The Ecology of Language Learning & Classroom Research Leo van Lier Monterey Institute of International Studies lvanl

The Ecology of Language Learning & Classroom ResearchLeo van LierMonterey Institute of International Studieslvanlier@miis.edu UNTELE, Compiègne March 19, 2004

Perception/Action: Affordance Emergence: Grammaring e Social Interaction Quality

Overview • Perception and action in semiotic contexts • The emergence of language abilities in meaningful activity • The dynamics of social interaction • The quality of educational experience

Perception • Picture or landscape? • Static observer or dynamic agent? • Representation or pickup? • Direct or indirect? • Immediate or mediated?

What are affordances? • Affordances are relations of possibility between animals and their environments (Neisser, 1987, p. 21).

What are affordances? • Affordances consist in the opportunities for interaction that things in the environment possess relative to the sensorimotor capacities of the animal (Varela, Thompson & Rosch, 1991, p. 203).

What are affordances? • [The linguistic world]… is full of demands and requirements, opportunities and limitations, rejections and invitations, enablements and constraints - in short, affordances (Shotter and Newson 1982:34)

What are affordances? • We could benefit from considering participants' orientations to the production and recognition of structural patterns in talk as social affordances: immediately recognizable projections, predictions and perceived consequences of making this (and not that) utterance at any given time (Forrester, 1999, p. 88).

Gibson’s affordance • An affordance refers to the fit between an animal’s capabilities and the environmental supports and opportunities (both good and bad) that make possible a given activity (Gibson & Pick, 2000, p. 15). • According to Gibson, to perceive the world is to co-perceive oneself. This means that when we perceive something, we perceive it as it relates to us.

Environment (meaning potential) Action affordance Perception Interpretation Agent, Self (abilities, interests)

Emergence • Emergence happens when relatively simple organisms or elements reorganize themselves into more complex, more intelligent systems. In addition, these systems appear to be able to adapt to changing conditions whereas the simpler forms that compose them have no such adaptive abilities (van Lier, in press; Johnson, 2001).

Emergence Inthe emergentist perspective, grammar is not a prerequisite of communication, rather it is a byproduct of communication (Hopper, 1998). Regularity and systematicity are “produced by the partial settling or sedimentation of frequently used forms into temporary subsystems” (Hopper, ibid, p. 158).

Social Interaction • Primary intersubjectivity: face-to-face ‘proto-conversations,’ felt immediacy. • Secondary intersubjectivity: joint attention, ‘aboutness,’ indicational. • Tertiary intersubjectivity: grammaticalization, predicational.

Scaffolding • The game consists of an initial contact, the establishment of joint attention, disappearance, reappearance, and acknowledgement of renewed contact. These obligatory features or the “syntax” of the game occur together with optional features, such as vocalizations to sustain the infant’s interest, responses to the infant’s attempts to uncover the mother’s face, etc. These “non-rule bound” parts of the game are an instance of the mother providing a “scaffold” for the child (Bruner & Sherwood, 1975, p. 280).

Prolepsis • The mind projects its mature psychological capacities onto the earlier stages of its development: We see the higher mental functions in the infant’s behaviour even when they are not yet present….. treating children as if they had abilities they do not yet possess is a necessary condition of the development of those abilities (Bakhurst, 1991, p.67).

Scaffolding • Continuity: task sequences, ritual with variation • Contextual Support: supportive environment, guidance and structure, facilitated access • Intersubjectivity: engagement, encouragement • Contingency: contributions oriented towards one another • Handover/Takeover: increasing role for learner • Flow: balance between skills and challenges (van Lier, in press)

Scaffolding on Three Time Scales • Macro: Planning (a syllabus, a chain of tasks, a project, etc.) over a long-term period • Meso: Planning the steps of a particular activity or task • Micro: Moment-to moment interactional work

scaffold zone of proximal development self regulation Intra-personalprocess inter-personalprocess Leo van Lier, 1996 Based on L.S. Vygotsky

Assistance from more capable peers or adults Inner Resources: knowledge, experience, memory investment SELF REGULATION Interaction with less capable peers Interaction with equal peers “If one member of a dyad undergoes developmental change, the other is also likely to do so” (Bronfenbrenner 1979:65) An Expanded ZPD Scaffolding: Modeling… Resourcefulness, Self-access “Docendo discimus” (We learn by teaching) Van Lier, 2003

SCAFFOL-DING PROLEPSIS ZPD PROXIMAL CONTEXT EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING

Quality • Standards do not equal quality • Quality cannot be measured by test scores • Indicators of educational quality cannot be quantified • Interventionist and contextualized types of research are important • Education must promote creativity, variety and diversity

Effective Functioning • differentiated perception and response • directing and controlling one’s own behavior • coping successfully under stress • acquiring new knowledge and skill • establishing and maintaining mutually rewarding relationships • modifying and constructing one’s own physical, social, and symbolic environment (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994, p. 569).

The Ecology of Language Learning & Classroom Research Leo van Lier Monterey Institute of International Studies lvanl