Presentation

1. How Languages are Learned
Pasty M. Lightbown and Nina Spada
Fourth edition
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Tshen Tashi, Naresuan University, Thailand

2. 4 EXPLAINING SECOND
LANGUAGE LEARNING

3. Overview
The behaviourist perspective
The innatist perspective
The cognitive perspective
The sociocultural perspective

4. Second language applications: Mimicry and memorization
 Behaviourism had a powerful influence on L2 & FL teaching in North
America between 1940s & 1970s.
 Nelson Brooks (1960) & Robert Lado (1964)
 Developed audiolingual teaching materials
 Classroom activities emphasized mimicry and memorization
 Students learned dialogues and sentence patterns by heart
 Viewed language development was the formation of habits
 L2 learning will be interfered by L1
The behaviourist perspective

5. Behaviorism linked to contrastive analysis hypothesis
Errors are not predictable on the basis of their L1 (chap.2)
Reluctant to transfer L1 patterns
L1 influence may become clearer as more is learned about the L2
The transfer of habits may not be a matter of Influence in SLA
Inadequate explanations

6. Chomsky argued UG allows all children to acquire the language during
a critical period of their development.
Lydia White (2003):
 UG offers the best perspective to understand SLA.
Others argued:
 UG is good framework for understanding L1 acquisition
Vivian Cook (2003) – logical problem of SLA
 UG must be available for both L1 & L2 in same nature
The innatist perspective

7. Schwartz (1993) believe
 instruction and feedback change only superficial aspects of language
performance
 language acquisition depends in learner’s environment
 interaction triggers acquisition of language
White (1991) believes that meaningful use of language will help to
learn a new language grammar.
Investigation involve grammaticality judgment – became interest field
for researchers

8. Second language applications: Krashen’s ‘Monitor Model’
The acquisition-learning hypothesis
Acquiring L2 is much the same way like children pick up their L1.
Learn through conscious attention to form and rule learning.
The monitor hypothesis
L2 users draw on what they have acquired in communication
Use rules and pattern they learned
The learned system acts as an editor or 'monitor',
But need plenty of time in producing correct language with relevant
rules.

9. The natural order hypothesis
Like in L1, L2 acquisition unfolds in predictable sequences
Easiest language rules are not necessarily the first to be acquired
The comprehensive input hypothesis
Acquisition occurs when one is exposed to language that is
comprehensible and that contains i + 1
(i=language already acquired)
(+1=step beyond that level)

10. The affective filter hypothesis
Learners exposed to large quantities of comprehensible input do not
necessarily acquire a language successfully.
‘Affective filter' is a metaphorical barrier that prevents learners from
acquiring language even when appropriate input is available.
Affect refers to feelings of anxiety or negative attitude

11. In spite of criticism and debate, his ideas have had a major influence
on the movement from structure-based to communicative approaches
to language teaching.
Classroom research explaining L2 learning confirms;
students can make considerable progress through exposure to
comprehensible input without direct instruction
whether it is sufficient for learners remain still a question

12. The study of cognition – how human acquire, process, store, and
retrieve information
The cognitive psychologists argue that there is no mental module
devoted to language acquisition
All learning and thinking are based on the same cognitive processes
Learning a L1/L2 draws on the same learning processes
The cognitive perspective

13. The cognitive perspective
Information processing
Usage-based learning
The competition model
Language and the brain

14. Information processing
DeKeyser (1998), Schmit (2001) & others;
'Pay attention' = using cognitive resources to process information
Earliest stages will use most of their resources to understand the main
words in a message
May not notice the grammatical morphemes attached to words
Through experience and practice, new information becomes easier to
process and become automatic

15. Fluent speakers do not create new sentences by choosing one word
at a same time
Use strings of words that typically occur together
Proficient language users can give their full attention to the overall
meaning of a text or conversation
Learners use more of their attention on processing the meaning of
individual words

16. Declarative Knowledge (information that we have) can become
Procedural Knowledge (knowledge that underlies fluent or automatic
performance).
With enough practice, procedural knowledge surpasses the
declarative knowledge, which, in time, may be forgotten.
Restructuring – changes in language behavior not explainable in
terms of gradual build-up of fluency through practice
Backsliding – learner’s language incorporating too much or wrong
things (I saw a film > I seed or I sawed)

17. ‘Transfer appropriate processing' (TAP), information is best retrieved
in situations that are similar to those in which it was acquired.
To learn something our memories records aspect of context
Rule learning or drill activities may be easier to access on tests
If cognitive resources are completely occupied, grammatical markers
or word order on a test of those features may be more difficult.

18. Usage-based learning
Children learn language from their language experiences (chap 1)
Connectionists – no need to hypothesize the existence of a
neurological module dedicated exclusively to language acquisition
Connectionists attribute less importance to the kind of declarative
knowledge that characterizes some theories of skill learning
Nick Ellis (2002) – the frequency which information encountered is a
strong predictor of how easily it will be learned
Ellis (2003, 2005) and others – language is learned in chunks larger
than single words
Not all sentences or phrases are put together into one word at a time

19. The competition model
Learners understand specific function of language from ‘cues’
Most English sentences have the order Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
Language learning involves the discovery, categorization, and
determination of patterns through the use of cues

20. Language and the brain
Assumption of language function brain located in left hemisphere.
Recent studies showed during language processing, activation in
different locations in both hemispheres.
It happens both for L1 and L2 but differ depending on the learner’s
age and level of proficiency

21. L2 applications:
The Interaction Hypothesis
The Noticing Hypothesis
Input Processing
Processability
The role of practice

22. Interaction hypothesis
Conversational interaction is an essential for SLA
Speakers modify their speech and interaction patterns in order to help
learners participate in a conversation
Michael Long (1983) agreed with Krashen that comprehensible input
is necessary for language acquisition
Modified interaction is the necessary mechanism for making language
comprehensible
Learners interact with other speakers and reach mutual
comprehension through negotiation for meaning

23. Conversational modification examples are;
comprehension checks (The bus leaves at 6:30, Do you understand?)
clarification requests (Could you repeat please?)
self-repetition or paraphrase (She got lost on her way home from school,
she was walking home from school, she got lost)
Revised version of interaction hypothesis – more emphasis on corrective
feedback
Comprehension hypothesis – learners must produce understandable
language. Push learners ahead in their development

24. The noticing hypothesis
Richard Schmidt (1990, 2001), nothing is learned unless it has been
noticed
Noticing does not itself result in acquisition, but it is the starting point.
L2 learners could not begin to acquire a language feature until they
had become aware of it in the input.
According to information processing theories; anything that uses up
our mental 'processing space', contribute to learning

25. Input processing
Learners have difficulty focusing on form and meaning at the same
time.
They give priority to meaning and overlook some features of the
language form
Hearing a sentence helps to understand but may interfere learners’
progress in acquiring the language

26. Processability theory
German acquisition – developmental sequences in syntax and
morphology are affected by how easy they were to process.
Depend to a large extent on the position of those features in a
sentence
Pienemann’s processability theory:
Integration of developmental sequences with L1 influence
Explains why learners do not transfer L1 features in early stages of
acquisition
Have to develop processing capacity in L2 before use of existing L1

27. The role of practice
Practice that characterized audio-lingual instruction often failed to
make connections between language forms and their meanings.
From a cognitive perspective, practice is not mechanical and not
restricted to production – it is also relevant for comprehension.
Practice should be interactive, meaningful, and focus on
task-essential forms

28. Vygotsky’s theory - cognitive development arises as a result of
social interaction
Sociocultural theory – speaking & thinking are interwoven
ZPD and Krashen’s i+1 are ? … different
ZPD is metaphorical location (scaffolding)
Krashen’s ‘i+1’ - emphasis on comprehensibility of input from outside
Interaction – individual cognitive process
Sociocultural – knowledge in internalized during social activity
The sociocultural perspective

29. Traditionally, ZPD was restricted to a novice and an expert
The term has been broadened to include novice–novice interaction
Swain’s comprehensible output hypothesis
To produce language, learners must pay attention to meaning
Sociocultural theorists assume the cognitive processes begin as
externally and become internalized
Other interactionist models assume modified input interaction provide
the raw materials that is analyzed through cognitive process
Second language applications; Learning by talking

30. Innatist perspective:
Draw evidences complexities of proficient speaker’s knowledge of
language and analysis of their own intuition about language
Cognitive and developmental psychologists:
Not enough to know what the final state of knowledge is
Corpus-based studies of the input should be paid more attention
Recent cognitive perspectives – computer stimulations to learn
specifically chosen language
Summary

31. Interactionists:
Negotiation of meaning in conversational interactions
Learners gain new knowledge from the support of interlocutor
(share same opinion from sociocultural perspective)
Linguists and psychologists
Neurological research
Language processing in brain – inconclusive at present
Disagreement among experts – frustrates educators

32. THANK YOU