Language Concepts and Acquisition

Question 1

L1 and L2 Acquisition

Answer 1

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Question 2

Natural Approach

Answer 2

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Question 3

Memorization

Answer 3

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Question 4

Categorization

Answer 4

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Question 5

Generalization

Answer 5

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Question 6

Metacognition

Answer 6

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Question 7

First and Second Language Effect

Answer 7

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Question 8

Idiomatic Expressions

Answer 8

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Question 9

First language interference

Answer 9

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Question 10

Domain 1 Competency 2

Answer 10

Understand the processes of first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) and the interrelatedness of L1 and L2 development.

Question 11

Krashen’s Theory

Answer 11

Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition consists of five main hypotheses:

Acquisition-Learning hypothesis,
Monitor hypothesis,
Natural Order hypothesis,
Input hypothesis,
Affective Filter hypothesis

Question 12

Acquisition-Learning hypothesis

Answer 12

Two independent systems of second language performance: ‘the acquired system’ and ‘the learned system’.

This process is very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language, and it requires meaningful interaction in the target language, natural communication.

The ‘learned system’ or ‘learning’ is the product of formal instruction. It is comprised of a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge regarding the language, i.e. knowledge of grammar rules.

Krashen’s opinion is that learning is less important than acquisition.

Question 13

Monitoring hypothesis

Answer 13

The Monitoring hypothesis function is the result of the learned grammar with sufficient time, focus on correctness, familiarity of the rule. Used only to correct deviations from normal speech and to speech appearing more polished.

Question 14

Natural Order hypothesis

Answer 14

The Natural Order hypothesis is based on research by (Dulay & Burt, 1974; Fathman, 1975; Makino, 1980 cited in Krashen, 1987) and suggests that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a predictable “natural order.”

Question 15

Input hypothesis

Answer 15

Input hypothesis is explained as how a learner acquires a second language. This hypothesis is Krashen’s explanation of how second language acquisition takes place, only concerned with “acquisition”, not “learning”.

Question 16

Affective Filter hypothesis

Answer 16

Affective Filter hypothesis is the learner’s emotional state and can act as a filter that impedes or blocks input necessary to acquisition. Learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language acquisition.

Question 17

Scaffolding

Answer 17

A teacher provides individualized support by incrementally improving a learner’s ability to build on prior knowledge.

When using scaffolding as an instructional technique, the teacher provides tasks that enable the learner to build on prior knowledge and internalize new concepts.

Scaffolds may include models, cues, prompts, hints, partial solutions, think-aloud modeling, and direct instruction.

Question 18

Scaffolding - 8 characteristics

Answer 18

Provide clear direction and reduce students’ confusion. Prior to assigning instruction that involves scaffolding, a teacher must try to anticipate any problems that might arise and write step-by-step instructions for how learners must complete tasks.

Clarify purpose. Scaffolding does not leave the learner wondering why they are engaging in activities. The teacher explains the purpose of the lesson and why this is important. This type of guided instruction allows learners to understand how they are building on prior knowledge.

Keep students on task. Students are aware of the direction in which the lesson is heading, and they can make choices about how to proceed with the learning process.

Offer assessment to clarify expectations. Teachers who create scaffolded lessons set forth clear expectations from the beginning of the activity using exemplars, rubrics.

Point students to worthy sources. Teachers supply resources for research and learning to decrease confusion, frustration, and wasted time.

Reduce uncertainty, surprise, and disappointment. A well-prepared activity or lesson is tested or evaluated completely before implementation to reduce problems and maximize learning potential.

Deliver efficiency. Little time is wasted in the scaffolded lesson, and all learning goals are achieved efficiently.

Create momentum. The goal of scaffolding is to inspire learners to want to learn more and increase their knowledge and understanding.

Question 19

Zone of proximal development

Answer 19

The gap between what students can do on their own and what requires assistance.

Question 20

Stages of Language Development

Answer 20

Preproduction Stage
Early Production Stage
Speech Emergence Stage
Intermediate (Fluency) Language Proficiency Stage
Advanced (Fluency) Language Proficiency Stage

Question 21

Preproduction Stage

Answer 21

Last 10 hours to six months. Have up to 500 receptive words (understand, not comfortable using), understand new words that are comprehensible… Involves period of silence, may respond to pointing, picture, acting, nodding, yes/no answers. Don’t force to speak until ready.

Question 22

Early Production Stage

Answer 22

Last additional 6 months after first stage. May developed 1,000 receptive/active words (understand and use). Speaks in one or two word phrases, comprehends new material with yes/no, who/what/where questions.

Question 23

Speech Emergence Stage

Answer 23

Last up to an additional year. Usually developed about 3,000 words, use short phrases and simple sentences. Use dialogue, ask simple questions, answer simple questions. May use longer sentences, some grammatical errors.

Question 24

Intermediate (Fluency) Language Proficiency Stage

Answer 24

May take another year after speech emergence. Typically developed about 6,000 words, begin complex statements, state opinions, share thoughts, speak longer periods.

Question 25

Advanced (Fluency) Language Proficiency Stage

Answer 25

Gain proficiency in second language 5-7 years. Developed specialized content area vocabulary, participate in grade-level classroom activities with some support. Speaks English comparable to same age native speakers.

Question 26

Learning Theories

Answer 26

An attempt to describe how people learn, helping us understand this inherently complex process.

Question 27

Behaviorism

Skinner
Watson

Answer 27

Behaviorism is a theory of animal and human learning that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts mental activities. Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior.

Question 28

Constructivism

Piaget
Vygotsky

Answer 28

Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own “rules” and “mental models,” which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences.

Question 29

Nativist theories

Chomsky

Answer 29

Nativist theories hold that children are born with an innate propensity for language acquisition, and that this ability makes the task of learning a first language easier than it would otherwise be. These “hidden assumptions” allow children to quickly figure out what is and isn’t possible in the grammar of their native language, and allow them to master that grammar by the age of three. Nativists view language as a fundamental part of the human genome, as the trait that makes humans human, and its acquisition as a natural part of maturation, no different from dolphins learning to swim or songbirds learning to sing.

Question 30

Language Acquisition

Answer 30

Natural, subconscious process

Occurs when person lives and functions in a language

Begins with oral language

Natural Order Hypothesis (grammatical structures
internalized subconsciously in predictable order, similar in L1 and L2 but not same)

Errors part of developmental process

Question 31

Language Learning

Answer 31

Formal, conscious process

Occurs in formal classroom setting

Includes rules for spelling, grammar,
punctuation (learned and consciously applied).
Some grammatical forms may not develop
without explicit instruction.

Most effective when focus is on limited
number of rules at a time

Should not be emphasized in early stages

Question 32

Communicative Approach

Krashen

Answer 32

Two separate processes in development of language:

acquisition and learning

Question 33

Behaviorism Theory

Answer 33

Based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shapes our behaviors. There are two different types of conditioning, each yielding a different behavior pattern.

Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioral training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response. Next, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke the response without the presence of the naturally occurring stimulus. The two elements are then known as the conditioned stimuli and the conditioned response. The most popular example is Pavlov’s observation that dogs salivate when they eat or even see food.
Essentially, animals and people are biologically wired so that a certain stimulus will produce a specific response.

Behavioral or Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. For example, leading behaviorist B.F. Skinner use reinforcement techniques to teach pigeons to dance and bowl a ball in a mini-alley.
This theory is relatively simple to understand because it relies only on observable behavior and describes several universal laws of behavior.

Question 34

Cognitive Theory

Jean Piaget

Answer 34

According to Piaget, cognitive development occurs from two processes: adaptation and equilibrium. Adaptation involves the child’s changing to meet situational demands.

Adaptation involves two sub-processes: assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the application of previous concepts to new concepts. An example is the child who refers to a whale as a “fish.” Accommodation is the altering of previous concepts in the face of new information. An example is the child who discovers that some creatures living in the ocean are not fish, and then correctly refers to a whale as a “mammal.”

Equilibrium is the search for “balance” between self and the world, and involves the matching of the child’s adaptive functioning to situational demands. Equilibrium keeps the infant moving along the developmental pathway, allowing him or her to make increasingly effective adaptations.

Question 35

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor

Answer 35

0–2

The child learns by doing: looking, touching, sucking. The child also has a primitive understanding of cause-and-effect relationships. Object permanence appears around 9 months.

Question 36

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Preoperational

Answer 36

2–7

The child uses language and symbols, including letters and numbers. Egocentrism is also evident. Conservation marks the end of the preoperational stage and the beginning of concrete operations.

Question 37

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Concrete Operations

Answer 37

7–11

The child demonstrates conservation, reversibility, serial ordering, and a mature understanding of cause-and-effect relationships. Thinking at this stage is still concrete.

Question 38

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Formal Operations

Answer 38

12+

The individual demonstrates abstract thinking, including logic, deductive reasoning, comparison, and classification.

Question 39

BICS

Answer 39

Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills

Involves face-to-face, everyday situations. It refers to basic fluency in the language, primarily oral/social, and it is something that students acquire within two years.

Question 40

CALP

Answer 40

Cognitive Academic Linguistic Proficiency

Involves skills and functions of an academic or cognitive nature. This is the language needed to accomplish academic tasks. It usually takes about four to seven years to acquire.

Question 41

James Cummings - Canadian linguist

Answer 41

Did extensive research on how people acquire language. One of the first observations made by Cummins was that there are two dimensions of language: conversational and academic.

Question 42

Constructivist Learning Theory

Answer 42

States that learning is an active process of creating meaning from different experiences. In other words, students will learn best by trying to make sense of something on their own with the teacher as a guide to help them along the way.

Question 43

Learning Methods

Answer 43

Lecture = 5%
Reading = 10%
Audiovisual = 20%
Demonstration = 30%
Discussion Group = 50%
Practice by doing = 75%
Teach others / immediate use of learning = 90%

Question 44

Lev Vygotsky

Constructivist - Social development theory

Answer 44

Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotsky describes it as “the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers”

In other words, a student can perform a task under adult guidance or with peer collaboration that could not be achieved alone. The Zone of Proximal Development bridges that gap between what is known and what can be known.

Question 45

Jerome Bruner

Constructivist - Discovery Learning Theory

Answer 45

His work focused on the importance of understanding the structure of a subject being studied, the need for active learning as the basis for understanding, and the importance of reasoning in learning.

Bruner believed that when learners are presented with perplexing situations they will want to figure out a solution. This belief was the basis for creating discovery learning activities.

Bruner suggested that teachers can nurture inductive thinking by encouraging students to make guesses based on incomplete evidence and then to confirm or disprove the guesses systematically.

To apply Bruner’s ideas in the classroom, teachers would present both examples and non-examples of concepts, help students see connections among concepts with questions, pose questions and allow students to find an answer, and encourage students to make intuitive guesses.

Question 46

Jean Piaget

Piaget’s theory of constructivism

Answer 46

Piaget’s theory of constructivism argues that people produce knowledge and form meaning based upon their experiences.

Teachers must put emphasis on the significant role that experiences-or connections with the adjoining atmosphere-play in student education.

Two of the key components which create the construction of an individual’s new knowledge are accommodation and assimilation.

Assimilating causes an individual to incorporate new experiences into the old experiences. This causes the individual to develop new outlooks, rethink what were once misunderstandings, and evaluate what is important, ultimately altering their perceptions.

Accommodation is reframing the world and new experiences into the mental capacity already present. Individuals conceive a particular fashion in which the world operates. When things do not operate within that context, they must accommodate and reframing the expectations with the outcomes.

Piaget’s theory of constructivism addresses how learning actually occurs, not focusing on what influences learning. The role of teachers is very important. Instead of giving a lecture the teachers in this theory function as facilitators whose role is to aid the student when it comes to their own understanding.

Question 47

Lave and Wenger

Constructivism - Communities of Practice

Answer 47

The purpose of the Communities of Practice is to share knowledge and experience so that each individual can operate more effectively.

CoPs are the owners of knowledge in that particular area of knowledge. By exchanging stories, problems and solutions, the CoP can bring that collective knowledge to bear on individuals’ learning.

The key ingredients are a community (a set of people) with a defined domain (what they care about or do) who work on the body of knowledge about their practice (their work).

Question 48

ESL Strategies

Answer 48

Students acquire language by:

1- Connecting to their background knowledge and experience- this allows the teacher to identify and supply relevant concepts or language, understand the student better, validate the student’s experience and cultural knowledge thereby motivating even more participation and interaction and lowering the affective filter.

2- The context and language are real and purposeful- students acquire language when it is authentic, relevant and meaningful (they remember better). When students engage in language to complete tasks, exchange information or solve a problem the results are the students will development cognitively and linguistically.

3- Language is made comprehensible- students must understand the intent of the message, not necessarily all the words. This is equal to comprehensible input.

4- Students feel free to take risks- the classroom must be a safe and supportive environment in which students can take risks= low affective filter. Students must know that the teacher will not over correct them and make them feel like they do not know anything and that their classmates will not laugh at them if they make a mistake.

5- Interaction is high- students must engage in conversation- a quiet ESL classroom is not a language developing classroom. Teachers must model and practice with students “on task talking”. Students need sentence stems to help them get their thoughts started and they must question, repeat, rephrase and restate.

6- High levels of expectations- students are supported, encouraged and engaged. There is no “watering” down the curriculum for these students.

7- Active listening- this is an important strategy for students to progress to higher levels of English proficiency. If you look at someone who truly listens, they give their undivided attention. They listen with their ears, eyes, and heart.