Gass & Selinker's SLA Chapter 11,12

Chapter 11 Instructed Second Language Learning


11.1. Classroom Language
One of the main differentiating factors between classroom learning and so-called naturalistic learning is the language available from which learners can come to understand the workings of the L2 and formulate hypotheses. The proficiency level is a statistically significant predictor of the syntactic complexity of teacher’s speech. In FL instruction, very often the only language that learners are exposed to is the one in the classroom. There are three sources of input: teacher, materials, and other learners. It is clear that learner talk to other learners is also limited and often filled with errors. Surprisingly, learners do not pick up errors from one another. When learners internalize a new form, they may use the positive evidence they hear / read to strengthen that knowledge.The use of classroom conversation is a tool for learning. However, it is not always the case that learner forms can serve as good input for other learners. Thus, even though the classroom is a place where conversational interaction can often provide opportunities for learning, an important caveat is in order—teacher intervention is often essential.

11.2. Input Processing
Input processing refers to the presentation and timing of input in a pedagogical framework. In particular, it deals with the conversion of input to intake and specifically focuses on form-meaning relationships. Learners in the processing instruction group were better able to understand and produce the target structure than learners in the traditional instruction group. Tomasello and Herron (1988, 1989) found that the corrective feedback was more meaningful after learners had been induced to produce an error as opposed to preventing an error. Comprehension can range from an inferential process based on the perception of cues to a detailed structural analysis. Semantic comprehension is a prerequisite to syntactic comprehension and syntactic comprehension is a prerequisite to acquisition. Comprehension may serve little purpose in helping learners understand the syntax of the language, which is an ultimate goal of language learning.

11.3. Teachability / Learnability
Acquisition takes place in some sort of natural order. The implication of this line of research is that pedagogical intervention cannot alter natural acquisition orders. However, the natural order sequence could be sped up through instruction.

11.4. Focus on Form
Implicit in attention is the concept of focus on form. Focus on form refers to a need for meaning-focused activity into which an attention to form is embedded. Learners at low levels of proficiency do not often spontaneously attend to language form. When there is learner-generated attention to form, the attention is generally given to words rather than to other linguistic features. Freeing up the cognitive burden of focusing on both form and meaning allows greater opportunity to focus on form. Learner-generated attention to form may not always come naturally and clearly may require some pedagogical training. Metalinguistic training in focusing on form can result in sensitivity to grammatical from rather than just to lexical form. Students in a classroom context can assimilate corrective feedback even when it is not directed at them.

11.4.1. Timing
Focus-on-form instruction produces better results than no instructional focus, but learners do not extend their knowledge to other words. However, one needs to learn what needs to be learned before being able to sort out the specific facts of what is to be learned.
11.4.2. Forms to Focus on
Learners’ readiness contributes to their ability to focus on and take in new information. Also, not all structures are created equal to input type. One needs to carefully consider what is being targeted to focus on how best to relate that information to a learner’s individual knowledge state and to the means by which a form is focused on.

11.5. Uniqueness of Instruction
Learning proceeds from the unmarked to the marked structure. The context of learning does not affect the acquisition order. Instructed learning may clearly result in inappropriate conclusions drawn by the learners precisely because the input is often impoverished and because emphasis on certain forms is selective.


Chapter 12 NON-LANGUAGE INFLUENCES

12. 1. Research Traditions
The question of the role of non-language factors in second language learning has had less of an impact on SLA than has the research based on linguistics, psychology, and psycholinguistics. To understand how the research tradition that investigates such areas as aptitude, attitude, and motivation relates to the entire field of SLA, it is necessary to consider the general goals of those fields that have dominated SLA.

12.1.1. Linguistics
It is important to recognize that some individuals are better others in certain language skills. For example, some are much better storytellers than others. The assumption in mainline linguistics is that these skills only represent what one can do mainline linguistics is that these skills only represent what one can do with language, not what one knows about language.

12.1.2. Psychology
Behaviorism banished both cognition and motivation. Even though cognitive psychology has eventually come to occupy an important place within the field of psychology, it had no role for affect and motivation, at least initially.

12.1.3. Psycholinguistics
It is especially relevant for SLA research. The tradition of linguistics led to a downplaying of aptitude in the explanation of linguistic behavior. The tradition of cognitive psychology led to a downplaying of attitudes and motivation. Thus, it is not surprising that SLA researchers have tended to look for cognitive factors rather than aptitude or motivation in accounting for differential successes in second language learning.

12. 2. Social Distance
One of the social variables in the model that needs to be considered is the extent to which group is dominant over another. One can think of situations in which an L2 group is dominant or in which the L1 group is dominant. In the former case, learning is less likely to take place. There are also affective factors to be considered, such as language shock, culture shock, and motivation.

12. 3. Age Differences
It is commonly believed that children are better language learners than adults in the sense that young children typically can gain mastery of a second language, whereas adults cannot. This is reflected in what is known as the Critical Period Hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, there is an age-related point beyond which it becomes difficult or impossible to learn a second language to the same degree as native speakers of the language.

12. 4. Aptitude
J. B. Carroll is the name associated most with studies of second language learning aptitude. He is the originator of what Skehan called the “standard ‘four component’ view of language aptitude”

12.4.1.Phonemic coding ability
This is an ability to discriminate among foreign sounds and to encode them in a manner such that they can be recalled later. This would certainly seem to be a skill involved in successful second language learning.

12.4.2.Grammatical sensitivity
This is the ability to recognize the functions of words in sentences. It does not measure an ability to name or describe the functions, but rather the ability to discern whether or not words in different sentences perform the same function.

12.4.3. Inductive language learning ability
This is the ability to infer, induce, or abduct rules or generalizations about language from samples of the language. A learner proficient in this ability is less reliant on well-presented rules or generalizations from a teacher or from materials.

12.4.4. Memory and learning
Originally this was phrased in terms of associations: the ability to make and recall associations between words and phrases in a native and a second language. It is not clear whether this type of association plays a major role in language learning, but memory for language material is clearly important.

12.5. Motivation
In general, motivation appears to be the second strongest predictor of success, trailing only aptitude. Nevertheless, an investigation of the role of motivation in second language learning faces a hurdle just beyond the starting block. The exact nature of motivation is not so clear. Everyone agrees that it has something to do with drive, but when various definitions are compared in reality.

12. 6. Anxiety
In general, anxiety, like many other factors has a curvilinear affect on performance. Low levels help, whereas high levels hurt. This makes sense. As noted earlier, if one doesn’t care at all, there is little reason to try to do well. On the other hand, too much concern about failure can get in the way of success.

12.7. Locus of control
Locus of control refers to how individuals attribute causes to events that affect them. A learner’s locus of control will affect his or her motivation. The stability component is more likely to lead a learner to make subjective predictions about future success or failure. Locus, like anxiety, is an area related to both motivation and personality.

12.8. Personality Factors
There are various theories that claim that certain personality factors are important predictors of success in second language learning. Here we consider only a few of the more commonly discussed personality factors such as extroversion vs. introversion, risk taking, and field-independence, and so on.

12. 9. Learning Strategies
Learning strategies clearly involve internal mental actions, but they may also involve physical actions as well. The claims made in the literature involve potential improvements in language learning related to the selection of information from the input and the organization and integration of it in terms of learner systems. The ways in which information is selected from the input is an important part of the concept.





Comments

Focus on form이 언어 말하기 능력 향상을 목표로 할 때 문법습득을 하는 좋은 방법이라고는 하지만 사실 교사의 임장에서는 굉장히 어려운 것이라는 생각이 든다. 특히 나처럼 explicit한 문법교육에 익숙해져서 명사나 대명사니, 주어나 동사니 하는 말들을 꺼내지 않고는 어떻게 효율적으로 문법을 가르쳐야 할지 막막한 사람들에게는 더욱 그렇다. 자연스럽게 습득한다는 것은 솔직히 그럴듯해 보이고 좋아 보인다. 그러나 그런 자연스러움을 위해 더욱 많은 task가 준비되어야 하며 교사나 학습자 둘 다에게 더욱 많은 인내를 필요로 하게 될 것이다. 국어에서도 명사니 대명사니 하는 문법이 분명히 존재하지만 그런 것들을 몰라도 자연스럽게 우리말을 잘 할 수 있다. 그러나 모국어와 제 2외국어는 다른 것 같다. 자연스럽게 많은 환경에 노출될 수 있는 것도 아니고 학습이라는 것을 해야 하는 입장에서 그 “자연스러움”을 위래서 얼마나 많은 시간과 인내가 필요할 것인가..사실 나는 성문만한 문법책이 없다고 생각한다. 얼마나 똑똑 떨어지는가..나는 과외를 할 때 중학생 고등학생 심지어 나보다 나이가 많은 사람들에게까지도 무조건 성문으로 문법을 시작한다. 처음엔 수없이 쏟아지는 용어들에 어렵다는 느낌을 감추지 못하지만 시간이 지나면 사실 솔직히 내가 편하다. 그 때 배웠던 것을 바탕으로 설명이 가능하기 때문이다. 예를 들어 사람들은 5형식 문장을 잘 이해하지 못한다. I found the book easy와 I found the book easily를 구분하지 못할 때는 3형식과 5형식 개념을 다시 한번 설명하며 부사는 보어가 될 수 없다는 말을 덧붙이면 다들 쉽게 이해한다.
어떻게 implicit하게 I keep your clean room과 I keep your room clean의 차이점을 설명해 줄 수 있을까?
Task를 이용한 방법은 사실 참 기발하고 신기하다는 생각을 했었지만 빠른
시간에 효과를 기대하기에는 약간의 무리가 있지 않을까 하는 생각을 해보았다.