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CHAPTER 1: LANGUAGE, LEARNING, and TEACHING

PRESENTED BY: GS34363 NG CHIEW FEN GS37456 NURULADILAH BT MOHAMED GS37264 NUR NADIAH FATIHAH BT JOHARI

ISSUES ON SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (SLA


1.Questions about SLA 2.Rejoicing in our Defeats 3.Language 4.Learning & Teaching

1.1 LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE


1. Is learning a second language easy? - No. It is a long and complex process. Why is it so? 2. How is a person affected when learning a second language? - The whole person is affected as he/she struggles to reach beyond the confines of the first language. - He/She learns a new way of thinking in a new language (culturally, emotionally and socially)
3. -

There are many variables involved in the process Cannot be programmed into a set of quick do-it-yourself

1.1 LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE


The teaching process is the facilitation of learning, in which you can "teach" a foreign language successfully if, you know something about the variables involved that affect how and why one learns or fails to learn a second language. 5. Where do teachers start in trying to understand the principles of language learning and teaching?
4.

1.2 QUESTIONS ABOUT SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION


1. -

Learner Characteristics Who are the learners? Ethnic, linguistic and religious heritage, native language, level of education and socioeconomic characteristics, life experiences, intellectual capacity, abilities, strength and weaknesses. Linguistic factors Understand the system and functioning of the second language and the differences between first language and second language. Learning Processes Optimal inter-relationship of cognitive, affective and physical domains for successful language learning. Age and Acquisition Does the age of learning make a difference? How do the cognitive and emotional developmental changes of childhood and young adulthood affect language acquisition?

2.

3. -

4. -

1.2 QUESTIONS ABOUT SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION


5.

Instructional Variables Do all people learn a language equally successfully in natural environments? What are the effects of varying methodological approaches, textbooks, materials, teacher styles and institutional factors in instructed SLA. Is there an optimal length of time required for successful mastery?
Context Is the language being acquired as a second language? (only in a technical sense) Or as a foreign language context in which it is heard and spoken in an artificial environment? (i.e. Modern language class in an American university) How do sociopolitical conditions or language policy of a country affect a learner? How do intercultural contrasts and similarities affect the learning process? Purpose Why are learners trying to acquire the second language?

6. -

7. -

1.3 REJOICING IN OUR DEFEATS


1.

SLA is still a developing discipline.

2.

Answers to the questions raised are always framed in a context that can vary from one learner to another, from one moment to another. Roger Browns remark (Pg. 4) refers to a complex mental phenomenon as something intelligent and slippery.
The quest of SLA is : Eclectic : No single theory/hypothesis with a magic formula for all learners in all contexts. Cautious : To be critical in considering the merit of various models , theories and research findings

3.

4. -

1.4 LANGUAGE
1. What is LANGUAGE?
Merriem-Websters definition : the system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other. OR any one of the systems of human language that are used and understood by a particular group of people Pinkers definition (The Language Instinct, 1994, p.18) : Language us a complex, specialized skill, which develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction, is deployed without awareness of its underlying logic, is qualitatively the same in every individual, and is distinct from a more general ability to process information or behave intelligently.

2. Composite Definition :
No. 1. Composite Definition Language is systematic Possible Areas of Linguistic Research Explicit and formal accounts of system of language on several possible levels (e.g : phonological, syntactic, lexical and semantic analysis) The symbolic nature of language; the relationship between language and reality; the philosophy of language; the history of language

2.

Language is a set of arbitrary symbols

3.

Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also be visual

Phonetics; phonology; writing systems; the role of gesture, distance, eye contact, and other paralinguistic features of language
Semantics; language and cognition; psycholinguistics Communication systems; speakerhearer interaction; sentence processing

4.

The symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer Language is used for communication

5.

2. Composite Definition :

No. 6.

Composite Definition Language operates in a speech community or culture

Possible Areas of Linguistic Research Dialectology; sociolinguistics; language and culture; pragmatics; bilingualism and second language acquisition

7.

Language is essentially human, although not limited to humans.

Human language and non-human communication; neurolinguistics; innate factors; genetic transmission; nature vs nurture

8.

Language is acquired by all people in much the same way

Language universals; first language acquisition

1.5 LEARNING AND TEACHING


WHAT IS LEARNING? Dictionary definition: Learning is acquiring or getting knowledge of a subject or a skill by study, experience, or instruction.
1.

Slavin,2003 definition : Learning is a change in an individual caused by experience (p.138).

1.5 LEARNING AND TEACHING


2. Component definition of learning:
1. 2. 3. 4.

5.
6.

7.

Learning is acquisition or getting. Learning is retention of information or skill. Retention implies storage systems, memory, cognitive organization. Learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon events outside or inside the organism. Learning is relatively permanent but subject to forgetting. Learning involves some form of practice, perhaps reinforced practice. Learning is a change in behavior.

1.5 LEARNING AND TEACHING


WHAT IS TEACHING? Teaching is showing or helping someone to learn how to do something, giving instructions, guiding in the study of something, providing with knowledge, causing to know or understand. It cannot be defined apart from learning. It is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn and setting the conditions for learning. Gaining an understanding of how the learner learns will determine your teaching style, approach, methods and classroom techniques.

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN SLA


1. Structural Linguistics and Behavioral Psychology 2.Generative Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology 3.Constructivism: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Structural Linguistics & Behavioral Psychology

Behaviorism
Main Figures
Ivan Pavlov
Conditioning & Reinforcement Burrhus Frederic Skinner

Classical conditioning

Operant conditioning

Behaviorism
Basic concepts
Early 1900s, 1940s and 1950s.
Learning is behavioral change.

Behavior is the best or most convenient way of investigating psychological and mental processes.
interested in how our behavior results from the stimuli both in the environment and within ourselves

Publicly observable performance and responses. The scientific method / Empirical Approach (Empricism).

Behaviorism
Learning and Teaching in General
Students remember and respond: Stimulus-Response (S-R) Change in overt behavior due to conditioning. Teachers present and provide for practice and feedback. Behavior is repeated until it becomes automatic. (imitate & practice = language development) The behavior of the learner signifies that learning has occurred (publicly observable response).

Behaviorism
Linguistic Reflections = Structuralism
Structural or descriptive school of thought Leonard Bloomfeld, Edward Sapir, Charles Hockett
Observation to descibe human languages and to identify the structural characteristics of those languages. Language is a set of habits.

Language can be broken up into small pieces - can be described scientifically, contrasted and added up again to form the whole.

Generative Linguistics & Cognitive Psychology

Cognitivism
Main Figures
David Ausubel
Reasoning & Mental processes

Jerome Bruner

Cognitivism
Basic concepts
1960s and 1970s.

motivations and deeper structures of human behavior.


logic, reason, and inference tools to explain human behavior. What underlying reasons, genetic and environmental factors, and circumstances caused a particular behavior?

Cognitivism
Learning and Teaching in General
Information transmission and processing: Memorizing and application of rules. Learners remember strategies, rules and patterns. Learning is influenced by existing knowledge. Learning is based on the thought process behind the behavior.

Cognitivism
Linguistic Reflections = Generative-transformational
Generative-transformational school of thought Noam Chomsky An opposition to structural definition of language. Language cannot be simplified to observable stimuli and responses. Performance and Competence (underlying and unobservable language ability) Deep structure of human behavior (freed by empirical study) Acquisiton and innateness

Constructivism: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Constructivism
Main Figures
Jean Piaget
Primacy of each individuals construction of reality.

Lev Vygotsky

Constructivism
Basic concepts
1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Integration of linguistics, psychological, and sociological paradigms Focuses on individuals engaged in social practices, on a collabrative group, or a global community.

Constructivism
Learning and Teaching in General
Problem solving in realistic and investigative situations. Personal discovery of knowledge. Teachers provide instructional context for active and self-regulated learners. The learner constructs knowledge by applying knowledge to solving problems. Learning occurs through interaction with others.

Constructivism
Linguistic Reflections = Constructivism
Integration of linguistic, psychological, and sociological paradigms. The active role of the learner is emphasized. Interacive discourse. Cooperative group learning Communicative basis Interlanguage variability

Cognitive Constructivism
It emphasizes the learners to play an active role for

their learning.
Piaget emphasized the role of an inbuilt (biological)

tendency to adapt to the environment, by a process of self-discovery and play.


cognitive development determines language use

Piaget advocated for discovery learning with little

teacher intervention

Social Constructivism
It emphasizes the importance of social interaction and

cooperative learning
Vygotsky emphasized the role of culture and experience a

childs experience with other people

for communication purposes social interactions determines language use

(Kaufman (2004) in Brown, 2007, p. 13)


Vygotsky promoted guided discovery in the classroom with the

help of a MKO (more knowledgeable others)

What is the Best Theory?


No single theory is right or wrong all the way!

Some truth can be found in every critical

approach to the study of reality. (Brown, p. 14)

A Quick Review
Linguistics Theory
Structural Generative Constructivism

Psychology Theory

Behavioral

Cognitive

Constructivism

LANGUAGE TEACHING IN NINETEEN & TWENTIETH CENTURIES

1.Nineteen Centuries

2.Twentieth Century

19 CENTURIES OF LANGUAGE TEACHING (1801-1901)

20 CENTURIES OF LANGUAGE TEACHING (1901-2000)

Classical Method

Audiolingual Method (ALM)

Grammar Translation Method

Direct Method

Series Method

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Classical Method
Adopted as chief means for teaching foreign

language Languages were taught to learn for the sake of being scholarly Focus on i. grammatical rules ii. memorization of vocabulary/various of declensions and conjugations III. translations of texts and written exercise

Grammar Translation Method


Characteristics of grammar translation method:

i.
ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.

Classes taught in the mother tongue, little use of the L2 Much vocabulary taught in the form of lists of isolated words Elaborate explanations of intricacies of grammar Reading of difficult classical texts begun early Texts treated as exercises in grammatical analysis Occasional drills and exercises in translating sentences from L1 to L2 Little or no attention to pronunciation

Series Method
A

method that taught learners directly (without translation) and conceptually (without grammatical rules and explanations) a series of connected sentences that are easy to percieve.
Emphasized presenting each item in context and using gestures to supplement verbal meaning Taught learners directly a series of connected sentences. Example; o I walk toward the door. I draw near to the door. I draw nearer to the door. I get to the door. I stop the door.

Audiolingual Method (ALM)


The characteristics of ALM;

new material is presented in dialogue form ii. there is dependence on mimicry,memorization, of set of phrases and overlearning iii. there is little or no grammatical explanation iv. vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context v. there is much use of tapes, language labs and visual aids vi. Very little use of mother tongue by teachers is permitted
i.

Direct Method
The principles of the Direct Method
Classroom instruction was conducted in the target

language There was an inductive approach to grammar Only everyday vocabulary was taught Concrete vocabulary was taught through pictures and objects Abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)


Learners learn a language through using it to

communicate Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities Fluency is an important dimension of communication Communication involves the integration of different langauge skills Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error

REFERENCES
Bell, D. M. (2007). Do teachers think that methods are

dead?. ELT journal, 61(2), 135-143. Brown, H. D (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.). White Plains, NY:Pearson Education. Lightbown, P. M., Spada, N. (2008). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Winke, P. M. (2007). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29(01), 143-144.

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