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.
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13 comments:
This study makes me think a lot about "teachability". In this study, compared with stage 3 students, stage 2 students who were considered "unready" could get more benefit to move up one developmental stage by receiving stage 4 & 5 instructions. However,I have a question at a very fundamental level. Is it possible to think that moving one stage up from 3 to 4 is more diffuclt and takes more time than moving up from 2 to 3, so stage 2 students could successfully move up within the length of this experiment? I mean, stage 2 students could move up anyway and it didn't matter whether the instruction targetted a developmentally appropriate stage or not.
Megumi, you've made a very interesting point. I'm interested in the same thing. Is moving from stage 3 to stage 4 more difficult than moving from stage 2 to stage 3? Meaning, is the requirements set to move from one stage to another different?
I've read their book, "How languages are learned" when I was in an undergraduate program. It was a nice book; reader friendly and easy to follow (some discussion questions were helpful). I highly recommended to read the book if you have difficulties understanding SLA topics :)
I like the way you added links pertinent websites. I think that's a great idea for our future posts.
It's nice to have the links which offer more information. It's very helpful.
well organized and understandable
literature review made me a good idea of my future 650 assignment.
I wonder what if I do this experimeatal research in EFL context, is this data still significant?
Could very well be true, Megumi - sharp observation there.
It's like at stage 2, the students probably haven't learnt that much yet, so in terms of going forward, it's still quite a lot of fun; and going backward isn't that much either - there ain't much room to move backward/not so many things to forget/get mixed up - yet.
The other thing that seems to me is that if one aims far and wide, then the chances of one hitting it or really falling a bit off mean that one can actually go further and wider than one would otherwise be able to.
The links are very helpful! Especially,I really like the last link to Amazon.com. If I get interested in the book, I can get it as soon as possible. I think link to the library website may helpful too.
I haven't read that book yet, but remembering how Merica referred to it as 'SLA for dummies' it sounds just like I what I need : )
One of main foci in this article, "teachability", makes me think deeply the way a teacher applies that notion in the real classroom. It apparently shows that learners need to be taught in compliance with their readiness of learning, developmental sequences.
I read that book this summer and thought it was very helpful and a great intro text to SLA.
Being aware of the results of such classroom research can inform us about what is more effective and can therefore lead us to become better teachers.
Reading this study made me think about my own stage in other languages. For example, I thought of the way I ask questions in French. I'd be interested in seeing a chart with developmental levels for other languages.
I read the book "how languages are learned" back in 2003 when I was an undergrad. student at UHM. As far as I remember, the book was well organized dealing with major SLA issues and literatures. I'm rereading some of the chapters from the book at this moment to refresh my memory... However, the book provides limited sources to those who are interested in researching SLA from the sociocultural or sociolinguistics approach, such as learner identity. I hope you could recommend more articles and books in this vein. Norton & Toohey (2001) and Norton (2006)'s articles in the reading packet were helpful!
I love the book "How languages are learned." It's a great book to read on the beach!
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