Principles of Language Learning and Teaching PDF

PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING chapter 6 AFFECTIVE FACTORS By: Dr. Ashoori  THE AFFECTIVE DOMAIN Affect refers to emotion or feeling. The affective domain is the emotional side of human behavior, and it may, with some caution, be contr...

PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING chapter 6 AFFECTIVE FACTORS By: Dr. Ashoori  THE AFFECTIVE DOMAIN Affect refers to emotion or feeling. The affective domain is the emotional side of human behavior, and it may, with some caution, be contrasted to the cognitive side. The development of affective states or feelings involves a variety of personality factors, feelings both about ourselves and about others with whom we come into contact. In Bloom’s conception, in both child development and in adulthood, the internalization of affectivity involves a five step, hierarchical process: 1. Emotional development begins with receiving. We become aware of our surrounding environment and perceive situations, people, and objects, and give a stimulus our selected attention. 2. Next, we respond , committing ourselves to an object, person, loved one, or context. Usually this response is voluntary, chosen willingly, followed by receiving satisfaction from that response. 3. The foundations are now in place for valuing: seeing the worth of an object, a behavior, or a person. Beliefs and attitudes are internalized as we commit themselves, and finally, to the point of conviction. 4. Our values are now ready to be organized into a system of beliefs, as we determine interrelationships and establish a hierarchy of values. 5. Finally, we develop a self- identity as we conceptualize ourselves in terms of our value system of values and beliefs.  Self-Esteem Rubio (2007) referred to self-esteem as “a psychological and social phenomenon in which an individual evaluates his/her competence and own self according to [a set of] values” 1. Global self-esteem is relatively stable in a mature adult, quite resistant to change. It is the general or prevailing assessment one makes of one’s own worth over time and across a number of situations. 2. Situational self-esteem (sometimes called “specific”) refers to one’s self-appraisals in particular life contexts, such as work, education, play, home, or in certain relatively discretely defined skills, such as communicative, athletic, musical, or mathematical ability. The degree of situational self-esteem a person has may vary depending upon the situation in question. 3. Task self-esteem relates to particular tasks within specific situations. Within the educational domain, task self-esteem might refer to one subject-matter area. In an athletic context, skill in a sport—or even a facet of a sport such as net play in tennis or pitching in baseball.  Situational self-esteem could be said to pertain to L2 acquisition in general, and task self-esteem might appropriately refer to one’s self-evaluation of a particular aspect of the process: speaking, writing, a particular class in a second language, or even certain classroom activities. Does high self-esteem cause language success, or does language success cause high self-esteem? Should teachers try to improve self-esteem or simply attend to a learner’s proficiency and let self- esteem take care of itself? Heyde (1979) found that certain sections of a beginning college French course had better oral production and self-esteem scores than other sections after only eight weeks of instruction. This finding suggests that teachers can have a positive and influential effect on both the linguistic performance and the emotional well-being of a student. Andrés (1999) concurred and suggested classroom techniques that can help learners to “unfold their wings”. Perhaps these teachers succeeded because they gave optimal attention both to linguistic goals and to confidence-building in their students.  Attribution Theory and Self-Efficacy Attribution theory focuses on how people explain the causes of their own successes and failures. Weiner and others describe attribution theory in terms of four explanations for success and/or failure in achieving a personal objective: ability, effort, perceived difficulty of a task, and luck. Two of those four factors are internal to the learner: ability and effort; and two are attributable to external circumstances outside of the learner: task difficulty and luck. This is where self-efficacy comes in. If a learner feels capable of carrying out a given task—in other words, a high sense of self-efficacy—a commensurate degree of effort is likely to be devoted to achieving success. Falling short of one’s personal goals may then be attributable to not enough effort expended. Conversely, a learner with low self-efficacy may quite easily attribute failure to external factors, a relatively unhealthy psychological attitude to bring to any task, one that creates a self-fulfilling sense of failure at the outset.  Willingness to Communicate A factor related to attribution and self-efficacy is the extent to which learners display a willingness to communicate as they tackle a second language. MacIntyre defined willingness to communicate (WTC) as “the intention to initiate communication, given a choice”. researchers proposed a number of cognitive and affective factors that underlie WTC: motivation, personality, self-confidence, and intergroup climate.  Inhibition All human beings, in their understanding of themselves, build sets of defenses to protect the ego. A young child, born with no concept of self, gradually learns to identify a self that is distinct from others, and then in stages of awareness, responding, and valuing, constructs a self- identity. In adolescence, physical, emotional, and cognitive changes bring on mounting defensive inhibitions designed to protect a fragile ego from threats to the organization of values and beliefs on which appraisals of self-esteem have been founded. The process of building defenses continues into adulthood. Some people—those with higher self-esteem and ego strength—are more able to withstand threats to their existence, and thus their defenses are lower. Those with weaker self-esteem maintain stronger “walls” of inhibition to protect what is self-perceived to be a weak or fragile ego or a lack of self-  The human ego encompasses language ego or the very personal, egoistic nature of second language acquisition. Most SLA involves some degree of identity conflict as learners take on a new identity with their newly acquired competence. An adaptive language ego enables learners to lower the inhibitions that may impede success. Ehrman (1993, 1999) suggested the significance of thin (permeable) ego boundaries in some students, and thick (not as permeable) ego boundaries in others: The openness, vulnerability, and ambiguity tolerance of those with thin ego boundaries create different pathways to success from those with hard-driving, systematic, perfectionistic, thick ego boundaries.  Pedagogical approaches quickly seized the opportunity to reduce inhibition in L2 classrooms by creating a “safe” atmosphere for students to take risks, communicate willingly, and try out their budding language competence. Mistakes are simply part of the acquisition process in SLA as learners test out hypotheses about language by trial and many errors. Both children learning their first language and adults learning a second can learn from their mistakes. If we never ventured to speak a sentence until we were absolutely certain of its total correctness, we would likely never communicate productively at all. But mistakes can be viewed as threats to one’s ego. Internally, one’s critical self and one’s performing self can be in conflict: The learner performs something “wrong” and becomes critical of his or her own mistake. Externally, learners perceive others to be critical. Earl Stevick (1976b) spoke of language learning as involving a number of forms of alienation: alienation between the critical me and the performing me, between my native culture and my target culture, between me and my teacher, and between me and my fellow students. This alienation arises from the defenses that we build around ourselves. These defenses inhibit learning, and their removal can therefore promote language learning, which involves self-exposure to a degree manifested in few other endeavors.  Risk Taking In Chapter 5 we saw that one of the prominent characteristics of “good language learners” was the ability to make intelligent guesses. Learners have to be able to gamble a bit, to be willing to try out hunches about the language and take the risk of being wrong. Beebe (1983) described some of the negative ramifications that foster fear of risk taking in the classroom: a bad grade, a fail on the exam, a reproach from the teacher, a smirk from a classmate. Outside the classroom, L2 learners fear looking ridiculous, a listener’s blank look, failure to communicate, alienation, and perhaps worst of all, they fear a loss of identity. The classroom antidote to such fears, according to Dufeu, is to establish an adequate affective framework so that learners “feel comfortable as they take their first public steps in the strange world of a foreign language” (1994, p. 89 ). Should L2 learners become high risk-takers? - Not necessarily, as Beebe (1983) found, successful L2 learners are usually moderate risk-takers. “They do not take wild risks or enter into no-win situations” (p. 41 ). A learner might be too bold in blurting out meaningless verbiage that no one can quite understand, while success lies in an optimum point where calculated guesses are ventured. As Rubin and Thompson (1994) noted, successful language learners make willing and accurate guesses. The implications for teaching are important. In a few uncommon cases, overly high risk-takers, as they dominate the classroom with wild gambles, may need to be “tamed” a bit by the teacher. But most of the time our challenge as teachers will be to encourage students to guess somewhat more willingly than the usual student is prone to do, and to reward them for those risks.  Anxiety Spielberger (1983, p. 1 ) described anxiety as a “subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system.” More simply put, anxiety is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension, or worry. The research on anxiety suggests that anxiety, like self-esteem, can be experienced at various levels. At the deepest, or global, level, trait anxiety is a more permanent predisposition to be anxious. At a more momentary, or situational level, state anxiety is experienced in relation to some particular event or act. As we learned in the case of self-esteem, it is important in a classroom for a teacher to try to determine whether a student’s anxiety stems from a more global trait or whether it comes from a particular context at the moment.  Trait anxiety, because of its global and somewhat ambiguously defined nature, has not proved to be useful in predicting second language achievement ( MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991c ). Recent research on language anxiety focuses more specifically on the situational nature of state anxiety. Three components of foreign language anxiety have been identified in order to breakdown the construct into researchable issues. 1. Communication apprehension, arising from learners’ inability to adequately express mature thoughts and ideas. 2. Fear of negative social evaluation, arising from a learner’s need to make a positive social impression on others. 3. Test anxiety, or apprehension over academic evaluation.  Yet another important insight to be applied to our understanding of anxiety lies in the distinction between debilitative and facilitative anxiety, or what Oxford (1999) called “harmful” and “helpful” anxiety. Spielmann and Radnofsky (2001) preferred to identify tension as a more neutral concept to describe the possibility of both “dysphoric”(detrimental) and “euphoric” (beneficial) effects in learning a foreign language. We may be inclined to view anxiety as a negative factor, something to be avoided at all costs. But the notion of facilitative anxiety and euphoric tension is that some concern—some apprehension—over a task to be accomplished is a positive factor. Otherwise, a learner might be inclined to be “wishy-washy,”  Empathy Language is social, and the social transactions that L2 learners must navigate are complex endeavours. Transaction is the process of reaching out beyond the self to others, and language is a major tool used to accomplish that process. A variety of transactional variables may apply to second language learning. Two of these variables will be treated here: empathy and extroversion. In common terminology, empathy is the process of “putting yourself into someone else’s shoes,” of reaching beyond the self to understand what another person is feeling. Note: Empathy and sympathy are not synonymous. Sympathy involves a close affinity with another person while empathy implies more possibility of detachment. Psychologists generally agree that there are two necessary aspects to the development and exercising of empathy: first, an awareness and knowledge of one’s own feelings, and second, identification with another person. In other words, you cannot fully empathize—or know someone else—until you adequately know yourself.  communication requires a sophisticated degree of empathy. In order to accurately reach out to another person, we need to transcend our own ego boundaries so that we can send and receive messages clearly. In oral communication, empathetic perceptions are made through immediate feedback from a hearer. A misunderstood word, phrase, or idea can be questioned by the hearer and then rephrased by the speaker until a clear message is interpreted. Written communication requires a special kind of empathy in which the writer, without the benefit of immediate feedback from the reader, must communicate ideas by means of a very clear empathetic intuition and judgment of the reader’s state of mind and structure of knowledge.  Extroversion and Introversion Extroversion is the extent to which a person has a deep-seated need to receive ego enhancement, self-esteem, and a sense of wholeness from other people as opposed to receiving that affirmation within oneself. Extroverts actually need other people in order to feel “good,” and are energized by interaction with others. But extroverts are not necessarily loudmouthed and talkative, and one of their weaknesses can be a deep-seated need for affirmation from others. Introversion , on the other hand, is the extent to which a person derives a sense of wholeness and fulfillment within oneself. Contrary to prevailing stereotypes, on the inner world”. Introverts can be pleasantly conversational, but simply require more reflection, and possibly exercise more restraint in social situations. PERSONALITY TYPE What might all this have to do with SLA? In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers sought to discover a link between Myers-Briggs types and second language learning.  MOTIVATION 1. From a behavioral perspective, motivation is quite simply the anticipation of reward. Driven to acquire positive reinforcement and by previous experiences of reward, we act to achieve further reinforcement. 2. In cognitive terms, motivation emphasizes the individual’s decisions, “the choices people make as to what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid, and the degree of effort they will exert in that respect”. Some cognitive psychologists see underlying needs as the compelling force behind our decisions, as in Ausubel’s (1968, pp. 368 – 379 ), list of needs : Exploration , to see “the other side of the mountain,” opening new vistas Manipulation , to persuade, and cause change in one’s environment Activity , for movement and exercise, both physical and mental Stimulation , by people, ideas, feelings, and the environment Knowledge , to explore, learn, resolve contradictions, and solve problems Ego enhancement , to be accepted and approved of by others 3. A constructivist view of motivation places prime emphasis on social context as well as individual personal choices. All three perspectives can be plausibly amalgamated into an integrated understanding of SLA. Consider those who are said to be “motivated” to learn an L2. They are motivated because they perceive the value (reward) of knowing a language. They choose to meet needs of exploration, stimulation, knowledge, self-esteem, and autonomy. And they do so in widely differing individual pathways and in the context of a social milieu that values being able to “speak” an L2.  Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Edward Deci (1975, p. 23 ) defined intrinsic motivation as expending effort “for which there is no apparent reward except the activity itself... And not because it leads to an extrinsic reward.” Intrinsically motivated behaviors are driven by internally rewarding consequences, namely, feelings of competence and self-determination, and are, like Skinner’s (1957) emitted response, willingly engaged in through one’s own volition. In contrast, extrinsic motivation is fueled by the anticipation of a reward from outside and beyond the self. Typical extrinsic rewards are money, prizes, grades, and even certain forms of positive feedback. Behaviors initiated solely to avoid punishment are also extrinsically motivated. Bruner (1966b) claimed that one of the most effective ways to help students to think and learn is to free them from the control of rewards and punishments. One of the principal weaknesses of extrinsically driven behavior is its addictive nature. Once captivated by the lure of an immediate prize or praise, our dependency on those tangible rewards increases, even to the point that their withdrawal can then extinguish the desire to learn. Which form of motivation is more powerful in SLA contexts? -A stockpile of research strongly favors intrinsic orientations, especially for long-term retention.  Social-Psychological Perspectives Instrumental and Integrative Orientations For the better part of two decades, research on L2 motivation was dominated by Gardner and Lambert’s (1972) work with L2 learners in Canada, the United States, and the Philippines to examine attitudinal and motivational factors. Motivation was studied in terms of a number of different kinds of attitudes. Two different clusters of attitudes were identified as instrumental and integrative orientations. An instrumental orientation referred to acquiring a language as a means for attaining practical goals such as furthering a career, reading technical material, or translation. An integrative orientation described learners who wished to integrate themselves into the culture of the second language group and become involved in social interchange in that group. Gardner and MacIntyre (1991) and Dörnyei (2001b) later argued that instrumentality and integrativeness are not actually types of motivation, but rather, more appropriately forms of orientations. That is, depending on whether a learner’s main focus or purpose is (1) academic or career related (instrumental), or (2) socially or culturally oriented (integrative), different needs might be fulfilled in learning an L2. Motivational Intensity Masgoret and Gardner (2003) demonstrated that integrativeness was not as significant a factor as motivational intensity. Within either orientation, one can have either high or low level of motivation. One learner may be only mildly motivated to learn within, say, a career context, while another learner with the same orientation may be intensely driven to succeed in the same orientation. Thank You