Instructor: Heekyeong Lee, Ph.D.

GSTILE-TESOL/TFL

Monterey Institute of International Studies

Behaviorist perspectives

Innatist perspectives

Cognitive-interactionist perspectives

What are the characteristics of each perspective? Who are the key researchers in each area of study?

Influential in the 1940s - 1950s (e.g. Skinner)

Focus on the habit-formation of correct language use

Responds to stimuli by imitation, and reproduction by positive reinforcement

Word-for-word repetition, memorization

The environment is the source of knowledge

Influenced by Structural Linguistics & Behaviorism (Watson, 1924; Thorndike, 1932; Skinner, 1957)

Language learning: building habits through stimulus & response with repeated reinforcement

Contrastive analysis (Lado, 1957; Fries, 1945): Analyze common aspects of language (structure) btw L1 & L2

Language teaching: predict errors and focus on the areas that would be more difficult for Ss

Influenced by Generative Linguistics (Chomsky, 1957)

Language learning: driven by innate facility (underlying principles governing language behavior) not by repeating external stimuli

Error analysis: not all errors influenced by L1; found systemic patterns different from L1s Corder (1967)

Interlanguage: coined by Selinker (1972) to study these errors

Language teaching: provide comprehensible input (i+1) (Krashen, 1985)

Selinker (1972):

The language produced by learners which contains a system in its own right following its own rules; it is a dynamic system evolving over time.

Cook (1992) argues: the user’s knowledge of L1 and their IL in L2 coexist in the same mind.

- ing (e.g. he is going), plural, copula (to be)

auxiliary be (e.g. he is going to V), article

Irregular past

Regular past –ed, third person singular –s, possessive’ s

Stage 1: No + X.

e.g. No water. No happy. Not my friend.

Stage 2: No/Not/Don’t + Verb.

e.g. Daddy no comb hair. They not working. Don’t touch that.

Stage 3: Aux. + Neg.

e.g. I can’t play. He don’t want it.

Stage 4: Analyzed do (doesn’t, didn’t).

e.g. He doesn’t work here. I didn’t see her. He didn’t went there.

In 1950s – 1960s developed by Chomsky

Focus on the innate universal knowledge about human language

Biologically programmed language develops in the child the same way other biological functions develop like walking

The environment makes a basic contribution

Cognitive-interactionist (Psycholinguistic) perspectives

Sociolinguistic/sociocultural perspectives

1. “Fine-tuning” received input by questioning/ clarifying intended meanings; helpful for obtaining comprehensive input; negotiation for meaning

2. Constructing/reconstructing identity and knowedge collaboratively through interaction (e.g. discoruse practice)

Input

Interaction (Negotiation & Feedback)

Noticing

Output

Uptake

The effect of modified output on learner uptake

What learners are able to report learning during/ at the end of the lesson (Allwright, 1984)

Student’s modified utterance responding to another speaker’s feedback on error (Lyster & Ranta, 1997)

Learner-initiated focus on form (Ellis et al., 2001)

◦ acculturated attitudes

◦ comprehensible input

◦ negotiated interaction

◦ pushed output

◦ capacity to attend to language code

The Pidginization Hypothesis (the Acculturation Model): Schumann (1977)

The Comprehensible Input Hypothesis: Krashen (1982, 1985)

The Interaction Hypothesis: Long (1996)

The (Comprehensible) Output Hypothesis: Swain (1985, 2005)

The Noticing Hypothesis: Schmidt (1995)

From a perspective of each hypothesis, how does language learning occur and what a teacher should do?

Krashen (1985)

Most important source of L2 learning is

comprehensible input (i+1)

Through listening & reading containing the new form, grammar learning (+ speaking/writing) will naturally occur

“Speaking is a result of acquisition and not its cause.”

Problems for deterministic idea that comprehension acquisition

Long (1981/1996)

Modified (negotiated) interaction makes input comprehensible, thus facilitates L2 learning

Repetition, confirmation checks, comprehension checks, clarification requests, etc.

Modified interaction makes syntactic-semantic relationships transparent to the learner

Among the five ingredients, the most SLA studies have been focused on “negotiated interaction.”

Key researchers:

Long, Pica, Doughty, Gass, Varonis, Loschky, Mackey

According to Pica (1992):

Negotiation occurs… "when a listener signals to a speaker that the speaker’s message is not clear, and listener and speaker work interactively to resolve this impasse” (p.200).

Swain (1985)

Comprehension does not demand full

processing of forms

Pushed output forces learners to move from semantic processing to syntactic processing

Three functions of output 1. Noticing

2. Hypothesis-testing

3. Metalinguistic

What is the difference between output as product and output as process?

The Metalinguistic (reflective) Function

: reflect on, discuss, analyze the problems

Think of a scenario where there needs to be an exchange of information between a native and a non-native English speaker or between two non-native speakers (for example, asking for directions, making hotel reservations, ordering at a restaurant, discussions at a UN meeting, etc.). Write a short dialogue of no more than 10 lines in which modified interaction facilitates this exchange of information.

Explicit correction Recast Clarification request Metalinguistic feedback Elicitation Repetition

Which one do you think is the most effective? Think about an example.

Learners engage to modify their output in response to feedback

However, little evidence available that modified output predicted learning

Modification of output seems to be varied depending on types of feedback (Lyster & Ranta, 1997)

Cognitive-interactionist researchers agree that negative feedback on some part of an utterance is better overall than entirely ignoring errors (Ortega, 2009).

Debate is more to do with when, how, and why negative feedback works, when it does; and who does

Key issues: implicit vs. explicit learning & teaching

Explicit instruction shows better results than implicit instruction (Norris & Ortega, 2000).

Combination of implicit & explicit instruction & learning may be most beneficial (e.g. Ellis et al. 2001).

The exact dynamics and ingredients are NOT generally agreed on (Ortega, 2009).

Cognitive psychologists argue that there is no mental module

devoted to language acquisition. Rather, all learning and

thinking are based on the same cognitive processes.

Representation (Knowledge) Access (processing)

Human cognition is made of representation (knowledge) and access (processing)

Computational mental process (input & output)

Two different kinds of computation: unconscious (automatic/fluent) & conscious (voluntary/controlled)

Cognitive resources such as attention and memory are limited

Explicit-declarative knowledge

: Facts and events we know and can talk about

Implicit-procedural knowledge

: We don't know we hold, but affects our behavior; supports our skills, habits and performance

Controls what information can be stored momentarily

Can be activated and integrated with information in long-term memory

Site for controlled processing and consciousness

Information is received in short-term/working memory, which can only hold a limited amount of information for a short time.

After that, the information is either passed on to long-term memory, or junked.

What does it mean then to "think about it?"

You integrate it with knowledge you already have, or you use it to add to

existing skills.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Declarative knowledge

Procedural knowledge

Gradual transformation of performance from controlled to automatic

Enables declarative/explicit knowledge (knowing that) to become procedural/implicit knowledge (knowing how)

Happens through extensive practice (DeKeyser, 1997, 2007)

Automaticity (The power of practice): state in which a desired behavior/knowledge can consistently be displayed spontaneously without errors.

Focus on reaction time and error rate (e.g. DeKeyser, 1997)

Not always 100% automatic (e.g. stumbling, L1 use)