Second Language Acquisition

Levelező MA

Dr. Donald W. Peckham

peckham@lit.u­szeged.hu

Office hours:

Mondays 12­2 Room 2202

Phone: 544­284

Second Language Acquisition

Session #3: 

Individual Differences

Learner Language

Overview:

Individual differences

­Factors less under your influence

­Factors more under your  influence

1. Individual differences

­­Intelligence

­­Aptitude

­­Age

­­Learning styles

­­Personality

­­Motivation and attitudes

­­Identity and ethnic group

­­Learner beliefs

Which factors are most or least outside of a teacher's control?

Factors most outside of a teacher's control

­­Intelligence

­Related to learning situation

­Multiple intelligences

--Language aptitude

-It exists: language-related intelligence

-Modern Language Aptitude Test

-May influence rate and amount of energy needed in language learning

-Doesn’t determine if it is possible to learn a language

-My view on aptitude (shared by others):

-Aptitude exists

-Aptitude (talent) and “meritocracy” are

highly overrated

Meritocracy = “a system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement” (Webster)

--> See Malcolm Gladwell clip from Outliers

-There’s a cultural and domain bias concerning “talent”

-Rank order does not limit possibilities, as learning is affected by other things, too.

-Consider: quality and amount of practice is as or more important than aptitude or talent (key idea #8)

­­Age of acquisition: the critical period in SLA

--Indirect evidence for the CP

-L1 studies:

-Feral children and Genie

-Deaf children born to hearing parents.

1. Native learners

2. Early learners

3. Late learners (after 12)

-Morpheme acquisition studied: clear decline on performance as age increases.

--Direct evidence for the CP

1. Ultimate attainment

-Syntax: Johnson and Newport 1989.

-276 item grammaticality judgment task

-Correlation of -.8 between age of arrival and syntax text score between ages 2-16.

-No correlation after age 16

-Under 16 > than over 16 on syntax text

Scores for the under 16 group:

Scores for the over 16 group:

-Syntax: DeKeyser (2000): how to explain late arrival + high score? Replicated J&N, but with only Hungarian learners.

-Aptitude can explain "native-like" results

-Conclusions: Older learners may be learning more consciously where salience plays a role. Aptitude may override lack of salience

-Provides evidence for the FDH

-Evidence is seen in the following examples:

Structures showing a high correlation with age of arrival:

1.1 Present progressive with AUX omitted

Tom working in his office right now.

2. Determiners omitted

Tom is reading book in the bathtub.

3. Articles added

After a life like that, he will go straight to the hell.

4. Wh-questions without subject-AUX inversion

What Martha is bringing to the party?

5. Why-questions without DO support

Who you meet in the part every day?

Structures showing low correlation with age of arrival:

1.2 Word order in declarative sentences not involving adverbs

The ball the boy caught.

The children with the dog play.

2. Yes/no questions without DO support

Swam Janet in the race yesterday?

Danced Bill at the party last night?

3. Gender errors with pronouns

The girl cut himself on a piece of glass.

Peter didn't have any money on her.

--Phonology:

-Oyama 1976.

-60 male Italians in U.S., Arrival 6-60, length of residence 5-18

-Results: strong arrival, not length of residence x test score correlation

--Rate of learning

-Snow & Hoefnagel-Höhle (1978)

-3 groups E. speakers in Holland

-Results:

-3-5 year olds scored consistently worse

-12-15 year olds most rapid improvement

-Adults scored between the two groups

--Some conclusions concerning the CP:

1. Adults have rate advantage, esp in morphosyntax, but children will quickly catch up.

2. Only child learners (AO < 6/12) are likely to learn the language with a TL accent.

3. Child learners are more likely to acquire target-like grammatical competence

Implications of the CP

-What's the best time to begin learning an additional language out side of the home?

-Critical period studies? FL setting?

-FL setting: Bley-Vroman

-SL setting: class issues may play a role

-Possible negative effects of early instruction?

-Realistic positive effects of early instruction?

-How is learning different after the CP?

-What’s the difference between being native speaker-like vs. being an “expert user”?

-The difference between goals and models

Factors which teachers can accommodate and influence

--Learning styles and personalities

-People approach learning in various ways

-Not change, but creation of contexts is key

-Perhaps "style-stretching" is possible (key idea #9)

-Possible style/learning preferences

-Visual, auditory, or hands-on (kinesthetic)

-Extroverted, introverted

-Abstract-intuitive vs. concrete & step by step

-Open options vs. closure

-Global vs. particular

-Synthesizing vs. analytic

-->Dichotomies shouldn't imply extremes

-->Becoming aware of style and personality

Exercise: becoming aware

1.3 Fill out 2 parts of the learning style survey: Extrovert/introver and random-intuitive/concrete sequential

1.4 Discuss with a partner. How accurate is it? does this suggest sg to you?

1.5 Decide on type

Extroverted, random-intuitive

Extroverted, concrete-sequential

Introverted, random-intuitive

Introverted, concrete-sequential

-->Do you share particular approaches to language learning with these people?

--Motivation

--The social and individual nature of motivation

--Motivation as a dynamic process (key idea #10)

--Generation: "choice motivation" Identifying a goal.

--Maintenance and protection: "executive motivation". Getting the work done.

--Retrospective evaluation: "motivational retrospection". Processing the past.

--Generation: choice motivation -- values and attitudes influence our goals

--Integrative orientation (in what sense?)

--Instrumental orientation

--Expectancy of success: confidence in carrying out tasks in L2 learning

--Linguistic self-confidence

--Subjective, not objective

--Positive/negative messages from larger world

-Maintenance and protection: executive motivation

-Appraisal of the experience

-The quality of the learning experience

-The role of teacher, parents, learner groups

-Autonomy (self-determination)

-Autonomy and motivation are linked

-Teachers and parents can be autonomy- supportingor controlling

-Retrospective eval.: motivational retrospection

-Affected by a wide variety of factors

-Grades and test results

-Here learners can consolidate and extend useful learning strategies at all levels

-How to motivate learners?

-Generate initial student motivation: goal orientedness and relevance

-Maintain and protect motivation: help learners achieve goals, be positive and monitor their progress

-Encourage retrospection and self-evaluation

--> What is your experience?

--> Our efforts at the IEAS

End of lecture 3