Factors Influencing SLA PDF

Factors Influencing SLA I. Linguistic Variables A. Language Input 1. What is language input? Language input (linguistic environment) is everything the language-learner hears and sees in the TL. 2. Name types of linguistic environment. - Natural environment - Formal teaching including only language...

Factors Influencing SLA I. Linguistic Variables A. Language Input 1. What is language input? Language input (linguistic environment) is everything the language-learner hears and sees in the TL. 2. Name types of linguistic environment. - Natural environment - Formal teaching including only language classroom activities and a few books and records. - Informal including a wide variety of situations (e.g. conversation with others, chatting with friends, watching T.V. etc.) - It could be both formal and informal. 3. Is there any distinction between natural/ naturalistic language environment and formal language environment? In the formal, the focus of the speaker is on the form of the language, whereas in the naturalistic, the focus is on the content of the communication and the meaning. Naturalistic: host environment , and you will hear the linguistic data all the time. Formal: foreign environment 4. What does natural language environment seem to enhance? It enhances the development of communication skills in an SL in both foreign and host (i.e. SL-speaking) environments. 5. What does foreign classroom situation seem to give to the learners? It usually affords little opportunity to discuss matters of interest to the Learners, since the learners are in institutions, then they are given what the school authority is giving them 6. From where do most problems in learning a second language in formal setting stem? From the fact that the sentences uttered in the classroom by the teacher or student have no communicative context, since they are created for the practice of some morphological or syntactic items being studied. 7. Is it true that crucial differences in linguistic input will lead to differences in linguistic output? Explain your answer. Yes, crucial differences in the linguistic input will obviously lead to differences in the linguistic output. Not on the stages of development, but on the rate. B. Task Is there any effect of task on second language performance? Explain your answer. Yes, because if we have different tasks (e.g. multiple choice and essay type questions), the task will influence the performance of the learner. II. Non-Linguistic Variables 1. What are the non-linguistic variables? - Biological Factors: like age. - Social-Psychological: like personality, attitude, motivation. - Length of residence. 2. Is there any difference between child and adult second language learners? Explain your answer. Yes. The adults, for example, wishes to converse about a wider and more sophisticated range of topics. Taylor (1974), justly argues that "the adult's more advanced cognitive maturity would allow him to deal with the abstract nature of language even better than children" 3. Is it true that after some set time in maturation normally 11-13 years old, languages must be taught not only acquired? Yes. At a point of physical maturation, we are told that interference (negative transfer) becomes a dominant force in the learner's language development. 4. What explanations were put forward to explain child- adult differences? Biological maturation, formal operation, social and psychological changes. 5. What is biological maturation? The process of biological maturation, the flexibility necessary Is amastery for biologically of SLdetermined period of(1967) is lost. Lenneberg life when language states can be that it will be acquired more easily and after that period language will difficult for learners to learn a SL because of the biological become difficult to acquire. maturation (lateralization of the brain) because the brain of the child is growing till a certain time. according to Lenneberg, he said the growth will continue till puberty. 6. Is the claim of biological maturation true? Explain your answer. Not true. - Lennberg uses data from aphasia and mental retardation to support his claim. - Krashen, (1973) for example, documents that lateralization of the brain is completed not in the 11-13 age range, but rather by age 5. - there are adults who do become bilinguals, even to the extent that their speech becomes indistinguishable from that of native speakers of the TL. Note: if we believe in biological maturation, whom do you think will be better in learning a SL, children or adults? The answer is children. 7. What is formal operation? At around puberty, many adolescents pass through a developmental state Piaget calls “formal operation”. Adolescent and adults are better cognitively than children because they can talk about different things and have the meta-awareness and they are formal thinkers. Children (aged 7 to about 11), who are still 'concrete thinkers, may arrive at abstract concepts, but these abstractions derive directly from experience with concrete objects. - The formal thinker has the ability verbally to manipulate relationships between ideas in the absence of prior or concurrent available empirical propositions. - For formal thinkers’ new concepts are primarily acquired from verbal rather than from concrete experience. - Additionally, the formal thinker has a meta-awareness of this developing system of abstractions which seems to be reflected on the rules he possesses and on his thoughts. The formal thinker can also develop general solutions to problems (i.e. ways of using abstract rules to solve, a whole class of problems). Finally, the formal thinker can conceptualize his own thoughts, take his mental constructions as objects and reason about them. That is, the formal thinker can 'step back' from his ideas and have 'ideas about ideas'. 8. “The adults‟ cognitive superiority should make adults better than children at SLA”. Discuss. Several scholars have argued that the adult’s cognitive superiority should make adults better than children at SLA. Some say that "the adolescent's more mature cognitive system, with its capacity to abstract, classify and generalize, may be better suited for the complex task of SL learning than the unconscious, automatic kind of learning which is thought to be characteristic of young children". Also, "older students seem to be more efficient learners than younger students. Given the same amount of instruction, or even less, adolescents will learn as much or more than younger children". 9. What are the reasons for early advantage of adults but later superiority of children in SLA? Biological factors, cognitive factors, and differences in language environment. 10. What do we mean by social-psychological changes? Larsen and Smalley, (1972) state that: "'As puberty approaches Larson and Samlley (1972) stated that at puberty second and the individual is concerned with the consolidation of his language learners find diffeculties in acquiring an SL because personality it apparently becomes more difficult for him to they are focusing more on building their personalities submit to the new (independence) norms. Here, which will children a SLberequires. As an individual’s better because they can depends on others gives way to his own independence lose their independence and they always interact with others, in satisfying needs, they are not afraidthere seems of being to be less rejected frompull toward the others. internalization of new norms required by a SL". Here, children will be better because they can lose their independence and they always interact with others, they are not afraid of being rejected from others. 11. Are children better equipped cognitively to learn SL than adults? Children are no better equipped cognitively to learn an SL than are adults. In terms of cognitive ability, both are equally capable of becoming bilingual. 12. What does the social-psychological model of SL learning, proposed by Gardener, include? He proposed a social-psychological model of SL learning that includes 3 basic components: (a) attitudes, (b) motivation, and (c) SL achievement. 13. Is there any effect of learners, positive or negative, attitudes towards the native speakers of the Target Language on SLA? How? Yes, can Yes, the learner must have either enhance positive or inhibit attitudesacquisition. language towards theIn TL, the addition, TL groupevaluation learner's and learning if he/she of his is to parents' teacher(s), sustain the motivation view of the TL as well necessary to undertake the efforts required to master as the learner's preference for his own culture over that theofTL. the target Positiveorattitudes culture vice versa can affect success in SL learning 14. What is the meaning of ‘affective variables’ on SLA? Affective variables, such as attitudes and motivation, are assumed to produce differences in behavior which in turn produce variance in SL achievement. Having a high motivation and positive attitudes towards the TL and towards the native language speakers of the TL are expected to produce a willingness to learn the language, while negative attitudes are expected to result in lower achievement. 15. What is the effect of ‘affective variables’ on SLA? Attitudes to Assumed areproduce believed to cause in differences variation in which behaviour the SLinproficiency. turn produce variance in SL achievement 16. What did Oller and Perkins (1978) argue about? They argue that there is some sort of interaction between SL achievement and attitudes/ motivation, such that each affects the other. For example, if you have really good marks in the SL, the learner’s attitude will change into a positive attitude, because the learner is good at the language (i.e. high achievement). It will also influence their motivation. 17. What is the meaning of ‘motivation’? It is defined as "the combination of all factors that move a person to action". 18. How many components are found in the motivation factor? What are they? There are 2 components: (1) an integrative orientation; and (2) an instrumental orientation. 19. Why are the results of the studies of the effect of length of residence on SLA inconclusive? Because the results differ from one study to another. Some studies reported that there is no effect of length of residence on SLA. However, other studies revealed that there is relationship between length of residence and proficiency. 20. In the studies which reported that there is no effect of length of residence on SLA, what was the average time spent in the SL speaking-environment? In these studies, the average of time the subjects spend in SL speaking environment, was very high (minimum of 5 years and in many cases as long as 10 or 20 years). 21. What was found in studies in which length of residence was low (3-4 years)? A correlation (for children) between length of residence and proficiency was found. As for adult learners, Klein and Dittmar’s (1979) study of adult immigrants working in Germany, indicates that any relationship between length of stay and proficiency Integrative is only possibly orientation: whenpresent youinwant their to group be exactly or similar to a particular community e.g. Marriage.(1978) of less than 16 months length of residence. Hyltensam, found inverse relationship Instrumental between orientation: whentheyou are acquiring a length of residence and the rate of progress. Rate of progress language only for utilitarian reasons, such as get a from Time I to Time II was great among learners with only 2-4 promotion. months length of residence. From this he concludes "that the greatest progress is made in the initial stages of learning the