1 / 16

The Least a Second Language Acquisition Theory Needs to Explain

TESOL Quarterly, 24, 4 (1990). The Least a Second Language Acquisition Theory Needs to Explain. Michael H. Long. SLA Research. Is relatively new: most research in SLA coming since about 1980 Those that have performed this research come from different fields or disciplines

Jimmy
Télécharger la présentation

The Least a Second Language Acquisition Theory Needs to Explain

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. TESOL Quarterly, 24, 4 (1990) The Least a Second Language Acquisition Theory Needs to Explain Michael H. Long

  2. SLA Research • Is relatively new: most research in SLA coming since about 1980 • Those that have performed this research come from different fields or disciplines • So the focuses and viewpoints for what is important have been varied: psychologist VS anthropologist VS Chomsky & UG etc… • So, what do we really know about SLA?

  3. Description & Explanation • In tackling a problem like SLA, it’s essential to describe the observed phenomena because they lay out the scope of the problem to be solved. • Explanation is then in order to explain the how or the why of the data. • Explanation can vary from field to field, however: predict future events (biochemists, psychologists, etc) or host-hoc understanding (anthropo…)

  4. Overlap

  5. Totally part A • The frequency of noV constructions declined as that of don’t V constructions increased. • Subjects’ suppliance of plural s was more target-like on the picture description task than in the narrative. • Whether or not learners exhibited adverb-fronting on the pretest predicted their control of participle separation after instruction.

  6. Area B • Accuracy was greater on tasks performed after planning than on tasks performed with no planning. • After equivalent periods of exposure, child starters score higher on proficiency tests than learners who began as adults.

  7. Area C – total explanation • SLA is just one aspect of acculturation and the degree to which a learner acculturates to the TL group will control the degree to which he acquires the second language. • Second language learning, like any other complex cognitive skill, involves the gradual integration of subskills as controlled processes initially predominate and then become automatic.

  8. Mechanisms • Explain/account for change/learning • In the SLA literature to this point (1990) are poorly defined and supported • Should probably also account for order of acquisition of grammatical elements (Atkinson 1982) • Meisel et al. (1981) and Clahsen (1987) provide a model for German L2 word order acquisition that describes different stages and argues for how SSLs achieve passing from stage to stage. • This “model” at least attemps to explain data, and not only describe it.

  9. Some accepted SLA findings • To really/fully understand explain SLA, it is essential to know & understand the facts. • To explain anything, the important facts must be considered and accounted for (birds fly b/c they eat flying insects) • Sometimes, especially in SLA, it may not be obvious what findings are relevant and which aren’t.

  10. Learners • Differences in children rarely has any connection to L1 acquisition • In SLA, stages and patterns tend to be consistent, but learning rate and ultimate attainment vary a lot • This variation seems to correlate with many factors: age, motivation, aptitude • Developmental/maturational (age) > affective factors (motivation)

  11. Environments • Again, little impact on children in L1 • Variation again for SLA: L1/L2 relation... • Comprehensible input = essential • Overt error correction can help in SLA [focus on form] (not so important for L1) • Attention to form is necessary when L1/L2 comparison involves 21 relationships or when one is more marked. • Much of a language isn’t learned unconsciously.

  12. Interlanguages • Always exhibit systematicity and variability at any point in development • Systematicity: regular suppliance and nonsuppliance of certain forms; persistence of errors = rule governed • Variability also seems to be systematically related to task, interlocutor, linguistic context, etc… but some of it is free (I born / I was born) • Change on time follows predictable paths. • Gradual and incremental; changes suggest restructuring of interlanguage grammar.

  13. Implications for SLA • A theory is inadequate or incomplete if: • It says nothing about universals • It says nothing about environmental factors • It doesn’t specify either different mechanisms driving development in learners of different starting ages, or different access to the same mechanism • It purports to explain deveopment solely in terms of affective factors • It holds all language learning to be unconscious • It holds that native-like mastery of a SL can result simply from exposure to comprehensible examples of that language

  14. A theory is inadequate or incomplete if: • It ignores the strong cognitive contribution on the learner’s part and is therefore purely environmentalist • It assumes that change is a product of the steady accumulation of generalizations based upon the learner’s perception of the frequencies of forms

  15. Conclusion • A theory doesn’t have to account for every fact, but it must account for “at least some of the major accepted findings within its scope” • An adequate SLA theory must also specify one or more mechanisms to explain interlanguage change. • SLA is a multidimensional phenomenon: many factors, both individual and environmental.

  16. Conclusion (cont…) • An SLA theory must speak to these different variables and find how they differ and how they interact with each other. (interactionist instead of unidimensional) • “The intriguing combination of universals and variability in adult language learning […] is the least an SLA theory needs to explain.”

More Related