ROZDZIAŁ 7 (Spada)
1. Languages are learned mainly through imitation
· First language acquisition (FLA)
- some children imitate a great deal
- their language doesn’t develop faster/better than that of children who rarely imitate
- children often imitate selectively
·
-the lack of practice In struggling to understand
-understanding in genuinely meaningful interaction
· Second language acquisition (SLA)
- learners produce many novel sentences that they couldn’t have heard before
- for some advanced learners careful listening and imitation can be valuable in developing proficiency in pronunciation and intonation
- for beginning learners the recite bits of perfectly accurate language become a just a collection of sentences, waiting for the moment when they would be useful
2. Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors
· Pre-schoolers
Ø Parents rarely comment on grammatical errors
Ø They correct lapses in politeness or the choice of word that doesn’t make sense
It depends on parents sociolingustic background
· School age
Ø Parents correct kinds of ‘non standard’ speech (‘Me & Fred are going outside now’)
Children are able to acquire the adult form of the language with little feedback
OBSERVATION of parents and children show: parents tend to focus on meaning rather than form when they correct children’s speech.
Parents correct:
These interfere with successful communication
· An word choice
Children cannot depend on corrective feedback in order to learn the basic structure
· Statements of facts
· A rude remark
SL learners may persist in using certain ungrammatical forms for years, without corrective feedback and guidance.
3. People with high IQs are good language learners.
The kind of intelligence:
· Is a good predictor for success where the emphasis is on learning ABOUT the language (grammatical rules, vocabulary items)
· People who do well on IQ tests may do well on other kinds of tests
BUT in this items a wide variety of intellectual abilities is successful:
· In natural language settings (LA through interactive language use)
· Oral communication skills rather than metalinguistic knowledge
4. The most important factor in SLA success is motivation.
Learners who want to learn à better than those who don’t
True, but there shouldn’t be too strong an interpretation for this.
· Adults who begin learning a SLA rarely achieve the fluency and accuracy that children do in FLA it doesn’t seem that adult SL learners are not motivated!
It is due to: -differences In language learning aptitude -how the instruction interacts with individual learners styles and preferences
· In a group of highly motivated SL learners there are those who are more successful than others!
The role of teacher: make a classroom a supportive environment
· Stimulation
· Engaging in activities
· Activities appropriate to learners’ age, interests, cultural backgrounds
· The possibility of success
Learners are from different backgrounds and life experiences, all of which have contributed to their attitudes toward and motivation to learn the target language.
5. The earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the greater the likelihood of success in learning.
RESEARCH EVIDENCE: Only those, who begin SL learning at an early age can acquire it native-like.
When to introduce foreign language instruction?
è It depends on the objectives of the language program in the social context of the school.
It is important to recognize disadvantages of an early start:
· Sometimes it means that children have little opportunity to develop their first language
· For children from minority-language backgrounds:
the development of the first language at home and at school is BETTER for long-term success in the SLA THAN an early start in second language itself.
RESEARCH EVIDENCE: the good foundation in the first language is a sound base to build on. Children:
· are more self-confident
· are able to learn more effectively in the early school years
· don’t lose their time struggling just to understand what is happening in the classroom
Many children who are members of a small minority group à no opportunity to have their early schooling in their first language
Jurisdictions where legislation Has mandated a single language for all children, regardless of their background
Teachers:
· sensitive
· respect the children’s difficulty
· encourage parents to maintain home lang.
· understand these children need more time and effort
Foreign/second language instruction where the level of proficiency is not native-like performance by all students.
IF
The goal of educational program is
· basic communicative skills for all students
· strong commitment to maintaining first language
THEN
More efficient to begin SL teaching later
- e.g. 10-year olds are able to catch very quickly on e.g. 6,7-years olds
- one, two hours classes a week will not produce very advanced SL speaking (‘dripfeed approach’)
6. Most of the mistakes which SL learners make are due to interference from their first language.
The transfer of patterns from the native language is one of the major sources of errors in learner language ß difficult to overcome
BUT
Other causes of errors
· Overgeneralization of target-language rules à SL learners from different first language backgrounds make the same kinds of errors in particular SL
In this case learners make an effort t the structure of the target language rather than transfer patterns from their first language
RESEARCH EVIDENCE: aspects of SL which are different from the FL will not be acquired later or with more difficulty than those aspects which are similar
7. Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time and learners should practice examples of each one before going on to another.
Learners are incorporating new information about the language into their own internal system of rules
e.g.:
I. Learners learn ‘went’ as a memorized ‘chunk’
II. Then they learn to use regular –ed inflection for past tense marking à they stop using ‘went’ and produce ‘goed’
III. Then they learn about the exceptions to the –ed past tense rule àthey begin to use ‘went’ again
Language development is not just adding rule after rule but integrating new rules into an existing systems of rules.
SL development isn’t linear.
However…
Some structure-based approaches to teaching are based on the false assumption:
-
Isolated presentation of one structure
- Textbook organization
· First unit and several subsequent units à particular language feature
· Then next feature
No opportunity for learners to discover how different language features compare and contrast in normal language use.
8. Teachers should teach simple language structures before complex ones.
- isolated presentation - ordering - practice from ‘simple’ to ‘complex’ features
RESEARCH has shown: certain structures are acquired before others no matter how language is presented to learners
There is no necessity to exposure linguistic structures which are perceived to be ‘simple’.
SL learners benefit from:
· Native speakers they make efforts to modify their speech to help SL learners
· Fluent bilinguals understand
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