SLA

EFFECTS OF MULTILINGUALISM

- the notion that multilingualism has positive effects on cognitive development was traditionally related to the belief that foreign language study (especially Greek and Latin) is good for "training the mind"; there is still an assumption in many parts of the world that multilingualism is an essential characteristic of "educated" and "cultured" members of society. - The opposite notion, that multilingualism has a negative impact on general intelligence, perhaps reached its zenith in US-based research on immigrants during the 1930s, motivated by increasingly xenophobic isolationist political sentiments Positive findings: • Bilingual children show consistent advantages in tasks of both verbal and nonverbal abilities. • Bilingual children show advanced metalinguistic abilities, especially manifested in their control of language processing. • Cognitive and metalinguistic advantages appear in bilingual situations that involve systematic uses of the two languages, such as simultaneous acquisition settings or bilingual education. • The cognitive effects of bilingualism appear relatively early in the process of becoming bilingual and do not require high levels of bilingual proficiency nor the achievement of balanced bilingualism. • Bilingual children have advantages in the use of language for verbal mediation, as shown by their higher frequency of private-speech utterances and their larger number of private-speech functions. - Relatively recent negative claims regarding multilingualism have primarily addressed capacity limitations for language acquisition and maintenance, with evidence that simultaneous bilingualism in childhood may result in a narrower range of lexical development in either language, and that intensive and continued use of L2 may reduce accessibility of L1.

EARLY PERIOD SUMMARY (answers to what, how and why)

-It ended with some issues in rather spirited debate among proponents of different approaches, but there was widespread agreement on some important points. Those are: • What is being acquired in SLA is a "rule-governed" language system. Development of L2 involves progression through a dynamic interlanguage system which differs from both L1 and L2 in significant respects. The final state of L2 typically differs (more or less) from the native speakers' system. • How SLA takes place involves creative mental processes. Development of both L1 and L2 follows generally predictable sequences, which suggests that L1 and L2 acquisition processes are similar in significant ways. • Why some learners are more (or less) successful in SLA than others relates primarily to the age of the learner.

Functions of language as a whole (pragmatic functions in early L1 acq-universal for children):

1. instrumental (I want function) - getting thigs done 2. regulatory (do as I tell you f.) - lang used to regulate the behaviours of others 3. interactional (me and you f.) - use of lang in interaction between self and others 4. personal (here I come I.) - awareness of lang as a formof one's own identity 5. heuristic (tell me why f.) - lang as a way of leraning about things 6. imagination (let's pretend f.) - creation through language of a world of one's own making 7. representaitional (I've got sth to tell you f.) - means of expressing propositions, or communicating about sth (one of the last to appear)

DORNYEI'S FRAMEWORK OF L2 MOTIVATION

3-level framework of L2 motivation consisted of following levels: 1.LANGUAGE LEVEL - including the integrative motivational subsystem and instrumental motivational subsystem, 2.LEARNER LEVEL - including individual characteristics that the learner brings into the learning process, 3.LEARNING SITUATION LEVEL - involves course-specific motivational components, teacher-specific motivational components, group-specific motivational components

DIFFERENCES IN LEARNERS

AGE Critical period for language acquisition refers to a biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired more easily and beyond which time language is increasingly difficult to acquire because brain loses its plasticity. Younger learners achieve ultimately higher levels of L2 proficiency, while adults learn faster in the initial stages. Younger advantage: brain plasticity, not analytical, fewer inhibitions, weaker group identity, simplified input more likely. Older advantage: learning capacity, analytic ability, pragmatic skills, greater knowledge of L1, real-world knowledge. critical period for first language acquisition: children have only a limited number of years during which normal acquisition is possible. Beyond that, physiological changes cause the brain to lose its plasticity , or capacity to assume the new functions that learning language demands. Individuals who for some reason are deprived of the linguistic input which is needed to trigger first language acquisition during the critical period will never learn any language normally. The Genie case is the best example. She was found at the age of 13 and was not exposed to any language at all. There were many abnormalies which were noted, like for example a retarded rate of dveelopment. She was using her right hemisphere for language. Genie was evidently able to acquire some language from exposure after puberty, but not in a normal way. Lenneberg ( 1967 ) speculated that the critical period applies to SLA and first language acquisition, and that this accounts for why almost all L2 speakers have a "foreign accent" if they do not begin learning the language before the cut-off age. Seliger ( 1978 ) and Long ( 1990 ) argue instead that there are multiple periods that relate to for example the acquisition of phonology versus the acquisition of syntax. They also suggest that these periods do not impose absolute cut-off points; it is just that L2 acquisition will more likely be complete if begun in childhood than if it does not start until a later age. This weaker claim seems warranted since some older learners can achieve native-like proficiency, although they definitely constitute a minority of second language learners. Other advantages that younger learners may have are being less inhibited than older learners, and having weaker feelings of identity with people who speak the same native language. Children are also more likely to receive simplified language input from others, which might facilitate their learning. SEX There is widespread belief in many western cultures that females tend to be better L2 learners than males, but this belief is probably primarily a social construct Reasearch evidence is mixed. Women outperform men in some tests of verbal fluency (such as finding words that begin with a certain letter), and women's brains may be less asymmetrically organized than men's for speech. Females seem to be better at memorizing complex forms, while males appear to be better at computing compositional rules. Others claimed that higher androgen level correlates with better automatized skills, and high estrogen with better semantic/interpretive skills. APTITUDE The assumption that there is a talent which is specific to language learning has been widely held for many years. The following four components were proposed by Carroll ( 1965 ) as underlying this talent, and they constitute the bases for most aptitude tests: • Phonemic coding ability is the capacity to process auditory input into segments which can be stored and retrieved. If the hearer cannot analyze the incoming stream of speech into phonemes in order to recognize morphemes, input may not result in intake. • Inductive language learning ability is concerned with central processing • Grammatical sensitivity is concerned with central processing • Associative memory capacity is importantly concerned with how linguistic items are stored, and with how they are recalled and used in output. Associative memory capacity determines appropriate selection from among the L2 elements that are stored, and ultimately determines speaker fluency The concept of language-learning aptitude is a hypothesis that possessing various degrees of these abilities predicts correlated degrees of success in L2 acquisition. The findings that aptitude is an important predictor of differential success in L2 learning holds both for naturalistic contexts and for formal classroom instruction. It is not completely deterministic, however, and is but one of several factors which may influence ultimate L2 proficiency. MOTIVATION Motivation largely determines the level of effort which learners expend at various stages in their L2 development, often a key to ultimate level of proficiency. It components are: • Significant goal or need • Desire to attain the goal • Perception that learning L2 is relevant to fulfilling the goal or meeting the need • Belief in the likely success or failure of learning L2 • Value of potential outcomes/rewards The most widely recognized types of motivation are integrative and instrumental. Integrative motivation is based on interest in learning L2 because of a desire to learn about or associate with the people who use it ), or because of an intention to participate or integrate in the L2-using speech community; in any case, emotional or affective factors are dominant. Instrumental motivation involves perception of purely practical value in learning the L2, such as increasing occupational or business opportunities, enhancing prestige and power, accessing scientific and technical information, or just passing a course in school. Neither of these has an advantage over the other in terms of L2 achievement. More recent developments in SLA theory (Schumann 1997 , 2001 ) suggest that motivation for second language learning, along with L2 representation and processing, is controlled by neurological mechanisms. Specific areas within our brain conduct a "stimulus appraisal," which assesses the motivational relevance of events and other stimuli and determines how we respond, including what our attitudes and ultimately degree of effort will be. (DORNYEI'S FRAMEWORK OF L2 MOTIVATION) 3-level framework of L2 motivation consisted of following levels: 1.LANGUAGE LEVEL - including the integrative motivational subsystem and instrumental motivational subsystem, 2.LEARNER LEVEL - including individual characteristics that the learner brings into the learning process, 3.LEARNING SITUATION LEVEL - involves course-specific motivational components, teacher-specific motivational components, group-specific motivational components) COGNITIVE STYLE Cognitive style refers to individuals' preferred way of processing: i.e. of perceiving, conceptualizing, organizing, and recalling information. When its relation to success is observed, it can be noted that it involves a complex interaction with specific L2 social and learning contexts. Cognitive style is also closely related to and interacts with personality factors and learning strategies. The field-dependent/field-independent (FD/FI) dimension is the one most frequently referred to in SLA-related research, introduced by Witkin et al. A commonly used criterion for FD/FI is performance on an embedded figures test, which requires subjects to find a simple shape within a more complex design. Individuals who have difficulty discerning a figure apart from the ground (or field) within which it is embedded are judged to be relatively FD; individuals who have no difficulty with this test are judged relatively FI. FD learners are thought to achieve more success in L2 acquisition via highly contextualized interactive communicative experiences because that fits better with their holistic "cognitive style," and FI learners to profit more from decontextualized analytic approaches and formal instruction. In terms of an Information Processing model of learning, FI learners may have better attentional capacities Another partially related dimension is preference for deductive or inductive processing. Deductive (or "top-down") processing begins with a prediction or rule and then applies it to interpret particular instances of input. Inductive (or "bottom-up") processing begins with examining input to discover some pattern and then formulates a generalization or rule that accounts for it, and that may then in turn be applied deductively. An inductive cognitive style is related to the linguistic-analytic ability discussed above as one component of language aptitude, which does appear to contribute to success in L2 learning in either naturalistic or instructed circumstances. Another difference in cognitive style may be related to age. According to Ellen Bialystok, L2 learners have two options when adapting their existing categories of linguistic structure to adequately represent the structure of the new language. One option is extending the existing categories to include new instances from L2: in phonological structure, an L2 sound which is actually slightly different from a similar sound in L1 may be identified as the same as the L1 sound and pronounced with that value, resulting in a foreign accent. The second option is creating new categories: in phonological structure, this would mean recognizing the slightly different L2 sound as phonetically different, and learning to keep it distinct from the similar (and often functionally equivalent) L1 sound. Adults tend to extend existing categories (i.e. not notice small differences), while children notice differences and tend to create new categories accordingly. This may account for why children are thought to be superior in L2 learning. Another dimension sometimes considered as a matter of cognitive style is sensory preference for processing input: visual, auditory, kinesthetic (movement-oriented), or tactile (touch-oriented). No one means of processing has an inherent advantage over others, but L2 learners reportedly feel more comfortable when teachers' instructional strategies are congruent with their sensory preference. This dimension may also be age-related, with younger learners showing more preference for kinesthetic and tactile modalities. Criticism: primarily directed at the FD/FI distinction and related continua. One criticism is that the embedded figure test used to assess traits is not applicable to language acquisition and therefore is not relevant. Another concerns analytic procedures which often correlate a single cognitive trait and a single language proficiency measure without taking other influencing factors and complexities of performance into account. PERSONALITY Research in this area is almost always correlational: individuals are assessed for some personality trait (usually using questionnaires and scales), and the strength of the relationship between that score and the result of an L2 language proficiency measure is calculated. Evidence in some cases is very limited or contradictory. Higher anxiety tends to go with lower levels of success in L2 learning. In addition to self-confidence, lower anxiety may be manifested by more risk-taking or more adventuresome behaviors. There are some complex issues connected to anxiety: (1) The direction of cause and effect is uncertain. Lower anxiety levels might very well facilitate language learning; conversely, however, more successful language learners might feel less anxious in situations of L2 learning and use, and thus be more self-confident. (2) Instructional context or task influences anxiety level and reporting. (For example, foreign language classes or tests which require oral performance normally generate more anxiety than do those in which production is in writing. Small-group performance generates less anxiety than whole-class activity.) (3) Although personality factors are defined as individual traits, systematic cultural differences are found between groups of learners. (For example, oral performance in English classes generates relatively more anxiety for Korean students (Truitt 1995 ) than for Turkish students (Kunt 1997 ). This may be because of cultural differences in concepts of "face" (i.e. projecting a positive self-image; see Liu 2001 ), or because of cultural differences in classroom practices and experiences.) (4) Low anxiety and high self-confidence increase student motivation to learn, and make it more likely that they will use the L2 outside of the classroom setting. It is therefore not clear whether more successful learning is directly due to lower anxiety, or to a higher level of motivation and more social interaction. It has also been hypothesized taht introverts generally do better in school and extroverts talk more. Some SLA researchers have hypothesized that extroverts would be more successful language learners, but there is no clear support for the advantage of either trait. Not enough studies have been conducted, but there is some evidence that being imaginative or creative, empathetic, and tolerant of ambiguity is advantageous. LEARNING STYLES Differential L2 outcomes may also be affected by individuals' learning strategies: i.e. the behaviors and techniques they adopt in their efforts to learn a second language. Selection from among possible strategies is often a conscious choice on the part of learners, but it is strongly influenced by the nature of their motivation, cognitive style, and personality, as well as by specific contexts of use and opportunities for learning. Many learning strategies are culturally based: individuals learn how to learn as part of their socialization experiences, and strategies they acquire in relation to other domains are commonly transferred to language learning, which may take place under very different circumstances, sometimes within a foreign educational system.

WHAT DO LANGUAGE LEARNERS ESSENTIALLY ACQUIRE?

Acc to Halliday is not a system of rules which govern lang structure, but rather "MEANING POTENTIAL": what speaker/hearer can (what he can mean), not what he knows. Language acquisition is the mastery of linguistic functions (mastering certain basic functions of language and developing a meaning potential for each).

Why are all languages systematic, symbolic and social according to Saville-Troike?

According to Saville-Troike all languages are: systematic (there are regular patterns whic occur repeatedly and freduently, langauge is systematically organized in ways that we are totally unaware of), symbolic (the manings of symbols in a lag. Can come through tacit agreement of a gruopu of speakers), social (lag. Is the reflection of the socian environment of the society that uses it, and there is no standard for judging whether one language is more effective for communication than another other than to estimate the success its users may have in achieving the social tasks that are demanden of them)

COMPETENCE

According to Saville-Troike communicative competence can be defined as what a speaker needs to know in order to communicate appropriately within a particular language community. It includes not only grammar, vocabulary, phonology and other aspects of linugistic structure, but aslo when to speak, what to say to whom, and how to say it appropriately. It also includes social and cultural knowledge speakers are persumed to have which enables them to interpret linguistic forms. Communicative competence: A basic tenet of sociolinguistics defined as "what a speaker needs to know to communicate appropriately within a particular language community" Linguistic competence: The underlying knowledge that speakers/hearers have of a language. Chomsky distinguishes this from linguistic performance . Pragmatic competence: Knowledge that people must have in order to interpret and convey meaning within communicative situations. Two types of communicative competence Academic competence - § second language knowledge which is required for: a) learning other subjects - content learning and teaching, if someone is going to another university in another country, American, Canadian or British, they will have to learn the language / a lot of schools in Europe are introducing English learning and they are learning geography and math through English b) for research or as a medium in a specific professional or occupational field - when a psychologist needs it for his research, when students need it for their job Acquiring specific vocabulary in the field of study and reading subject texts are the main goals Interpersonal competence - § entails knowledge that is needed by learners in face-to-face contact with other speakers Michael Canale and Merrill Swain - Important work on communicative competence defined communicative competence as being composed of four components, o the first two describe the linguistic system itself o the other two functional aspects of communication Grammatical competence - knowledge of lexical items and rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-grammar, semantics and phonology Discourse competence - the ability to connect sentences in discourse and to form meaning in utterances (this may include both spoken and written discourse) Sociolinguistic competence - knowledge of the sociocultural rules of language and of discourse Strategic competence - the verbal and non-verbal communication Linguistis divided language into 6 components: Vocabulary (lexicon) Morphology ( word structure) Phonology (sound system) Syntax (grammar) Nonverbal structure Discourse (ways to connect sentences and organize information) VOCABULARY -there is a core of high-frequency words in a language that everyone needs to learn , which vocabulary items learner needs depends on whether the L2 is needed for academic or interpersonal functions. The core vocabulary in every language includes function words, a limited set of terms that carry primarily grammatical information (for example determiners and interjections). The following types of knowledge contribute to effective use of context for vocabulary learning: Linguistic knowledge: synthactic info, constraints on possible word meanings, patterns in word structure, meanings of surrounding words World knowledge:understanding of the concepts which the words represent; familiarity with related conceptual frameworks; awarness of social associations Strategic knowledge: control over cognitive resources MORPHOLOGY Grammatical accuracy in many lang. requires knowledge of the word parts that carry meanings. Inflectional morphology and related phenomena like gender and number agreement may long remain problematic for L2 learners, info that they carry is often redundan in lang. use. Accuracy in production in morphology is usually expected as part of advanced academic language competence. PHONOLOGY Mastery of the sound system considered the first priority. The following aspects of the sound system are likely to differ for L1 and L2: Which sounds are meaningful components of the phonological system (phonemes) Possible sequences of consonants and vowels (phonotactics) Which speech sounds can and cannot occur in combination with one another Intonation patterns (stress, pitch, duration) Rhythmic patterns (pauses and stops) SYNTAX All languages have structures for making statements, asking questions, denying assertions. Sentences in all languages consist of a subject and predicate.Linguists classify languages according to the typical order in which these components occur: SVO - Eng, Chinese, French, SV- Japanese, Turkish, VSO-Irish, Welsh, Samoan. Chinese speakers strugle with marking plurals on nouns,english speakers learning chinese need to internalize completely different system f gender based primarily on the shape of things. NONVERBAL STRUCTURES Include facial expressions, eye gaze, gestures, body position, spatial orientation or proxemics (physical distane from others) some have universal interpretations but many are conventional symbols with different meanings in diff. Lang. and cultures. Gestures occur more frequently in L2 contexts than in L1 communication among adults. The way they are learned depends on interaction with and feedback from L2 native speakers in second language settings. DISCOURSE Ling. Elements in discourse function beyond the scope of a single sentence. At a microstrutural discourse level, these include sequential indicators, logical connectors and other devices to create cohesion. At a macrostructural discourse level we go beyond linguistic elements to knowledge of organizational features that are characteristic of particular genres and of interactional strategies. Sequential indicators- ling. Elements that connect phrases, clauses pr longer units. (first, next, finally). Logical connectors occur between clauses or other grammatical constituents to indicate such relations between them as cause-effect (because, as a result). Cohesion devices - link one element of discourse to another integrating them into unified text (include sequential indicators and logical connectors) Types of cohesion in english: Reference (demonstrative art., comparatives-same, other, nominal and verbal substitutes etc) Ellipsis (nominal ellipsis, verbal ellipsis, clausal ellipsis) Conjuction ( additive-and, as well, Adversative-yet,but, temporal-then etc) Lexical (same item, synonym, collocation..) CONSTRATIVE RHETORIC- area of research that compares genre-specific conventions in different languages and cultures with particular focus on predicting and explaining problems in L2 academic and professional writing.

STRUCTURALISM

According to structuralism (Palmer, Fires), language systems consist of finite set of patterns or structures which act as models for the productions of an infinite number or similary constructed sentences. Repetition and practice results in the formation od accurate and fluent foreign language habit. It is important ot teach basic before encouraging learners to communicate their own thoughts and ideas. British theoriticians had a different focus on the version of structuralism and that is the notion of situation.

ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

An area of potential development, where the learner can achieve that potential only with assistance According to sociocultural theory, mental functions that are beyond an individual's current level must be performed in collaboration with other people before they are achieved independently When we interact with other people, that is where learning processes take place Language learning considers scaffolding one of the ways that can help learners develop their language within the zone of proximal development. Scaffolding is a type type of modified interaction between native speakers and non-native speakers in which experts provide learners with chunks of talk that the learners can then use to express concepts which are beyond their independent means.

WHAT DOES APTITUDE REPRESENT FOR SLA/CARROL'S APTITUDE TEST

Attempts to predict language learner success. 1.THE MODERN LANGUAGE ATTITUDE TEST (MLUT): Caroll and Sapun (1959) 2.THE PIMSLEUR LANUGAGE APTITUDE BATTERY (PLUB): Pinsleur (1966) The MLUT required prospective language learners to perform such tasks as: learning number, discriminating sounds, detecting spelling clues, grammatical patterns and memorizing - all either in the native language or using words and morphemes from a constructed hypothetical language Basic elements of Caroll's attitude test: 1. Phonemic coding ability - the capacity to process auditory input into segments which can be stored and retrieved 2. Inductive language learning ability - is concerned with central processing - the ability of the brain to infer structure, identify patterns, make generalizations, recognize the grammatical functions of elements and formulate rules 3. Grammatical sensitivity - as inductive language learning ability 4. Associative memory capacity - deals with linguistic items are stored and how they are recalled

FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES -external focus

Based on framework of functionalism. -emphasize the information content of utterances, consider language as primarily system of communication rather than set of rules - focus on performance and competence-no clear distinction.

BEHAVIORISM

Behaviourism claims that learining lanugage is similar to other types of learning. Humans are exposed to various stimuli in environment. The response give to those stimuli will be reinforced if the desired outcome is obtained. Through repeated reinforcement, a certain stimuls will evoke the same response over and over again, which will eventually become a habit. Learning any skill is viewed as a formation of habit. The second language learning process involves replacing habits of the 1st lanugage by a set of new ones. If structures of the L2 are similar to the L1, learning will take place easily. If structures are realized differently, learning will be difficult.

TOP DOWN AND BOTTOM UP - why are they important for SLA

Bottom-up processing necessitates previous knowledge of the language system (vocabulary, syntax, morphology, discourse structure) and interpretation of physical, graphic and auditory cues. o knowledge of vocabulary - needed to recognize words and to understand what they mean o knowledge of phonology - needed to recognize spoken words, to segment speech into grammatical units, and to relate written symbols to their spoken form o knowledge of morphology - needed to interpret complex lexical elements and to perceive grammatical information that is carried by inflections o knowledge of syntax - needed to recognize how words relate one to another and how they are constituted as phrases and clauses o knowledge of discourse - needed to interpret stretches of language that are longer than a single sentence Top-down processing - can make up for the constraints of linguistic knowledge such that learners can guess the meaning of words they do not know, and to make some sense out of larger chunks of written and oral texts. It uses previous knowledge of content, context, and culture which are important elements of communicative competence. Content knowledge is background information about the topic that is being read or listened to. Context knowledge includes information learned from what has already been read or heard in a specific text or situation, as well as understanding of what the writer's or speaker's intentions are. Culture knowledge includes an understanding of the wider social setting within which acts of reading and listening take place.

CHALLENGES TO S-C/COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Challenges to socioculturally oriented view of L2 acqusiition: (1) Some individuals are able to achieve a relatively advanced level of L2 proficiency without the benefit of any interpersonal communication or opportunity to negotiate meaning in the language with others. (This can be explained by learner engagement with text and electronic media as types of "social interaction," as well as intrapersonal communication in the form of private speech and writing, or of inner speech. Such learners would not have the benefit of scaffolding with immediate help from other humans, but corrective feedback and other potential enhancements to SLA can be provided by other means) (2) Some individuals engage in extensive interaction with speakers of another language without learning that language to any significant degree. (Explaining why some individuals apparently interact quite successfully with others while developing little or no competence in a common linguistic code requires a closer look at what other strategies are used for communication) COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES: • Background knowledge and experience which help individuals organize new information and make guesses about what is going on and what will happen next • Understanding of the overall situation or event, including its goal, the relationships among participants, and what they expect one another to do and say • Extralinguistic context, including physical setting and objects • Knowledge of genre-specific discourse structures: e.g. what rules for interaction are expected in a conversation versus a lesson at school, and what sequence of actions is likely • Gestures, facial expressions, and other nonverbal signs • Prosodic features of tone and stress to convey emotional state

SOCIAL CONTEXT/communicative competence

Communicative competence: A basic tenet of sociolinguistics defined as "what a speaker needs to know to communicate appropriately within a particular language community" by Saville Troike By Bachmann, it is the grammatical textual illocutionary sociolinguistic competence. The term language community refers to a group of people who share knowledge of a common language to at least some extent. Multilingual individuals are often members of more than one language community. Differences between monolingual and multilingual communicative competence are due in part to the different social functions of first and second language learning, and to the differences between learning language and learning culture. L1 learning for children is an integral part of their socialization into their native language community. L2 learning may be part of second culture learning and adaptation, but the relationship of SLA to social and cultural learning differs greatly with circumstances. To summarize the interactionist perspective, then: what is acquired in L2 includes only that portion of L2 input "which is assimilated and fed into the IL system"; L2 is acquired in a dynamic interplay of external input and internal processes, with interaction facilitating (but not causing) SLA; and the reasons that some learners are more successful than others include their degree of access to social experiences which allow for negotiation of meaning and corrective feedback. However, reciprocal interaction as a source and stimulus for learning ignores "autodidacts" who teach themselves from books and recordings. Further, this perspective addresses in only a limited way the evidence for universal sequencing in L2 learning.

SIMULTANEOUS BILINGUALISM

Compound bilingualism, believed by many to characterize simultaneous bilingualism in early childhood (before the age of 3 years). 2 native languages for an individual.

RECEPTIVE ACTIVITIES (reading and listening)

Comprehension of written or spoken language involves bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing requires prior knowledge of the language system (vocabulary, morphology, phonology,syntax..) and interpretation of physical (graphic, auditory) cues. Knowledge of vocabulary-needed to recognize and understand words, knowl. Of morphology- interpret complex lexical elements. We can assume that prior linguistic knowledge is automatically available to L1 and highly skilled L2 speakers. At early stages bottom-up processing is limited to visual and auditory recognition of the limited set of words and word combinations. Understanding is a bit fregmentary. Top-down processing- can compensate for linguistic limitations to some extent by allowing learners to guess the meaning of words they have not encountered before and to make some sense out of larger chunks of written or oral text. Utilizes prior knowledge of content, context and culture. Content knowledge is background information about the topic that is being read about or listened to. It also includes info learned from what has already been read or heard in specific text or situation. Culture knowledge- includes content and context and also includes an understanding of the wider social setting within which acts of reading and listening take place. READING Reading is the most important area of activity for individuals to engage in for the development of L2 academic competence, and it is important as well for interpersonal functions and for merely "getting along" in any literate society. Six component abilities and types of knowledge that are involved in the activity (Grabe 1991): (1) Automatic recognition ability . Automatic (as opposed to conscious) word perception and identification is necessary for fluency. There is also some evidence that lower-level automaticity is important (e.g. at feature and letter levels), as well as automatic recognition of syntactic structures. (2) Vocabulary and structural knowledge . Fluent reading requires a large recognition vocabulary (some estimates range up to 100,000 words) and a sound knowledge of grammatical structure. (3) Formal discourse structure knowledge . Good readers know how a text is organized, including ( culture-specific) logical patterns of organization for such contrasts as cause-effect and problem-solution relations. (4) Content/world background knowledge . Good readers have both more prior cultural knowledge about a topic and more text-related information than those who are less proficient. (5) Synthesis and evaluation processes/strategies . Fluent readers evaluate information in texts and compare it with other sources of knowledge; they go beyond merely trying to comprehend what they read. (6) Metacognitive knowledge and comprehension monitoring . Fluent readers have [unconscious] knowledge about knowledge of language and about using appropriate strategies for understanding texts and processing information. Monitoring involves both recognizing problems that occur in the process of interpreting information in a text, and awareness of non-comprehension. Fluency in reading takes time to develop in either L1 or L2, but it is an essential aspect of academic competence. Most L2 learners have already learned to read their L1 and thus do not need to begin acquiring this ability anew: there is significant transfer of knowledge and ability from reading in one language to reading in another. The basic concept of deriving meaning from abstract written/printed symbols is the same in most languages, and the same top-down strategies for making inferences, using prior knowledge, and reasoning are applicable. Functions for reading in academic settings, which are listed here in order of their likely difficulty for L2 learners (from least to most difficult) (Grabe): • Reading to find information : scan or search text for a specific topic, word, or phrase • Reading for general understanding : get the main ideas and at least some supporting ideas and information • Reading to learn : understand the main ideas and store meanings and supporting details in a coherent organizational frame • Reading to critique and evaluate : in addition, reflect on text content, integrate it with prior knowledge, and judge quality and appropriateness of texts in relation to what is already known about the topic Beginning L2 reading: Learners whose L1 is written in a different orthographic system from their L2 need to be able to recognize symbols in the target language as an early step, although they may learn to recognize a number of words by their appearance as whole units before they can identify constituent parts. Depending on how much prior oral knowledge of the L2 that learners have before starting to read, rate of progress through beginning stages will vary greatly. Learners who are literate in their L1 and who already recognize a substantial amount of L2 vocabulary and basic grammatical structures can expect to extract a significant amount of information from written L2 text as soon as they can process its graphic representation. Academic reading: Advanced reading ability in both L1 and L2 is usually required to extract detailed information from L2 texts on science, technology, and other subject matter involving both linguistic and nonlinguistic prerequisite knowledge. Prerequisite L2 linguistic knowledge includes: • A large recognition vocabulary of both basic and subject-specific terms, including their meaning, graphic representation, and probability of occurrence with other lexical items. • Complex sentence structures, along with punctuation conventions that contribute to syntactic processing. • Organization features at the sentence level which identify elements that are in focus and distinguish old and new information. • Organization features at the discourse level, such as how texts are structured and how information is organized (Grabe 2002 ). Development of advanced academic reading proficiency requires extensive exposure to written text. Because vocabulary, grammar, and discourse structures differ in the kind of language used for academic versus interpersonal purposes, and in written versus oral channels, academic text material provides the most appropriate source of language input for this purpose. Once advanced reading proficiency has been attained, it can often be maintained at a high level without help from a teacher and even if there is minimal opportunity for exposure to face-to-face interaction or other sources of continuing L2 input. LISTENING Listening is a critically important activity, however, both for learners who want or need to participate in oral interpersonal communication and for learners who want or need to receive information from such oral sources as lectures and media broadcasts. One way to classify listening tasks is on a continuum from reciprocal to non-reciprocal communication (Lynch 1998 ). Participation in face-to-face interpersonal interaction is at the reciprocal end of this continuum, and listening to radio or TV news broadcasts is at the non-reciprocal end. Listening to academic lectures or conference presentations has the potential to be relatively more, or less, reciprocal depending on whether listeners have the opportunity to ask questions of the speaker and participate in discussion. Reciprocal communication requires learners to speak as well as to listen, and to collaborate in the negotiation of meaning. Nonreciprocal communication places heavier requirements on the listener for processing input and constructing meaning " online" or in real time, without being able to request repetition or clarification. Another way to classify listening activities is according to whether they require general or selective listening. General listening requires only that listeners get the general gist of the message, while selective listening requires perception and comprehension of important details. Selective listening is common for academic lectures in which students are expected to note facts such as names, places, and dates, but also occurs in reciprocal interpersonal conversations such as when the listener is invited to be in a certain place at a particular time. The theory of SLA most commonly used to account for listening phenomena is Information Processing (objasnjenje: The first stage is input , or perception which requires noticing relevant auditory cues. This requires much more conscious attention and effort for L2 reception than for L1, especially in early language learning. The next stage is central processing , involving both the bottom-up and top-down factors which were discussed above. Bottom-up processing must be under a high degree of attentional control until components of L2 knowledge become automatic, and many linguistic cues to meaning are inaccessible because of learners' limited store of phonological, lexical, and grammatical information. Limits are also imposed by the mental "working space" required for conscious processing, which leaves relatively little capacity for new information and higher-order thought. Top-down factors such as prior content knowledge and expectations may already be automatized and available for integration, even at early levels of L2 learning. Nastavak objasnjenja: This facilitates comprehension, the unconscious and automatic access that listeners have to prior knowledge of content, context, and culture may be inappropriate in the L2 situation and could account for some misunderstanding. In addition to potential inappropriate transfer of prior knowledge in top -down processing, interference in bottom-up processing commonly results from transfer from a listener's L1 phonological system. Beginning L2 listening: Beginning L2 learners can begin to create sense from auditory input most easily if: • They know in advance what the speaker is going to be talking about. • Key words and phrases are learned as recognition vocabulary elements before they are encountered in connected speech. • Speakers pause frequently at boundaries between parts of sentences. • Auditory messages are supported by visual images (including writing). • The communicative situation is a reciprocal one that allows the listener to seek repetition and clarification, or to ask the speaker to slow down. Many nonlinguistic factors also influence comprehensibility in beginning L2 listening. Interference can be caused by: • Poor signal quality (such as static or sound distortion) • Background noise • Any distraction of the listener's attention • Affective features such as anxiety Considered within the Information Processing approach to SLA, repetition can enhance noticing and contribute to automatization , by facilitating faster processing of input, and the ability to process longer segments in "working memory."

CONNECTIONIST APPROACH/Parallel Distributed Processing

Connectionist approaches to learning have much in common with IP perspectives, but they focus on the increasing strength of associations between stimuli and responses rather than on the inferred abstraction of "rules" or on restructuring. From a connectionist perspective learning essentially is change in the strength of these connections. Connectionism has received widespread attention as a model for first and second language acquisition only since the 1980s. -The best-known connectionist approach within SLA is Parallel Distributed Processing , or PDP . According to this viewpoint, processing takes place in a network of nodes (or "units") in the brain that are connected by pathways. As learners are exposed to repeated patterns of units in input, they extract regularities in the patterns; probabilistic associations are formed and strengthened. These associations between nodes are called connection strengths or patterns of activation . The strength of the associations changes with the frequency of input and nature of feedback. The claim that such learning is not dependent on either a store of innate knowledge (such as Universal Grammar) or rule-formation is supported by computer simulations. (ako pita nadodaj: For example, Rumelhart and McClelland ( 1986 ) demonstrated that a computer that is programmed with a "pattern associator network" can learn to associate English verb bases with their appropriate past tense forms without any a-priori "rules," and that it does so with much the same learning curve as that exhibited by children learning English L1.) Difference between connectionist/PDP viewpoint from traditional IP: (1) Attention is not viewed as a central mechanism that directs information between separate memory stores, which IP claims are available for controlled processing versus automatic processing. Rather, attention is a mechanism that is distributed throughout the processing system in local patterns. (2) Information processing is not serial in nature: i.e. it is not a "pipeline . . . in which information is conveyed in a fixed serial order from one storage structure to the next" (Robinson 1995 :288). Instead, processing is parallel: many connections are activated at the same time. (3) Knowledge is not stored in memory or retrieved as patterns, but as "connection strengths" between units which account for the patterns being recreated. Many connections in the brain must be activated all at once to account for successful production and interpretation of language, and not processed in sequence. There is an assumption that transfer from L1 to L2 occurs because strong associations already established in L1 interfere with establishment of the L2 network. Because frequency is the primary determinant of connection strength, it might be predicted that the most common patterns in L1 would be the most likely to cause interference in L2, but research on transfer from linguistic perspectives does not support this conclusion in any strong sense because L1-L2 relationships are not that simple. One counterargument is that some of the most frequent words in English (including the most frequent, the ) are relatively late to appear, and among the last (if ever) to be mastered.

CONSTRUCTIONISM

Constructionism- an approach to SLA which has been formulated within Chomsky's Minimalist Program, considers IL development as the progressive mastery of L2 vocabulary along with the morphological features (which specify word form) that are part of lexical knowledge. While the general principles and parameters that constitute UG do not need to be learned, "morphological paradigms must gradually be added to the lexicon, just like words. Failure to reach a state of full feature specification in the lexicon is seen as the primary reason that many L2 learners fossilize at an intermediate level of development without attaining near-native competence.

CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS

Contrastive analysis is the study of two languages in contact. It is an approach to the study of sla which involves predicting and explaining learning problems based on the comparison of L1 and L2 to determine similarities and differences. It was influenced by structuralism and behaviourism. The main proponent of this approach was Robert Lado. According to Svile Troike, the focus of the CA are the surface forms of both L1 and L2 systems. The goal was to describe and compare languages one level at the time, placing the focus on structure before meaning. Main assumptions in CA are that lang. Acquistion involves habit formations in the process of sitmulus-response-reinforcement and that transfer of element acquired in in the L1 would occur in the L2. The North American tradition has the emphasis on language teaching and by implication language learning (improving classroom materials). The European tradition claims that the goal of language comparison is to gain a greater understanding of language. Strong view of CA held that we can predict problems of language learning based on differences and similarities of the two languages. Weak view has a focus on the analysis of learner's recurring errors. The CA approach of the 40s and 60s was not adequate for the study of SLA because the behaviourist learning theory to which CA is tied cannot explain the logical problem of language learning.

Error analysis Contrasitve analysis Universal grammar Monitor Model Morpheme order studies Interlanguage Behaviourism Structuralism

Corder Robert Lado Noam Chomsky Stephen Krashen Roger Brown Larry Selinker Skinner Palmer, Fries

DIFFERENCES IN LEARNERS - AGE

Critical period for language acquisition refers to a biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired more easily and beyond which time language is increasingly difficult to acquire because brain loses its plasticity. Younger learners achieve ultimately higher levels of L2 proficiency, while adults learn faster in the initial stages. Younger advantage: brain plasticity, not analytical, fewer inhibitions, weaker group identity, simplified input more likely. Older advantage: learning capacity, analytic ability, pragmatic skills, greater knowledge of L1, real-world knowledge

SYSTEMATIC LINGUISTICS

Developed by HALLIDAY, late 1950s. model of analyzing language in terms of interrelated systems of choices that are available for expressing meaning. Basic to the approach is the notion that language strucftures cannot be idealized and studied without taking into considerarion the circumstances of their use, including the extralinguistic social context. Language axquisition must be seen as the mastery of linguistic functions. Learning one's mother tongue is learning the use of language, and the meanings, or rather the meaning potential associated with them. The structures, the words and the sounds are the realizations of this meaning potential. Learning language is learning how to mean

INFORMATION PROCESSING/declarative,procedural/U-shaped

Developed by John Anderson in 1976. It argues that language learning is similar to other skills. IP approaches focus on the way in which the brain's processing mechanisms deal with the L2 investigates how different memory stores (short-term memory - STM, long-term memory - LTM, declarative and proceeding memory) deal with new L2 information and how this information is automatized and restructured through repeated activation. IP approach (McLaughlin 1987:133) 1. Second language learning is the acquisition of a complex cognitive skill. Learning is like the acquisition of other complex skills 2. Complex skills are made up of simpler component skills, which are hierarchically organized. Lower-order component skills must be learnt before higher-order skills. 3. Learning of a skill requires learners' attention, and thus involves controlled processing 4. Controlled processing requires considerable mental space, or attentional effort 5. Humans are limited-capacity processors. They can attend to a limited number of controlled processing demands at one dime. 6. Learners go from controlled processing to automatic processing with practice. Automatic processing requires less mental "space" and attentional effort. 7. Learning essentially involves development from controlled to automatic processing of component skills - making the learner ready for new information and higher-order skills 8. Learning also essentially involves restructuring or reorganization of mental representations. 9. Reorganizing mental representations - makes structures more coordinated, integrated, and efficient, including faster response time when they are activated. 10. In SLA, restructuring of internal L2 representations, along with larger stores in memory, accounts for increasing levels of L2 proficiency. Saville - Information processing consist of 3 stages :INPUT- reception, CENTRAL PROCESSING - Controlled-automatic processing, Declarative-procedural knowledge, Restructuring, OUTPUT - production Input for SLA is whatever sample of L2 that learners are exposed to, but it is not available for processing unless learners actually notice it: i.e. pay attention to it. Then it can become intake. According to Richard Schmidt ( 1990 ) following features are likely contributors to the degree of noticing or awareness which will occur: • Frequency of encounter with items • Perceptual saliency of items • Instructional strategies that can structure learner attention • Individuals' processing ability (a component of aptitude ) • Readiness to notice particular items (related to hierarchies of complexity) • Task demands, or the nature of activity the learner is engaged in Output for SLA is the language that learners produce, in speech/sign or in writing. Meaningful production practice helps learners by: • Enhancing fluency by furthering development of automaticity through practice • Noticing gaps in their own knowledge as they are forced to move from semantic to syntactic processing, which may lead learners to give more attention to relevant information • Testing hypotheses based on developing interlanguage, allowing for monitoring and revision • Talking about language, including eliciting relevant input and (collaboratively) solving problems Central processing is where learning occurs. It is here that learners go from controlled to automatic processing, and where restructuring of knowledge takes place. It is possible to test for degree of automatization because controlled processing requires more time. In the model of learning that was proposed by Anderson ( 1976 ), development from declarative to procedural stages of knowledge is parallel to development from controlled to automatic processing in many respects. The declarative stage involves acquisition of isolated facts and rules; processing is relatively slow and often under attentional control. Development to the procedural stage involves processing of longer associated units and increasing automatization, which frees attentional resources for higherlevel skills. Proceduralization requires practice. The restructuring that takes place during central processing makes mental representations more coordinated, integrated, and efficient. L2 development is a partially discontinuous plane along which there is regular systemic reorganization and reformulation. Two types of evidence from learners' speech and writing are often cited. One is the sequence of acquisition which learners exhibit when they produce unanalyzed chunks of L2 correctly and then make errors as they restructure the elements they have processed in accord with newly formulated patterns and rules. U-shaped development - A sequence of acquisition for elements of both L1 and L2 where learners use an initially correct form such as plural feet (which they first learn as an unanalyzed word), then an incorrect foots (which shows they have learned the English plural formation rule of foot + -s ). Finally, learners return to feet when they begin to acquire exceptions to the plural inflection rule. MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL One of the best known of these approaches is the Multidimensional Model , developed by researchers who initially studied the German L2 learning of adult L1 speakers of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese in the ZISA project. Soem of its claims are: • Learners acquire certain grammatical structures in a developmental sequence. • Developmental sequences reflect how learners overcome processing limitations. • Language instruction which targets developmental features will be successful only if learners have already mastered the processing operations which are associated with the previous stage of acquisition. According to Clahsen ( 1984 ) and in relation to the IP constraint of limited capacity: "linguistic structures which require a high degree of processing capacity will be acquired late." He sets up this hierarchy: (1) Canonical Order Strategy : There is no reordering from "basic" word order. Structures which can be processed with this strategy will be acquired first. (2) Initialization/Finalization Strategy : Reordering which moves underlying elements into the first or last position in a grammatical string are perceptually more salient, and thus easier to process than permutations to internal positions. (3) Subordinate Clause Strategy : Reordering in subordinate clauses is not allowed. PROCESSABILITY THEORY BY PIENEMANN A reorientation of the Multidimensional Model is known as Processability Theory. it also has the aim of determining and explaining the sequences in which processing skills develop in relation to language learning. The following acquisitional hierarchy of processing skills is proposed: (1) Lemma/word access : Words (or lemmas ) are processed, but they do not yet carry any grammatical information, nor are they yet associated with any ordering rules. (2) Category procedure : Lexical items are categorized, and grammatical information may be added (e.g. number and gender to nouns, tense to verbs). (3) Phrasal procedure : Operations within the phrase level occur, such as agreement for number or gender between adjective and noun within the noun phrase. (4) S-procedure : Grammatical information may be exchanged across phrase boundaries, such as number agreement between subject and verb. (5) Clause boundary : Main and subordinate clause structures may be handled differently. -processing skill at level 1 is a prerequisite for processing skill at level 2, level 2 is prerequisite for level 3, and so forth. The sequence of strategies describes the developing learner grammar in terms of processing prerequisites needed to acquire grammatical (syntactic and morphological) rules at successive stages. It has been tested by researchers with supportive results. Claims that language instruction will be effective only if it targets the next stage in an L2 learner's developmental sequence (rather than more advanced levels) have been tested on many languages since the 1970s and results were mixed and indicated that at least for some structures, and for some learners, instruction at a more advanced level can be more efficient. Complexities include the type of instruction (e.g. whether explicit contrastive L1-L2 information on the structure is presented), and the degree to which L1 knowledge may be applicable. However, these complexities do not appear to invalidate claims about order of acquisition; even when learners profit from more advanced levels of instruction, they progress through the same developmental sequence. Competition Model by Bates and MacWhinney This is a functional approach which assumes that all linguistic performance involves "mapping" between external form and internal function. The form of a lexical item is represented by its auditory properties, and its function by its semantic properties; the forms of strings of lexical items are word-order patterns and morphological inflections, and their functions are grammatical. (example ako bude trazila: For example, for the word horse the form is represented by the sounds [hors]; the function is the meaning of a four-legged, hay-eating animal. In the sentence Horses eat hay , the word orders of horses before and hay after the verb are forms; the functions are to convey that horses is the subject and hay is the object. The inflection -s on horses is also a form; its function is to convey that more than one horse is being referred to.) This approach considers that learning the system of Form-function mapping is basic for L1 acquisition. SLA involves adjusting the internalized system of mapping that exists in the learner's L1 to one that is appropriate for the target language. Multiple cues are available simultaneously in input; language processing essentially involves "competition" among the various cues. For example, for the grammatical function of subject, possible cues are word order , agreement , case marking , and animacy The relative strength of word order as a cue in English over the other possibilities can be tested by presenting native speakers with sentences such as these and asking them to identify the subject or agent in each An English L1 speaker learning Japanese as L2 might inappropriately transfer the strong word-order cue to initial form-function mapping (and identify the wrong noun phrase as subject if it occurred first), whereas native speakers of Japanese might transfer their L1 cue weights to English L2 and also provide nonnative interpretations. Acquisition of appropriate form-function mappings is driven primarily by the probability that a particular functional interpretation should be chosen in the presence of a particular cue. If the probability is high, the cue is reliable. The determinants of cue strength: • Task frequency : how often the form-function mapping occurs. The vast majority of English sentences have a subject before the verb, so the mapping of word-order form to subject function is very frequent. • Contrastive availability : when the cue is present, whether or not it has any contrastive effect. In example (a) above, for instance ( The cow kicks the horse ), the third person singular - s on the verb agrees with both noun phrases and so the agreement cue tells nothing about which is the subject. An available cue must occur contrastively if it is to be useful. • Conflict reliability : how often the cue leads to a correct interpretation when it is used in comparison to other potential cues. -Transfer of L1 cue strengths to L2 is the most likely outcome in early stages of SLA when the systems differ, but research has shown that some learners ultimately abandon L1 cue strengths in favor of L2, while some compromise and merge the two systems, and some differentiate between the languages in this aspect of processing.

INFORMATION PROCESSING

Developed by John Anderson in 1976. It argues that language learning is similar to other skills. IP approaches focus on the way in which the brain's processing mechanisms deal with the L2 investigates how different memory stores (short-term memory - STM, long-term memory - LTM, declarative and proceeding memory) deal with new L2 information and how this information is automatized and restructured through repeated activation. IP approach (McLaughlin 1987:133) 1. Second language learning is the acquisition of a complex cognitive skill. Learning is like the acquisition of other complex skills 2. Complex skills are made up of simpler component skills, which are hierarchically organized. Lower-order component skills must be learnt before higher-order skills. 3. Learning of a skill requires learners' attention, and thus involves controlled processing 4. Controlled processing requires considerable mental space, or attentional effort 5. Humans are limited-capacity processors. They can attend to a limited number of controlled processing demands at one dime. 6. Learners go from controlled processing to automatic processing with practice. Automatic processing requires less mental "space" and attentional effort. 7. Learning essentially involves development from controlled to automatic processing of component skills - making the learner ready for new information and higher-order skills 8. Learning also essentially involves restructuring or reorganization of mental representations. 9. Reorganizing mental representations - makes structures more coordinated, integrated, and efficient, including faster response time when they are activated. 10. In SLA, restructuring of internal L2 representations, along with larger stores in memory, accounts for increasing levels of L2 proficiency. Saville - Information processing consist of 3 stages: INPUT- reception, CENTRAL PROCESSING - Controlled-automatic processing, Declarative-procedural knowledge, Restructuring, OUTPUT - production

SCHUMANN'S PIDGINIZATION OR ACCULTURATION MODEL

Early interlanguage resembles pidgin languages (simplified trading languages with no native speakers) with characteristic features such as fixed word order and a lack of inflections. L2 acquisition was compared to complexification of pidgin and this process was linked to the degree of acculturation of learnes. The closer they feel to the target language speech community, the better learners will acculturate and more successful their L2 will be. The more alienated from that community they perceive themselves to be, the more pidgin like their L2 will remind.

VYGOTSKY - SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY

Focuses on how learners negotiate meaning and fulfil pragmatic objectives. Learning occurs when simple innate mental activities are transformed into „higher order", more complex mental functions. This transformation typically involves symbolic mediation which is a link between person's current mental state and higher-order functions. The result of learning through mediation is students having heightened awareness of their own mental abilities and more control over their thought processes. Sociocultural theory S-C theory: - interaction not only facilitates lang learning but it is causitive force in acquisition; all of learning is seen as essentially a social process which is grounded in sociocultural settings. • learning occurs when simple innate mental activities are transformed into "higher order," more complex mental functions. This transformation typically involves symbolic mediation which is a link between person's current mental state and higher-order functions. Symbolic mediation • a link between a person's current mental state and higher order functions that is provided mainly by language. • Refers to all forms of learning • The results of learning through mediation: learners' having heightened awareness of their own mental abilities and more control over their thought processes. Interpersonal interaction • Interpersonal interaction involves communicative events and situation which happen between people. • One important context from symbolic mediation is such interpersonal interaction between learners and experts ('experts' include teachers and more knowledgeable learners). ð Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) ð area of potential development, where the learner can achieve that potential only with assistance. ð According to S-C Theory, mental functions that are beyond an individual's current level must be performed in collaboration with other people before they are achieved independently. Learner can do unaided -Learner cannot do Scaffolding • "vertical constructions" as a type of modified interaction between NSs and NNs, in which experts commonly provide learners with chunks of talk that the learners can then use to express concepts which are beyond their independent means. ð This type of mediation also occurs when peers collaborate in constructing language which exceeds the competence of any individual among them. • Intrapersonal interaction: communication that occurs within an individual's own mind • viewed by Vygotsky as a sociocultural phenomenon. Examples: ð Reading ð Translation ð Private speech and Private writing

CONNECTIONIST APPROACHES

Focuses on the increasing strength of associations between stimuli and responses rather than on inferred abstraction of „rules" or on restructuring. Connectionist persp. Implies that learning takes place when there is change in strenght of this connections. Most known connectionist approach- Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) - processing takes place in a network of nodes (units) in the brain that are connected by pathways. As learners are exposed to repeated patterns of units in input, they extract regularities in the patterns, probabilistic associations are formed and strenghtened. The strenght of the association changes with the frequency of input and nature of feedback. Difference from IP: • Attention not viewed as central mechanism that directs info between separate memory stores - attention is a mechanism that is distributed throughout the processing system in local patterns • IP is not serial in nature, processing is parallel-many connections activated at the same time • Knowledge not stored in memory or retreived by patterns, but as "connection strengths" between units which account for the patterns being recreated PARALLEL PROCESSING: when task simulatneously tap entirely different resources such as talking to a cell phone while riding a bycicle - or talking or reading when encoding phonology, ayntacti structure, meaning - happen simutaneously Many connections in the brain must be activated simultaneously all at once to account for successful production and interpretation of language - and not processed in a sequence. (one after another) Little research for SLA - assumption: transfer from L1 to L2 occurs because strong associations already established in L1 interfere with establichment of the L2 network FREQUENCY - rimary determinant of connection strength - most common patterns in L1 would be the most likely to cause interfernce -FALSE Also, frequent words in English are relatively late to appear, and among last to be mastered. (the)

THE LOGICAL PROBLEM OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

How is it possible for children to achieve the final state of L1 development with general ease and compelte success, given the complexity of the linguistic system which they acquire and their immature cognitive capacity at the age they do so? More recent points of view claim that children have an innate language ability. First, chilren often say things that adults do not. Second, children do not learn language by imitation because they do not imitate adults well when asked to do so. Third, children use language in accordance with general universal rules of language even though they have not yet developed the cognitive ability necessary to understand these rules. POVERTY OF THE STIMULUS ARGUMENT - children's knowledge of language goes beyond what could be learned from the input they receive. Children often hear incomplete or ungrammatical utterances along with grammatical input, but they do not incorporate the ungrammatical input in their L1 system. They receive simplified input from adults, yet develop complex linguistic competence. They produce an infinite number of sentences which they have never heard before and their linguistic competence includes knowledge of which sentences are not possible. PARADOX OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (Jackendoff) - Constraints and principles which govern language cannot be learned because children acquire a first language at an age when such abstractions are beyond their comprehension. Constraints and principles are thus outside the realm of learning processes which are related to general intelligence. LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS- there are similar patterns in child acquisition of any language in the world.

THE ROLE OF NATURAL ABILITY/SOCIAL EXT/STAGES/FOSSILIZATION

Humans are born with natural ability and innate capacity to learn lang. This explains the following: • Children begin to learn their L1 at the same age and in the same way no matter what lang. • Children master the basic phonological and grammatical operations in their L1 by the age of 5/6 regardless of lang. • Children can understand and create novel utterances (not limited to repeating what they've heard) • There is a sensitive cut-off age for L1 acquisition beyond which it can never be complete • Acquisition of L1 is not simply a facet of general intelligence THE ROLE OF SOCIAL EXP: -Even if the universal properties of language are preprogrammed in children, they must learn all of those features which distinguish their L1 from all other possible human languages. Children will never acquire such language-specific knowledge unless that language is used with them and around them, and they will learn to use only the language(s) used around them, no matter what their linguistic heritage. Appropriate social experience, including L1 input and interaction, is thus a necessary condition for acquisition. Intentional L1 teaching to young children is not necessary and may have little effect. Some parents "correct" their children's immature pronunciation and grammar but most do not, and there is no noticeable change in rate of acquisition among children who receive such instruction. -As long as children are experiencing adequate L1 input interaction from people around them, the rate and sequence of their phonological and grammatical development does not appear to vary systematically according to its source, although children's pronunciation is naturally influenced by the regional and social varieties or styles of the L1 which they hear. There is considerable variance in vocabulary knowledge depending on social context, however, because vocabulary is typically learned in conjunction with social experiences. There is also variation to some extent in what functions of speaking children learn to use at an early age depending on social experience. -When young children's social experience includes people around them using two or more languages, they have the same innate capacity to learn both or all of them, along with the same ability to learn the languagespecific features of each without instruction. L1 versus L2 learning- STAGES: INITIAL STAGE-children learning L1 in initial stage is aided by their innate capacity which adults learning L2 do no longer possess. Natural ability to aquire lang. lost with age. The initial state of L1 learning thus is composed solely of an innate capacity for language acquisition which may or may not continue to be available for L2, or may be available only in some limited ways. The initial state for L2 learning, on the other hand, has resources of L1 competence, world knowledge, and established skills for interaction, which can be both an asset and an impediment. INTERMEDIATE STATE- L1 users possess child grammar, while L2 users possess learner language (interlanguage) in the initial state of this stage. Slowly through processes, necessary conditions and (for L2 learners) facilitating conditions, they move towards their final stage. L1 learners (children) mature, and need input and reciprocal interaction, while L2 learners need only input. L1 learners do not need facilitating conditions, so this stage's reserved for L2 learners. -The processes refer to the processes of transfer. As children mature so do their lang. abilities, with L2 learners cognitive maturity is no longer a significant factor. Transfer of prior knowledge from L1 to L2 occurs: • +positive transfer- when L1 structure or rule is used in an L2 utterance and it is correct in the L2 • -negative transfer-when L1 structure or rule is used in an L2 utterance and that use is inappropriate or considered an error. -When the conditions are concerned, L1 learners (children) mature, and need input and reciprocal interaction, while L2 learners need only input. Facilitating factors also play a crucial role in facilitating learning for L2 learners: • Feedback , including correction of L2 learners' errors • Aptitude , including memory capacity and analytic ability • Motivation , or need and desire to learn • Instruction , or explicit teaching in school settings FINAL STATE -the outcome of L1 or L2 learning . The final state of L1 is native linguistic competence. Final state of L2 cannot be completely native linguistic competence. Some learners reach near native or native-like competence. Many cease at some point to make further progress due to fossilization. Fossilization - A stable state in SLA where learners cease their interlanguage development before they reach target norms despite continuing L2 input and passage of time.

INTERLANGUAGE IN UG

If at least some access to UG is retained by L2 learners, then the process of IL development is in large part one of resetting parameters on the basis of input in the new language. Learners change the parameter setting because the L2 input they receive does not match the L1 setting they have. If learning principles that are part of the language facutly are also still availabe, then sufficient information to make these changes is available from the positive evidence they recceive (e.g. input that is provided from experiencing L2 in natural use). Negative evidence, including explicit correction, is often also provided to L2 learners, and this probably plays a role in parameter resetting for older learners.

INTERMEDIATE STATE IN L1 AND L2

In the intermediate state covers all stages of basic language development. This includes the maturation changes which take place in „child grammar" and L2 delevopmental sequence called learner language. The development of both L1 and L2 is largely systematic. Development of L1 child grammar is closely related with cognitive maturation, while the development of learner language depends on cross-linguistic influence, or transfer of prior knowledge from L1 to L2. Positive transfer occurs when L1 strucutre can be correctly used in L2, and negative transfer (or interference) occurs when L1 strucutre cannot be used in L2. Language input is absolutely necessary for either L1 or L2 learning to take place. Facilitating conditions for L2 acquisition include feedback, aptitude, motivation and instruction.

COMPLEXITY THEORY

It is also called Dynamic Systems Theory, Complex Systems Theory, and Chaos Theory. The approach traces its roots to theoretical developments in the natural sciences, where its general goal has been to describe and explain change in complex systems CT differs fundamentally from most linguistic approaches in denying that any innate mental faculty for language is required in an account of either first or second language acquisition. In this important respect it agrees with common views in psychology that learning is essentially the same process in any domain (not just language). CT also differs from many psychological perspectives, however, in integrating considerations of social and contextual factors along with cognitive ones in attempting to describe and explain the processes of SLA. A basic concept in Complexity Theory as it applies to SLA is that all languages, and varieties of language, are complex systems with interconnected components and stages of learner language. Saying that a complex system has interconnected components means that levels of language like phonology, vocabulary, and discourse are interdependent in their development. The dynamic process accounts for the formation of patterns in the development of both first and second language acquisition, as well as all other complex systems in nature. The way it differs from UG and other functional approaches: that basic rules and constraints of grammar are uniquely hard-wired in the brain. According to Complexity Theory, "these regularities are not rule-driven; there are no mechanisms for such top-down governance. Instead, they emerge from the dynamics of language usage." This approach, however, presents some problems for researchers who need to control variables in order to predict outcomes in different learning circumstances.

ERROR ANALYSIS

It is based on the description and analysis of actual learner errors in L2, rather than on idealized linguistic structures attributed to native speakers of L1 and L2 (as in CA). Corder claimed that errors are windows into the language learner's mind. In this approach, learner language is viewed as a target of analysis which is potenentially independent of L1 and L2. The state of learner knowledge is seen as a transitional competence on the path of SLA. The procedure for analyzing learner errors include the following steps: collection of a sample of learner lang., identification of errors (systematic errors which result from learner's lack of L2 knowledge and mistakes which are the result of some kind of processing failure), description of errors (interlingual or intralingual), evaluation of errors. SHORTCOMINGS: ambiguity in clsssification, lack of positive data, potential for avoidance, influence of L2 curricula.

LINGUISTIC INTERFACES

It is the most important recent development within Chomsky's generative linguistic theory. While the primary focus of UG theory and research remains on syntax, attention to linguistic interfaces greatly enhances the importance accorded different types of meaning: lexical, grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic/discourse This approach continues Chomsky's early claim that the language faculty is modular (with separate components for syntax, phonology, semantics, etc.) -Lexical meaning resides in the words that are stored in our mental dictionaries. some of the words that we acquire are equivalent in meaning to words that we know in our L1, but many are not translation equivalents. -Grammatical meaning is often carried by inflectional morphology, including information about number, gender, tense, and aspect. The form cats , for instance, includes the lexical meaning of cat plus the grammatical marking of "plural." -Semantic meaning at the phrase and sentence levels requires processing the combined lexical and grammatical meanings of all the words in a phrase or sentence plus their order, which is a syntax-semantics interface. -Pragmatic/discourse meaning adds consideration of context and realworld knowledge, and may be accounted for as a syntax-pragmatic/ discourse interface. -Some aspects of these interfaces may be universal and not require learning, others show differences between L1 and L2. These may be a significant source of transfer between languages as well as contributors to incomplete second language learning (i.e. fossilization). Lexical and grammatical meaning present the greatest challenges in multilingual acquisition because those modules capture language variation. Phraseand sentence-level semantics often requires some resetting of parameters in L2, but choices are very limited, and principles are common to all languages. In short, linguistic interfaces is a recent development within Chomsky's generative linguistic theory that continues to view language components such as the lexicon and morphology as separate, but recognizes the need for some interface in their processing. Differences in how components interface in different languages may account for some transfer phenomena in SLA.

KRASHEN'S MONITOR MODEL

It was proposed by Stephen Krashen. It is based on 5 basic hypotheses: 1. The acquisiton learning hypothesis which claims that lang. Acquisition and learning are separate processes. Acquisition is the subconsious process and involves Language Acquisition Device. Learning is a conscious process that results in knowledge of a target language. 2. The monitor hypothesis claiming that what is learned is available only as a monitor, for purposes of editing and making changes in what has already been produced. 3. The natural order hypothesis states that we acquire rules of language in a predictable order. 4. The input hypothesis- lang. Acq. Takes place because there is comprehensible input. If input is understood, and if there is enough of it, the necessary grammar is automatically provided. 5. The affective filter hypothesis - not everyone is successful in learning L2s. Learner needs to allow input to pass through. If the filter is up, the input is prevented from passing through and there cannot be acquisition.

DIFFERENT LEVELS OF LANGUAGE

LEXICON (vocabulary ) • word meaning • pronunciation (and spelling for written languages) • grammatical category (part of speech) • possible occurrence in combination with other words and in idioms PHONOLOGY (sound system) • speech sounds that make a difference in meaning ( phonemes ) • possible sequences of consonants and vowels (syllable structure) • intonation patterns (stress, pitch, and duration), and perhaps tone in words • rhythmic patterns (pauses and stops) MORPHOLOGY (word structure) • parts of words that have meaning ( morphemes ) • inflections that carry grammatical information (like number or tense) • prefixes and suffixes that may be added to change the meaning of words or their grammatical category SYNTAX(grammar) • word order • agreement between sentence elements (as number agreement between subject and verb) • ways to form questions, to negate assertions, and to focus or structure information within sentences NONVERBAL STRUCTURES (with conventional, language-specific meaning) • facial expressions • spatial orientation and position • gestures and other body movement DISCOURSE • ways to connect sentences, and to organize information across sentence boundaries • structures for telling stories, engaging in conversations, etc. • scripts for interacting and for events

FRAMEWORKS IN SLA

LINGUISTIC: 2 foci: -internal focus: Focus for the study of SLA that is based primarily on the work of Noam Chomsky and his followers. It sets the goal of study as accounting for speakers' internalized, underlying knowledge of language, rather than the description of surface forms as in earlier Structuralism . -external focus: Focus for the study of SLA that emphasizes language use, including the functions of language that are realized in learners' production at different stages of development. PSYCHOLOGICAL: 3 foci: -Language and the brain -Learning processes -learner differences SOCIAL: 2 foci: -macrosocial (focus): An emphasis within the social perspective that is concerned with effects of broad cultural, political, and educational environments on L2 acquisition and use. -microsocial (focus): An emphasis within the social perspective that is concerned with the potential effects of different immediately surrounding conditions of language use on SLA, including specific social contexts of interaction.

HOW CAN LEARNING STRATEGIES AID SLA

Language learning strategies can be defined as special thoughts or behaviors that individuals are to help them comprehend learn or retain new information. Taxonomy of language learning strategies O'Malley and Chamot - Metacognitive - learning is regulated through planning and monitoring (previewing, attending to input, rehearsing, self-monitoring) - Cognitive-linguistic - material is directly analyzed or synthesized (repetition, translation, creating images, guessing meanings) - Social-affective - concerns interactions with others (native speakers peers)

INTERLANGUAGE

Larry Selinker introduced the term interlangauge (IL) to refer to intermediate states of a learner's language as it moves toward the taget L2. Characteristics of IL: it is influenced by previously learned languages, it has some characteristics of L2, it is a reduced system in both form and function, it is dynaminc and learners move from stable plateau to stable plateau. There 5 psychological processes that shape IL: Language transfer from L1 to L2, transfer of training (how the L2 is taught), Strategies of 2nd lang. Learning and communication, overgeneralization of the target language linguistic material. FOSSILIZATION - cessation of IL development before reaching target language norms. (e.g. parents immigrants )

MULTIDIMENSIONAL MODEL

Learners acquire certain grammatical structure in a developmental sequence. Developmental sequence reflects how learners overcome processing limitations. Language instruction which targets developmental features will be successful only if features have already marked the processing factors which are associated with the previous stay of acquisition. CLAHSEN - Canonical Order Strategy - Initialization/Finalization Strategy - Subordinate Clause Strategy

FOUNDATIONS, MULTILINGUALISM, REASONS FOR UNCERTAINTY

Monolingualism: The ability to use only one language. Bilingualism-ability to use 2 languages Sequential multilingualism- Ability to use one or more languages that were learned after L1 had already been established. Simultaneous multilingualism- Ability to use more than one language that were acquired during early childhood. Multilingualism- ability to use 2 or more lang. Multilingual competence (Vivian Cook)- or „multi-competence" refers to the compound state of a mind with two (or more) grammars. Monolingual competence- "monocompetence"(Cook) knowledge of only one lang. -L2 users differ from L1 users in metalinguistic competence and cognitive process -Adding second language at an older age takes considerable effort and thus MOTIVATIVATION- it can arise from variety of conditions: • Invasion or conqest of one's country by speakers of another lang. • A need or desire to contact speakers of other lang. In economic or other specific domains • Immigration to a foreign country • Adoption of religious beliefs and practices which involve use of anoth. Lang. • A need or desire to pursue educational experiences where access requires proficiency in another lang. • Interest in other cultures and their technologies or literature Reasons for uncertainty in reporting languag. Data: • Linguistic information is often not officially collected • Answers to questions seeking linguistic information may not be reliable • There is a lack of agreement on definition of terms and on criteria for identification

ROLE OF MOTIVATION

Motivation largely determines the level of effort which learners expend at various stages in their L2 development, often a key to ultimate level of proficiency. Motivation is variously defined but it is usually conceived as a construct including: significant goal or need, desire to attain the goal, perception that learning L2 is relevant to fulfiling the goal or meeting the need, belief in the likely success or failure of L2 learning, and value of potential outcomes/rewards.

Psychology of SLA- LANG and the BRAIN/Neuroling/types of bilingualism

Paul Pierre Broca ( 1861 , 1865 ) observed that an area in the left frontal lobe ( Broca's area ) appeared to be responsible for the ability to speak and noted that an injury to the left side of the brain was much more likely to result in language loss than was an injury to the right side. Wernicke ( 1874 ) further identified a nearby area which is adjacent to the part of the cortex that processes audio input ( Wernicke's area ) as also being central to language processing. Some exceptions have been found, but for the vast majority of individuals, language is represented primarily in the left half (or hemisphere ) of the brain within an area (including both Broca's area and Wernicke's area) around the Sylvian fissure (a cleavage that separates lobes in the brain). More areas of the brain are involved in langauge activity than was thought earlier; language activity is not localized, but core linguistic processes are typically housed in the left hemisphere. Such specialization of the two halves of the brain is known as lateralization , and is present to some extent even in infancy. There is increased specialization as the brain matures and has less plasticity: i.e. one area of the brain becomes less able to assume the functions of another in the event it is damaged. According to Lenneberg (1967), children had only a limited number of years during which they could acquire their L1 flawlessly if they suffered brain damage to the language areas; brain plasticity in childhood would allow other areas of the brain to take over the language functions of the damaged areas, but beyond a certain age, normal language would not be possible (this is critical period hypothesis).

PRINCIPLES AND PARAMETERS

Principles and parameters framework is often called The Government and Binding (GB) model. UG approach claims that humans inherit a universal set of principles and parameters that control the shape human languages can take. Principles are properties of all languages in the world (e.g. every phrase in every language has the same elements), and parameters are limited settings within these principles that specific languages have (e.g. head direction). Children never violate core principles nor do they select parametric values outside the channel imposed by UG. Principles and parameters per se, cannot be learned in L1 acquisition. Children have the ability to unconsciously analyze the input they receive and thereby build the appropriate L1 grammar due to an innate knowledge of principles and parameters.

PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES (writing and speaking)

Production (like comprehension) of written or spoken language requires prior knowledge of vocabulary, morphology, phonology, syntax, and discourse structure to access words and combine them into phrases, clauses, and longer units of text. In top-down processing, prior knowledge of content is the substance of information that a writer or speaker wishes to communicate; knowledge of context accounts for writers' and speakers' ability to select from potential linguistic options those which are appropriate to a specific communicative situation, including what should (or should not) be written or said next; prior knowledge of culture includes cultural conventions for language use. Writing and speaking differ from reading and listening in referring primarily to constructing one's own linguistic forms rather than interpreting what others write or say. Makes the two productive activities different is that (1) writing is typically addressed to readers and speaking to listeners (though written text may be read aloud, and spoken text may be transcribed and read later), (2) writing usually allows time for planning and editing of production while speaking is often unplanned and requires "online" or "real-time" processing, and (3) writing is more likely than is speaking to be disassociated from the immediate time and place of production and from a specific audience. WRITING Writing is the most important productive activity for L2 learners to develop if they will use the language for academic purposes, or in certain types of service functions (e.g. providing reports to supervisors or clients). Writing is a common medium for testing knowledge in much of the world - including knowledge of the L2 itself, even within instructional programs that emphasize oral production. Functions of L2 writing may include composing informal letters and e-mail if learners want or need to communicate with speakers of the language outside of an immediate interactional context, and daily life in some highly literate societies may necessitate at least limited L2 writing ability. However, L2 writing tasks outside of academic and professional situations typically do not have the same demanding standards for accuracy in production as do the more formal contexts of academic writing. Meaningful language output facilitates SLA in several ways (according to Information Processing): These notably include the following: • Generating input • Enhancing fluency by furthering development of automaticity through practice • Helping learners notice gaps in their own knowledge as they are forced to visibly encode concepts in L2 forms, which may lead them to give more attention to relevant information • Allowing learners to test hypotheses they have formulated as part of their developing linguistic systems, with opportunity for monitoring and revision • Providing opportunities for others to comment on problems and give corrective feedback Steps that are involved in proficient writing: • Formulating mental concepts that are to be expressed centrally requires content knowledge • Recognizing what content will be relevant for intended readers, and what will be shared versus new information, requires context knowledge • Constructing text within socially defined conventions of expression (including selecting linguistic forms and organization patterns that are appropriate for the topic, purpose, and audience) also requires other aspects of culture knowledge Beginning L2 writing -learners whose L1 is represented in a different orthographic system from the L2 need to learn symbols for encoding the target language as an early step in acquisition. Adding ability to use a new alphabetic system (as when an English L1 speaker is learning to write Thai or Arabic), a new syllabic system (e.g. Japanese), or a new logographic system (e.g. Chinese) requires extensive practice to develop automaticity. -Transfer of effective language- specific writing processes that have been acquired in L1 to L2 is not possible until a threshold level of L2 structural knowledge has been reached. However, the content knowledge for formulating concepts to be expressed and the context knowledge for deciding relevance and appropriateness are not language-specific and thus may be accessed even when knowledge of L2 linguistic elements is very limited. -Many L2 learners feel more secure if they are given a model to follow in early stages of writing, so that they only need to make minimal linguistic changes and substitutions in what someone else has produced to construct their "own" text. Academic writing -Effective academic writing requires considerable knowledge of linguistic elements at levels of vocabulary, morphology and syntax, mechanics of orthographic representation and punctuation, and conventions related to style and organization of presentation that are appropriate for the target genre. -The relatively formal register needed for most academic writing may conflict with the relatively informal register that is often emphasized in "communicative" language teaching. This underlines the need for teachers and students to consider why an additional language is needed before determining priorities for what must be learned. It is probably in the best interest of most English L2 learners of the world to aim for a formal register before an informal one (neither is inherently more difficult). SPEAKING -is a very important area of activity for L2 learners if they will be using the language for interpersonal purposes, whether these are primarily social or instrumental. There is need for speaking in virtually all situations where L2 learners participate in the L2 speech community: tourists generally need to ask directions and seek information about hotels and entertainment; immigrants need to shop for goods, seek services, describe health problems... blah blah blah The language knowledge involved in bottom-up processes for speech production includes appropriate vocabulary, features of pronunciation, grammatical patterns that will convey intended meaning, realization of how nonverbal elements are likely to be interpreted, and understanding of discourse structures that will provide cohesion and coherence within a conversation or other spoken communicative event. The top-down processes simultaneously involved in speech production require content knowledge about a topic, cultural knowledge that informs determination of proprieties and provides macrosocial context for expression, and knowledge of microsocial context such as the significance of the immediate communicative activity, speaker role and relationship to addressees, and appropriateness conditions (e.g. what must be said, what may be said, and what should be left unsaid). - Speaking tasks can be classified on a continuum from reciprocal to non-reciprocal communication. Participation in face-to-face interpersonal interaction is at the reciprocal end of this continuum, and delivering lectures or conference presentations is close to the non-reciprocal end. Reciprocal communication requires learners to listen as well as to speak, and to collaborate in the negotiation of meaning. Unlike listening, non-reciprocal spoken communication places lighter requirements on the speaker for processing "online" or in real time than reciprocal Speech acts Utterances which request something, apologize, promise, deny, express emotion, compliment, complain, and so forth, are called speech acts , and they constitute most of what is said by people in the course of interpersonal communication. Learning how to perform these acts in the L2 is central to language learning, and knowing when to deploy them refers to pragmatic competence . A variety of linguistic forms may be selected to accomplish any one speaker goal, with appropriate choice for a particular situation requiring cultural and contextual knowledge Other aspects of communicative competence which need to be acquired especially for successful participation in conversational speech activities include the following: 1. Knowledge of conversational structure -There are linguistic and cultural differences in the sequence in which turns of talk are expected to occur (e.g. according to age or social status), and in production of backchannel signals (e.g. verbal or nonverbal indications by a listener of comprehension or lack of it). Conversational structure also involves rules for topic maintenance and shift, and for which utterances should be tied as adjacency pairs (e.g. whether a question should be immediately followed by a response, or a compliment by an acknowledgment, and especially what response or acknowledgment is appropriate or inappropriate). 2. Knowledge of contextualization cues - Contextualization cues are elements of communication that allow people to express and interpret meaning beyond the referential meaning that the surface structure of messages provides. Cues may involve any of the linguistic knowledge we have considered, including speaker selection of vocabulary and pronunciation, prosody ( intonation and stress), and rhythmic patterns 3. Knowledge of communication strategies

MORPHEME ORDER STUDIES

Roger Brown claimed that there is a natural order (or universal sequence) in the grammatical development of L2 learners. Although not identical, the order of morpheme acquisition was similar in L1 and L2. The existence of such a natural order was labeled as a creative construction.

SLA/FIELDS/L2/L1

SLA- A term that refers both to the study of individuals and groups who are learning a language subsequent to learning their first one as young children, and to the process of learning that language. second language learning: The process of acquiring an additional language within the context of a language community which dominantly includes members who speak it natively. This term is also applied more generally to the process of acquiring any L2. informal L2 learning: SLA that takes place in naturalistic contexts. formal L2 learning: Instructed learning that takes place in classrooms. SLA seeks to answer 3 BASIC QUESTIONS: (1) What exactly does the L2 learner come to know? (2) How does the learner acquire this knowledge? (3) Why are some learners more successful than others? There is no single answer that all L2 researchers would agree on completely. There are different fields: SLA has emerged as a field of study primarily from within linguistics and psychology (and their subfields of applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and social psychology). • Linguists emphasize the characteristics of the differences and similarities in the languages that are being learned, and the linguistic competence (underlying knowledge) and linguistic performance (actual production) of learners at various stages of acquisition. • Psychologists and psycholinguists emphasize the mental or cognitive processes involved in acquisition, and the representation of language(s) in the brain. • Sociolinguists emphasize variability in learner linguistic performance, and extend the scope of study to communicative competence (underlying knowledge that additionally accounts for language use, or pragmatic competence). • Social psychologists emphasize group-related phenomena, such as identity and social motivation, and the interactional and larger social contexts of learning. Second language can be divided into: second, foreign, library, auxiliary lang, and lang for specific purposes: • A second language is typically an official or societally dominant language needed for education, employment, and other basic purposes. It is often acquired by minority group members or immigrants who speak another language natively. In this more restricted sense, the term is contrasted with other terms in this list. • A foreign language is one not widely used in the learners' immediate social context which might be used for future travel or other crosscultural communication situations, or studied as a curricular requirement or elective in school, but with no immediate or necessary practical application. • A library language is one which functions primarily as a tool for further learning through reading, especially when books or journals in a desired field of study are not commonly published in the learners' native tongue. • An auxiliary language is one which learners need to know for some official functions in their immediate political setting, or will need for purposes of wider communication, although their first language serves most other needs in their lives. • Language for specific purposes: Restricted or highly specialized second languages, such as French for Hotel Management or English for Academic Purposes (EAP) L1 can be divided into: first language, native, primary lang, and mother tongue. - A language that is acquired naturally in early childhood, usually because it is the primary language of a child's family. A child who grows up in a multilingual setting may have more than one "first" language. Diversity: What and how are influenced by whether the learning involves infromal or formal exposure. Linguists may distinguish categories of learners defined by the identity and relationship of their L1 and L2; psycholinguists may make distinctions based on individual aptitude for L2 learning, personality factors, types and strength of motivation, and different learning strategies; sociolinguists may distinguish among learners with regard to social, economic, and political differences and learner experiences in negotiated interaction; and social psychologists may categorize learners according to aspects of their group identity and attitudes toward target language speakers or toward L2 learning itself.

4 FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES

SYSTEMIC LINGUISTICS, FUNCTIONAL TYPOLOGY, FUNCTION TO FORM MAPPING, INFORMATION ORGANIZATION

FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES - what do they represent and explain 2

Take an external focus to language learning. They differ from structuralist and early generative models by emphasizing the information content of utterances, and in considering language primarily as a system of communication rather than a set of rules. Structural function is the role which elements of a language structure play as a subject or object. Pragmatic function denotes what can the use of language achieve (e.g. express emotion, convey meaningful information). Focus is on both ling. Competence and performance. In SLA it is assumed that the aim of language is communication and thus the communication use is necessary for the development of linguistic knowledge. Concern goes beyond the sentence to include discourse structure and how language is used in interaction. Systematic linguistics - functional typology - function to form mapping - information organization SYSTEMATIC LINGUISTICS Developed by M.A.K. Halliday. This is a model for analyzing language in terms of the interrelated systems of choice that are available for expressing meaning. Language structures cannot be idealized and studied without taking into account the circumstances of their use, including extralinguistic social context. Learning language is learning how to mean. Language acquisition is the mastery of linguistic functions (mastering certain basic functions of language and developing a meaning potential for each). Functions of language as a whole: instrumental (I want function), regulatory (do as I tell you f.), interactional (me and you f.), personal (here I come I.), heuristic (tell me why f.), imagination (let's pretend f.), representational (I've got sth to tell you f.) FUNCTIONAL TYPOLOGY Based on the comparative study of a wide range of the world's languages. Involves the classification of languages and their features into categories (or "types"; hence typology). The goal is to describe patterns of similarities and differences among them (features), and to determine which types and patterns occur more/less frequently. Analysis considers language structure, meaning and use. Why some L2 constructions are more or less difficult than others for learners to acquire. Markedness deals with whether any specific feature of a language is "marked" or "unmarked". A feature is "unmarked" if it occurs more frequently than a contrasting element in the same category, if it is less complex structurally or conceptually, or it is more "normal" or "expected" along some other dimensions. Unmarked elements are likely to be acquired before marked ones in children's L1 and to be easier for a learner to master in L2 ECKMAN - Markedness Differential Hypothesis - unmarked features in L1 are more likely to transfer, as well as that marked features in L2 will be harder to learn FUNCTION-TO-FORM MAPPING Acquisition of both L1 and L2 involves a process of grammaticalization (e.g. expression of past time) in which a grammatical function is first conveyed by shared extralinguistic knowledge and inferencing based on the context of discourse, then by lexical word (such as yesterday), and only later by a grammatical marker (such as suffix -ed). Talmy Givon: 1. Pragmatic mode - expressing meaning which relies heavily on context 2. Syntactic mode - style which relies more on formal grammatical elements He lists a number of constraints in addition to the evolution from no use of grammatical morphology to elaborate morphology: 1. From topic-comment to subject-predicate structure (S-P structure involves more grammatical marking) 2. From loose conjunction to tight subordination (elements connected by words like since or because) 3. From slow rate of delivery to fast rate of delivery 4. From word order governed mostly by the pragmatic principle of old information first, followed by new information, to word order used to signal semantic case functions 5. From roughly one-to-one ratio of verbs to nouns in discourse to a larger ratio of nouns over verbs INFORMATION ORGANIZATION It is a functional approach which focuses on utterance structure, or "the way in which learners put their words together". Includes describing the structures of interlanguage (called learner varieties by Klein and Perdue), discovering what organizational principles guide learners' production at various stages of development, and analyzing how these principles interact with one another.

THE CRITICAL PERIOD HYPOTHESIS

The hypothesis that animals, including humans are genetically programmed to acquire certain kinds of knowledge and skills at specific time in life. Beyond these critical periods, it is either difficult or impossible to acquire those abilities. Even when acquisition starts at an early age, there is evidence that progress in language development usually begins to slow sharply at about the age of puberty.

INITIAL STATE IN L1 AND L2

The initial state in children's minds for L1 is almost surely the innate capacity to learn langugage, while it is not certain wheter or not it is part of the initial state in older learners for L2 acquisition. Another component of the inital state for L2 learning is the prior knowledge of L1 which is resposible for the transfer from L1 to L2 during second language development. L2 learners possess the real-world knowledge, unilke children learning L1. The initial state of L2 also includes knowledge of interaction skills such as requesting, commanding, promising, and apologizing which are not present in the L1 initial state.

MACROSOCIAL FACTORS

The macrosocial factors we will consider are at several levels in the ecological context of SLA: • Global and national status of L1 and L2 -Languages have power and status at global and national levels for both symbolic and practical reasons. An important symbolic function of language is political identification and cohesion. (ex:We see this in the USA, for example, where English is generally accepted as the single national language, and most people consider it important for national unity that all citizens be able to use one language. Immigrants who come from other language backgrounds are expected to add English as a requirement for citizenship, for participation in US democratic processes, for economic mobility, and for access to education and other social services. Pride in ethnicity along with associated language use can be seen as very threatening to the dominant group, and as a symbol of disunity and separatism; to speak a language other than English may be considered somehow unpatriotic and "un-American ) The symbolic function of language for political identification and cohesion is even more important for countries that are in the process of nation-building (For example, establishing the official use of Hebrew was symbolically important to the creation of Israel, even though few early citizens spoke it natively) a -Second languages have also served political functions in times of conquest and empire-building (e.g. the Norman Conquest brought French L2 to Britain, colonial expansion brought English L2 to Africa and Asia and French L2 to Africa, and post-World War II domination by the Soviet Union brought Russian L2 to much of Eastern Europe.) -Opportunities as well as motivation for learning a particular L2 often depend on its relative power or status, whether symbolic or practical; this usually cannot be separated from the relative economic or military power or status of the society that it represents. (For this reason, interest in learning Chinese as an L2 can be predicted to increase as the economic status of China grows.) Where knowledge of a particular language confers few visible economic or social benefits, there will be little motivation for acquiring it as an L2. • Boundaries and identities - language can serve an identity function by preserving national boundaries According to Saville Troike linguistic boundaries can unite speakers into one language community, but they can also keep outsiders from participating in the community learning a language requires crossing a linguistic boundary to participate in another language community and to identify or be identified with it when you are learning a language, you have to identify with the language community as well learning the culture of the community and adopting to those values and behavioral pattern, e.g. acculturation, is also needed if one wants to become the part of the community (young immigrant children in the USA have to acculturate to the American way of life - they are losing a mother tongue John Schumann ( 1978 ) identifies other group factors that affect SLA outcomes negatively in his Acculturation Model. For example, factors that are likely to create social distance between learner and target groups, limit acculturation, and thus inhibit L2 learning are: dominance of one group over the other, a high degree of segregation between groups, and desire of the learner group to preserve its own lifestyle • Institutional forces and constraints Within the bounds of nations and communities, social institutions are systems which are established by law, custom, or practice to regulate and organize the life of people in public domains: e.g. politics, religion, and education. Many of these involve power, authority, and influence related to SLA. Most notable problems/constraints are: language-related social control, determination of access to knowledge, and other instances of linguistic privilege or discrimination. The most obvious form of linguistic social control is which language is to be used in particular situations. For example, use of the national language is often required in political meetings and is sometimes required even for lowerlevel bureaucratic functions such as applying for permits of various kinds or negotiating for social services. A high level of fluency in the national language is typically required for election or appointment to political office Language policy may result in blatant discrimination, especially if a trial defendant does not understand the language of the court, or if the officially designated language of "service" is not one in which some of those being "served" are fluent. This is likely to have a particularly negative impact on immigrants in countries where there is no provision for official communication in minority languages. Access to education may also be limited for minority language speakers, since entry to those institutions often requires applicants to display competence in "proper" language usage. Access to knowledge of the language which is required for social opportunities may itself be prevented at an earlier level by financial barriers. An unintentional international outcome of providing advanced-level education in English, on the other hand, has perhaps been inhibiting access to knowledge in some academic areas Acqusiiton of L2 can be problematic from scoial perspective for several reasons: Acquisition of a dominant L2 may lead to actual loss of a minority L1, potentially creating alienation from the L1 group for the individual, and the ultimate disappearance of the minority language itself. Also, acquisition of technical knowledge through the medium of an L2 may render the learner unable to express that knowledge in his or her L1. (For example, native speakers of Arabic, Chinese, and other languages who study linguistics in an English-speaking country may return to their home countries and find themselves ill-equipped to make the subject accessible to others in the national language or to relate to traditional language scholars.) • Social categories/ADDITIVE AND SUBTRACTIVE BILINGUALISM People are categorized according to many socially relevant dimensions: e.g. age, sex, ethnicity, education level, occupation, and economic status. When they are L2 learners, members of different social categories frequently experience different learning conditions, and different attitudes or perceptions from within both native and target language communities. AGE:Young L2 learners are more likely than older learners to acquire the language in a naturalistic setting as opposed to a formal classroom context. They are more likely to use the L2 in highly contextualized face-to-face situations rather than decontextualized academic ones, or ones which initially involve reading and writing. It is not certain whether these social factors favor SLA by children over older learners, but they make different requirements and involve different learning tasks. Young immigrant children who are submerged in L2-dominant environments appear ultimately to do less well both in L2 learning and in academic content learning through the medium of L2 than do children who immigrate after receiving basic education in their native language and begin L2-learning at an older age. Biological factors which generally favor a younger age for SLA can also be overridden by contexts in which older learners succeed in SLA to the level of being able to "pass" for a native speaker (even in pronunciation) when social motivation is strong enough. SEX: Sex also has a role. Different attitudes and learning conditions which are experienced by males and females may advantage one group over the other for SLA in different ways in different societies, but neither group has an innate advantage. For example, young male children of migrant farm laborers appear to be more fluent in Spanish L1 and better learners of English L2 than their female age-mates. Different learning conditions for males and females are not limited to children. Some female students who enroll in study-abroad programs while in college report having less opportunity than male students to immerse themselves in foreign language and cultural experience which could be because female students tend to avoid situations in which they might encounter sexual harassment. ETHNITC CATEGORY: Ethnic category may have influence on SLA primarily because of socially constructed attitudes from within native and target communities as a result of historic or current intergroup relations related to social boundaries and identities. Perceptions that members of one ethnic category are more, or less, privileged than another are determined in large part by which group is politically and economically dominant in a multiethnic society, which is also often the one that has majority status. Two outcomes of SLA related to this dimension are the types of bilingualism which may result from contact: additive bilingualism , where members of a dominant group learn the language of a subordinate group without threat to their L1 competence or to their ethnic identity; or subtractive bilingualism , where members of a subordinate group learn the dominant language as L2 and are more likely to experience some loss of ethnic identity and attrition of L1 skills - especially if they are children • Circumstances of learning Learning begins with children's first experiences with the families into which they are born, the communities to which they belong, and the cultural environment within which they live. Learner has prior educational exp. By the time children begin their formal education, they have learned how to learn. -The difference between field-dependent (FD) and field-independent (FI) cognitive styles, for example, correlates with how children are raised. Findings on this subject are somewhat speculative, but FD styles appear to be related to the more cooperative settings of rural residence, FI to more competitive urban circumstances; and FD seems to be related to lower economic categories and FI to more affluent. Cultural values for some cognitive styles over others also play a role. Another fundamental difference in situational circumstances is whether L2 learning is informal versus formal , or naturalistic versus instructed . Informal/naturalistic learning generally takes place in settings where people contact - and need to interact with - speakers of another language. This can be because they live in a multilingual society, their circle of family and friends is multilingual, and/or their lifestyle involves international travel and residence for business or pleasure. Formal/instructed learning generally takes place in schools, which are social institutions that are established in accord with the needs, beliefs, values, and customs of their cultural settings.

LATERALIZATION

The term that is used for the specialization of various functions in 2 halves of the brain. After reviewing research on lateralization in biliguals, Vaid concludes that individuals who acquire L2 later in life show more right hemisphere involvement.

LEARNING PROCESS

There are 3 major frameworks for the focus on learning processes: Information Processing (IP) , Connectionism , and Complexity Theory. All three make the claim that learning language is essentially like learning other domains of knowledge: that whether people are learning mathematics, or learning to drive a car, or learning Japanese, they are not engaging in any essentially different kind of mental activity. Learning is learning. IP includes: Multidimensional Model, Processability, and the Competition Model. The Connectionism framework also claims that "learning is learning," but considers learning processes as a matter of increasing strength of associations rather than as the abstraction of rules or principles. Complexity Theory focuses on processes and states of change in a wide variety of domains. As it has been applied to language development, it differs from other psychological approaches in the importance it gives to (1) social and contextual as well as cognitive factors and (2) the role of variability.

UG AND SLA

Three questions are of particular importance in the study of SLA from a UG perspective: • What is the initial state in SLA? • What is the nature of Interlanguage , and how does it change over time? • What is the final state in SLA? Initial state Learners already have knowledge of L1 at the point where L2 acquisition begins; they already have made all of the parametric choices that are appropriate for that L1, guided by UG. Some L1 knowledge is transferred to L2. When L1 and L2 parameter settings for the same principle are the same, positive transfer from L1 to L2 is likely; when L1 and L2 parameter settings are different, negative transfer or interference might occur. -L2 learners may still have access to UG in the initial state of SLA as well as knowledge of L1, but there is no agreement on this. Four possibilities have been suggested: (1) Learners retain full access to UG as an innate guide to language acquisition, even when they are learning languages subsequent to their L1. (2) Learners retain partial access to UG, keeping some of its components but not others. (3) Learners retain indirect access to UG through knowledge that is already realized in their L1 but have no remaining direct access. (4) Learners retain no access to UG and must learn L2 via entirely different means than they did L1. Interlanguage in UG: Interlanguage (IL) is defined in the Principles and Parameters perspective as intermediate states of L2 development (IL 1, IL 2, IL 3, etc.), which is compatible with the notion of IL as "interim grammars". If at least some access to UG is retained by L2 learners, then the process of IL development is one of resetting parameters on the basis of input in the new language. Learners change the parameter setting (usually unconsciously) because the L2 input they receive does not match the L1 settings they have. If learning principles that are part of the language faculty are also still available, then sufficient information to make these changes is available from the positive evidence they receive, i.e. the input that is provided from experiencing L2 in natural use. Negative evidence , including explicit correction, is often also provided to L2 learners (especially in formal language instruction), and this probably plays a role in parameter resetting for older learners. Constructionism- an approach to SLA which has been formulated within Chomsky's Minimalist Program, considers IL development as the progressive mastery of L2 vocabulary along with the morphological features (which specify word form) that are part of lexical knowledge. While the general principles and parameters that constitute UG do not need to be learned, "morphological paradigms must gradually be added to the lexicon, just like words. Failure to reach a state of full feature specification in the lexicon is seen as the primary reason that many L2 learners fossilize at an intermediate level of development without attaining near-native competence. Of particular relevance for L2 learners and teachers is the critical role of lexical acquisition in providing information for parameter (re)setting and other aspects of grammar in a UG approach. This is in sharp contrast to the structuralist and behaviorist position that all of the basic grammatical structures of L2 could be learned in conjunction with minimal vocabulary. If access to UG or the learning principles of the language faculty are no longer available for SLA, then IL development would need to be explained as a fundamentally different learning process than that which takes place for L1. Evidence that IL does not violate the constraints of UG and that it cannot be accounted for completely by either L1 transfer or L2 input are used to argue against the no access position. Final state The question why some learners are more successful than others is relevant for SLA. There are several possibilities within the UG framework. These include the following: • All learners may not have the same degree of access to UG. • Different relationships between various L1s and L2s may result in differential transfer or interference. • Some learners may receive qualitatively different L2 input from others. • Some learners may be more perceptive than others of mismatches between L2 input and existing L1 parameter settings. • Different degrees of specification for lexical features may be achieved by different learners.

UG AND LANGUAGE FACULTY

Two concepts in particular have been of central importance: (1) What needs to be accounted for in language acquisition is linguistic competence (speaker/hearers' underlying knowledge of language). This is distinguished from linguistic performance (speakerhearers' actual use of language in specific instances). (2) Such knowledge of language goes beyond what could be learned from the input people receive. This is the logical problem of language learning or the poverty-of-the stimulus argument. Chomsky and his followers have claimed since the 1950s that the nature of speaker/hearers' competence in their native language can be accounted for only by innate knowledge that the human species is genetically endowed with. This innate knowledge is in what Chomsky calls the language faculty , which is "a component of the human mind, physically represented in the brain and part of the biological endowment of the species". What all languages have in common is Universal Grammar. This means that they don't have to learn this underlying system, but only build upon it "on the basis of other inner resources activated by a limited and fragmentary linguistic experience" In other words, the acquisition task is possible (and almost invariably successful) because of children's built-in capacity. One of the most important issues in a UG approach to the study of SLA has been whether this innate resource is still available to individuals who are acquiring additional languages beyond the age of early childhood. Until the late 1970s, followers of this approach assumed that the language acquisition task involves children's induction of a system of rules for particular languages from the input they receive, guided by UG. But, Chomsky reconceptualized UG in a Principles and Parameters framework (often called the Government and Binding [GB] model), and with his subsequent introduction of the Minimalist Program.

MICROSOCIAL FACTORS, LEARNER LANGUAGE VARIABLE FACTORS AND CONTEXTS THAT INFLUENCE IT

Variable features are multiple linguistic forms which are systematically or predictably used by different sepakers of a lanugage, or by the same speakers of a language, or by the same speakers at different times, with the same (or very similar) meaning or function. There are several significant contextual dimensions: o Linguistic contexts - elements of language form and function associated with the variable element o Psychological contexts - factors associated with · amount of attention which is being given to language form during the production · level of automaticity versus control in processing · the intellectual demands of a particular task o Microsocial contexts - features of setting/situation and interaction which relate to communicative events within which language is being produced, interpreted and negotiated (this involves levels of formality, what is the relationship among speakers and whether the interaction is public or private) -Variation that occurs in different contexts at a single point in time is of more interest from a social perspective, as it often corresponds to informal-formal features associated with linguistic register . A substantial amount of research on the effect of microsocial contexts has been based on the framework of Accommodation Theory. Speakers (usually unconsciously) change their pronunciation and even the grammatical complexity of sentences they use to sound more like whomever they are talking to. This accounts in part for why native speakers tend to simplify their language when they are talking to an L2 learner who is not fluent (which we will discuss below), and why L2 learners may acquire somewhat different varieties of the target language when they have different friends According to Ellis, the nature of variability changes during the process of L2 development in the following stages: (1) A single form is used for a variety of functions. (2) Other forms have been acquired but are initially used interchangeably (i.e. in "free variation"). (3) The variant forms begin to be used systematically (e.g. depending on the amount of attention to form or the situational context). (4) The non-target forms are eliminated. Removal of free variability is making the IL more efficient. Summarizing the sociolinguistic perspective, then: (1) what is acquired in L2 includes variable linguistic structures and knowledge of when to use each; (2) the process of acquisition includes progress through stages in which different types of variability are evident; and (3) reasons why some learners are more successful than others include how well they can perceive and align their own usage in accord with the target system. INPUT and INTERACTION - importance is SLA/explain from 2 social approaches Input and interaction consider modification of language by native speakers while communicating with L2 learners. From a social perspective, interaction is a crucial element because it provides learners with the quantity and quality of external linguistic input necessary for internal processing. It helps to focus learner's attention on features of their L2 that are different from target language forms or goals, and it provides collaborative means for learners to build discourse structure and express meanings which are beyond the current level of linguistic competence. S-C THEORY claims that interaction not only facilitates lanugage learning but is a causative force in acquisition. Furthermore, all of learning is seen as a social process which is grounded in sociocultural settings. INTERACTION HYPOTHESIS - key elements - negation of meaning and negation work that triggers interactional adjustments by the NS (native speaker) or more competent interlocutor, facilitates acquisition because it connects input, internal learner capacities, particularly selective attention, and output in productive ways Interaction Hypothesis: The claim that modifications and collaborative efforts which take place in social interaction facilitate SLA because they contribute to the accessibility of input for mental processing. INPUT MODIFICATIONS/characteristics of foreign talk Language addressed by L1 speakers to L2 learners frequently differs in systematic ways from language addressed to native or very fluent speakers. In speech, the modified variety is called foreigner talk ; it has the characteristics of: Simple vocabulary, using high-frequency words and phrases, Long pauses, Slow rate of speech, Careful articulation, Loud volume, Stress on key words, Simplified grammatical structures, Topicalization (topic at the beginning, then a comment about it), More syntactic regularity, Retention of full forms (e.g. less contraction, fewer pronouns). While utterances by native speakers to language learners are usually grammatical, simplified input may omit some obligatory elements. Modifications enhance older learners' comprehension. For example, when international students at a US university were surveyed to determine which professors they found easiest to understand, the faculty with extensive teaching experience in L2 contexts (who were more practiced in making appropriate modifications) were rated more comprehensible. Modifications with students at the university level are also generally unconscious, but they are likely to rise to an instructor's awareness when addressing classes which include both beginning and advanced L2 learners, or both limited and native speakers of the language. INTERACTIONAL MODIFICATION Along with input, social interaction is also essential for L1 acquisition: no children can learn their initial language by merely listening to tape recordings, radio broadcasts, or television programs. In contrast, many L2 learners do acquire at least some level of competence without interacting face to face with speakers of the target language, and for at least some highly motivated and/or talented learners, that level may be very high. Interactional modifications made by L1 speakers in discourse with L2 learners appear to provide even more significant help than do the modifications of oral input. Repetition by native speakers (NSs) of part or all of their previous utterances allows nonnative speakers (NNSs) more time for processing and an opportunity to confirm or correct perception; paraphrase by NSs allows NNSs to cast a wider net for words they recognize and may increase their vocabulary store; expansion and elaboration by NSs provide models of contextually relevant utterances which may exceed NNSs' immediate ability to produce; sentence completion and frames for substitution provide NNSs with words or chunks of language from NSs which they can use in subsequent turns of talk; and vertical constructions allow NNSs to construct discourse sequences beyond their current independent means Comprehension checks and requests for clarification by NSs focus NNSs' attention on segments of sentences which are unclear, and such checks and requests by NNSs inform NSs where repetition, paraphrase, or additional background information is required. These are important devices in the negotiation of meaning between NSs and NNSs which help in preventing or repairing breakdowns in communication. Other devices include selecting topics that the other is familiar with, and switching topics to repair conversational breakdowns which do occur. Feedback Other types of interaction which can enhance SLA include feedback from NSs which makes NNSs aware that their usage is not acceptable in some way, and which provides a model for "correctness." While children rarely receive such negative evidence in L1, and don't require it to achieve full native competence, corrective feedback is common in L2 and may indeed be necessary for most learners to ultimately reach native-like levels of proficiency when that is the desired goal. Negative feedback to L2 learners may be in the form of direct correction , (including explicit statements like That is the wrong word) directives concerning what "cannot" or "must" be said; and explanations related to points of grammar and usage. Or the negative feedback may come as indirect correction , which includes several of the same interactional modification forms. For example: • What appears at a literal level to be a comprehension check or request for clarification may actually be intended to mean that the NNS utterance was incorrect. (NSS: I can't assist class. (Meaning 'I can't attend class.') NS: You can't what? (Meaning 'You've got the wrong word. Try again.') • Rising intonation questions by NSs which repeat part or all of a NNS's utterance ("echo" questions) often mean that the utterance was wrong. (In contrast, repetition by NSs with falling intonation usually affirms correctness.) The NS usually stresses some element in the repeated form with either meaning. (a. NNS: John goed to town yesterday. NS: John goed to town? (Meaning 'The word goed is wrong.') b. NNS: This book is hard. NS: This book is hard. (Meaning 'You're right. It is.')) • Paraphrase of an NNS utterance by NSs may be intended merely to provide an alternative way to say the same thing without overtly suggesting that an error has been made, but what might appear to be a paraphrase is often a recast which substitutes a correct element for one that was incorrect (NNS: John goed to town yesterday. NS (correcting): Yes, John went shopping.) One potential problem for L2 learners is that they sometimes do not recognize when indirect feedback is corrective in intent. It does not help that the English phrases OK and all right (when followed by pauses) are often used as discourse markers to preface corrections and not to convey that the prior utterance is actually "OK" or "all right" in form or content. Computer interaction Although computer-mediated experiences do not provide face-to-face L2 interaction. n, there are similarities as well as differences in the corrective feedback that they provide to learners. Especially when CMC (communicative ocmpetence) involves synchronous oral interaction, for example, there are similar occurrences of corrections, repairs, comprehension checks, and requests for clarification, and they occur in similar form whether interaction is with a native speaker of L2 or another L2 learner (Jepson 2005 ). When CMC involves written instead of oral interaction, an additional type of feedback is negotiation of form, and learners pay more attention to self-correction. Participation in a virtual community may well provide a better early L2 learning environment for some students than face-to-face interaction does. Anonymity can cancel social mandates which may be imposed on female and less prestigious male students not to display competence in L2 production; this restriction is especially strong when less linguistically competent but more politically powerful students from the same country are enrolled in a class of international students. Anonymity may also encourage more L2 production and interaction by students who are by nature not "risk-takers," and may erase other social inequalities that may discourage interactive participation. Intake to cognitive processing Language input may "go in one ear and out the other," and it contributes to acquisition only if it is "let in" to the mind for processing: i.e. if it becomes intake . According to claims made in the Interaction Hypothesis , the modifications and collaborative efforts that take place in social interaction facilitate SLA because they contribute to the accessibility of input for mental processing: " negotiation for meaning , and especially negotiation work that triggers interactional adjustments by the NS or more competent interlocutor, facilitates acquisition because it connects input, internal learner capacities, particularly selective attention, and output in productive ways" To summarize the interactionist perspective, then: what is acquired in L2 includes only that portion of L2 input "which is assimilated and fed into the IL system"; L2 is acquired in a dynamic interplay of external input and internal processes, with interaction facilitating (but not causing) SLA; and the reasons that some learners are more successful than others include their degree of access to social experiences which allow for negotiation of meaning and corrective feedback. However, reciprocal interaction as a source and stimulus for learning ignores "autodidacts" who teach themselves from books and recordings. Further, this perspective addresses in only a limited way the evidence for universal sequencing in L2 learning.

INTERFERENCE (types)

When there is partial overlap but not equivalence in form, meaning or distribution - INTERFERENCE occurrs. TYPES OF INTERFERENCE: 1. SAME FORM AND MEANING, DIFFERENT DISTRIBUTION LAS PALOMAS BLANCAS - THE DOVES WHITES 2. SAME MEANING, DIFFERENT FORM IRE - WILL GO 3. SAME MEANING, DIFF FORM AND DIISTRIBUTION AGUA-WATER - limited distribution 4. DIFF FORM, PARTIAL OVERLAP IN MEANING PIERNA - PATA- ETAPA - LEG 5. SIMILAR FORM, DIFF MEANING - FALSE FRIENDS ASISTIR - TO ATTEND- ASSIST Same form and meaning of -s plural is nly possible in closely related languages. Problems of ca and behaviorist theory: Behaviorist learning theory cannot explain the logical problem of language learning. Another problem: CA anlyisis were not always validated by evidence from actual learner errors. Many of the L2 problems predicted by the CA do not emerge, and much predicted positive transfer does not occurr. Still CA stimulated the preparation of hundreds comparative grammars and its analytic procedures have been usefully applied to descriptive studies and to translation, including computer translation.

THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS

argues that learners progress along the natural order only when they encounter second language input that is one step beyond where they are in the natural order; The input hypothesis- lang. Acq. Takes place because there is comprehensible input. If input is understood, and if there is enough of it, the necessary grammar is automatically provided

INTERPERSONAL INTERACTION

• Interpersonal interaction involves communicative events and situation which happen between people. • One important context from symbolic mediation is such interpersonal interaction between learners and experts ('experts' include teachers and more knowledgeable learners).

INTRAPERSONAL INTERACTION

• Intrapersonal interaction: communication that occurs within an individual's own mind • viewed by Vygotsky as a sociocultural phenomenon. Examples: Reading Translation Private speech and Private writing

APPLICATION OF HALLIDAY'S MODEL TO THE STUDY OF SLA:

• seenig L2 learning as a process of adding multilingual meaning potential to what has already been achieved in L1 • Muriel: Second lang acq is learning new linguistic forms to fulfill the same functions (as already acq in L1) within a diff social milleu • Children who come to USA - they could accomplish a wide range of communicative functions - emergence of new lang structures to augment existing choices for expressing them • The structural emergence follows the same general sequence for each function: 1. NONVERBAL Regulatory (hitting another child who is annoying) Interactional (Unh? Uttered as a greeting) Heuristic (point at an object -with questioning look-to request the english term for it) 2. L2 FORMULA OR MEMORIZED ROUTINE Regulatory (dont do that!) Interactional (Hi!) Heuristic (what's it?) 3. SINGLE L2 WORD Regulatory (he! - pointing to another child who is guilty) Interactional (Me? - an invitation to play) Heuristic (What? - asking for an english term for an object) 4. L2 PHRASE OR CLAUSE Regulatory: (That bad!) Interactional (YOu me play? Heuristic (What name this?) 5. COMPLEX L2 CONTRUCTION Regulatory (the teacher say that wrong) Interactional: I no like to play now. Heuristic: What is name we call this?