1 LANE 622 APPLIED LINGUISTICS Prepared by Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Shehri

2 LECTURE III AGE AND ACQUISITION

3 Arguments for L2 Teaching on the Basis of L1 Acquisition A foreign language learner must repeat things over and over again. Foreign language learning is a matter of imitation. A foreign language learner practices sounds then words then sentences. The natural order of F1 and F2 learning is listening, speaking, reading, writing. A foreign language learner should not rely on translation. A foreign language learner does not need to learn formal grammar.

4 Arguments Against L2 Teaching on the Basis of L1 Acquisition Rote learning practice of audiolingual drills ineffective. Adult learners of L2 could benefit from deductive presentation of formal grammar. L1 can facilitate L2 learning. Early teaching of writing can be useful. Students can benefit more from a teacher’s deliberative speech.

5 Comparison of L1 & L2 Acquisition Comparing L1 acquisition of a child with the L2 acquisition of an adult is illogical. L1 acquisition by children and L2 acquisition by adults are two different things. To compare L1 & L2 acquisition by children is more logical. To compare L2 acquisition by children and adults would also be more logical. Nevertheless, L1 acquisition and L2 learning are important categories to compare.

6 Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) A biologically determined period of life when language is more difficult to acquire. The notion of a ‘critical period’ was used initially to deal with L1 acquisition problems. L2 researchers adopted the (CPH) notion to deal with L2 acquisition problems. It was incorrectly assumed that by the age of 12 or 13 “successful” L2 learning is no longer possible.

7 Neurological Considerations ( How brain development affects L2 learning)

8 Hemispheric Lateralization Neurological evidence: Certain functions are assigned, or “lateralized”, to the left hemisphere and others to the right hemisphere. Intellectual, logical and analytical functions are believed to be located in the left hemisphere. Functions related to emotional and social needs are thought to be controlled by the right hemisphere. Language functions appear to be located in the left hemisphere.

9 Biological Timetables When does lateralization take place and how does it affect L2 learning? A slow process which begins at age 2 and is completed around puberty. Children up to the age of puberty who suffer brain injury are able to relocate language to the right hemisphere. Plasticity of the brain before puberty enables children to acquire/learn L1 and L2 easily, including acquiring a ‘native-like’ pronunciation.

10 Right-Hemispheric Participation In L2 learning, there is a significant right hemisphere participation. There may be greater right hemisphere participation in language processing in bilinguals who acquire L2 later in life. Studies suggest adult learners may benefit from encouragement of right brain activity. Good deal of conflicting evidence had been reported.

11 Anthropological Evidence Some adults have been known to acquire an authentic accent in a second language after the age of puberty. …. “We will have to explore the influence of social and cultural roles which language and phonation play, and the role which attitudes about language play, as an alternative to the cerebral dominance theory as an explanation of adult foreign accents”.

12 The Significance of Accent Research on the acquisition of the phonology of L2 supports the notion of a critical period. Evidence indicates that persons beyond the age of puberty do not acquire authentic accent of L2. Possible causes: neuromuscular plasticity, cerebral development, sociobiology, and sociocultural influences. Exceptions have been reported and often anecdotally supported.

13 Authentic accent is not everything.. L2 acquisition involves other skills besides accent. There are people who may not have a perfect pronunciation of L2, but who also have magnificent control of L2. The acquisition of the communicative and functional purposes of language is mostly far more important than a perfect native accent.

14 Cognitive Considerations Human cognition develops rapidly in the first 16 years of life and less rapidly thereafter. Jean Piaget (1972) outlined the course of intellectual development in a child through various stages: Sensorimotor stage (birth – 2 yrs.) Preoperational stage (2 – 7 yrs.) Operational stage (7 – 16 yrs.):  Concrete operational stage (7 – 11 yrs.)  Formal operational stage (11 – 16 yrs.) Cognitively, then, a strong argument can be made for a critical period of language acquisition by connecting language acquisition and the concrete - formal stage transition.

15 Cognitive Considerations (Continued) Lateralization hypothesis may provide another key to cognitive differences between child and adult language acquisition. As the child matures into adulthood, the left hemisphere (which controls the analytical and intellectual functions) becomes more dominant than the right hemisphere (which controls the emotional functions). It is possible that the dominance of the left hemisphere contributes to a tendency to overanalyze and to be too intellectually centered on the task of L2 learning.

16 Cognitive Considerations (Continued) Piaget (1970) claimed that: Conceptual development is a process of progressively moving from states of disequilibrium to equilibrium and that periods of equilibrium mark virtually all cognitive development up through age fourteen or fifteen, when formal operations finally are firmly organized and equilibrium is reached.

17 Affective Considerations ‘As “intellectual” as we would like to think we are, we are influenced by our emotions.’ In the affective side of human behavior, there lies an explanation to the mysteries of language acquisition. The affective domain includes factors such as: empathy, self- esteem, extroversion/introversion, inhibition, imitation, anxiety, attitudes. As children grow older, they become less egocentric and more self-conscious. Preadolescents develop an acute self consciousness and a sense of insecurity. They, then, develop inhibitions about their self-identities. At puberty, these inhibitions are heightened as the child is undergoing critical physical, cognitive, and emotional changes.

18 Affective Considerations (Continued) Language ego: Language ego may account for difficulties L2 learners have. The ‘language ego’ of the young adult clings to the security of the native language to protect the fragile ego of the self. The ‘language ego’, which is part of the ‘self-ego’, is threatened by the prospects of having to communicate in a foreign language. A successful adult L2 learner is someone who can overcome this feeling of a ‘threatened ego’. If a child has already learned a second language in childhood, then, affectively, learning a third language as an adult might represent much less of a threat to the ‘language ego’.

19 Affective Considerations (Continued) Attitudes: Negative attitudes can affect success in learning a second/foreign language. Very young children, who are not developed enough cognitively to possess attitudes toward races, cultures, ethnic groups, classes of people, and languages may be less affected than adults.

20 Affective Considerations (Continued) Peer pressure: Peer pressure is a particularly important factor in considering child-adult general behavior comparisons. Peer pressure extends to language behavior. Adults tend to tolerate linguistic differences more than children, and therefore speech errors are more easily excused. Unlike children, adults provide positive cognitive and affective feedback to anyone struggling in a second/foreign language. Children are harsher critics of one another and therefore may provide mutual pressure to learn, and speak well, the second language.

21 Linguistic Considerations Bilingualism: Children learning two languages simultaneously use the same acquisition strategies. They are, in essence, learning two first languages at the same time. The key success is in distinguishing separate contexts for the two languages. Those who learn two languages simultaneously in such separate contexts are often described as coordinate bilinguals. They have two meaning systems. Those who learn two languages consecutively are called compound bilinguals and have one meaning system. Sometimes, the process of language acquisition in bilingual children is slower than in monolingual children.

22 Linguistic Considerations (Continued) Linguistic interference: Linguistic interference (or transfer) is the effect of a language learner’s L1 on his/her production of L2. The effect can be on any aspect of language. Linguistic interference is discussed mostly as a source of errors (negative transfer) in L2. When L1 and L2 have similar features, this results in a correct L2 usage (positive transfer). The greater the difference between L1 and L2, the more negative transfer there is.