Lecture 6 Psychological aspects of second language acquisition

L1 versus L2 Brain activity in Spanish-English bilinguals reading words in native Spanish & second language, English. MEG responses to first language words, second language words, and pictures during lexico-semantic processing (~400 ms after a word is shown). Regions with arrows indicate areas where responses to pictures and L2 words are similar, but differ from the responses to L1 words. M K Leonard et al (2011). Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals. In PLoS ONE 6(3): e18240.

Dissociations in L2 Learning IssueCauseCognitive effect Learning effect Lack of ownership of L2 The L2 has no value to the learner Not MY language The learner has difficulty motivating themself to learn. They usually learn in a disjointed, task-driven way. Ethnocentricitythe learner does not feel part of the L2 speaker community Not OUR language High interference from the L1. The learner tries to make the L2 meet their expectations of how a language should work. Lack of L2 status the new language is a poor alternative to the L1 for the learner Not THE language The learner compares the L2 with the system of their L1, and fails to identify the L2 as systematic itself. They revert to the L1 whenever their knowledge of the L2 fails them. Lack of L2 native speakers learning the L2 becomes just a coding and decoding exercise Not A language The L2 is treated as an object of study rather than a new way of communicating. The learner’s written L2 may be good, but idiomatic, phatic and phonological differences are ignored.

Multicompetence Term used by Vivian Cook in 1991 (The poverty-of-the-stimulus argument and multi-competence, Second Language Research, 7, 2, ) Multicompetence raises the problems of contamination and attrition It also raises the problem of what qualifies as a language

Word association

Theories of L2 acquisition Stephen Krashen's Five Hypotheses The natural order hypothesis The Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis The Monitor Hypothesis The Input Hypothesis The Affective Filter Hypothesis Interlanguage – Larry Selinker The learner does not learn the target language structure, they learn an intermediate structure As the learner becomes more capable in the target language their interlanguage model drifts closer to the target language structure Fossilization occurs when the learner ceases to be interested in the “nativisation” of their interlanguage The reduced L1 model – Stephen Pit Corder The learner starts with a simplified model of their L1, and uses that to build their L2. As they become more capable in the target language the learner elaborates their model of the target language Fossilization occurs when the learner feels they have a sufficient model of the target language Theory of Instructed Language Learning – Rod Ellis L2 utterances are Consciously planned or Unplanned Pragmatic learning is more important to the learner than semantic learning Teaching should attend to form as well as meaning

Pidgins & Creoles

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And finally...