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TEMA 66APORTACIONES DE LA LINGÜÍSTICA A LA ENSEÑANZA DELAS LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS. EL PROCESO DE APRENDIZAJE

LINGÜÍSTICO: SEMEJANZAS Y DIFERENCIA ENTRE LAADQUISICIÓN DE LA PRIMERA LENGUA ESCOLAR Y DE LA

LENGUA EXTRANJERA

1. Presentation

2. Objectives

3. Contents

3.1. Contribution of linguistics to the teaching of foreign languages

3.1.1. Research on second language learning and acquisition

3.1.2. Some contributions of Linguistics to language teaching

3.1.3. Linguistic basis that influence the methodology of foreign language

3.2. The language learning process. Similarities and differences between first andsecond language acquisition

3.2.1. First language acquisition theories

3.2.2. Bilingualism and Multilingualism

3.2.3. The teaching of a foreign language in class

3.2.4. Second language acquisition theories

3.2.5. Similarities between first and second language acquisition

3.2.6. Differences between first and second language acquisition

3.3. Factors that influence the learning of a second language

3.3.1. Individual variations

3.3.2. Affective factors

4. Activities

5. Self-evaluation

6. Answers to self-evaluation

7. Glossary

8. Bibliography



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1. PRESENTATION

In these last decades we have observed that a wider conscience has been developedregarding the complexity that entails the teaching of a foreign language. This is the reasonwhy a solid theory has been developed.

This foundation has been taking form thanks to disciplines as diverse as psychology (thelearning theory), psycholinguistics (the theory of languages), sociolinguistics (the study ofthe use of language in society) and general linguistics that shows us a theory of languageand its description.

Teachers have often gone to linguists in search of guidance on how to teach languagesas what is taught is the object of study by linguists, and, it is described in terms oflinguistic methods and theories. This is the reason why, the way in which the teachercarries out his daily practice is under the influence of a theory regarding the learning oflanguages, which in turn is based on a linguistic theory.

It is after the 1950´s that a series of linguistic innovations in the linguistic theoriesemerge and which are of capital importance in the development of the teaching oflanguages.

For a better understanding of the changes occurred, it will be necessary to carry out abrief revision of those theories that have had a greater influence, as the changes that havetaken place in linguistic theories, that have caused the revision and the introduction of newmethods and approaches in education.

2. OBJECTIVES

- To learn about the development and change of L2 acquisition over the years.

- To understand the way children and students acquisition of L2 works and how it isapplied to teaching situations.

- To recognize the factors which determine that students’ will or will not learn L2, andin consequence be able to act accordingly.

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3. CONTENTS

3.1 Contribution of linguistics to the teaching of foreign languages

Linguistics is the science that studies language; it is a relatively modern science. With

respect to the contributions of linguistics to foreign language teaching, we can say that inlanguage teaching, linguistic disciplines such as grammar, syntax, semantics,psycholinguistics or sociolinguistics are implemented by means of applied linguistics.Applied linguistics collects data and interprets the results that helps achieve its aim whichis to use its findings to carry out its own experimental research.

Linguistics has had a great influence in language teaching such as Bloomfield’sstructuralist linguistics, Chomsky’s generative and creative vision, and the most recentapproach: socio linguistic and the pragmatic vision of language.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including

cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used. Sociolinguisticsoverlaps to a considerable degree with pragmatics. It also studies how lects differ betweengroups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level ofeducation, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorizeindividuals in social class or socio-economic classes. As the usage of a language varies fromplace to place (dialect), language usage varies among social classes, producing sociolectswhich are the object of study of sociolinguistics.

Pragmatics, on the other hand, is the study of the ability of natural language speakers tocommunicate more than that which is explicitly stated. The ability to understand anotherspeaker’s intended meaning is called pragmatic competence. An utterance describing

pragmatic function is described as metapragmatic. Another perspective is that pragmaticsdeals with the ways we reach our goal in communication. Pragmatics is regarded as one ofthe most challenging aspects for language learners to grasp, and can only be truly learnedwith experience.

Applied linguistics has to do with all these theories and with analyzing how they can beuseful in language teaching to proceed afterwards with their pedagogical application.

3.1.1Research on Second Language Learning and Acquisition

As for the research on second language learning and acquisition, there has been a deepchange in the way second language acquisition has been conceived and the nature of man’s

linguistic faculty.

Behaviourist theories in the US conceived a child’s mind as a tabula rasa (blank state)and the child acquired his first language by accumulating stimuli-answers and byreinforcing the correct answers.

But, as Chomsky observed, this theory did not explain how a child was able to producesentences that he had never produced before. Chomsky’s generativist theory is the viewthat humans have an innate language faculty and that the universal principles of humanlanguage reflect intrinsic properties of this language faculty. In learning their nativelanguages, children acquire specific rules that determine the sound and

meaning of utterances in the language. These rules interact with each



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other in complex ways, and the entire system is learned in a relatively short time and withlittle or no apparent conscious effort.

The most plausible explanation for the success of human language learners is that theyhave access to a highly restrictive set of principles which does not require (or permit) themto consider many alternatives in order to account for a particular construction, but insteadlimits them to a few possible rules from which a choice can be made if necessary, withoutmuch further evidence. Since there is no evidence that the principles that define the class ofpossible rules and systems of rules are learned, it is thought that these principles serve asthe preconditions for language learning, forming part of the innate capacity of everynormal child. Viewed in this light, the principles we are attempting to discover are part ofthe genetic endowment of all humans. It follows that an understanding of these principlesis necessary to an understanding of the mental makeup of the human species.

Also, as Hymes pointed out, the problem was that the behaviourist theory was based onobserving the system itself and not using it. He talked about a term coined by him:

communicative competence. This linguistic term refers to a learner’s L2 ability. It not onlyrefers to a learner’s ability to apply and use grammatical rules, but also to form correctutterances, and know how to use these utterances appropriately. The term gathers the viewof language learning implicit in the communicative approach to language teaching. Hestates that the student learns through the process of communicating. The student that takesa risk will be the one that learns most since he is subjecting his system to continuous risksand challenges, whereas the learner who does not take any risks and communicates onlywhat he knows will not progress quickly. The teacher should find a system that will enablehis students to produce correctly what they are asked for but with a flexible andunderstanding attitude towards mistakes.

3.1.2 Some Contributions of Linguistics to language teaching

In this respect, we can foreground the ASTP (Army Specialized Training Programme) inthe USA, created with the advent of the Second World War before there was need forpeople to speak and understand different languages. The programme stressed theacquisition of conversation above all else.

In Europe language teaching was slowly changing and linguists were mainly concernedabout oral language as a means of communication. Emphasis was laid on what was heardor said, thus developing the aural/oral method with conversation as the main focus of theclass.

A method that became popular was the so-called Mimicry/Memorization. Bloomfieldand the linguists who prepared the courses gave this method great importance.

Finally, the application of structuralism in language teaching was developed after theSecond World War. There are four common ideas regarding structuralism that form anintellectural trend: firstly, the structure is what determines the position of each element of awhole; secondly, structuralists believe that every system has a structure; thirdly,structuralists are interested in ‘structural’ laws that deal with coexistence rather thanchanges. And finally those structures are the ‘real things’ that lie beneath the surface or theappearance of meaning. The structuralists studied structures of the first andsecond language being studied, and analyzed which structures were similarand which ones caused interference.

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The vast majority of language learning texts used today are still based on structuralistprinciples.

3.1.3 Linguistic basis that influence the methodology of a foreign language

Linguistic basis that directly influences the methodology of a foreign language isexposed as follows. However, firstly it is well-worth mentioning the distinction of thefollowing terms: signifier (concept) and signified (acoustic image); the difference betweensynchrony (concrete moment) and diachrony (evolution), language (system) and use( expression), competence (the capacity to express something with the given elements) andperformance (the production of actual utterances) and text and discourse.

The most useful modern terms to define the process of teaching-learning could be thoseof ephistemic language which is the language for reflection, how the teacher plans tostructure a lesson; and the deontic language which implies what type of language, that is,the performance and the language actually carried out in that class. In this way we shall be

able to evaluate the success of the planning. If the linguistic concepts which are introducedin the concepts and the planning are interesting, the lesson will be successful.

In conclusion, we can assert that a teacher who cares about level, function andinteraction will get a richer and more workable programme.

3.2 The language learning process. Similarities and differences between first and second language acquisition

3.2.1 First language acquisition theories

Non-nativist theories include the Competition model and Social interactionism. Social-interactionists, like Snow, theorize that adults play an important part in children’slanguage acquisition. However, some researchers claim that the empirical data on whichtheories of social interactionism are based have often been over-representative of middleclass American and European parent-child interactions.

Various anthropological studies of other human cultures, as well as anecdotal evidencefrom western families, suggests rather that many, if not the majority, of the world’schildren are not spoken to in a manner akin to traditional language lessons, butnevertheless they grow up to be fully fluent language users. Many researchers now takethis into account in their analyses. Furthermore, as any parent knows, children often pay

scarce attention to what they are told to say, instead sticking to their own ungrammaticalpreferences.

Before the 1960s, the study of child language was dominated mainly by the“behaviourist approach”, whose best known proponent is Skinner. He says that languageis not a mental phenomenon but behaviour, so it is learnt by a process of habit-formation.This view was challenged from the 1960s onwards, especially under the influence ofChomsky’s linguistic theories and cognitive psychology. He states, as it was previouslysaid, that language entails a complex system of rules that enable speakers to create andunderstand an infinite number of sentences, most of which they have never encounteredbefore. Children learn an abstract knowledge of rules, or competence, and

they are exposed only to people’s speech, or performance. This meansthat the child’s language is not simply shaped by external forces: it is



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being creatively constructed by the child as he interacts with those around him. In thissense, the difference between acquisition and learning is that the former is limited to acertain age, while the child is constructing his own grammar, testing which rules areadequate and which are not. This theory states the active contribution of the student andthe role of reason or linguistic competence as opposed to the mechanism of drills.

Vigotsky establishes the three main stages in the first language acquisition:

- At the beginning, for the child, language is only a means of external communication;

- then, language becomes egocentric (external in form but internal in function)-language is used mainly to satisfy his needs-,

- lastly, it is internalised and becomes verbal thought, which then guides cognitivedevelopment.

When talking about the main stages of language acquisition in children, linguisticsdivide the child’s acquisition of a language into pre-linguistic and linguistic stages.

However there is a disagreement as to what should be included in these periods. But mostscholars agree that the earliest cries and whimpers of the newborn cannot be consideredearly language. Such noises are completely stimulus-controlled; they are the child’sinvoluntary responses to hunger, discomfort, the feeling of well-being, etc.

a) The babbling stage (usually around the sixth month period). In this period, theinfant begins to babble. The sounds produced in this period seem to include thesounds of human languages. The role of babbling is not clearly understood, but it isabsolutely clear that in order for the language to develop finally, the child mustreceive some auditory input.

b) The holophrastic stage (some time after children are a year old). They begin to usesame string of sounds repeatedly to mean the same thing. Most children seem to gothrough the one word=one sentence stage. The child uses just one word to expressconcepts which will later be expressed by complex phrases and sentences.

c) The two-word stage (around some time after their second birthday) Children beginto produce two-word utterances like: allgone sock, bye-bye boat, it ball, hi mommy, etc.

During this stage there are no syntactic or morphological markers; that is, noinflections for number, tense, or person. The two words a child utters, which canlater express a number of different grammatical relations, will also later beexpressed by other syntactic devices.

d) The telegraphic stage. It does not seem to be any three-word sentence stage. When achild starts stringing more than two words together, the utterances may be two,three, four, or five words or longer. The words in a sentence are not strung togetherrandomly; from a very early stage, children’s utterances reveal their grasp of theprinciples of sentence formation.

These first utterances of children which are longer than two words have a specialcharacteristic: usually, the small function words such as to, the, can, is, etc. are missing;only the words which carry the main message –the “content” words- occur. Children oftensound as if they were reading telegrams, which is why such utterances arecalled telegraphic speech. For example:Cathy build house, no sit here, car standup table.

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As children acquire more and more language, or more closely approximate the adultgrammar, they not only begin to use function words but also acquire the inflectional andderivational morphemes of the language. There seems to be a natural order of acquisitionof morphemes. It seems that the suffixing is the earliest inflectional morpheme acquired.Eventually all the other inflections are added, along with the syntactic rules, and finally the

child’s utterances sound like those spoken by adults.

3.2.2 Bilingualism and Multilingualism

Contrary to common belief, children are quite capable of understanding and movingacross languages from an early age. Bilingualism has wrongly been blamed for learningdifficulties in children of migrant families. Research shows that learning a secondlanguage both “builds on the first language and consolidates it”. Children do not becomeconfused when they are exposed in their early years to two or more languages, any morethan confusion arises when they hear two parents expressing themselves differently in thesame language. Like multilingual adults, children often use words from one language

when speaking the other but this does not mean they are getting mixed up. They aresimply switching between two or more modes of expression.

Furthermore, a tremendous amount of research devoted to the effects of early foreignlanguage acquisition have produced remarkable results in terms of the positive benefitsreaped by those who have a second language ability while in school.

Results indicate that students who have foreign language abilities are more likely tohave better overall academic performance, stronger problem-solving capabilities and scorestatistically higher on standardized tests than those who do not. The conclusive evidencespeaks volumes on the benefits of speaking a second language.

3.2.3 The teaching of a foreign language in class

In Europe children begin to study a second language around 11 years old, except whenthey start at a nursery school or primary school. At 11 or 12, the most usual situation takesplace in a class where the teacher faces his students, teaching them a new linguistic codeand practicing exchanges directly related with real communicative needs. An essentialobjective is to foster the pupil’s stimuli when learning a foreign language, and theincreasing importance of motivation that can be achieved by several means like: taking intoaccount the natural wish to communicate; the pleasure found in the games practiced with anew code and the one derived from the understanding of that code; and the pleasure of

discovering another culture through the contents of its language. In that sense, a foreignlanguage is taught in primary school because children show an innate faculty tounderstand and imitate what they listen. They should be prepared linguistically attendingto their psychological and cultural development. Therefore, by learning a new language atan early age, children are aware of other languages and cultures apart from their own. InSpain the teaching of English has been done from the age of six years old for a long time,and has now been promoted to the infant stage.

3.2.4. Second language acquisition theories

Krashen has contributed to the fields of second language acquisition

(SLA), bilingual education, and reading. He is credited with introducing



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various influential concepts and terms in the study of second language acquisition,including the Acquisition-learning hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, Monitor Theory, theAffective Filter, and the Natural Order Hypothesis. Most recently, Krashen promotes theuse of free voluntary reading during second language acquisition, of which he says “I believethat it is the most powerful tool we have in language education, first and second.”

The Monitor Hypothesis asserts that a learner’s learned system acts as a monitor towhat they are producing. In other words, while only the acquired system is able toproduce spontaneous speech (according to this theory), the learned system is used to checkwhat is being spoken.

Before the learner produces an utterance, he or she internally scans it for errors, and usesthe learned system to make corrections. Self-correction occurs when the learner uses themonitor to correct a sentence after it is uttered. According to the hypothesis, such self-monitoring and self-correction are the only functions of conscious language learning.

The Monitor Model then predicts faster initial progress by adults than children, as

adults use this ‘monitor’ when producing L2 utterances before having acquired the abilityfor natural performance, and adult learners will input more into conversations earlier thanchildren. There are three Conditions for the use of the Monitor according to Krashen inorder for it to be successfully used:

1. The acquirer/learner must know the rul. This is a very difficult condition to meetbecause it means that the speaker must have had explicit instruction on thelanguage form that he or she is trying to produce.

2. The acquirer must be focused on correctness. He or she must be thinking about form,and it is difficult to focus on meaning and form at the same time.

3. The acquirer/learner must have time to use the monitor. Using the monitor requires thespeaker to slow down and focus on form.

Nevertheless, there are many difficulties with the use of the monitor, making themonitor rather weak as a language tool:

- Having time to use the monitor . There is a price that is paid for the use of the monitor,the speaker is then focused on form rather than meaning, resulting in the productionand exchange of less information, thus slowing the flow of conversation. Somespeakers over-monitor to the point that the conversation is painfully slow andsometimes difficult to listen to.

- Knowing the rule. This is a difficult condition to meet, because even the best studentsdo not learn every rule that is taught, they cannot remember every rule they havelearned, and cannot always correctly apply the rules they do remember.Furthermore, every rule of a language is not always included in a text nor taught bythe teacher.

- The rules of language make up only a small portion of our language competence:Acquisition does not provide 100% language competence. There is often a smallportion of grammar, punctuation, and spelling that even the most proficient nativespeakers may not acquire (for example- the lie/lay distinction inEnglish). While it is important to learn these aspects of language,

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since writing is the only form that requires 100% competence, these aspects oflanguage make up only a small portion of our language competence.

Due to these difficulties, Krashen recommends using the monitor at times when it doesnot interfere with communication, such as while writing.

The most recent theory according to Krashen is that there are five hypotheses on secondlanguage acquisition.

The distinction between acquiring and learning was made by Krashen (1982) as part ofhis Monitor Theory. According to Krashen, the acquisition of a language is a naturalsubconscious process, a process similar to the way children develop ability in the firstlanguage; whereas learning a language is a conscious one which refers to a consciousknowledge of a second language. This hypothesis states that adults also have the ability toacquire. In the former, the student needs to partake in natural communicative situations. Inthe latter, error correction is present, as the study of grammatical rules isolated fromnatural language. Not all educators in second language agree to this distinction; however,

the study of how a second language is learned/acquired is referred to as Second LanguageAcquisition or SLA.

The Natural Order hypothesis, by which it is reported that the acquisition ofgrammatical structures occurs in a predictable order: noun, adjective, verb.

The affective filter is an impediment to learning caused by negative emotional(affective) responses to one’s environment. It is a hypothesis of second languageacquisition theory, and a field of interest in educational psychology.

According to the affective filter hypothesis, certain emotions, such as anxiety, self-doubt,and mere boredom interfere with the process of acquiring a second language. They

function as a filter between the speaker and the listener that reduces the amount oflanguage input the listener is able to understand. These negative emotions prevent efficientprocessing of the language input. Besides, the hypothesis states that the blockage can bereduced by sparking interest, providing low anxiety environments and bolstering thelearner’s self-esteem.

Comprehensible input

Though there are many theories as to how we acquire language, both first and second,one of the most prominent modern theories in the field of Second Language Acquisition(SLA) is the Comprehensible Input Hypothesis. This theory was originally called the Input

Hypothesis.

According to Krashen, we acquire language only when we receive comprehensible input(CI). This hypothesis claims that we move from i to i+1 by understanding input thatcontains i+1. In this equation, i represents previously acquired linguistic competence andextra-linguistic knowledge which includes our knowledge of the world and of thesituation- that is the context. The +1 represents new knowledge or language structures thatwe should be ready to acquire

The Comprehensible Input hypothesis can be restated in terms of the natural orderhypothesis. For example, if we acquire the rules of language in a linear

order (1, 2, 3...), then i represents the last rule or language form learned,and i+1 is the next structure that should be learned. It must be stressed



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however, that just any input is not sufficient; the input received must be comprehensible.According to Krashen, there are three corollaries to his theory:

A. Corollaries of the Input/Comprehension Hypothesis

1. Talking (output) is not practicing

Krashen stresses yet again that speaking in the target language does not result inlanguage acquisition. Although speaking can indirectly assist in languageacquisition, the ability to speak is not the cause of language learning oracquisition. Instead, comprehensible output is the result of language acquisition.

2. When enough comprehensible input is provided, i+1 is present

That is to say, that if language models and teachers provide enoughcomprehensible input, then the structures that acquirers are ready to learn will bepresent in that input. According to Krashen, this is a better method of developinggrammatical accuracy than direct grammar teaching.

3. The teaching order is not based on the natural order

Instead, students will acquire the language in a natural order by receivingcomprehensible input.

3.2.5. Similarities between First and Second Language Acquisition

Here, we include the interlingual development as the process that a learner must gothrough or build before being able to speak fluently or as well as a native speaker and itconstitutes, together with Generativism, a new field of investigation. At this first stage, thesecond language learner does not usually produce anything. This stage is called the silent

period. The second stage is the pre-syntactic, in which the learner produces his firstsentences. The term was created by Selinker who considers acquisition and learning from apsycho linguistic perspective. It is based on the idea that working with linguistic elementsfollows a common route that depends on age, culture and context. The goal is L2 but notmany get there, they build a language between L1 and L2 with interference andgeneralization which are the tools of Interlanguage.

When the student uses the mechanisms acquired both in his first and second languages,he does so subconsciously. Likewise, not all language learners follow the same path;individual variations like psychological, personality factors and others also come into play.

A continuing theme has been whether people acquire a second language in the sameway as the first one. If the L2 stages outlined above are also followed by L1 children, bothgroups are probably using the same learning process. The L2 sequence for Englishgrammatical morphemes was similar, though not identical, to that found in L1 acquisitionby Brown (1972), the greatest differences being the irregular past tense (broke), articles (the),copula and auxiliaries (Dulay, Burt & Krashen, 1982).

Other similar sequences of syntactic acquisition have been found in L1 and L2 learning.L2 learners, like L1 learners, start by believing that John is the subject of please in both John iseasy to please and John is eager to please and only go on to discover it is the object in John iseasy to please after some time (Cook 1973; d’Anglejan & Tucker 1975). L2

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the sentence No the sun shining and then progress to negation within the sentence That’s noready (Wode 1981).

A sub-theme underlying several of the questions discussed here is that L1 acquisition iscompletely successful, L2 learning is not. Take two representative quotations: ‘Very few L2learners appear to be fully successful in the way that native speakers are’ (Towell & Hawkins,1994: p.14); ‘Unfortunately, language mastery is not often the outcome of SLA’ (Larsen-Freeman& Long 1991: 153). The evidence for this deficiency is held to be the lack of completeness ofL2 grammars (Schachter, 1988) or the fossilisation in L2 learning where the learner cannotprogress beyond some particular stage (Selinker, 1992), both familiar ‘facts’ in some sense.Part of the interest in SLA research is explaining why L2 learners are usually unsuccessful.However, this alleged failure depends upon how success is measured, as we shall see.

The answer to the question is far from settled. While there are many similaritiesbetween L1 and L2 learning, the variation in situation and other factors also producesmany differences. One difficulty is filtering out differences that are accidental rather than

inevitable. L1 children mostly acquire language in different settings with differentexposure to language than L2 learners and they are at different stages of mental and socialmaturity (Cook, 1969). It may be inherently impossible to compare equivalent L1 and L2learners. A more precise version of this question asks whether adults still have access toUniversal Grammar in the mind.

3.2.6. Differences between First and Second Language Acquisition

a. The contrast analysis in Structuralism. The contrast analysis tried to predict theerrors the second language learner would commit when contrasting it with hisnative language. It does not take into account the psychological moments, only the

linguistic ones which made it fail.Many of the errors the students commit cannot be predicted, and others theycommit have not been predicted. The reason for this is that many of the errors donot occur due to interference but to other causes like: generalization of rules,applying rules incompletely, and inappropriate teaching, amongst others.

b. The Critical Period Hypothesis. It refers to a biologically determined period of lifewhen language can be acquired. The critical period hypothesis claims that there is sucha biological timetable. Initially, the notion of a critical period was connected only tofirst language acquisition. Pathological studies of children who acquired their firstlanguage, or aspects thereof, became fuel for arguments of biologically determinedpredispositions, timed for release, which would wane if the correct environmentalstimuli were not present at the crucial stage.

The “classic” argument is that a critical point for second language acquisition occursaround puberty, beyond which people seem to be relatively incapable of acquiring anative like accent of the second language. This has led some to assume, incorrectly,that by the age of 12 or 13 you are over the hill when it comes to the possibility ofsuccessful second language learning. In order to examine these issues we will lookat neurological and psychomotor considerations first; these will then be followed by anexamination of cognitive, affective, and linguistic considerations.



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c. The Generativism’s error analysis. This substituted the contrast analysis and itsbasis is not only linguistic, since the error is understood as part of the learning of asecond language. The error becomes a methodological instrument and it is used inthe acquisition of L1 and the learning of L2. In a didactic sense, the error must beanalyzed bearing in mind different aspects: the context, the identification of the

error, the classification, the explanation and the evaluation.

Figure 1: Differences between L1 and L2 acquisition

Ellis 94 (based on Bley-Vroman 1988)

3.3. Factor that influence the learning of a second language

Research on variation between individual learners seeks to address thequestion: Why do some learners do better than others? A flurry of studies in the

1970s, often labelled the good language learner studies, sought to identify

FEATURE L1 ACQUISITIONL2 (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ACQUISITION

Overall successchildren normally achieveperfect L1 mastery

adult L2 learners areunlikely to achieve perfectL2 mastery

General failure success guaranteed complete success rare

Variationlittle variation in degree ofsuccess or route

L2 learners vary in overallsuccess and route

Goals target language competence

L2 learners may be contentwith less than targetlanguage competence ormore concerned withfluency than accuracy

Fossilisation unknown

common, plus backsliding

(i.e. return to earlier stagesof development

Intuitionschildren develop clearintuitions about correctness

L2 learners are often unableto form cleargrammaticality judgments

Instruction not needed helpful or necessary

Negativeevidence

correction not found and notnecessary

correction generally helpfulor necessary

Affective factors not involvedplay a major roledetermining success

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the distinctive factors of successful learners. Although those studies are now widelyregarded as simplistic, they did serve to identify a number of factors affecting languageacquisition. More detailed research on many of these specific factors continues today.Amongst those factors affecting language acquisition, we find individual variations andaffective factors, which we will herewith develop:

3.3.1. Individual Variations

a. Language aptitude

Tests of language aptitude have proven extremely effective in predicting which lear-ners will be successful in learning. However, considerable controversy remains aboutwhether language aptitude is properly regarded as a unitary concept, an organicproperty of the brain, or as a complex of factors including motivation and short-termmemory. Research has generally shown that language aptitude is quite distinct fromgeneral aptitude or intelligence, as measured by various tests, and is itself fairly consis-

tently measurable by different tests.

Language aptitude research is often criticized for being irrelevant to the problems oflanguage learners, who must attempt to learn a language regardless of whether they aregifted for the task or not. This claim is reinforced by research findings that aptitude islargely unchangeable. In addition, traditional language aptitude measures, such as theModern Language Aptitude Test strongly favour decontextualized knowledge of the sortused in taking tests, rather than the sort used in conversation. For this reason, little rese-arch is carried out on aptitude today. However, operators of selective languageprograms such as the United States Defense Language Institute continue to use languageaptitude testing as part of applicant screening.

b. Talent for languages

A talent for languages does not coincide necessarily with intelligence, but dependson certain factors like the brain’s ability to register and memorize specific phonetic mate-rial; the sensibility to understand the grammatical intricacy of the linguistic system; thememory capacity to discover linguistic forms and rules without any help. We must takeinto consideration that effort and motivation can counteract lack of talent.

c. Age

It is commonly believed that children are better suited to learn a second language thanadults. However, general second language research has failed to support the CriticalPeriod Hypothesis in its strong form, which argues that full language acquisition isimpossible beyond a certain age.

d. Strategy use

The effective use of strategies has been shown to be critical to successful languagelearning. We cannot forget that Canale and Swain (1980) included strategic competenceamong the four components of communicative competence. Research here has alsoshown significant pedagogical effects. This has given rise to strategies-based instruction.



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Strategies are commonly divided into learning strategies and communicative strate-gies, although there are other ways of categorizing them. Learning strategies are techni-ques used to improve learning, such as mnemonics or using a dictionary. Learners (andnative speakers) use communicative strategies to get meaning across even when theylack access to the correct language: for example, by using pro-forms like thing, or non-

linguistic means such as mime. Communicative strategies may not have any directbearing on learning, and some strategies such as avoidance (not using a form with whichone is uncomfortable) may actually hinder learning.

Learners from different cultures use strategies in different ways, as a research tradi-tion led by Rebecca Oxford has demonstrated. Differences in strategy use between maleand female are related to this: numerous studies have shown that female learners typi-cally use strategies more widely and intensively than males; this may be related to thestatistical advantage which female learners enjoy in language learning.

3.3.2. Affective Factors

Affective factors relate to the learner’s emotional state and attitude toward the targetlanguage. Research on affect in language learning is still strongly influenced by Bloom’staxonomy, which describes the affective levels of receiving, responding, valuing,organization, and self-characterization through one’s value system. It has also beeninformed in recent years by research in neurobiology and neurolinguistics.

a. Affective Filter

Furthermore, researchers believe that language learners all possess an affective filter,which affect language acquisition. If students possess a high filter, they are less likely to

engage in language learning because of shyness, concern for grammar or other factors.Students possessing a lower affective filter will be more likely to engage in learningbecause they are less likely to be impeded by other factors. The affective filter is animportant component of second language learning.

b. Anxiety

Although some continue to propose that a low level of anxiety may be helpful, studieshave almost unanimously shown that anxiety damages students’ prospects for successfullearning. Anxiety is often related to a sense of threat to the learner’s self-concept in thelearning situation, for example if a learner fears being ridiculed for a mistake.

c. Personality Factors

Second language acquisition is defined as the learning and adopting of a languagethat is not your native language. Once you have acquired a foreign language, you havemastered that language.

Second language acquisition may be more difficult for some people due to certainsocial factors. One highly studied social factor impeding language development is theissue of extraverts versus introverts. Regarding this last issue, studies have shown thatextraverts (or unreserved and outgoing people) acquire a secondlanguage better than introverts (or shy people). One particular study

done by Naiman reflected this point. The subjects were 72 Canadian highCC EEEEPPPP



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In spite of all the theories, hypothesis and teaching instructions that have to be consi-dered when teaching a foreign language in the classroom, a very important factor has tobe taken into account, and that is, that often the poor success that many students achieveduring Primary Education does not depend on any of the factors controlled here, but onthe poor preparation that many teachers have when it comes to initiating small children

in the study of a foreign language, and we must never forget that lack of talent forlanguages can be counteracted by effort and motivation.

4. ACTIVITIES

1. Are bilingualism and multilingualism practical targets for state schools? State yourideas and opinions and justify them.

2. Make a diagram of this module, writing down only the most important facts.

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Inglés. Volumen I

5. SELF EVALUATION

1. The ability to understand another speaker's intended meaning is called…

a) applied linguistics

b) sociolinguistic

c) pragmatic competence

2. Hymes tells us that…

a) the student who risks most is the one that learns most

b) the student learns through the process of communicating

c) both

3. The language used in class to reflect is called…

a) Deontic language

b) Ephistemic language

c) Diachronic language

4. When the child starts stringing more than two words together, it is called…

a) the holophrastic stage

b) the telegraphic stage

c) the babbling stage

5. The results of research prove that the effects of early foreign language acquisi-tion…

a) results in getting mixed up

b) neither

c) is better overall academic performance

6. English is taught in Primary School because children…

a) love itb) show an innate faculty to understand and imitate what they listen

c) like travelling

7. The Monitor model

a) has aspects that make it rather weak as a language tool

b) it is ideal to use as a language tool

c) it helps to emit utterances



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8. Acquiring and learning is part of the theory developed by

a) Hymes

b) Asher

c) Krashen

9. Comprehensible output is the result of

a) Language acquisition

b) Language learning

c) Acquiring structures

10. Language acquisition students

a) always follow the same path

b) never follow the same pathc) not always follows the same path

6. ANSWERS TO THE SELF-EVALUATION

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c b b a c b a c a c




Inglés. Volumen I

7. GLOSSARY

- TO ENTAIL: Implicar

- TO ENDOW: Dotar

- THE MAKEUP: Composición, estructura- TO SUBJECT: Subordinarse

- TO CHALLENGE: Desafiar, retar, cuestionar

- INFLECTIONAL MORPHEME: Morfema de inflexión

- DERIVATIONAL MORPHEME: Morfema Derivacional

- TO REAP: Recoger

- TO STORE: Preparado, acumular

- TO ASSIST: Ayudar

- FAR FROM SETTLED: Lejos de estar establecido

- FUEL: Combustible

- THEREOF: Del mismo

- TO WANE: Menguar, decrecer

- NATIVELIKE: Autóctono, natural de …

- BEARING IN MIND: Teniendo en cuenta

- A FLURRY: Ráfaga, oleada

- SEEK: Buscar

- SHORT-TERM: A corto plazo

- TO FAVOR: Favorecer

- DECONTEXTUALIZED: Sacado de contexto

- INTRICACY: Complejo, intrincado

- AFFECT: Afectar, afecto

- TO HINDER: Dificultar

- SCHOLARSHIP: Beca

- TO BE WILLING: Estar dispuesto

- EFFORT: Esfuerzo



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8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

- DEWAELE, J. AND FURNHAM, A. Personality and Individual Differences. Personalityand Speech Production: A Pilot Study of Second Language Learners 28 (2000): 355-365

- NAIMAN, N., FROHLICH, M., AND STERN, H. The Good Language Learner: A

Report. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (1975).

- KRASHEN, S.D. The natural approach. Language acquisition in the classroom. PergamonPress. Oxford, 1984.

- LITTLEWOOD, W (1984), Foreign and Second Language Learning, Cambridge: CUP

- WIDDOWSON (1984), Explorations in Applied Linguistics, Oxford, OUP.

- COOK, V.J. 1969. The analogy between first and second language learning. IRAL VII/3,207-216.

- COOK, V.J. 1973. The comparison of language development in native children and foreign

adults. IRAL XI/1, 13-28.

- D’ANGLEJAN, A. & TUCKER, G.R. 1975. The acquisition of complex English structuresby adult learners. Language Learning, XV/2.

- LARSEN-FREEMAN, D. & LONG, M. 1991. An Introduction to Second LanguageAcquisition Research. Longman, London & New York.

- SCHACHTER, J. 1988. Second Language Acquisition and its relationship to UniversalGrammar. Applied Linguistics 9, 3, 219-235.

- WODE, H. 1981. Learning a Second Language. Tübingen: Narr.

- V.COOK (2000) ‘Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition: One Person with TwoLanguages’ Aronoff & Rees-Miller, Blackwell Handbook of Linguistics.

- GASS, SUSAN M., LARRY SELINKER. Second Language Acquisition. London:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 2001.

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