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Saskia Dukek Diana Sudbrink 14.11.200 8 Explaining Second Explaining Second Language Learning Language Learning
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
Explaining Second Explaining Second Language LearningLanguage Learning
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
Table of ContentsTable of Contents
1. Behaviourism2. The Innatist Perspective3. Cognitive Perspectives
1. Information processing2. Connectionism3. The competition model
4. Discussion
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
BehaviourismBehaviourism• Explains learning in terms of
– Stimulus– Response– Reinforcement
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
BehaviourismBehaviourism• Idea of behaviourism
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyMQE5fezEs
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
BehaviourismBehaviourism• Development
– Skinner suggested that the same process happens in language learning
– Strong influence between 1940s and 1970s– Influence on Audiolingual teaching materials– Classroom activities focused on mimicry and
memorization
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
BehaviourismBehaviourism• Learning the 2nd language
– Skinner‘s idea related to language learning– Using stimulus- response-reinforcement
model– In language learning a behaviourist slant is
evident
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
Critique of behaviourismCritique of behaviourism• By the 1970s behaviourism was seen
as an inadequate explanation for 2nd language learning
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
QuestionQuestion• Which classroom activities were used
in language classroom on the background of behaviourism?– Mimicry– Memorization– Dialogues and sentence patterns learned by
heart
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
The Innatist PerspectiveThe Innatist Perspective
• Universal Grammar• An explanaition for 2nd language
learning?• Different views
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
• UG must be available in FIRST and SECOND language acquisition
• Either same nature and availability of UG
• OR nature of UG alters by acquisition of others languages
The Innatist PerspectiveThe Innatist Perspective
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
• Role of instruction and feedback for 2nd language learners
• Language acquisition based on natural language availability
The Innatist PerspectiveThe Innatist Perspective
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
Krashen’s “monitor model”Krashen’s “monitor model”
• Model of 2nd language acquisition• Stephen Krashen (theory from 1982)• Influenced by Chomsky’s theory and
based on five hypotheses
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
1. Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis
• Acquisition no conscious attention to language
• Learning conscious attention to language
Krashen’s “monitor model”Krashen’s “monitor model”
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
2. Monitor hypothesis
• Acquired system is responsible for spontaneous language use
• Learned system acts as a monitor
Krashen’s “monitor model”Krashen’s “monitor model”
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
3. Natural order hypothesis
• Language features easily to state are not necessarily the first to be acquired
• Similar to children acquiring 1st language
• Example: Third person singular –s
Krashen’s “monitor model”Krashen’s “monitor model”
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
4. Input hypothesis
Necessary for acquisition: • Language is comprehensible• The level of that language is just a step
beyond your level • “i+1”
Krashen’s “monitor model”Krashen’s “monitor model”
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
5. Affective filter hypothesis
• Explains why there are people not acquiring language successfully
• Metaphorical barrier (feelings, motives, needs, attitudes)
Krashen’s “monitor model”Krashen’s “monitor model”
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
The Input Hypothesis ModelThe Input Hypothesis Modelof L2 learning and producionof L2 learning and producion
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
• Krashen’s theories have led to new approaches of language teaching
• However, there has been a lot of critique on the “monitor model”
What do you criticize on this model?
Krashen’s “monitor model”Krashen’s “monitor model”
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
Cognitive/ Developmental Cognitive/ Developmental PerspectivePerspective
= ?
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
Information ProcessingInformation ProcessingN. SegalowitzN. Segalowitz
• knowledge is built up and can be retrieved automatically
• at first learners have to concentrate on aspects of language
• later information processing becomes increasingly automatic
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
Information ProcessingInformation ProcessingR. DeKeyserR. DeKeyser
• Language learning as “skill learning”• declarative knowledge becomes procedural
knowledge• declarative knowledge may disrupt a fluent
speaker later on or may even be forgotten• restructuring (may result in backsliding)
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
Transfer Appropriate ProcessingTransfer Appropriate Processing
• Retrieval of information works best, if it is asked for in similar situations as it was learned in
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
ConnectionismConnectionism• importance to the environment • only the ability to learn is innate • emphasis on frequency• knowledge is built up through exposure• development of connections
– chunks
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
= ?
learning does not work like a computer:– connections and generalizations are drawn
and may even cause errors (overgeneralization)
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
The Competition ModelThe Competition Model• Hypothesis:
Language acquisition occurs with the necessity of learners‘ focussed attention or the need for any innate brain module that is specifically for language
• Proposed as an explanation for 1st and 2nd language acquisition
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
The Competition ModelThe Competition Model• 2nd language acquisition requires that
learners learn the relative importance of the different cues appropriate in the language they are learning
• What are cues and how do we use them?– Cues of animacy– Relationship between words in a sentence
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
How to use cues..How to use cues..
‘‘ Box push boy“
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
How to use cuesHow to use cues• 1st language learning
– Cues of animacy of the nouns and knowledge about how things work
– Word order patterns get stronger than animacy cues
– Later on attention to grammatical markers
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
How to use cues…How to use cues…• 2nd language learners
– Il giocattolo guarda il bambino– May have difficulty to understand and
interpret the sentence, because they don‘t know such a weak word order
– Italians focuses on the animacy of the two nouns and draw their conclusion
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
QuestionQuestion• What is the difference between 2 or 3
year old English speaking children and children by the age of four?– 2/3 years old: use cues on animacy of the
nouns and their knowledge of the way things work
– 4 years old: get an idea about an s-v-o interpretation to strings of words. Word order patterns are stronger than animacy cues
Saskia Dukek Diana SudbrinkMette Wilkens
14.11.2008
DiscussionDiscussion
