Second Language Acquisition Flashcards
What is the ZPD ?
Vygotsky: Learning takes place through and during interaction in the ZPD.
ZDP: Metaphorical place where a learner is able to show higher levels of performance because there is support from an interlocutor.
What is the interaction hypothesis?
Language acquisition is based on learners innate abilities and on opportunities to engage in conversations. Those interlocutors often modify their speech for the learner.
What is the noticing hypothesis?
Richard Schmidt: Learners can only learn what they have first noticed in the input.
What is the processability theory?
Manfred Pienemann, after studying migrant workers in Germany, found that the sequence of language features was connected to their easiness. Features at the beginning and end were easier to process than those in the middle and the stages of acquisition followed a clear pattern.
What is the ‘comprehensible output hypothesis’?
Response to Krashen’s comprehensible input hypothesis. Learners have to create output (oral or written) in order to acquire a language successfully.
How does second language learning work according to the sociocultural perspective?
Sociocultural theory vies thinking and speaking as tightly interwoven. Speaking (and writing) mediates thinking. People can gain control over their mental processes as a consequence of internalizing what people say to them and what they say to others.
What is input processing?
Bill VanPatten noticed students misinterpreting sentences. They tried to make sense of Spanish sentences by focusing on word order (as predicted by the competition model). He concluded that learners have limited processing capacities and cannot focus on form and meaning at the same time. Then, they mostly focus on meaning. Even if this can be a successful strategy when they have context, it often interferes with their progress.
What is the natural order hypothesis (Krashen’s Monitor Model)?
Second language acquisition unfolds in predictable sequences (like L1 acquisition). Language rules that are easiest to state and learn are not necessarily the first acquired.
What is the behaviourist perspective of second language learning?
Nelson Brooks (1960) and Robert Lado (1964) were two supporters of this perspective which had a powerful influence in north America from the 1940s to 1970s. Classroom activities focused on mimicry and memorization as well as learning dialogues and sentence patterns by heart. Language development was viewed as the formation of habits and that habits from the first language would interfere with learning the second language. (linked to contrastive analysis hypothesis) However, errors are unpredictable and cannot always be traced back to the first language. Therefore, CAH and behaviourism were rejected.
