Reminder:
DO NOT FORGET TO POST REFLECTIONS
For the blog posting assignment, we need to post a message to both summarize and reflect on our class meetings for the week. In addition to summarize, we need to post our insights. Well, I will try to include my reflections as well to this postingJ.
NEXT WEEK
Dr. Ortega kindly extended the due date of our research proposal from Tuesday, October 2 to Thursday, October 11 (WOW, 9 more days to work on, thank you Dr. Ortega!!). We will be learning Cognition from Chapter 5 next week (week 7). In the following week (week 8), we will not have any readings, but need to work hard to complete our research proposal.
Summary:
This week, we read chapter 4 on the environment and Schmidt’s (1983) article on Wes’s language learning experience. On Tuesday, September 25, we were divided into 5 groups in order to summarize and report the theories discussed in the chapter 4.
Five groups were:
1. Acculturation Hypothesis and Input Hypothesis
2. Interaction Hypothesis
3. Output Hypothesis
4. Negative Feedback
5. Limitations on the Theories
Acculturation Hypothesis was introduced by Schumann. The more acculturated is the more successful to learn the target language.
Input Hypothesis was introduced by Krashen. More comprehensible input (i+1, linguistic data slightly above learners’ current level) can help learners acquire the target language.
Interaction Hypothesis was introduced by Long. Long agrees with Krashen’s comprehension, but Long believes that language learning happens through the interactionally modified comprehensible input.
Output Hypothesis was introduced by Swain. In that theory, production is also a key to acquire the target language. Learners many need to challenge themselves in order to produce output (kind of o+1).
We are run out of time on Tuesday, so the group who discussed Negative Feedback reported on Thursday.
Negative Feedback includes clarification request, explicit corrections, recasts, and elicitations.
Lyster and Mori proposed their Counterbalance Hypothesis. In their theory, if the context is meaning oriented, the explicit feedback (focus on form) will work better. On the other hand, if the context is form oriented, the implicit feedback (focus on meaning) will do better.
On Thursday, September 27, Anne and Jung Min facilitated our discussion on Schmidt (1983).
We were divided into four groups in order to discuss Wes’s improvement among Grammatical Competence, Sociolinguistic Competence, Discourse Competence, and Strategic Competence.
Without explicit explanation or formal classroom, Wes had difficulty improving his Grammatical Competence. Since he lacked the Grammatical Competence, he had hard time to improve Sociolinguistic Competence, which requires high level of language competence.
Megumi brought up with an interesting question that whether Wes learn the Discourse Competence or know the Discourse Competence from his L1.
Strategic Competence group agreed that Wes improved his strategic competence ability for carrying out his meaning, but he could not improve accurate part of the competence.
Lastly, most of us believed that Wes was a successful language learner because he was able to communicate and was liked (and respected) by people surrounded to him. In addition to interaction and acculturation, Schmidt argues the importance of attention to learn the target language.
Reflection:
I personally liked the counterbalance hypothesis proposed by Lyster and Mori. It really makes sense to me from my experience of working at the Japanese immersion camp.
As you may know, I work at the Japanese immersion camp every summer. This summer, we made greater shift in our curriculum that we introduced a project-based instruction for our 4-week program. In theory, a project completed by the learners is the way they show what they learn, rather than tests. During the four-week session, learners completed three weekly projects and a final project. Based on this curriculum, we used projects as instruction tools; teachers actually did not give any instructions on grammar and vocabularies, but they gave guidance for students to gather information from the environment. The role of the teachers in this curriculum was one of facilitator rather than lecturer.
The Japanese immersion camp previously used a “project-based curriculum” in which the projects were used to assess learners’ progress in understanding both the Japanese language and the content of cultural material covered in the classroom. However, in this previous curriculum, teachers introduced new vocabulary items and structures in each project unit, which learners practiced in class activities. Teachers also assisted learners with their work by giving them suggestions and providing resources as needed. Teachers usually spent two hours of the instruction every morning and one hour of project time in the afternoon. However, in this new curriculum, teachers were not supposed to give any instructions on grammar and vocabularies in a classroom mode, but gives guidance through mini-lessons that they explained some grammar and vocabulary in the process of completing the projects.
Tell you the truth, the curriculum was not well-received by learners (and teachers as well). Many learners expressed they had not learn anything out of the project-based instruction because they felt they were not receiving sufficient amount of grammar instruction to improve their Japanese. One student mentioned that “the project-based approach is not working very well as it is because the projects do not allow enough time to learn grammar.”
Interestingly, based on my observation and whole-group discussion, the advanced students tended to reject the project-based way of learning since they expressed the interest of learning more complicated grammar structure. The advanced learners are able to handle the complicated context using simple sentences while the lower-level villagers learn simple sentences as new. In that case, teachers do not give any explicit grammar feedback for advanced-level students since learners could handle the target language to complete the project. On the other hand, the learners in lower levels expressed their understanding toward the project-based approach since they were receiving sufficient amount of explicit grammar explanation while they were working on their project.
Maybe, next year, it would be an important idea to incorporate the explicit feedback for the project-based instruction. However, I am wondering how we can introduce the explicit feedback at the immersion camp where we are not allowed to use English and many learners have limited ability to understand high level of Japanese.
In addition to counterbalance hypothesis, one big challenge we had is the lack of output. In an immersion camp I work, we have a lot of input that learners engaged in, but there are limited opportunities for learners actually to produce. Furthermore, many advanced students ended up with completing their projects within their language competence level (without challenging). They are not paying attention for their language learning.
I am wondering how we can promote the output in the classroom using project-based instruction. Projects learners work were proposed by learners and teachers do not know the content and organization until they start working on their project. In other words, we only have opportunities to give negative feedback, but no opportunities for modifying output from the teachers’ side.
Based on Schmidt’s findings on Wes’s successful/unsuccessful acquisition, I think that the promoting positive group dynamics where people surrounded by the learner are willing to listen to each other is important. However, it could be possible that Wes was well-received by other people because he had charisma. I wonder how we as teachers could establish a positive rapport among language learners and let the learner willing to be acculturated toward the target language as Wes did.
Hmmm, there are many things that I can think of now, but it is better to stop now since it would be tired to read the entire thread. Anyway, please give me your feedback on the curriculum at the Japanese immersion camp, I did not make this curriculum, but I was assigned to revise this curriculum for the next year. I am hoping to get your helpful feedback.
See you next week in the classroom!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Class Reflection: Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Reminder: both a hard copy and electronic copy of all assignments should be turned in. If you haven’t done so already, leave a printout of your bibliography in the box outside Lourdes’ office door.
Class discussion on readings:
Ethics and the IRB: Mackey & Gass (2005)
A debriefing session should take place between researcher and participants to discuss research findings.
The research objectives should be discussed vaguely with participants before they consent. But don’t reveal too much information—it could affect participants’ behavior and skew the results. Never lie to participants about how the knowledge will be used.
Consider the language proficiency level of the participants when designing a consent form.
IRB approval is also required when carrying out research in other countries because the research is nevertheless affiliated with the university.
Recorded verbal consent in adequate, for example when conducting qualitative interview research.
If the IRB denies an application, they will explain what needs to be changed in order to obtain approval.
Always consider the anonymity of participants and be certain that the reader is not able to figure out the identity of the participants. If necessary, change inconsequential details to protect the participants. Consent is not enough, anonymity is essential too.
If you choose to obtain IRB approval, acknowledge it in your paper.
SLS research is usually exempted, but still must be granted by the IRB.
Sometimes proposals are denied due to lack of scientific merit—that is, to be ethical, research projects must be worth participants’ time.
TBLT: Skehan (2003)
Although difficult to define, TBLT can be thought of in terms of the “learning by doing” or “learning by using” principle of language learning.
There are many different versions of TBLT—from weak to radical forms.
The example of cooking in English was used to illustrate the idea that doing/using fuels learning.
Class discussion on readings:
Ethics and the IRB: Mackey & Gass (2005)
A debriefing session should take place between researcher and participants to discuss research findings.
The research objectives should be discussed vaguely with participants before they consent. But don’t reveal too much information—it could affect participants’ behavior and skew the results. Never lie to participants about how the knowledge will be used.
Consider the language proficiency level of the participants when designing a consent form.
IRB approval is also required when carrying out research in other countries because the research is nevertheless affiliated with the university.
Recorded verbal consent in adequate, for example when conducting qualitative interview research.
If the IRB denies an application, they will explain what needs to be changed in order to obtain approval.
Always consider the anonymity of participants and be certain that the reader is not able to figure out the identity of the participants. If necessary, change inconsequential details to protect the participants. Consent is not enough, anonymity is essential too.
If you choose to obtain IRB approval, acknowledge it in your paper.
SLS research is usually exempted, but still must be granted by the IRB.
Sometimes proposals are denied due to lack of scientific merit—that is, to be ethical, research projects must be worth participants’ time.
TBLT: Skehan (2003)
Although difficult to define, TBLT can be thought of in terms of the “learning by doing” or “learning by using” principle of language learning.
There are many different versions of TBLT—from weak to radical forms.
The example of cooking in English was used to illustrate the idea that doing/using fuels learning.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Today's class
Aloha everyone!
Here is a video from today's class:
If you still have any questions about the blog use, don't hesitate to ask us!
Dr. Ortega, as we knew you'd miss us so much since you're far far away, we thought you'd enjoy this picture from your awesome 650 class : )
-Nick
Here is a video from today's class:
If you still have any questions about the blog use, don't hesitate to ask us!
Dr. Ortega, as we knew you'd miss us so much since you're far far away, we thought you'd enjoy this picture from your awesome 650 class : )
-Nick
A day in the life of Boon in Laos
Sabaidee (greetings in Laotian),
Can you spot your three 650 classmates in this picture?
And can you guess which other classmate took the picture? I'll give you a clue: he's tall and funny.
As you probably know, this past summer a group of us were in Thailand teaching and doing 690. Many of us took a trip together to neighboring Laos over a long weekend. This picture is right after we got massages. My masseuse on that day could speak English really well. I really enjoyed talking to her and hearing about what her life was like. As I recall, she worked really long days and I think had 1 or maybe only half a day off per week. She seemed quite upbeat and had a positive attitude, but talking with her made me realize how much I take for granted and made me start to appreciate things more.
If you want to check out the town where we were, click here: Luang Prabang
Now I'm going to try to do some special tricks on this blog...
Can you spot your three 650 classmates in this picture?
And can you guess which other classmate took the picture? I'll give you a clue: he's tall and funny.
As you probably know, this past summer a group of us were in Thailand teaching and doing 690. Many of us took a trip together to neighboring Laos over a long weekend. This picture is right after we got massages. My masseuse on that day could speak English really well. I really enjoyed talking to her and hearing about what her life was like. As I recall, she worked really long days and I think had 1 or maybe only half a day off per week. She seemed quite upbeat and had a positive attitude, but talking with her made me realize how much I take for granted and made me start to appreciate things more.
If you want to check out the town where we were, click here: Luang Prabang
Now I'm going to try to do some special tricks on this blog...
Hello from Miyung
Dear Dr. Ortega,
How are you doing in Japan? Do you already miss Hawaii? We're having lots of fun exploring this blog. Finally, I could post my picture in my profile with the help of Nick and Ky. Yeah!!! Can you see it? Now, you can match my name, picture, and comments all together at once.
In terms of our first assignment, I'm doing fine so far. In addition to the bibliography I had from last semester, I added some more articles and book chapters that are particularly related to ethnic/cultural identity, third space, and cultural & linguistic hybridity theories. For the purpose of my topic, I'm trying to browse journals and books beyond the SLS field to find any relevant research findings. I'm looking through a journal called "Amerasia" which deals with all aspects of Asian-American experiences. I'm not sure if this journal is appropriate to use in my paper. Here is the link for more info about the journal. I found an interesting section in the recent issue called "What Does It Mean To Be Korean Today? Part I. Across Nations, Generations, & Identities".
Well, that's all for now. I'm looking forward to seeing you when you come back. Have a safe trip back to Hawaii!
Miyung
How are you doing in Japan? Do you already miss Hawaii? We're having lots of fun exploring this blog. Finally, I could post my picture in my profile with the help of Nick and Ky. Yeah!!! Can you see it? Now, you can match my name, picture, and comments all together at once.
In terms of our first assignment, I'm doing fine so far. In addition to the bibliography I had from last semester, I added some more articles and book chapters that are particularly related to ethnic/cultural identity, third space, and cultural & linguistic hybridity theories. For the purpose of my topic, I'm trying to browse journals and books beyond the SLS field to find any relevant research findings. I'm looking through a journal called "Amerasia" which deals with all aspects of Asian-American experiences. I'm not sure if this journal is appropriate to use in my paper. Here is the link for more info about the journal. I found an interesting section in the recent issue called "What Does It Mean To Be Korean Today? Part I. Across Nations, Generations, & Identities".
Well, that's all for now. I'm looking forward to seeing you when you come back. Have a safe trip back to Hawaii!
Miyung
Korean Thanksgiving day! Wow!
Korean Thanksgiving day, "Chusuk" is coming very soon. In these festivals, Family members come from all parts of the country to visit their ancestral homes and eat Songpyon, rice cakes stuffed with sesame, beans, or something else.
Visit Here
for more information.
Visit Here
for more information.
Hey, Lourdes!
Now, that got your attention, huh? ;-)
Well, thanks for setting up this website for us to view, review, and post comments. I think it's cool, esp since I spend so much time online, though I think I'm showing symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...:-(
I love to BloG, think aloud, so to speak, except that in the face of so many bright sparks out there, it sometimes gets a bit depressing just to join the conversation, not to mention try to outdo them. ;-)
Anyhow, hope you're enjoying yourself in Japan right now. Don't forget our souvenirs! ;-)
Click here for our class blog, or if it doesn't work, just put your cursor here: http://sls650f07.blogspot.com/
And Ben says I've to put a picture, so there it is - up there! ;-)
Samantha
Aloha~
Hi all,
He is a Korean traditional baby ghost, doggabi who
gives a fortune. is he cute? especially, the red horn on his head has a special power for luck.
however, I don't know what the red symbol next to him is.
Let us make a wish!!
This picture was from here
however, the site was written by Korean. sorry about that.
PS We miss you sooooooooooooo much Dr. Ortega.
Hello!
Dear Dr. Ortega,
How are the things going in Nagoya?
Have you had a chance to try some local food? Kishimen (noodle), maybe?
Did you go to Nagoya Castle?
Has the conference started?
I've never been to Nagoya (just passed through by train).
Hoping to hearing about your stay in Japan.
Have a safe and nice trip!
Hatsumi
How are the things going in Nagoya?
Have you had a chance to try some local food? Kishimen (noodle), maybe?
Did you go to Nagoya Castle?
Has the conference started?
I've never been to Nagoya (just passed through by train).
Hoping to hearing about your stay in Japan.
Have a safe and nice trip!
Hatsumi
Hello!
Hello Dr. Ortega,
How are you doing in Japan? I hope you are having a good time in there.
Today, I spent some time in Hamilton library to find some articles needed for my 650 project.
I still have a hard time finding articles related to "Participation", but now I'm trying to find them
from other angles such as "output hypothesis", "Interaction", and "group dynamics".
I hope I can find something interesting and meaningful.
See you!
Megumi
Sep 13th
Dear Dr. Ortega
How are you doing in Nagoya? Did you already try MisoTonkatsu?
I recommend you to go to one of the famous restaurants in Nagaya, Yabaton.
Nagoya has a lot of famous dishes. I know you are busy for th conference, but I hope you can have sometime to try and enjoy them.
Hope you have wonderful time in Japan.
Dear Ben, Nick, and Ky
Thanks for having a such helpful class.
How are you doing in Nagoya? Did you already try MisoTonkatsu?
I recommend you to go to one of the famous restaurants in Nagaya, Yabaton.Nagoya has a lot of famous dishes. I know you are busy for th conference, but I hope you can have sometime to try and enjoy them.
Hope you have wonderful time in Japan.
Dear Ben, Nick, and Ky
Thanks for having a such helpful class.
The Thunderbirds
I believe they are called the Thunderbirds. They are special airplane/jet that fly in the sky and do special stunts. I had the chance to catch a glimpse of it this morning around 9:15am. (I just got done teaching my 5th graders how to figure out how many degrees are in a triangle and how many degrees are in a square...we stepped outside and WHALA! Thunderbirds!)
Here's a picture of them below.
Here's a picture of them below.
Things to do in Nagoya!
This is a practice posting in order to fully-understand the options of Blogger.
Ky, Ben, and Nick has been doing great explaining some tips to use blogger.
Dr. Ortega, I hope you are doing well in Japan. I hope you ate some delicious food at Nagoya.
The following are the items that you should try :)
Ebifurai
Tenmusu
I'm not sure which part of Nagoya you are in, but you should visit Nagoya Castle.
It has two Golden Shachihoko on the top of room.
Have a nice day in Nagoya and see you soon!!
Ky, Ben, and Nick has been doing great explaining some tips to use blogger.
Dr. Ortega, I hope you are doing well in Japan. I hope you ate some delicious food at Nagoya.
The following are the items that you should try :)
Misokatsu
Ebifurai
TenmusuI'm not sure which part of Nagoya you are in, but you should visit Nagoya Castle.
It has two Golden Shachihoko on the top of room.
Have a nice day in Nagoya and see you soon!!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Photos
Hey hey,
Just a friendly reminder to please bring a picture to class on Thursday if you can.
You can send it to yourself as an email attachment or stick it on a flash drive.
If not, someone might be bringing a digital camera, but discretion is the better part of valor.
Thanks,
BEN
Just a friendly reminder to please bring a picture to class on Thursday if you can.
You can send it to yourself as an email attachment or stick it on a flash drive.
If not, someone might be bringing a digital camera, but discretion is the better part of valor.
Thanks,
BEN
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Who are Nina Spada and Patsy Lightbown?
This week you will read the first empirical study in this course (after having read 3 chapters from our textbook): Spada & Lightbown (1999), published in the Modern Language Journal. It's a study of effectiveness of instruction conducted in Canadian ESL intensive classes, with children who were Francophone speakers learning English in Quebec (a French-speaking province in Canada). They were in grade 6, so their age was 11 or 12.
If you want to find out more about the two authors, the web has some information about them, including some photos. Nina Spada is currently at the University of Toronto, and you can find a photo and description of her interests here, the same photo and an extensive list of publications here, and an abridged CV here. Patsy Lightbown is now professor emeritus (which means she retired, but remains active in the field) at her institution of many years, Concordia University in Montreal. You can read the note on her retirement in 2001 and see a photo if you click here and scroll down the page.
These two SLA scholars are co-authors of one of the most successful SLA textbooks in the history of the field: "How languages are learned." It is an excellent undergraduate-level, readable introduction, and it would be a good idea to consult it for your research papers if your topic has to do with L2 learning in classroom contexts.
If you want to find out more about the two authors, the web has some information about them, including some photos. Nina Spada is currently at the University of Toronto, and you can find a photo and description of her interests here, the same photo and an extensive list of publications here, and an abridged CV here. Patsy Lightbown is now professor emeritus (which means she retired, but remains active in the field) at her institution of many years, Concordia University in Montreal. You can read the note on her retirement in 2001 and see a photo if you click here and scroll down the page.
These two SLA scholars are co-authors of one of the most successful SLA textbooks in the history of the field: "How languages are learned." It is an excellent undergraduate-level, readable introduction, and it would be a good idea to consult it for your research papers if your topic has to do with L2 learning in classroom contexts.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Week 3 Reflection
[SLS 650] Week 3 Reflection
Tuesday (September 4, 2007)
Reflection and Discussion Leader: Everyone has signed up for a
date to do the weekly reflection. The class also requires you do be a
discussion leader, so everyone signed up with a day to be a discussion leader.
Preview Posts: The preview posts were due today! All the previews for each chapter should
be online on our blog.
10 Minute Free Writing Assignment: The topic was cross linguistic influences. We were given only 10 minutes to write about our personal experience through a story.
((I thought found this writing assignment quite difficult to me because I couldn’t come up with something good to share with everyone. I know I’ve had a cross linguistic influence experience, but I just had a hard time getting it on paper. The stories that I read were great! I loved it, and it helped to clarify and understand the whole cross linguistic influence concept.))
The following is the list that was written on the board.
-positive / negative
-conscious or strategic / unintentional
-avoidance / over use / under use
-L2 -> L1
-L3 / L2 / L1
-codeswitching
-interlanguage force (not really related)
-grammar, vocab, pronounciation, pragmatic
-surface/ deep
After writing our story and sharing it to our partner, we analyzed which group our stories fit into.
1) Shaun shared his story about high school students saying “I am chicken” on his flight.
2) Merica shared her story about the mishap between “ungarn” and “ungern”.
3) Miyung shared her story about the Korean greetings “Where are you going?” and “Have you eaten yet?”
Ben also shared his story about “mecha hungry yade”, and his codeswitching between English, Japanese, and
(I found this to be very interesting because I understand “mecha hungry yade”, and it’s so funny to hear to, but it makes perfect sense to me!)
Our professor also shared her story about not knowing the word for “cold”, but was able to come up with the word “colding” because of the person who asked her if she was “colding”.
Conclusion:
L1 is important in learning L2. Similarities can facilitate more than being a negative effect. A good part of language mistakes are same with first language learners. Therefore contrastive analysis don’t occur anymore because its no longer about the language, but about the language
learner.
Thursday (September 6, 2007)
Helpful Website: The HATESL website was introduced to the class. (http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/web/hatesl/)
Reminder: Research Bibliography due Sunday 16th. Remember to include a title, and an intro (approx. 1 paragraph). You are welcomed to categorize your bibliography according to the different topics that are involved in your research.
Everyone’s Research Topic: Everyone shared their ideas on what they would like to do for their research project this semester. The following is a list of ideas that everyone came up with.
track own learning, study abroad, language teaching practicum abroad, acquisition related to participation and motivation, 1st year teachers who were language learners in immersion camps, ethnic identity and language learning process, extensive reading, vocab learning strategies, explicit/implicit knowledge, computer related communication and second language teaching/learning, EFL context and cultural learning, qualitative study on attitude and perception on bilingualism, bilingual education, multilingualism, creoles, vocab learning through reading, incidental vocab learning, early second language learning, effectiveness of making a video and second language learning (technology mediated learning).
(Helpful Hints: When looking for articles, use the abstract! When you are looking through books, use the index! When you’ve started collecting many articles, create folders to help organize the
different articles. And if it’s printed/copied material, create piles!)
When coming up with a research questions, the following three ways were introduced to the class.
-“To what extent…”
-“In what ways….”
-“What’s the relationship…”
This will help direct you in the direction you need to go to further your study.
Developmental Stages for L2 English Questions: The worksheet handed out to us in class gives us an explanation of the different stages. Therefore if you find a student create a question that is not grammatically correct, it isn’t a mistake. It’s away to classify the student in a stage. However, stages don’t do with accuracy, it deals with development. ((I've never thought about classifying English questions into different developmental stages, therefore this excersise was an eyeopener for me. It's very interesting to be able to break down and analyze it to such a specific degree.))
For next class: Our professor has sent out the empirical study in which we should all read. The study by Spada & Lightbown was briefly mentioned in section 3.4 of Chapter 3, therefore you might want to re-read that section before reading. She has also sent out the reading guide that should help with the reading.
Have a great weekend! (^_____^)/
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Chapter 5: Cognition
Cognition?
It is the various mental process used in thinking, remembering, perceiving, recognizing, classifying, etc. Also this chapter discusses 1) how people become aware of knowing L2 and 2) what information makes people know another language.
Summary
Information processing assumes that human cognitive architecture is made of representation and access, mental process is included by unconscious and conscious, and performance is variable due to limited attention and memory.
According to skill acquisition theory, gradual transformation of performance turns from controlled to automatic. Practice helps automatization of new knowledge and it makes knowledge easier to access without effort, but power of practice is variable over time. Automaticity is the last outcome of the gradual process of automatization. Robert DeKeyser (1997) is a good exemplary study of this theory.
Long-term memory is unlimited and about representation. It is made of explicit-declaration memory (recollection of fact or event) and implicit-procedural memory (skills). In the vocabulary study, it has a matter of degree of proceduralization(strength – implicit memory), total number of words known(size-explicit-declarative memory), and how well elaborated the vocabulary is (depth-both). In the L2 words consist of the content of the representation and the mechanism of access. Nonselectivity is that information encoded for both languages when the bilinguals recognize or produce vocabulary.
Working memory is of limited capacity and activation. We need it for a storage functions and a processing function. L2 working memory capacity is smaller that L1. To measure short-term memory (for storage), four memories and benchmarks are used: digit span recall tasks, word span tasks, non-word repetition span tasks, and sentence repetition tasks. Time passage, increasing confusion, and insufficient relevant knowledge, content, and serial position information are alternative conceptualizations in L1 memory researches. In reading span task in L1, subjects recall the last word and underlined words. In the L2 predictive validity of passive working memory measures was lower than that of active measures.
Attention has limited capacity, and is selective, voluntary, and controls access to consciousness. Incidental, implicit, and explicit in the L2 learning process and outcomes are considered. In terms of L2 learning without attention, detection (selective attention) makes it possible. However, Schmidt (1994, 2000) insisted that noticing (conscious attention) is need. Learning without intention is possible (L2 vocabulary learning while pleasure reading). Demonstrating that learning without awareness is not possible, because we can not figure out the zero awareness. In the lower-level associative learning, it is possible to learn without rules. However it does not lead to systematic rule knowledge. Both low-level associative learning and high-level learning can occur and interact.
Emergentism refers to a contemporary family of theories in cognitive science that have coalesced out if critical of information process. Emergentist family for explanations for L2 learning approaches tenets such as associative, probabilistic, rational, usage-based, grounded, and dynamic.
Reflection
If you are interested in vocabulary learning, this chapter would help you give background information to develop your research. I’m quite interested that incidental vocabulary learning is possible through pleasure reading. If this result can apply in my life, I do read every article without dictionary. I don’t know, but it’s worth studying.
In addition, it is not easy to understand the whole chapter as you read it once. To figure out an invisible mental process while learning, we need to know some unfamiliar terms. There is a tip. If you want to know each new term clearly, you read this chapter roughly first and then read carefully with examples. From my experience, I can approach the concept of cognition efficiently as I apply real life example and other instances which were provided in the chapter. But I think our own example is more helpful to set up the terms.
Discussion Questions
- What if L2 vocabulary learning is possible with no intention during reading, do you think pleasure reading is the best way to learn incidental vocabulary?
- If you think pleasure reading is the best way to learn incidental vocabulary, how can L2 reading textbook designers (or publishers, authors) maximize the pleasure of reading?
It is the various mental process used in thinking, remembering, perceiving, recognizing, classifying, etc. Also this chapter discusses 1) how people become aware of knowing L2 and 2) what information makes people know another language.
Summary
Information processing assumes that human cognitive architecture is made of representation and access, mental process is included by unconscious and conscious, and performance is variable due to limited attention and memory.
According to skill acquisition theory, gradual transformation of performance turns from controlled to automatic. Practice helps automatization of new knowledge and it makes knowledge easier to access without effort, but power of practice is variable over time. Automaticity is the last outcome of the gradual process of automatization. Robert DeKeyser (1997) is a good exemplary study of this theory.
Long-term memory is unlimited and about representation. It is made of explicit-declaration memory (recollection of fact or event) and implicit-procedural memory (skills). In the vocabulary study, it has a matter of degree of proceduralization(strength – implicit memory), total number of words known(size-explicit-declarative memory), and how well elaborated the vocabulary is (depth-both). In the L2 words consist of the content of the representation and the mechanism of access. Nonselectivity is that information encoded for both languages when the bilinguals recognize or produce vocabulary.
Working memory is of limited capacity and activation. We need it for a storage functions and a processing function. L2 working memory capacity is smaller that L1. To measure short-term memory (for storage), four memories and benchmarks are used: digit span recall tasks, word span tasks, non-word repetition span tasks, and sentence repetition tasks. Time passage, increasing confusion, and insufficient relevant knowledge, content, and serial position information are alternative conceptualizations in L1 memory researches. In reading span task in L1, subjects recall the last word and underlined words. In the L2 predictive validity of passive working memory measures was lower than that of active measures.
Attention has limited capacity, and is selective, voluntary, and controls access to consciousness. Incidental, implicit, and explicit in the L2 learning process and outcomes are considered. In terms of L2 learning without attention, detection (selective attention) makes it possible. However, Schmidt (1994, 2000) insisted that noticing (conscious attention) is need. Learning without intention is possible (L2 vocabulary learning while pleasure reading). Demonstrating that learning without awareness is not possible, because we can not figure out the zero awareness. In the lower-level associative learning, it is possible to learn without rules. However it does not lead to systematic rule knowledge. Both low-level associative learning and high-level learning can occur and interact.
Emergentism refers to a contemporary family of theories in cognitive science that have coalesced out if critical of information process. Emergentist family for explanations for L2 learning approaches tenets such as associative, probabilistic, rational, usage-based, grounded, and dynamic.
Reflection
If you are interested in vocabulary learning, this chapter would help you give background information to develop your research. I’m quite interested that incidental vocabulary learning is possible through pleasure reading. If this result can apply in my life, I do read every article without dictionary. I don’t know, but it’s worth studying.
In addition, it is not easy to understand the whole chapter as you read it once. To figure out an invisible mental process while learning, we need to know some unfamiliar terms. There is a tip. If you want to know each new term clearly, you read this chapter roughly first and then read carefully with examples. From my experience, I can approach the concept of cognition efficiently as I apply real life example and other instances which were provided in the chapter. But I think our own example is more helpful to set up the terms.
Discussion Questions
- What if L2 vocabulary learning is possible with no intention during reading, do you think pleasure reading is the best way to learn incidental vocabulary?
- If you think pleasure reading is the best way to learn incidental vocabulary, how can L2 reading textbook designers (or publishers, authors) maximize the pleasure of reading?
Preview of week 13
Lantolf, J., & Thorn,S. (2006). Sociocultural theory and second language learning.
Sociocultural Theory: “an approach to SLA derived from Vygotsky’s work which emphasized the causal relationship between social interaction and cognitive development, including SLA.”
The authors introduce the theoretical principles and constructs of Sociocultural Theory (SCT),madiation and regulation, internalization, and the zone of proximal development and consider how they inform the study of second language acquisition (SLA) in the article.
Key concepts
Mediation: Human mental functioning is fundamentally a mediated process that is organized by cultural artifacts, activities, and concepts. Language is the most powerful cultural artifact the humans possess to mediate their connection to the world, to each other, and to themselves.
Regulation: One form of mediation is regulation. Regulation can be divided into three stages.
Object-regulation: using objects to regulate mental activity.
Other-regulation: implicit and explicit mediation by others, such as parents, siblings, peers, coaches, teachers and so on, for example, assistance and direction from others.
Self-regulation: the ability to accomplish activities with minimal or no external support
Internalization: Internalization is a negotiated process that reorganizes the relationship of the individual to her or his social environment and generally carries it into future performance (Winegar, 1997, p.31) (p.203)
the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p.86) (p.206)
Preview: Chapter 4 (Miyung)
Chapter 4: The Linguistic Environment
Nick provided an overview of the chapter 4. I will illustrate some topics and issues that I would like to share for class discussions.
1) The Role of the Linguistic Environment
Would having positive attitudes toward the L2 and ideal environmental conditions itself lead to mastery of L2?
The story of Wes (Schmidt, 1983) offers a clear example of the selective impact that the linguistic environment brings to L2 learning. Interestingly, despite his positive attitudes towards the L2 and abundant (& meaningful) opportunities to interact with native speakers, Wes made minimal progress in L2 grammar (e.g., verb tense, plurals) over the 3 years of his stay in Hawaii, whereas his sociolinguistic and strategic competence dramatically improved. Wes was able to describe and joke in rather sophisticated ways with interlocutors. However, he seemed to neither incorporate more precise expressions offered by interlocutors into his utterances nor ask his interlocutors metalinguistic questions about idiomatic appropriateness. Based on his study on Wes, Schmidt (1983) concluded that grammar cannot be successfully acquired unless the learner pays careful attention to the language code (see noticing & attention hypothesis).
Given this finding, do you believe that focus on form is necessary for L2 grammar acquisition? If so, how can attentional focus on form be achieved? Is explicit instruction the only solution? How can learners, like Wes, self enhance their capacity to attend to the formal details in the linguistic input they receive from the L2 environment?
2) Relationship between the Context, L1 speakers, and L2 learners
Should learners be immersed in a L2-speaking country in order to learn their L2 more effectively?
In my knowledge, an increasing number of Korean parents send their children to an English-speaking country to help their children learn English more effectively. They seem to believe that living and being immersed in the L2 speaking community will naturally and certainly provide meaningful input as well as plentiful opportunities to use the language with native speakers. A neglected consideration here is that just physically being closer to the L2 target society and its members doesn't necessarily mean that the learners are given with the full potential linguistic benefits. As Lindemann (2002) points out, some native speakers, (probably people with no experience living in another culture and language), may hold negative attitudes towards interacting with nonnative speakers, and these reluctant attitudes may influence the processes and outcomes of interactions. In addition, L2 learners with introvert personality may not be comfortable with taking risks and approaching L2 speakers out there to initiate conversations with them.
I believe interaction is a personal experience, and each person may undergo whole different experiences, although they may be in the same L2 learning context with the same conversation partners. What language learning come out of such interaction can vary from person to person, from context to context, and from moment to moment. Successful interpersonal communication involves a lot more than just using the same language; it takes interlocutors' sense of self and others as well as willingness to build a mutual understanding of one another.
I'm wondering how L2 learning environment was like when you just moved to a foreign country. Were you able to be part of the L2 society and build relationships with its members? What was your imagined L2 community before going there and how was it different from your initial impression? Did you feel secure to experiment with your L2 with the members of L2 community?
3) Learner Autonomy and Environment
Cognitive-interactionists' work on the linguistic environment offers important implications for language teachers.
First of all, I believe that there is a major role for the teacher to play, in terms of helping learners to take full advantages of the rich linguistic environment that surrounds them. Especially, in ESL context where learners have more exposure to the target language and speakers, why wouldn't the teacher teach learners HOW they can work on their English outside the classroom ON THEIR OWN (instead of emphasizing the forms and idioms isolated from the context)?
Of course, teachers are responsible for preparing for their lessons and go over their teaching materials, however, the teacher and textbooks are just one of the sources of the language learning. Classroom instruction should not be the end of language learning for students. Students should be encouraged to take what they have learned in class to outside the classroom and make the content more useful and meaningful to their goals and personal lives.
If the environmental components truly contribute to L2 learning (acculturated attitudes, comprehensible input, negotiated interaction, etc), shouldn't we also think about how to help learners to connect to the community and maximize their opportunities to speak the language and listen to others? One task I can think of right now might be having learners to conduct research about their own L2 community and its culture independently and develop their own opinions. They can do this by interviewing with community members, reading/analyzing community newspapers, and visiting different places and stores, along with taking field notes. Each person or a group of pair can work on this task, organize their findings, and report back to the class.
To me, an important part of language teaching is to equip students with the tools and strategies necessary to learn on their own, so that later on, students do not have to rely much on the instruction or the teacher. What are your thoughts on this?
Nick provided an overview of the chapter 4. I will illustrate some topics and issues that I would like to share for class discussions.
1) The Role of the Linguistic Environment
Would having positive attitudes toward the L2 and ideal environmental conditions itself lead to mastery of L2?
The story of Wes (Schmidt, 1983) offers a clear example of the selective impact that the linguistic environment brings to L2 learning. Interestingly, despite his positive attitudes towards the L2 and abundant (& meaningful) opportunities to interact with native speakers, Wes made minimal progress in L2 grammar (e.g., verb tense, plurals) over the 3 years of his stay in Hawaii, whereas his sociolinguistic and strategic competence dramatically improved. Wes was able to describe and joke in rather sophisticated ways with interlocutors. However, he seemed to neither incorporate more precise expressions offered by interlocutors into his utterances nor ask his interlocutors metalinguistic questions about idiomatic appropriateness. Based on his study on Wes, Schmidt (1983) concluded that grammar cannot be successfully acquired unless the learner pays careful attention to the language code (see noticing & attention hypothesis).
Given this finding, do you believe that focus on form is necessary for L2 grammar acquisition? If so, how can attentional focus on form be achieved? Is explicit instruction the only solution? How can learners, like Wes, self enhance their capacity to attend to the formal details in the linguistic input they receive from the L2 environment?
2) Relationship between the Context, L1 speakers, and L2 learners
Should learners be immersed in a L2-speaking country in order to learn their L2 more effectively?
In my knowledge, an increasing number of Korean parents send their children to an English-speaking country to help their children learn English more effectively. They seem to believe that living and being immersed in the L2 speaking community will naturally and certainly provide meaningful input as well as plentiful opportunities to use the language with native speakers. A neglected consideration here is that just physically being closer to the L2 target society and its members doesn't necessarily mean that the learners are given with the full potential linguistic benefits. As Lindemann (2002) points out, some native speakers, (probably people with no experience living in another culture and language), may hold negative attitudes towards interacting with nonnative speakers, and these reluctant attitudes may influence the processes and outcomes of interactions. In addition, L2 learners with introvert personality may not be comfortable with taking risks and approaching L2 speakers out there to initiate conversations with them.
I believe interaction is a personal experience, and each person may undergo whole different experiences, although they may be in the same L2 learning context with the same conversation partners. What language learning come out of such interaction can vary from person to person, from context to context, and from moment to moment. Successful interpersonal communication involves a lot more than just using the same language; it takes interlocutors' sense of self and others as well as willingness to build a mutual understanding of one another.
I'm wondering how L2 learning environment was like when you just moved to a foreign country. Were you able to be part of the L2 society and build relationships with its members? What was your imagined L2 community before going there and how was it different from your initial impression? Did you feel secure to experiment with your L2 with the members of L2 community?
3) Learner Autonomy and Environment
Cognitive-interactionists' work on the linguistic environment offers important implications for language teachers.
First of all, I believe that there is a major role for the teacher to play, in terms of helping learners to take full advantages of the rich linguistic environment that surrounds them. Especially, in ESL context where learners have more exposure to the target language and speakers, why wouldn't the teacher teach learners HOW they can work on their English outside the classroom ON THEIR OWN (instead of emphasizing the forms and idioms isolated from the context)?
Of course, teachers are responsible for preparing for their lessons and go over their teaching materials, however, the teacher and textbooks are just one of the sources of the language learning. Classroom instruction should not be the end of language learning for students. Students should be encouraged to take what they have learned in class to outside the classroom and make the content more useful and meaningful to their goals and personal lives.
If the environmental components truly contribute to L2 learning (acculturated attitudes, comprehensible input, negotiated interaction, etc), shouldn't we also think about how to help learners to connect to the community and maximize their opportunities to speak the language and listen to others? One task I can think of right now might be having learners to conduct research about their own L2 community and its culture independently and develop their own opinions. They can do this by interviewing with community members, reading/analyzing community newspapers, and visiting different places and stores, along with taking field notes. Each person or a group of pair can work on this task, organize their findings, and report back to the class.
To me, an important part of language teaching is to equip students with the tools and strategies necessary to learn on their own, so that later on, students do not have to rely much on the instruction or the teacher. What are your thoughts on this?
Preview for Chapter Four
Chapter Four
The Linguistic Environment
Taking the perspective of cognitive-interactionist SLA research, this chapter explores the influence of the linguistic environment on the learning of a L2.
In the 1980’s, cognitive-interactionist SLA researchers who investigated the linguistic environment focused on some key elements contributing to optimal L2 learning and their research outcomes:
The outcome of their research pointed out that these elements idealistically provide the learner for an optimal L2 learning experience when combined all together. There are no definite answers (or “magic bullet”) to the learning of a L2, though these elements provide teachers and learners with comprehensible and well supported evidences of their own benefits.
The last sections of this chapter provide the readers with further information about the limits of the linguistic environment as well as other subtle observations that have their importance in understanding the key elements in the chapter.
Some Keywords for Chapter Four
Cognitive-interactionist perspective on L2 learning: “multiple internal (cognitive) and external (environmental) factors reciprocally interact and together affect the observed processes and outcomes of [...] additional language learning.” - p1
Attitude : manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, esp. of the mind (John Schumman)
Input: Linguistic data produced by other competent users of the L2 - p5 (Comprehensible Input Hypothesis, Krashen)
Interaction: “the best kind of comprehensible input learners can hope to obtain is input that has been interactionally modified, in other words, adjusted after receiving some signal that the interlocutor needs some help in order to fully understand the message.” - p6 (Interaction Hypothesis,Michael Long )
Output: [when] learners engage by necessity not only in comprehending and negotiating messages but also in making meaning and producing messages [in interaction] - p 7 (Swain)
Attention: “in order to learn any aspects of the L2 [...] learners need to notice the relevant material in the linguistic data afforded by the environment.” - p 8 (Noticing Hypothesis- Dick Schmidt)
Output modification: “how learners respond to negotiation for meaning moves” - P12 (Teresa Pica & Kim McDonough)
Language-Related Episode/Initiated Focus on Form/Learner-Initiated Focus on Form: “negotiation of form episodes that are learner-initiated, and which they noted are particularly fostered during collaborative writing activities.” - p15 (Sharon Lapkin, Rod Ellis, Jessica Williams)
Negative feedback: “when the interlocutor has the actual intention to provide such negative information [information about the ungrammaticality of their [learners] utterances] - p15
Clarification request: “offered when intelligibility is low and meaning itself needs to be negotiated” - p 16
Explicit correction: “overtly focus on the form at fault and occur when a teacher clearly indicates to a student that some choice is non-target-like” - p16
Recast: “occur when an interlocutor repeats the learner’s utterance maintaining its meaning but offering a more conventional or mature rendition of the form” - p16
Elicitation: “occur when the teacher initiates another repetition but pauses in the middle of the utterance at fault to let the student complete it correctly” - p17
That's all folks!
The Linguistic Environment
Taking the perspective of cognitive-interactionist SLA research, this chapter explores the influence of the linguistic environment on the learning of a L2.
In the 1980’s, cognitive-interactionist SLA researchers who investigated the linguistic environment focused on some key elements contributing to optimal L2 learning and their research outcomes:
The outcome of their research pointed out that these elements idealistically provide the learner for an optimal L2 learning experience when combined all together. There are no definite answers (or “magic bullet”) to the learning of a L2, though these elements provide teachers and learners with comprehensible and well supported evidences of their own benefits.
The last sections of this chapter provide the readers with further information about the limits of the linguistic environment as well as other subtle observations that have their importance in understanding the key elements in the chapter.
Some Keywords for Chapter Four
Cognitive-interactionist perspective on L2 learning: “multiple internal (cognitive) and external (environmental) factors reciprocally interact and together affect the observed processes and outcomes of [...] additional language learning.” - p1
Attitude : manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, esp. of the mind (John Schumman)
Input: Linguistic data produced by other competent users of the L2 - p5 (Comprehensible Input Hypothesis, Krashen)
Interaction: “the best kind of comprehensible input learners can hope to obtain is input that has been interactionally modified, in other words, adjusted after receiving some signal that the interlocutor needs some help in order to fully understand the message.” - p6 (Interaction Hypothesis,Michael Long )
Output: [when] learners engage by necessity not only in comprehending and negotiating messages but also in making meaning and producing messages [in interaction] - p 7 (Swain)
Attention: “in order to learn any aspects of the L2 [...] learners need to notice the relevant material in the linguistic data afforded by the environment.” - p 8 (Noticing Hypothesis- Dick Schmidt)
Output modification: “how learners respond to negotiation for meaning moves” - P12 (Teresa Pica & Kim McDonough)
Language-Related Episode/Initiated Focus on Form/Learner-Initiated Focus on Form: “negotiation of form episodes that are learner-initiated, and which they noted are particularly fostered during collaborative writing activities.” - p15 (Sharon Lapkin, Rod Ellis, Jessica Williams)
Negative feedback: “when the interlocutor has the actual intention to provide such negative information [information about the ungrammaticality of their [learners] utterances] - p15
Clarification request: “offered when intelligibility is low and meaning itself needs to be negotiated” - p 16
Explicit correction: “overtly focus on the form at fault and occur when a teacher clearly indicates to a student that some choice is non-target-like” - p16
Recast: “occur when an interlocutor repeats the learner’s utterance maintaining its meaning but offering a more conventional or mature rendition of the form” - p16
Elicitation: “occur when the teacher initiates another repetition but pauses in the middle of the utterance at fault to let the student complete it correctly” - p17
That's all folks!
Preview of Ch. 8: Affect (Ben)
Rather than clutter this blog with duplicate summaries and thoughts, it was agreed that Megumi would write up a summary/preview of Ch. 8 (which she did) and I would pose some questions for you, our esteemed peers, to answer before and after completing the chapter. For the sake of ease I have posted the pre-reading questions first. Please answer these BEFORE reading the chapter as it would be silly to do them afterwards.
Thanks.
Pre Reading Questions:
What is affect?
Before peeking ahead to the chapter, how do you think affect plays a role in L2 learning?
Have you read the chapter and answered the pre-reading questions? Ok if the answer is yes, please move on, if the answer is no, return to the pre-reading questions.
===========================================================
Post Reading Questions:
-Think of your own language learning experiences. Which areas covered in the chapter had a beneficial or detrimental impact on your L2 learning?
-It was stated in the chapter that:
“It appears that intuitive thinkers are likely to be attracted to the study of foreign languages, perhaps because they enjoy the intuiting or holistic demands of working with words and meaning symbols as well as the thinking or analytical demands of grammatical analysis. Rather unexpectedly, many introverts are also attracted to the study of foreign languages.”
What are some possible explanations for introvert’s interest in foreign language learning? Can introverts enjoy the intuiting or holistic demands as well? Do you think they are as likely to be successful learners? Why?
-In the classroom, what are some things you can do as a teacher to help students with different personalities, extra/introversion, anxieties, levels of willingness to communicate, and styles succeed?
-How can/Can a teacher anticipate stressful conditions affecting introverted students discussed in section 8.2 and anxiety in 8.3 to successfully ease the negative impact on their students?
-How much (if any) of an L2 teacher’s time should be spent on myth busting? For example: Dispelling the belief that studying only vocabulary and grammar should allow a learner to speak and write without errors.
Why?
-How much of the anxiety felt by low students is due to low ability? How much of an anxious students low ability is due to anxiety?
-How can the results of the research on field independence and sensitivity change the way we look at how material should be presented in the L2 classroom?
Thanks.
Pre Reading Questions:
What is affect?
Before peeking ahead to the chapter, how do you think affect plays a role in L2 learning?
Have you read the chapter and answered the pre-reading questions? Ok if the answer is yes, please move on, if the answer is no, return to the pre-reading questions.
===========================================================
Post Reading Questions:
-Think of your own language learning experiences. Which areas covered in the chapter had a beneficial or detrimental impact on your L2 learning?
-It was stated in the chapter that:
“It appears that intuitive thinkers are likely to be attracted to the study of foreign languages, perhaps because they enjoy the intuiting or holistic demands of working with words and meaning symbols as well as the thinking or analytical demands of grammatical analysis. Rather unexpectedly, many introverts are also attracted to the study of foreign languages.”
What are some possible explanations for introvert’s interest in foreign language learning? Can introverts enjoy the intuiting or holistic demands as well? Do you think they are as likely to be successful learners? Why?
-In the classroom, what are some things you can do as a teacher to help students with different personalities, extra/introversion, anxieties, levels of willingness to communicate, and styles succeed?
-How can/Can a teacher anticipate stressful conditions affecting introverted students discussed in section 8.2 and anxiety in 8.3 to successfully ease the negative impact on their students?
-How much (if any) of an L2 teacher’s time should be spent on myth busting? For example: Dispelling the belief that studying only vocabulary and grammar should allow a learner to speak and write without errors.
Why?
-How much of the anxiety felt by low students is due to low ability? How much of an anxious students low ability is due to anxiety?
-How can the results of the research on field independence and sensitivity change the way we look at how material should be presented in the L2 classroom?
(Ky’s) Preview of Chapter 6: FOREIGN LANGUAGE APTITUDE
Throughout my earlier days of learning foreign languages (English, French, and Cantonese Chinese), I had felt there was something special in me that facilitated, or sometimes hindered, every move I made towards the acquisition of various aspects of those languages. That something special became even more evident as I progressed nearer to the desired destination of English language ownership, especially as I compared my learning process with that of others around me. Then I became an EFL teacher, and again my hypothesis was consolidated with the observation of my students’ diverse behaviors and performances in the classrooms. At times I thought the explanation could be intelligence, motivation, good memory, or merely diligence, or even a combination of all the above elements, but the doubt in me was never settled. Not until I started reading this chapter in Dr. Ortega’s forthcoming book did it dawn on me that foreign language aptitude was to be the best answer, among others. Or at least, it is soothing to learn that “aptitude and achievement explain each other or overlap with each other by 16% to 36%” (p. 4), which is a remarkable magnitude.
Of course, as the author noted, despite its significance, aptitude is not the almighty force in language learning. By analyzing the concepts of cognition, conation, and affect in psychology and SLA (pp. 3-4), the author helped to clarify that there are complex connections among various factors in L2 acquisition, and that it takes so much more time and effort if we are to explain those intertwining relationships. The review of the famous cases of Kaplan vs. Watson was helpful in that it not only provided evidence and illustration of aptitude but also activated critical thinking among readers about the issue.
Personally, I was very impressed with the high predictive validity of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (p. 5). If there remains no counter-evidence, we can certainly make use of this test to develop language instruction strategies that facilitate learning for different L2 aptitude profiles, like in the case of Wesche’s (1981) study cited by the author on page 17. However, as Dr. Ortega pointed out, beside grammatical sensitivity, phonetic coding ability, and memory capacity, Carroll did not at all address inductive language learning ability, the fourth component of aptitude (see table 6.1 on page 21 for more details). I believe this can be a good question for discussion in class. Why wouldn’t Carroll include inductive language learning ability in his famous test?
In this chapter, the author also introduced thorough analyses of many other aspects of aptitude in L2 learning. To begin with, she asserted that despite the partial overlap between language aptitude and intelligence and first language ability, we should give each a distinct treatment while doing research. The author also cited various studies to address the question of whether failure to master an additional language is due to lack of aptitude or general language-related difficulties (pp. 7-8). She then tactfully moved on to highlight the important role of memory capacity in L2 aptitude and their complex interrelationship by examining different forms of memories. The issue of age and L2 aptitude was also discussed, in which several cited studies demonstrate that late-starters may enjoy more benefits from their aptitude for language learning. As to the question of whether L2 aptitude matters under explicit and implicit learning conditions, the author suggested that more studies are needed if we are to fully understand the dynamics of this construct and thus make full use of it in L2 teaching and learning.
It is important to note that beside valuable information and insightful comments, the author also raised many interesting questions, both implicitly and explicitly, for further analysis and future research. For example, in section 6.3, she indicated that “our success in understanding L2 aptitude has been limited … partly because much less effort has been invested in explaining the construct than in developing tests that measure it”, which suggests that as future SLA researchers, we should pay more attention to decoding the findings from aptitude tests rather than just strictly follow what have been done by our predecessors. Most importantly, as future (and current for some) L2 teachers and researchers, we should try to answer the question: Can we really take advantage of individual L2 aptitude to effectively teach and learn additional languages, and if yes, how?
All in all, in my personal experience, this is an enlightening chapter about the most (or is it not?) important component of individual differences in SLA. However, as the author noted at the end, it is not easy to read. For better understanding of the chapter, I suggest you read the summary first, and then proceed with each section. Should further information about any of the comments or analyses is needed, you should turn to Google using the key words in that specific part. A second or even third reading of the summary is highly recommended because I believe it will help consolidate and make a connection between what you have learned throughout the chapter.
Bonus:
For those of you who are interested in the story behind the development of the Modern Language Aptitude Test, the following website provides access to a pdf copy of an interview with the late psychologist John B. Carroll (1916 – 2003) which appeared on Language Assessment Quarterly (2004, Vol. 1, No. 1). Sorry you must buy membership to view the article :(
http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15434311laq0101_4
If you want to have an idea of what a Language Aptitude Test is like other than the MLAT, the following website provides free access to the full version of the Oxford Language Aptitude Test http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Classics/CUCD/test.html
Preview of Norton & Toohey (2001) and Norton (2006)
Changing Perspectives on Good Language Learners Norton & Toohey (2001)
Summary
Early Studies
Researchers had hypothesis that language learning activities of successful learners were different from poorer learners. Among many studies, the representative work is The Good Language Learner (The GLL; Naiman, Frôhlich, Stern, & Todesco, 1978).
As Larsen-Freeman commented in 1991, SLA researchers until that time were trying to find out "the cognitive processes of language learning acquisition and the effects of learners' characteristics on these processes." They did not pay attention to "the situated experience of learners."
Increasing Interest in Sociological and Anthropological Aspects of SLA ~ since the mid-1990s~
The focus on characteristics of much psychological SLA research were needed to be shifted to "activities and settings and the learning that inevitably accompanies social practice."
Pioneers
①L. L. Vygotsky (1978) emphasizes on the significance of "social contexts in processes of acculturation, whereby more experienced participants in a culture bring the 'intellectual tools of society'".
② M. M. Bakhtin (1981) sees that language learners learn to speak by imitating people's utterances and gradually internalize them as those of their own.
Key Concepts
① The notion of community of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991): Language learners participate in "particular, local contexts in which specific practices create possibilities for them to learn" the target languages.
② The identify and human agency of the language learner: researchers note that the conditions in which language learners are "often challenging, engaging their identities in complex and often contradictory ways."
③ The notion of investment: when learners invest in an L2, they do so because they expect to be successful users of the target language(s). And this will eventually "enhance their conception of themselves and their desires for the future."
Second Language Identity (Norton, 2006)
Summary
The Historical Context
① In the 1970s and 1980s: second language identity tended to distinguish between social identity and cultural identity.
② In the 1990s : second language identity is taken as socioculturally constructed.(interdisciplinary approach)
③ Currently : sees second language identity as "dynamic, contradictory, and constantly changing across time and place."
Key Words
Social Identity: "seen to reference the relationship between the individual language learner and the larger social world, as mediated through institutions such as families, schools, workplaces, social services, and law courts."
Cultural Identity: "referenced the relationship between an individual and members of a particular ethnic group (such as Mexican and Japanese) who share common history, a common language, and similar ways of understanding the world."
Research Trajectories
①Identity and Investment (see the summary of the previous article)
②Identity and Imagined Communities
The communities created by many language learners' imagination. It is a desired community which gives possibilities for "an enhanced range of identity options in the future." The community may also be a reconstruction of past communities and historically constructed relationships to some extent. Thus, an imagined community produces an imagined identity, and a language learner's investment in the target language should be seen within this context.
③Identity Categories and Educational Change
Much research on second language identity looks into the multiple and intersecting dimensions of learner's identities. In addition, there is a increasing number of research which tries to investigate the ways in which particular relations of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation may impact on the language learning process. Innovative research that deals with these issues does not take such identity categories as variables, but rather as "sets of relationships that are socially and historically constructed within particular relations of power."
④Identity and Literacy
Researchers of second language identity have come to be interested in learners' literacy as well as oracy. For instance, Norton Peirce and Stein (1995) argues that the changing social occasions created different kinds of investments on the part of language learners, and the learner identities changed, so did their interpretation of the text.
Reflection
These articles show how sociocultural aspects came to be taken into consideration in the field of SLA. I, myself, also believe that they are crucial to foreign language (in my case) acquisition from my own experience, I was persuaded by the notions/theories/the results of many studies while reading the two articles.
For instance, I created my own imagined community when I started to learn EFL in Japan. In such community, I thought of myself to be a successful learner of the target language. In short, my own creation of the imagined community motivated me to learn English. Consequently, I invested a lot of time and energy in the learning of English.
Also, as some of the studies mention, my communities of practice have been more than one, such as school, workplace, and the host families' houses during study abroad period. Naturally, I have had more than one identity categories and they have influenced me not separately but in complex ways.
The new concept I learned in the second article was that there was a close relationship between identity and literacy. It is certainly true that investment or interpretation of the SL text would change according to the changing social conditions.
I would like you to share your personal experiences/the impressive memories of other SL/FL learners on second language identity.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Preview of Ch.8: Affect
Summary
This chapter introduces affective factors that cause individual differences in L2 learning. Nowadays it is viewed that affect and cognition are intertwined, and it is difficult to determine some individual differences come from only one of those two.Throughout the chapter, the question we need to keep in mind is “Where do individual differences in L2 learning exist?” Total of eight affect is concerned with findings and suggestions from research.
This chapter introduces affective factors that cause individual differences in L2 learning. Nowadays it is viewed that affect and cognition are intertwined, and it is difficult to determine some individual differences come from only one of those two.Throughout the chapter, the question we need to keep in mind is “Where do individual differences in L2 learning exist?” Total of eight affect is concerned with findings and suggestions from research.
- Personality: Stable traits in a person with reference to the cognitive processing of emotion or personal inclination through social experience. Recently, “openness to experience“ has received researchers’attention as an advantageous personality asset.
- Extraversion/Introversion: These traits may show some differences in language learning such as communication fluency for extroverts and accuracy for introverts. But the traits do not determine L2 acquisition. Rather, they affect learners’ behaviors and goals, which in turn have an impact of L2 achievement.
- Foreign language anxiety: High-levels of anxiety hold back learner’s processing and achievement in language learning. Studies indicate that self-perception, self-concept , perfectionist attitudes and high-expectation are strongly related to anxiety. At the same time, some degree of tension affect positively on language learning, which is called “facilitating anxiety”.
- Willingness to communicate (WTC): It’s the self-reported intention to initiate communication when free to do so. Anxiety (more in the SL context) and self-perceived competence (more in the FL context) affect communicative confidence in the L2, which, in turn, affects WTC in the L2. Likewise, the frequency and quality of past L2 contact have an impact on L2 attitudes, which, in turn, affects WTC in the L2. WTC can change over time and across contexts.
- Field dependence and independence: These characters are bipolar dimensions with preferred ways of processing information, Recently, new constructs has been addressed,” field independence and field sensitivity” claiming that successful language learners can integrate information both in and out of the context and therefore are expected to get a high score on both sides.
- Learning style: Studies on learning styles are inconclusive. However, the most recently developed “the synopsis-ectasis dimension” creates research interest, focusing on the degree of conscious control of learning desired or needed.
- Learning strategies: strategies are conscious mental and behavioral procedures that serve people to reach a goal in their language learning. There are no clear lines between cognitive and affective strategies. Language strategies can differ across contexts. “Self-regulation theory” (Dörnyei, 2005) attracts attention as a principled way of theorizing strategic behaviors.
- Self-regulation theory: The theory claims that people are able to self-regulate their behaviors with creative and conscious efforts. Not only actions and thoughts but also feelings can be self-regulated. The strength of this theory is that it can be investigated with not only self-report questionnaires but also multiple methods.
My personal interest : WTC
Although WTC is just a self-reported intention and not supported by actual observation of communication behavior, it has been posited as a predictor of frequency of communication in L2. If communication is a goal in language learning, I think it is interesting to investigate WTC on the grounds that WTC is not a fixed tendency and leaves a room for a change for the better. In the FL context where perceived competence and attitudes towards the target language (TL) seem to have a strong impact on WTC, raising self-perceived competence and providing a pleasurable TL experience for students would be the best shot to boost their actual use of the TL in the long run. I believe that these two attempts are something teachers can carry out in their classroom by using various teaching materials, tasks, and approaches. Of course, none of affective variables alone can guarantee successful language learning, but I hope WTC is one of the factors that teachers can still activate in their students.
Preview of Ch. 6: Foreign Language Aptitude (Merica)
Activating background knowledge:
Before reading this chapter, take a moment to consider some of these questions. You might want to jot down some ideas and/or discuss some of these briefly with a partner.
1. What does it mean when people say that someone has a gift or a knack for learning languages?
2.a. Think about your own experience learning a language. Do you think that you have an aptitude for language learning?
b. Why or why not?
c. Can you think of specific examples from your L1 and/or L2?
3.a. Have you observed others who you think have an aptitude for language learning? Try to think of somebody you know (this could be a family member, a friend, a fellow student in a class you have attended or a student who you have taught). What qualities do they exhibit?
d. How is learning a language in a classroom different from learning outside of a classroom?
e. What role do you think memory plays in language learning?
A few points that I found interesting from chapter 6:
- Intuitively, it seems that aptitude accounts for more significant differences in implicit learning situations than in explicit learning in the classroom. However, empirical evidence on this matter remains inconclusive.
- According to Ross et al. (2002) and DeKeyser (2000), aptitude plays a more significant role for late learners because they usually learn the L2 in a formal classroom setting and have limited exposure to natural L2 input (Ortega, forthcoming Ch. 6, p. 13).
- At the bottom of page 15, Dr. Ortega mentions how some students benefit from recasts more than others. “Noticing the gap” refers to the learner comparing what they said with what they heard from the interlocuter. Reading this made me think of the Spanish 102 class that I am currently taking. I enjoy observing how the teacher skillfully helps raise students' awareness and leads them to correct themselves in verbal utterances. She uses a variety of helpful techniques such as repeating what the student said with rising intonation and sometimes writing something on the board to help the student see their mistake. I find this highly beneficial for the student involved as well as those listening.
- In the middle of page 16, after motivational and affective forces are mentioned in bold, Dr. Ortega adds that those with high motivation may benefit more from recasts by viewing every L2 encounter as an opportunity to learn. I agree with that conclusion.
- Section 6.12 offers evidence that matching teaching styles to students learning style preference yields more successful learning in the classroom. Think about your own learning experience. Can you think of a situation in which the teaching style matched (or did not match) your learning style? How did this affect your success in that class?
The following website provides more detailed information including additional sample questions and answers as well as frequently asked questions:
http://www.2lti.com/htm/Test_mlat.htm
A final note: I’m quite curious to learn how my L2 aptitude measures on this aptitude test. I wonder if others in our department or university have recently taken it. I would like to find out if we can take this on campus.
P.S. The fancy editing options do not appear on this old computer, so I apologize that I cannot enrich the text with bold and colorful additions now.
Before reading this chapter, take a moment to consider some of these questions. You might want to jot down some ideas and/or discuss some of these briefly with a partner.
1. What does it mean when people say that someone has a gift or a knack for learning languages?
2.a. Think about your own experience learning a language. Do you think that you have an aptitude for language learning?
b. Why or why not?
c. Can you think of specific examples from your L1 and/or L2?
3.a. Have you observed others who you think have an aptitude for language learning? Try to think of somebody you know (this could be a family member, a friend, a fellow student in a class you have attended or a student who you have taught). What qualities do they exhibit?
d. How is learning a language in a classroom different from learning outside of a classroom?
e. What role do you think memory plays in language learning?
A few points that I found interesting from chapter 6:
- Intuitively, it seems that aptitude accounts for more significant differences in implicit learning situations than in explicit learning in the classroom. However, empirical evidence on this matter remains inconclusive.
- According to Ross et al. (2002) and DeKeyser (2000), aptitude plays a more significant role for late learners because they usually learn the L2 in a formal classroom setting and have limited exposure to natural L2 input (Ortega, forthcoming Ch. 6, p. 13).
- At the bottom of page 15, Dr. Ortega mentions how some students benefit from recasts more than others. “Noticing the gap” refers to the learner comparing what they said with what they heard from the interlocuter. Reading this made me think of the Spanish 102 class that I am currently taking. I enjoy observing how the teacher skillfully helps raise students' awareness and leads them to correct themselves in verbal utterances. She uses a variety of helpful techniques such as repeating what the student said with rising intonation and sometimes writing something on the board to help the student see their mistake. I find this highly beneficial for the student involved as well as those listening.
- In the middle of page 16, after motivational and affective forces are mentioned in bold, Dr. Ortega adds that those with high motivation may benefit more from recasts by viewing every L2 encounter as an opportunity to learn. I agree with that conclusion.
- Section 6.12 offers evidence that matching teaching styles to students learning style preference yields more successful learning in the classroom. Think about your own learning experience. Can you think of a situation in which the teaching style matched (or did not match) your learning style? How did this affect your success in that class?
The following website provides more detailed information including additional sample questions and answers as well as frequently asked questions:
http://www.2lti.com/htm/Test_mlat.htm
A final note: I’m quite curious to learn how my L2 aptitude measures on this aptitude test. I wonder if others in our department or university have recently taken it. I would like to find out if we can take this on campus.
P.S. The fancy editing options do not appear on this old computer, so I apologize that I cannot enrich the text with bold and colorful additions now.
Pre-Reading: Chapter 7 Motivation
Chapter 7 discusses about the motivation as the influence on foreign language learning. The author defines motivation as “the desire to initiate L2 learning and the effort employed to sustain it” (p.1).
Key Words
There are many different types of motivation mentioned in the chapter.
There are numbers of empirical studies mentioned in this chapter in order to support the concept of motivation. I especially found interest in the section 7.5: motivation from a distance, which discusses about the motivation of the learners in the FL setting. It makes sense that because of its fewer contacts with L2 speakers in FL settings, learners in FL settings may have less integrativeness, but instrumental type of orientation (e.g. good grades) and class room attitudes (e.g. to the teacher, materials) may strongly influence their learning especially at the beginning level. That means the instruction style of the classroom teacher could easily change the learners’ motivation toward learning the target language.
It reminds me the time when I started to take English at my junior high school. When we started to take English, everyone loved to study English because a) it was the easiest class “at the beginning” since we were learning the basic, b) nearly most of my classmates got good grades on exam because of its easiness, and c) English teachers were promoting the importance of learning English in order to succeed in our academic life and professional career in the future (English as an international language). However, as we took tests and tests over times, sentence structures got complicated and many classmates started to receive unsatisfactory grades. As a result, there were two-way directions in my class: highly motivated learners and less motivated learners. Furthermore, many of my classmates suffered from amotivation because they didn’t see any reasons to study English at all.
In FL settings, learners can easily lose their interest. Teachers who teach Japanese at the adult school once mentioned to me that it is hard to keep students because they easily stop coming to the class if they lost their interest in learning Japanese. I wonder what kinds of motivation will work well in FL settings and how we (as teachers) can promote the motivation in order to keep our learners stay in interest to learn the target language.
I personally think that the group dynamics can be great motivation for the FL setting. If teachers could establish positive relationship among learners, learners enjoy coming to class and can learn from each other. It reminds me about Near Peer Role Models discussed in Murphey (1998). Near Peer Role Models (NPRMs) are peers who are close to the learners’ social, professional, and/or age level and whom the learners may respect and admire. Students can look up to and model NPRM’s positive behaviors. While we may be hard to create integrativeness toward native speakers/cultures of the target language, we may be easy to establish the positive attitudes toward peers who are learning the same target language and learners can model their behaviors.
Look forward to discussing the topic in class!!
Key Words
There are many different types of motivation mentioned in the chapter.
- Integrativeness—“a genuine interest in learning the second language in order to come closer to the other language community” (p .2 cited from Gardner, 2001, p. 5)
- Orientations—“reasons for learning the L2” (p. 3)
- Attitudes—“both towards the L2 community and its speakers and towards teachers and curriculum in the instructional setting” (p.3)
In the mid 1990s, the new way of looking at the motivation occurred by focusing on quality rather than quantity on motivation.
- Intrinsically motivated—motivation that is self-initiated by choice and for their own sake (e.g. hobby—I want to learn English because I want to listen to American songs.)
- Extrinsically motivated—not chosen or caused by individuals (e.g. exam, rewards, punishment—I want to learn English because I want to pass a university entrance exam.)
- Introjected regulation—pressure developed by feelings of guilt or shame (e.g. I would feel ashamed if I couldn’t speak English.)
- Identified regulation—similar to the intrinsic motivation, individuals accept the external values and adopt to their own sake (e.g. I want to be like a person who can speak more than one language.)
- Amotivation—Individuals suffer from this because they do not see the exact reasons why they are studying the language in compulsory language courses (e.g. I don’t know why I am studying English because I live in Japan.)
There are some newer perspectives to look at the motivation.
- Dynamic
o Time—motivation changes over time
o Context—group dynamics
o Behavior—language choice and intended learning effort
There are numbers of empirical studies mentioned in this chapter in order to support the concept of motivation. I especially found interest in the section 7.5: motivation from a distance, which discusses about the motivation of the learners in the FL setting. It makes sense that because of its fewer contacts with L2 speakers in FL settings, learners in FL settings may have less integrativeness, but instrumental type of orientation (e.g. good grades) and class room attitudes (e.g. to the teacher, materials) may strongly influence their learning especially at the beginning level. That means the instruction style of the classroom teacher could easily change the learners’ motivation toward learning the target language.
It reminds me the time when I started to take English at my junior high school. When we started to take English, everyone loved to study English because a) it was the easiest class “at the beginning” since we were learning the basic, b) nearly most of my classmates got good grades on exam because of its easiness, and c) English teachers were promoting the importance of learning English in order to succeed in our academic life and professional career in the future (English as an international language). However, as we took tests and tests over times, sentence structures got complicated and many classmates started to receive unsatisfactory grades. As a result, there were two-way directions in my class: highly motivated learners and less motivated learners. Furthermore, many of my classmates suffered from amotivation because they didn’t see any reasons to study English at all.
In FL settings, learners can easily lose their interest. Teachers who teach Japanese at the adult school once mentioned to me that it is hard to keep students because they easily stop coming to the class if they lost their interest in learning Japanese. I wonder what kinds of motivation will work well in FL settings and how we (as teachers) can promote the motivation in order to keep our learners stay in interest to learn the target language.
I personally think that the group dynamics can be great motivation for the FL setting. If teachers could establish positive relationship among learners, learners enjoy coming to class and can learn from each other. It reminds me about Near Peer Role Models discussed in Murphey (1998). Near Peer Role Models (NPRMs) are peers who are close to the learners’ social, professional, and/or age level and whom the learners may respect and admire. Students can look up to and model NPRM’s positive behaviors. While we may be hard to create integrativeness toward native speakers/cultures of the target language, we may be easy to establish the positive attitudes toward peers who are learning the same target language and learners can model their behaviors.
Look forward to discussing the topic in class!!
Preview of Chapter 3 with discussion questions: Crosslinguistic influences
As Samantha said, I developed some discussion questions which are believed to help you to think more deeply on some issues in this chapter. The questions are seemingly general and are relatively affected by my own curiosity, so your understanding and cooperation would be necessary to make the discussion to be viable if you would like to use those questions. Also, your own questions or ideas regarding the same issues or any other issues would be so welcomed.
This chapter introduces us to the term transfer or crosslinguistic influence, replacing the older term interference, which implies that crosslinguistic influence is two-dimensional: both positive and negative. A number of empirical studies have reported that this influence happens due to similarities or differences in the features of two languages, such as grammar structure or their social aspects (e.g., attitudes about accepting the boundary of politeness). The important thing to note further is that the interlingual identifications of two languages is affected not only by the characteristics of specific language phenomenon and universal language development, it is also due to the learner's conscious or subconscious judgment on the distance of L1 and L2. In addition, the identifications are affected by the learner's proficiency level.
The manifestation of interlingual identifications can be largely perceived through learners’ production, which might drive researchers to pay attention to the many aspects of learners’ language, further to learners’ performance analysis or error analysis. Selinker (1972) coined the term interlanguage for learners’ developing L2 knowledge. He also introduced fossilization to describe the fact that some features of a learner’s language might not change. This may be true, for example, for learners who are only exposed to positive evidences with absence of negative evidences showing inadequacy of their performance.
(a) We may discuss more profoundly in class on systematic, universal features of interlanguage (including factors on shaping interlanguage patterns) in terms of syntax, vocabulary, pragmatics, and so on. For example, frequency and the presence of cognates (words that look similar and have the same meaning in two languages) might influence development of vocabulary acquisition. (b) What kinds of approaches have been used to extract some features of interlanguage to date may be treated in class as well. Recently, corpus studies have drawn the attention of researchers in SLA. What others? (c) Pedagogically, you may think of the ways of efficiently handling the phenomena of interlanguage and fossilization in class. (d) The chapter later deals with the direction of crosslinguistic influence (the recent attention to bidirectional transfer). It would be more interesting to discuss this issue with more empirical studies.
As Samantha said, I developed some discussion questions which are believed to help you to think more deeply on some issues in this chapter. The questions are seemingly general and are relatively affected by my own curiosity, so your understanding and cooperation would be necessary to make the discussion to be viable if you would like to use those questions. Also, your own questions or ideas regarding the same issues or any other issues would be so welcomed.
This chapter introduces us to the term transfer or crosslinguistic influence, replacing the older term interference, which implies that crosslinguistic influence is two-dimensional: both positive and negative. A number of empirical studies have reported that this influence happens due to similarities or differences in the features of two languages, such as grammar structure or their social aspects (e.g., attitudes about accepting the boundary of politeness). The important thing to note further is that the interlingual identifications of two languages is affected not only by the characteristics of specific language phenomenon and universal language development, it is also due to the learner's conscious or subconscious judgment on the distance of L1 and L2. In addition, the identifications are affected by the learner's proficiency level.
The manifestation of interlingual identifications can be largely perceived through learners’ production, which might drive researchers to pay attention to the many aspects of learners’ language, further to learners’ performance analysis or error analysis. Selinker (1972) coined the term interlanguage for learners’ developing L2 knowledge. He also introduced fossilization to describe the fact that some features of a learner’s language might not change. This may be true, for example, for learners who are only exposed to positive evidences with absence of negative evidences showing inadequacy of their performance.
(a) We may discuss more profoundly in class on systematic, universal features of interlanguage (including factors on shaping interlanguage patterns) in terms of syntax, vocabulary, pragmatics, and so on. For example, frequency and the presence of cognates (words that look similar and have the same meaning in two languages) might influence development of vocabulary acquisition. (b) What kinds of approaches have been used to extract some features of interlanguage to date may be treated in class as well. Recently, corpus studies have drawn the attention of researchers in SLA. What others? (c) Pedagogically, you may think of the ways of efficiently handling the phenomena of interlanguage and fossilization in class. (d) The chapter later deals with the direction of crosslinguistic influence (the recent attention to bidirectional transfer). It would be more interesting to discuss this issue with more empirical studies.
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