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The Two Faces of SLA: Mental Representation and Skill
Abstract
In this essay, I argue for viewing mental representation and skill as distinct components of language acquisition. My claim is that language is not a monolithic entity—not a new concept, but one that is often overlooked by instructors and some scholars. I examine language as being (minimally) composed of mental representation and skill. Representation refers to the abstract and implicit knowledge that underlies all language. Skill refers to the use of language, especially fluency (the intersection of speed and accuracy).By thinking about language as at least the distinction between representation and skill, we might better sort out some of the issues related to adult SLA, namely the role that instruction has, and what instruction can actually impact. RESUMEN En este trabajo defiendo el supuesto de que tanto la representación mental como las destrezas (lingüísticas) deben ser tomadas como componentes diferenciados de la adquisición lingüística. Mi tesis es que el lenguaje no es una entidad monolítica –tesis no nueva, pero frecuentemente dejada de lado por profesores y estudiosos. Analizo el lenguaje como un compuesto de representación mental y destrezas. La representación se refiere al conocimiento abstracto e implícito que subyace en el lenguaje. Las destrezas hacen referencia al uso de la lengua, especialmente a la fluidez (intersección entre velocidad y precisión). Entendiendo el lenguaje de esta manera, distinguiendo entre representación y destrezas, será posible superar algunos de los problemas relativos al aprendizaje de lenguas por los adultos, y muy especialmente el cometido de la enseñanza y lo que ésta puede producir. PALABRAS CLAVE: Adquisición de segundas lenguas, representación mental en L2, destreza en L2, enseñanza de lenguas.
... Recent studies suggest that form-focused instruction can lead to positive effects on the development of the learners' grammar [1] [6] [8]. In this approach of SLA, a considerable number of researchers have set out to understand whether the input, when enhanced, might eliminate persistent grammar errors. ...
... The PI model also assumes that mechanisms of implicit learning interact with the input processing. This pedagogical intervention has the following characteristics [6]: ...
... Deliberate learning of rules can, of course, result in declarative knowledge of aspects of the community grammar, but it is broadly accepted that such knowledge will rarely, on its own, constitute an adequate basis for effective use (cf. Bialystok 1981;VanPatten 2010). Neurobiological work on the distinct roles of procedural and declarative memory in L1 and L2 development (cf. ...
Individual users of English as a first or second language are assumed to possess or aspire to a monolithic grammar, an internally consistent set of rules which represents the idealized norms or conventions of native speakers. This position reflects a deficit view of L2 learning and usage, and is at odds with usage-based approaches to language development and research findings on idiolectal variation. This study problematizes the assumption of monolithic ontologies of grammar for TESOL by exploring a fragment of genre-specific lexico-grammatical knowledge (the
Writing is a process of encoding, i.e., putting our messages into words keeping a reader in mind (McDonough, Shaw & Masuhara, 2013). Learning to write a coherent and an effective text is a challenging and lengthy process of cognitive development that sharply differs from the acquisition of speech (Kellogg, 2008). It is not often an easy, one-step journey to write a complete paper at the first attempt (Langan, 2005). Students at tertiary level in Bangladesh face a lot of difficulty to write in English. Their problems start from the thinking level, as they lack ability to generate ideas to write, to producing a sentence with correct syntactic structure and relevant vocabulary. This study investigates the factors that impede tertiary students' English writing skills. Qualitative phenomenological research method was chosen to carry out the study. Questionnaire, interview and Focus Group Discussion were the tools to elicit data from 47 participants over a period of 12 weeks. Based on Creswell's (1998) data analysis spiral, data was placed into categories for presentation. The study reveals that in order to develop tertiary students' writing skills, there needs to be ample opportunity for writing practice with strong support from teachers based on individual student's needs.
As a Latin teacher, I think a lot about reading. Without texts I would not have a subject to teach, and the goal of many Latin programs (including my own) is teaching students to read Latin texts. I began my Latin teaching career while teaching the language to myself as well. The goal (both for myself and my students) was to read Latin confidently and fluidly, from left to right, processing the meaning of the words as my eye scanned the pages. Yet my good intentions were soon frustrated, and I was baffled by a problem which I soon realised was not unique to my situation: despite years of training, neither I nor my students could read Latin in a natural, fluid way. Furthermore, textbooks and colleagues seemed resigned to the view that such a goal was unrealistic or unobtainable. Best to treat language as a puzzle to be solved, or linguistic knot to be untangled, rather than a language expressing a message. Only the most intellectually gifted students continued in my ‘puzzle-solving’ course; consequently, my enrolment dropped off steeply after the second year. Looking for more help, I even implemented various ‘rules for reading’ and ‘reading strategies’ advocated by others, yet rather than improve student reading ability, I felt my curriculum begin to feel increasingly cluttered with activities and processes that stole away from my students the valuable time needed to interact with the language itself. It was not until I began investigating the field of Second Language Acquisition (hereafter SLA) that I discovered some simple, yet fundamental principles about language that helped explain my students’ struggles and helped me rethink language teaching in general.
Human beings generally cut the realities of the world in various ways in order to express their thoughts and interact with other people. Naturally, words are linguistic categories which carry the intended concepts; however, humans tend to economize by bundling words into different conceptual classes. Accordingly, the present study sought to explore the prototypicality norms used by male and female Persian and American speakers adopting a cross cultural analysis. For this purpose, from the existing prototypes, four conceptual categories; namely, vehicles, vegetables, furniture, and clothes were randomly selected and used as the tertium comparationis for determining the way 120 male and female monolingual American and Persian speakers, sixty from each language, ranked the category membership of different conceptual members belonging to the targeted prototypes. The analysis of the obtained data based on participants' ranking of the prototypes along with the respective frequency values revealed that gender and culture played a significant role in identifying the category membership of various members of a given concept across different languages. The findings can have important implications for language teachers, material designers, and second language students since culture is an overriding factor in language learning.
This paper replicates and extends experiments by Grüter (2006) and Grüter & Conradie (2006) to explore some of the learnability implications of Full Transfer at the initial state of L2A. L1 English-speaking learners’ comprehension of L2 German questions and relative clauses is tested on the basis of a picture interpretation task. Patterns of (mis)interpretation of the German clauses suggest that lower-intermediate proficiency learners still access the L1 syntax in order to parse L2 input. This is taken to indicate that learners are influenced by L1 word order patterns in assigning thematic roles in L2 clauses. This is discussed in light of approaches to L2 parsing and processing which attribute different roles to L1 influence.
This study presents the results of four experiments in the framework of processing instruction conducted with four language learner groups (Spanish, n = 43; German, n = 46; Russian, n = 44; and French, n = 48; discussed in that order). In each experiment, the processing problem was held constant (the First-Noun Principle) although the structure was unique to the language. The independent variables were explicit information prior to treatment and grammatical sensitivity as measured by the Modern Language Aptitude Test. Two dependent measures were included: (a) trials-to-criterion (how long it took participants to begin processing correctly) and (b) improvement over time (pretest/posttest). Results show that explicit information may be useful for the processing of some structures but not others; however, explicit information is not necessary. Results also show that grammatical sensitivity does not significantly correlate with any of the measures under any conditions except for the German group that received explicit information. Our conclusion is that when instructed SLA is viewed as processing, variables such as explicit information and grammatical sensitivity may not play the same role as when instructed SLA is viewed as rule learning.
Andrew Radford's textbook is written for students with little or no background in syntax, and introduces them to key concepts of Chomsky's minimalist programme (e.g. merger and movement, checking, economy and greed, split VPs, agreement projections), as well as providing detailed analysis of the syntax of a range of different construction types (e.g. interrogatives, negatives, passives, unaccusatives, complement clauses). Illustrative material is drawn from varieties of English (Standard English, Belfast English, Shakespearean English, Jamaican Creole and Child English). There is a substantial glossary and an extensive integral workbook section at the end of each chapter with helpful hints and model answers, which aim to get students to analyse phrases and sentences for themselves within a minimalist framework.
Input and Evidence: the raw material of second language acquisition is an empirical and theoretical treatment of one of the essential components of SLA: the input to language learning mechanisms. It reviews and adds to the empirical studies showing that negative evidence (correction, feedback, repetitions, reformulations) play a role in language acquisition in addition to that played by ordinary conversation. At the same time, it embeds discussion of input within a framework which includes a serious treatment of language processing, including the problem of modularity and the question of how semantic representations can influence grammatical ones. It lays the foundation for the development of a truly explanatory theory of SLA in the form of the Autonomous Induction Theory which combines a model of induction with an interpretation of Universal Grammar, thereby permitting, for the the first time, a coherent approach to the problem of constraining induction in SLA.
This book was first published in 2007. The anecdotal view of language acquisition is that children learn language with apparent ease, no instruction and in very little time, while adults find learning a new language to be cognitively challenging, labour intensive and time-consuming. In this book Herschensohn examines whether early childhood is a critical period for language acquisition after which individuals cannot learn a language as native speakers. She argues that a first language is largely susceptible to age constraints, showing major deficits past the age of twelve. Second-language acquisition also shows age effects, but with a range of individual differences. The competence of expert adult learners, the unequal achievements of child learners of second languages, and the lack of consistent evidence for a maturational cut-off, all cast doubt on a critical period for second-language acquisition. © Julia Herschensohn 2007 and Cambridge University Press, 2009.