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Second language acquisition

12 important questions on Second language acquisition

Think of situations and examples in which second language learning occurs?

A bilingual child is learning a second language from his parents.
A 50-year-old immigrant having to learn a new language in order to communicate in a new country.
An exchange student learning the language of the country he's visiting.
A traveler learning languages as he travels.

What are the characteristics of the behaviourists language learning theory?

role learning
drilling and repetition
no errors allowed
rewards and punishments

What are the characteristics of the innatist language learning theory?

language is learned from within
we all have a language acquisition device in our brain
we all have the same universal grammar
we therefore understand the basic principles of languages before even learn them
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Describe the acquisition learning hypothesis!

Acquisition:
-picking up language,
-subconsciously,
-often at young age, for L1 at least
-no grammatical structure is learned by rules

Learning:
-learned explicitly
-often at a formal setting (educational setting such as school)
-consciously learned
-grammatical structure learned by rules and following these pedants

Explain the natural order hypothesis!

Second language acquisition follows a similar pattern in acquiring the language as L1 acquisition. This sequence is predictable. However, the easiest rules are not always the 1st to be learned, through spontaneous speech errors sometimes occur. The monitor is therefore present to help correct where needed.

Explain the comprehensive input hypothesis!

Input is the language that we receive from the outside world. Krashed defined a type of input that stimulates our learning process to the fullest. He calls this comprehensible input. He states this is i+1. The i stands for the input, the +1 for the level of difficulty. He argues that the input needs to be just one level higher than the language level we possess now, in order to learn. If the input is just a little bit more difficult and therefore more challenging, learning is more likely to occur.

Explain affective filter hypothesis!

A mental block caused by effective/emotional factors can prevent input from reaching the language acquisition device. As you've learned in the previous chapter the LAD is the 'black box'inside our brain that processes language input and transfers it to language output. If we have too many factors influencing us, the output can be blocked or errors may occur.

Given overview of connectionism. What does this perspective entail?

Environment plays a large role.
Frequency with which learners encounter certain linguistic patterns is important; the more often the learners come across these patterns, the easier it will be for the learners to understand and remember these.
Language is built up true experiences of hearing/seeing linguistic input over and over again. Formulaic language is an excellent example of how we often rephrase the same linguistic feature over and over again.

What is immersion teaching?

Imagine teaching as a way of teaching in which learners are, as the word suggests, immersed in the language. The target language is spoken at all times and is the medium of instruction. It can be argued that learners acquire the language over time through interaction and communication in the target language. They will study the rules explicitly, but as all communication is in English, a lot of subconscious acquisition will take place. The main purpose of immersion teaching is fostering bilingualism.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of CLIL teaching in the Netherlands?

Advantages:
Learners get an excellent proficiency in a second language.
Learners learn this language mostly through interaction in several glasses, hardly any extra lessons are needed.
Learners gain information on globalisation and internationalisation.

Disadvantages:
Their L1 might interfere in the learning of the L2.
The learning of other foreign languages might seem more boring to learn, as the CLIL do not learn these languages in the same way.
Learners might never use their English proficiency, if they choose studies which have nothing to do with languages, business, or other internationally related courses..

What is communicative language teaching?

Communicative language teaching art CLT is the approach in language learning that focuses on interaction. Both the teaching method and the ultimate goal is interaction. Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication. The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life. Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listening more becoming active facilitators of their students learning.

What kind of classroom activities can you imagine that would suit communicative language teaching?

Role-play, interviews, information gap, games, language exchanges, surveys, pair work, learning by teaching

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Liguistics

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