner
Critical Period Hypothesis
A person’s ability to learn language peaks during early child. Children under 15 tend to achieve greater proficiency in grammar, pronunciation, and grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension
Transfer
When a speaker uses his or her second language in a way that is semantically and syntactically appropriate for the first or native language but not for the second.
Negative Transfer
When a speaker uses skills from a previously learned behavior or topic but applies them incorrectly to a new topic.
Ex. Fake-> Faked assumes that take is taked
Hypercorrection
When a person who has been corrected for a mistake in usage makes further mistakes in trying to avoid the original error.
Ex. “Me and him played soccer yesterday” tries to avoid using the objective case me altogether and incorrectly says “The teacher gave he and I the assignment yesterday.”
Borrowing
When a speaker switches into his or her first language and borrows single words or entire phrases for which he or she knows no equivalent in the second language. The result can be a hybrid language like Spanglish.
Semantic Mapping
A method by which a teacher solicits responses to a word or phrase through a process of brainstorming or free association. The teacher might write a word or phrase on the blackboard and ask students to suggest other words they think of as a result.
Semantic Feature Analysis
Reading comprehension activity for which students use a chart to organize information by categories, analyze ideas, compare concepts, and makes inferences about a written text
Repeated Oral Reading
A student repeatedly reads aloud a short text, helps improve a student’s fluency and reading rate regardless of reading level.
Note Taking
Helps a reader to paraphrase what has been read and thus focus on meaning and interpretation.
Word Analogies
Compare two or more things by analyzing how they are alike or different. “What features does this word share with other words you have seen?”
Visual Imaging Skills
Student’s ability to use personal images and experiences to comprehend a word’s meaning. “Can you describe an incident from your own life that reminds you of this word?”
Cohesion Analysis
Method of analyzing how all the parts of a word come together to create an overall effect or covey a message Read ahead or review to understand how the parts fit together.
Code Switching
when a person changes dialects or switches fro formal to informal speech depending on the group with which he or she is interacting
Sight Words
Can be decoded immediately on sight : I, is, that, there, and am
Language Sounds
Phonics (sound it out)
Meanings of Word Parts
Morphemes
Semantics
Student must develop an understanding of the meaning of words and sentences and how words fit together to create different meanings
Appropriate Rhetorical Strategy
Consider Audience, purpose, and the genre of writing. Will determine tone and style of rhetoric.
Nature of the Writing Process
Writer should follow the steps for comprehension, including planning, drafting, writing, revision, editing, and sharing
Interaction with other Disciplines and Communities
Writer should consider how a piece of writing seeks to affect and is affected by different communities, including family, peers, and teachers, and what other disciplines it refers to or reflects
Awareness of Though processes
The writer should reflect on or be aware of his or her own thought processes in the course of writing.
Evaluation of Effectiveness
Writer should judge how well a piece of writing fulfills its original intention and meets the needs of its intended audience.
Metacognition
Self-awareness during the reading process, ensures that a student’s mind is engaged while reading and that the student is ready to use a variety of tools and strategies to unlock the meaning of a text.
Prereading Strategies
Help prepare a reader’s comprehension by accessing prior knowledge of the subject or seeking information that enriches the subject
Predicting
Skill which the reader makes predictions about the text before and during the reading based on the evidence provided
Questioning
When a reader asks and answers questions about a text all through the reading process. Why questions.
Word Analysis
Decoding of Unfamiliar words or words used in an unfamiliar context throughout a text. Words can be decoded using context clues, syntactic clues, word structure, word families, and content-area information.
Concept Formation
Used during and after the reading to connect and categorize ideas and reflect on the material’s overall meaning and effect.
Literal Comprehension
Ability to obtain the basic facts and details of the story
Inferential Comprehension
Ability to make inferences and draw conclusions about the story
Applied Comprehension
Ability to move beyond the story to thick critically and creatively about its implications and larger meaning
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning
Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating
Knowledge Questions
What happened after
Who was it that
Can you tell why
Which is true or false
Comprehension Questions
What was the main idea
Can you distinguish between
What do you think might happen next
Can you provide an example of
Application Questions
Could this have happened in
Can you group by characteristics such as
Can you apply this outcome to some experience of your own
Would this example be useful if you had a
Analysis Questions
Which events could have happened
If _ happened what might the ending have been
What were some of the motives behind
What was the problem with
Sythesis Questions
If you had to compose a song about
What would happen if
If faced with the same problem as _ how would you
What proposal could you develop that would
Evaluation Questions
How would you judge the value of
What is a better solution to
How effective are
If you were reviewing _, what would you write
