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?
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)