Principles-and-Theories-of-Language-Acquisition-Part-2.pptx

Principles and Theories of Language Acquisition Jufran C. Agustin Assistant Professor 4, BSED-English Leyte Normal University The Acquisition Process As the linguistic repertoire of the child increases, it is often assumed that the child is, in some sense, being “taught” t...

Principles and Theories of Language Acquisition Jufran C. Agustin Assistant Professor 4, BSED-English Leyte Normal University The Acquisition Process As the linguistic repertoire of the child increases, it is often assumed that the child is, in some sense, being “taught” the language. For the vast majority of children, no one provides any instruction on how to speak the language. It is simply not possible that the child is acquiring the language principally through a process of imitating adult speech. Consider this extract from Clark (1993): 2 The Acquisition Process It is also unlikely that adult “corrections” are a very effective determiner of how the child speaks. One factor that seems to be important in the child’s acquisition process is the actual use of sound and word combinations, either in interaction with others or in wordplay, alone. 3 The Acquisition Process 1. Developing morphology 2. Developing syntax 3. Developing semantics 4 Developing morphology By the time a child is two-and-a-half years old, he or she is going beyond telegraphic speech forms and incorporating some of the inflectional morphemes that indicate the grammatical function of the nouns and verbs used. The first to appear is usually the -ing form in expressions such as cat sitting and mommy reading book. The next morphological development is typically the marking of regular plurals with the -s form, as in boys and cats. The acquisition of the plural marker is often accompanied by a process of overgeneralization. Ex. adding -s to form plurals and will talk about foots and mans boyses and feetses some mens and two feetses 5  At about the same time, different forms of the verb “to be,” such as are and was, begin to be used. The appearance of forms such as was and, at about the same time, went and came should be noted. These are irregular past-tense forms that we would not expect to hear before the more regular forms. Ex. walkeded and playeded goed and comed As with the plural forms, the child works out (usually after the age of four) which forms are regular and which are not. Finally, the regular -s marker on third person singular present-tense verbs appears. It occurs first with full verbs (comes, looks) and then with auxiliaries (does, has). 6  Throughout this sequence there is a great deal of variability. Individual children may produce “good” forms one day and “odd” forms the next. Those embarrassed parents who insist that the child didn’t hear such things at home are implicitly recognizing that “imitation” is not the primary force in first language acquisition. 7 Developing syntax Similar evidence against “imitation” as the basis of the child’s speech production has been found in studies of the syntactic structures used by young children. One child, specifically asked to repeat what she heard, would listen to an adult say forms such as the owl who eats candy runs fast and then repeat them in the form owl eat candy and he run fast. It is clear that the child understands what the adult is saying. She just has her own way of expressing it. Forming questions Stage 1: Where kitty? Doggie? Where horse go? Sit chair? Stage 2: What book name? You want eat? Why you smiling? See my doggie? 8 Stage 3: Can I have a piece? Will you help me? What did you do? Did I caught it? How that opened? Why kitty can’t stand up? Forming negatives Stage 1: no mitten not a teddy bear no fall no sit there Stage 2: He no bite you I don’t want it That not touch You can’t dance Stage 3: I didn’t caught it He not taking it She won’t let go This not ice cream 9 Consider the extract from McNeill (1996): 10 Developing semantics It seems that during the holophrastic stage, many children use their limited vocabulary to refer to a large number of unrelated objects. One child first used bow-wow to refer to a dog and then to a fur piece with glass eyes, a set of cufflinks and even a bath thermometer. This process is called overextension and the most common pattern is for the child to overextend the meaning of a word on the basis of similarities of shape, sound and size, and, to a lesser extent, movement and texture. Thus the word ball is extended to all kinds of round objects, including a lampshade, a doorknob and the moon. One interesting feature of the young child’s semantics is the way certain lexical relations are treated. In terms of hyponymy, the child will almost always use the “middle”-level term in a hyponymous set such as animal – dog – poodle. 11  It also seems that antonymous relations are acquired fairly late (after the age of five). In one study, a large number of kindergarten children pointed to the same heavily laden apple tree when asked Which tree has more apples? and also when asked Which tree has less apples?. Despite the fact that the child is still to acquire a large number of other aspects of his or her first language through the later years of childhood, it is normally assumed that, by the age of five, the child has completed the greater part of the basic language acquisition process. 12  The question that always arises is: if first language acquisition was so straightforward and largely automatic, why is learning a second language so difficult? 13 Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Second language learning (foreign language) Acquisition vs. Learning (unconscious vs. conscious) Acquisition barriers (Critical Period Hypothesis) Affective factors (Affect or emotional reaction) 14 Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Acquisition - the gradual development of ability in a language by using it naturally in communicative situations with others who know the language Learning - applies to a more conscious process of accumulating knowledge of the features, such as vocabulary and grammar, of a language, typically in an institutional setting. 15 Acquisition barriers (Critical Period Hypothesis) CPH is a linguistic theory that directly links age and language acquisition. Originally developed by Wilder Penfield and Lamar Roberts in their 1959 book Speech and Brain Mechanisms, and was popularized by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 with Biological Foundations of Language, the hypothesis suggests that it is only possible for people to learn a language fluently (either a first or second language) if they start learning it before the age of nine. 16 Affective factors (Affect or emotional reaction) If there is a strong element of unwillingness or embarrassment in attempting to produce the different sounds of another language, then it may override whatever physical and cognitive abilities there are. If this self-consciousness is accompanied by a lack of empathy with the other culture (for example, feeling no identification with its speakers or their customs), then the subtle effects of not really wanting to sound like a Russian or a German or an American may strongly inhibit the learning process. 17 Affective factors This type of emotional reaction, or “affect,” may also be caused by dull textbooks, unpleasant classroom surroundings or an exhausting schedule of study and/or work. Basically, if we are stressed, uncomfortable, self-conscious or unmotivated, we are unlikely to learn very much. 18 Focus on Method As long ago as 1483, William Caxton used his newly established printing press to produce a book of Right good lernyng for to lerne shortly frenssh and englyssh. 19 Grammar-translation method Vocabulary lists and sets of grammar rules are used to define the target of learning, memorization is encouraged, and written language rather than spoken language is emphasized. This method has its roots in the traditional teaching of Latin. This label has actually been applied to the approach by its detractors, who have pointed out that its emphasis on learning about the L2 often leaves students quite ignorant of how the language might be used in everyday conversation. 20 Audiolingual method This approach was strongly influenced by a belief that the fluent use of a language was essentially a set of “habits” that could be developed with a lot of practice. Much of this practice involved hours spent in a language laboratory repeating oral drills. Versions of this approach are still used in language teaching, but its critics have pointed out that isolated practice in drilling language patterns bears no resemblance to the interactional nature of actual spoken language use. 21 Communicative approaches They are partially a reaction against the artificiality of “pattern- practice” and also against the belief that consciously learning the grammar rules of a language will necessarily result in an ability to use the language. Although there are many different versions of how to create communicative experiences for L2 learners, they are all based on a belief that the functions of language (what it is used for) should be emphasized rather than the forms of the language (correct grammatical or phonological structures). 22 Focus on the learner Traditionally, “errors” were regarded negatively and had to be avoided or eradicated. An “error” is not something that hinders a student’s progress, but is probably a clue to the active learning progress being made by the student as he or she tries out ways of communicating in the new language. 23 Transfer It means using sounds, expressions or structures from the L1 when performing in the L2. If the L1 and L2 have similar features (e.g. marking plural on the ends of nouns), then the learner may be able to benefit from the positive transfer of L1 knowledge to the L2. On the other hand, transferring an L1 feature that is really different from the L2 (e.g. putting the adjective after the noun) results in negative transfer and it may make the L2 expression difficult to understand. It is also called interference. 24  Interlanguage There is some in-between system used in the L2 acquisition process that certainly contains aspects of the L1 and L2, but which is an inherently variable system with rules of its own. This system is called an interlanguage and it is now considered to be the basis of all L2 production. On close inspection, the language produced by L2 learners contains a large number of “errors” that seem to have no connection to the forms of either the L1 or L2. For example, the Spanish L1 speaker who says in English She name is Maria is producing a form that is not used by adult speakers of English, does not occur in English L1 acquisition by children, and is not based on a structure in Spanish. If some learners develop a fairly fixed repertoire of L2 expressions, containing many forms that do not match the target language, and seem not to be progressing any further, their interlanguage is said to have “fossilized.” 25 Motivation Many learners have an instrumental motivation. That is, they want to learn the L2 in order to achieve some other goal, such as completing a school graduation requirement or being able to read scientific publications, but not really for any social purposes. In contrast, those learners with an integrative motivation want to learn the L2 for social purposes, in order to take part in the social life of a community using that language and to become an accepted member of that community. 26 Input Output 27  Communicative competence Dell Hymes It is the general ability to use language accurately, appropriately, and flexibly 1. Grammatical competence involves the accurate use of words and structures. 2. Sociolinguistic competence is the ability to use appropriate language in conversations. 3. Strategic competence is the ability to organize a message effectively and to compensate, via strategies, for any difficulties. In L2 use, learners inevitably experience moments when there is a gap between communicative intent and their ability to express that intent. 28 4. Discourse competence means knowing how to interpret the larger context and how to construct longer stretches of language so that the parts make up a coherent whole. Discourse competence asks: How are words, phrases and sentences put together to create conversations, speeches, email messages, newspaper articles? 29