Psychology And Language Learning

PSYCHOLOGY AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

SCHOOL: Ciencias de la Educación:
Mención Inglés
NOMBRE: Lic. Anna M. Gates

FECHA: Marzo – Agosto 2009

1

 Provide an overview of Chapters 5, 6
and 7
 Explain details of second bimester
assignment
 Explain details of second bimester test

 Linguistic competence doesn’t suffice to
explain what happens in the acquisition of
a language that will be used for
communicative purposes
 Field of sociolinguistics, emerged in 1960’s
 Only knowing the structures of a
languages doesn’t prepare a person to
use that language for social interaction

 Linguistic aspects important
for language acquisition
 Equally important is knowledge of how,
when and why to used these linguistic
aspects
› Language community
 Language itself
 Culturally based behaviors
 L1 vs. L2

 Important from the social perspective to
know if the language acquisition is
second language, foreign language,
auxiliary language, etc.

 Second Language Acquisition
› Need it and all of the cultural
accompaniments to participate in the
dominate community
 Foreign Language Acquisition
› Little opportunity or need to participate fully
in the culture behind the language
 Auxiliary Language Acquisition
› Limited to a specific domain, often in one’s
own homeland.

 What a speaker needs to
know to do what he/she
wants to do
 Judgments about how to
gain that knowledge

DEPENDS ON THE SOCIAL
CONTEXT IN WHICH THE
PERSON LEARNS AND USES
THE LANGUAGE

 According to Sociocultural Theory
› Interaction is a necessary factor and the
cause of language acquisition

 Input and interaction
› How native speakers modify their language with L2
learners/speakers

› Social factors that influence quantity & quality of
input

› How cultural knowledge & prior experience are
involved in processing & interpreting input

 Learner language is variable
› One reason is due to the changes that occur in
what learners know as they progress
› Much variation at every stage of learning

 Most important contribution of sociolinguistics
› Show that previously thought irregularities in
language production follow regular & predictable
patterns when considered as variable features.

 Variation that occurs in different
contexts in any point of time
› Register-Accommodation theory
 Change in use of language depending on
who you are talking to
 Native speakers simplify language when
speaking to learners who are not fluent
 Learner variety reflected by who friends are

 After linguistic, psychological and social
contexts explain learner variations there are
still questions
 Explained by the theory of free variation
happening in 4 stages
• Single form is used for a variety of functions
• Other forms have been acquired but are
initially used interchangeably
• Variant forms begin to be used systematically
• Non-target forms eliminated

 Foreigner Talk
› Way native speakers speak to non native
speakers still learning the language
 Long pauses
 Slow rate of speech
 Loud volume
 Etc. (See page 106 for more information)

 In written text
› Techniques that help make texts easier to
understand
 Highlighting key terms
 Clear topic statements
 Visual aids, such as pictures and graphs

 Interactional modifications
› Techniques natives speakers use to help
learners
 Repetition
 Paraphrase
 Sentence completion
› These are considered scaffolding, or
providing tools to help students

 Scaffolding is any set of tools or
techniques to help learners reach next
stage of development.
 Lev Vygotsky postulated that learners
had a Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD) or a place in development that
needed guidence to reach the next
stage (join Foro next week to learn more)

 Indication to learner that their language
is somehow incorrect and serves to help
learner correct mistakes
› Negative evidence not frequent for L1A but
common in L2 learning
 Direct correction
 Grammar or other explanation
 Telling learner they are wrong
 Indirect correction
 Problem is learner my not notice the correction
 Examples can be found on page 110 and 111

 What is acquired in L2 includes variable
linguistic structures and knowledge of
when to use each
 Process of acquisition includes progress
through stages in which different types of
variability are evident
 Reasons why some learners are more
successful that others include how well
they can perceive and align own usage
with target system

 Input absolutely necessary but role is in
dispute, even in the social context
› Some consider it as data for innate linguistic
capacity development
› Others claim it determines what features are
learned, and how
› Social approaches also consider nature and
role of interaction in acquisition

 Interaction facilitates input becoming
intake, by contributing to the accessibility
of the input for the learner.
 Interaction connects input, internal
learner capacities, selective attention,
and output
 Doesn’t account for the success of those
who are able to teach themselves,
without interaction.

 Sociocultural theory (Lev Vygotsky)
› Interaction causative force of
language learning
› All learning grounded in sociocultural
settings

 Scaffolding
› Experts provide learners with pieces of
language that learners can use to express
concepts beyond their independent means
› Can occur among peers
› Scaffolding happens with the learner, not to
her

 Drawon frameworks of Ethnography
of Communication and Social
Psychology

 Languages have power for both symbolic
and practical reasons
 Political identification and unity
 Dominate language is expected to be learned by
newcomers; native language of immigrants discouraged
 Very important in nation building (invasions, rebirth of
languages lost in conquests, revolutions, etc)
 Perceived economic or military importance of
language
 SLA motivated by desire to have access to opportunities

 Linguistic boundaries
› Serve to identify membership in communities
and exclude outsiders from insider
communication
 L2 acquisition may be discouraged
 Membership requires language is learned;
culture and value system too
 Other languages may be discriminated
against

 Profoundly influenced by external social
factors
› Group motivation strongly influences SLA and
cultural integration, sometimes creates distance
among social groups
 Majority groups often don’t learn any L2, especially if
they don’t want to be associated with the minority
language group
 Acculturation Mode
 Factors that result in negative SLA effects
 Dominance of one group over another
 Desire to preserve lifestyle

 Social institutions are systems established
by law, custom or practice to regulate
life in public domains: examples are
religion, politics, and education
› These have power, authority and influence in
relation to SLA
 Official and unofficial policies that regulate
which languages are used in which situations
 Policies that provide access or barriers to SLA

 Subtractive Bilingualism
› Loss of L1 resulting in alienation from L1 group
and ultimate disappearance of the L1 itself
› Inability to transfer knowledge in L1 acquired
in L2

If this doesn’t happen when learning a
second language it is called Additive
Bilingualism

 Age, sex, education level, ethnicity, etc.
 These categories often influence
experiences one has, how one is
perceived
 Coupled with language learning, these
categories create different learning
experiences for each student

 Prior educational experience
 Cognitive styles dependent on how one
is raised
› Field dependant (cooperative rural settings,
lower economic status)
› Field independent (competitive urban
settings; affluent economic status)

 Competence and Use
› Communicative competence combines:

 Linguistic competence (knowledge of
language, knowledge of the specific
components and levels of a language)

 Knowledge required for their appropriate use
in communicative activities.

› Competence requires

Cultural
knowledge

Linguistic
Content Context
elements

Language
use

 Academic competence
Knowledge needed
by learners who want to
use the L2 primarily to
learn about other subjects
The activities that have highest priority are
receptive:

› Reading
› Listening
› Writing
› Speaking

 Interpersonal competence
Knowledge required of learners
who plan to use the L2 primarily
in face-to-face contact with
other speakers.

The activities that have highest priority are oral:

› Listening
› Speaking
› Reading
› Writing

Academic and interpersonal domains involve genres.
Academic genres include research, lectures, and
book reviews
› The development of academic discourse competence
requires reading and hearing a great deal of academic
texts.

Interpersonal genres include conversations, service
encounters and letters
› The development of interpersonal discourse requires
opportunity for social interaction and the input and
feedback that it produces.

RECEPTIVE ACTIVITIES

READING

• It is the most important area of activity for
individuals to engage in for the development of
L2 academic competence and for interpersonal
functions

• It provides significant input related to
technological developments, world news, and
scientific discoveries

• Fluency in reading is an essential aspect of
academic competence which takes time to
develop in either L1 or L2.

LISTENING

• Listening is an important activity for learners:

To participate in oral interpersonal
communication

To receive information from oral sources.

 Listening to academic lectures has the potential to
be reciprocal depending on whether listeners
have the opportunity to participate in discussion.

• Developing fluency in reading requires
acquiring sufficient knowledge specially of
vocabulary, grammar and discourse structure

Functions for reading in academic settings

 Reading to find information
 Reading for general understanding
 Reading to learn
 Reading to critique and evaluate

 Reciprocal communication requires learners to
speak as well as to listen

 Non-reciprocal communication requires listener to
process input and construct meaning without
being able to request repetition

Video-recording television programs can provide
a useful source for listening practice

PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES

WRITING

• It is the most important productive activity for
L2 learners to develop

• It is a common medium for testing knowledge

• Many professionals and occupations require a
high level of L2 proficiency in writing

• Effective academic writing requires considerable
knowledge of:

• vocabulary, morphology and syntax,

• mechanisms of orthographic representations
and conventions related to style and
organization.

SPEAKING

It is a very important area of activity for L2
learners if they will be using the language for
interpersonal purposes.

There is need for speaking in situations where
L2 learners participate in the L2 community

Tourists generally need to ask directions
Immigrants need to shop for goods
Foreign students need to negotiate
transactions for housing and also express in an
academic or professional speech

In order to have a successful participation in
conversational speech activities learners must
have:

Knowledge of conversational structure

Knowledge of contextualization cues

Knowledge of communication

 Language has been divided by linguists
into the following components:

› VOCABULARY (lexicon)
› MORPHOLOGY (word structure)
› PHONOLOGY (sound system)
› SYNTAX (grammar)
› DISCOURSE (ways to connect sentences and
organize information)

 It is the most important level of L2
knowledge for all learners to develop (for
academic or interpersonal competence)

 There is a core of high frequency words in a
language that everyone needs to learn.
The core vocabulary in every language includes:
› Function words a limited set of terms that
carry primarily grammatical
information

L2 Learning and teaching
Linguistic, psychological, and social perspectives
on SLA focused on what, how, and why questions

What exactly does the L2 learner come to know?

 A system of knowledge about second
language
 Patterns of current elements
 How to encode particular concepts in the L2
 Pragmatic competence

 Means for using the L2 in communicative
activities
 How to select among multiple language system
 Communicative competence

How does the learner acquire L2 knowledge?

 Innate capacity
 Application of prior knowledge
 Processing of language input

 Interaction
 Restructuring of the L2 knowledge system
 Mapping of relationships or associations
 Automatization

Why are some learners more successful than others?

 Social context
 Social experience

 Relationship of L1 and L2
 Age
 Aptitude
 Motivation
 Instruction

Implications for L2 learning and teaching

 Consider the goals for learning an additional
language
 Set priorities compatible for those goals
 Approach learning/teaching tasks involved in
linguistic, psychological and social
 Understand the potential strengths and
limitations of particular learners
 There is no one “best” way to learn or teach a
second language
 Be patient. Learning a language takes time

 To get full points
› Answer the questions using your own words
› Apply the theory to your own experiences

IF YOU COPY WORD FOR WORD FROM THE
TEXT OR ANOTHER SOURCE, I WILL KNOW
AND YOU WILL RECEIVE THE MINIMUM
SCORE

 Same format at first exam
› Multiple choice; 4 options

 None of the above
› Choose this answer if none of the other
answer choices is correct
 All of the above
› Choose this answer if all of the answers
choices are correct

Psychology And Language Learning

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