Introduction
Through the years, language teachers, psychologists and others have had varying ideas of how languages are learned. Second language acquisition has multiple models, including cognitive based models, sociocultural models, and models regarding input and interaction. In this paper, my goal is to take one prominent model of SLA, the interactionist model, and determine how this model actually plays out in the classroom. I seek to answer the following questions: How does interaction support the development of interlanguage as shown in SLA research? And what does this imply about teaching practice. The discussion of these questions will follow from an analysis of four articles on interaction research. First, I will discuss an article called “Talking, tuning in and noticing: exploring the benefits of output in task-based peer interaction” by Philp & Iwashita (2013). Then I will discuss Iwashita’s work, “Negative Feedback and Positive Evidence in Task-Based Interaction” (2003). I will move on to the work of Mackey and Silver, “Interactional tasks and English L2 learning by immigrant children in Singapore” (2005). Finally, I will analyze McDonough’s work from 2005 on “Learner-learner interaction during pair and small group activities in a Thai EFL context.” Through these articles I will gain more information on how to answer my chief questions.
Before diving into the research, let us briefly investigate what the interactionist view of SLA is, and how it differs from other views of SLA. Long (1981, 1983, 1996) proposed that interaction is crucial to SLA. One key idea in Long’s perspective on SLA is negotiation for meaning. When interlocutors struggle to understand one another during a difficult language task, they modify their...
... middle of paper ...
...rs and parents for background information.
Works Cited
Iwashita, N. (2003). Negative Feedback and Positive Evidence in Task-Based Interaction: Differential Effects on L2 Development. Studies In Second Language Acquisition, 25(1), 1-36. doi:10.1017/S0272263103000019
Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. M. (2014). How languages are learned (4th ed.). Oxford [england: Oxford University Press. [Kindle Edition]
Mackey, A., & Silver, R. E. (2005). Interactional tasks and English L2 learning by immigrant children in Singapore. System, 33(2), 239-260.
McDonough, K. (2004). Learner-learner interaction during pair and small group activities in a Thai EFL context. System, 32,207-224.
Philp, J., & Iwashita, N. (2013). Talking, tuning in and noticing: exploring the benefits of output in task-based peer interaction. Language Awareness, 22(4), 353-370. doi:10.1080/09658416.2012.758128
These discussions need to be meaningful and have purpose to create a higher chance of student engagement and participation. The article states, “cooperative learning is a natural way to provide opportunities across the curriculum” (Wright, 2016, p. 28-29). The smaller the group, the more likely the ELL student is to add to the conversation, as native English speakers typically dominant whole group discussions. It is important that every student in the small group contributes so the ELL student can hear and practice their own oral language. There are many activities that could be used to ensure this engagement, such as think-pair-share, that requires students to work together and actually get information from each other. Activities that cannot be completed alone and require the thinking of another student would be best for this
Van Geert, P. (2008). The dynamic systems approach in the study of L1 and L2 acquisition:
Metalinguistic awareness increased within the ESL students, therefore their phonics increased as well and they scored higher than some L1 students. Students who know multiple languages at an early age are proven to do better in both languages than students who only know one language.
Language is a matter that touches many American cultures. Cultures thrive on their languages and customs to define the people they are. However, second languages can divide not only people of a specific group but also members of a particular family. Several writers address the unvarying difficulty of learning a second language in America. Many rhetorical devices are used to sustain their assertions and to shape the reader. An Asian-American author speaks about multilingualism in American today. Tan (2002) uses rhetorical devices to support her claims about her frustrations with a mother who does not speak English very well. Throughout this paper, I will analyze Tan’s cause-and-effect structure, personal experiences, and pathos appeal. This essay will show how Tan supports her claim through these rhetorical elements.
There are many theories on how a person acquires a language. One can see that technology has influenced the way we input information as well as how we gather data based on these Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories. For example, today’s technology has helped us study the way the human brain works, and this is what our theories of SLA are based on. So it is evident that many of the SLA theories are based on the way the human brain works and how it develops. Moving on, this case study is based on two Spanish speakers who are English Language Learners (ELL) and how they were led to determine the SLA on the subject of their speech. The two Spanish speakers that are analyzed during this investigation are Elizabeth, a five-year old girl, and
English Language Learners range from Newcomers learning survival English and developing foundational literacy skills to Long-Term English Learners who have had 6 years or more of their education in English yet continue have significant language gaps. These students may speak English with little or no accent and still lack the vocabulary, grammar and grade level literacy to be successful in school. English language learners may remain silent in the classroom as they adjust to a new school, environment, and culture unless he is a native language comrade to interact with. The English language learners are concerned about decoding verbal and non- verbal communication as well as understanding the social culture framework of the school. Most of the time English language learners are observing during instruction, trying to repeat words used by others, memorizing simple phrases and sentences, tired by midday or be frustrated attending long lectures unaccompanied by visual and gestures, relying on first language translation used peer translation or bilingual dictionary, as the students begin to learner they become more involved in the classroom, they can respond non-verbally to commands, statements, and questions in simple form. As their oral comprehension increases, they begin to use simple word and phrases and may use English spontaneously. They can understand short conversation on a simple topic when reading students can understand a narrative text and authentic materials, although they will be below
Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. M. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). Oxford [england: Oxford University Press.
...is approach, the flip classroom is combined with Freire’s problem solving approach for second language learners (Marshall and DeCapua, 2013). The students are presented with a stimulus at the beginning of the session such as a photo or a story. The students explore the problem presented in the stimuli and how it relates to them. They are then required to bring to the problem the knowledge and understanding that they possess. Gaps in their understanding are revealed through peer interaction. The learners are then presented with the resource that they will need to explore in their own time and how it might assist them in bridging the identified gaps. This approach can be used to explore the cultural dissonance and discomfort that an ESL learner might experience. The active learning that is promoted improves the second language acquisition (Gass and Mackey, 20006).
Pragmatics, the language of conversation, is a large component of language that unfortunately, many individuals have difficulties with. Beginning at a young age, teachers and other adults can generally sense a problem with a child’s socialization s...
With the increasing popularity of dual immersion programs in schools and the widespread notion that language acquisition is something that needs to happen early on life, is there an ideal age to learn a second language (L2)?
Long, M. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W.Ritchie and T.Bhatia (eds.) Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (San Diego, CA: Academic Press), 413-68.
Children’s acquisition of language has long been considered one of the uniquely defining characteristics of human behaviour.
In this review, I will look at the Theory of learning about language acquisition and how children acquire their first or second language. The reason why this fields of education interest me is because we are now living in a diverse society where by English is no longer the central language in the school in UK. On the basis of National Data collected via School Census, British Council says that “almost one in six pupils speak English as an additional language” (British Council, 2016). The rate of children with EAL is continues to increasing in UK from Europe and Asia. Based on the literature I am reading how, where and why child will be acquiring knowledge and this process is complex (Clark, 2016).
The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis- Krashen believed that learning and acquiring a second language are two different processes. The theory suggests that new linguistic information is obtained by the learner subconsciously (Macaro, 2010), much like the acquisition of the native language, whereas learning language is more of a conscious understanding of the language. Krashen advocated that language is more readily acquired when it is used to transmit messages in natural form of communication rather than when it is explicitly (Crochunis, Erdey, & Swedlow, 2002). We conclude that if second language learners are provided opportunities to produce the targeted language in authentic interactions with peers and teachers, this would positively influence the acquisition of the targeted language. Therefore, it could be said that language teachers should focus more attention on the meaning being communicated than on form, like obeying grammatical
Krashen’s Hypotheses of Second Language Acquisition. For decades, foreign language teachers have wandered into a scientific abyss. Until 1983, there had been little real research dealing with the ways in which someone acquires a second language. Teachers mostly used the audiolingual classroom model that had been in place for the past twenty years (or, even worse, the literally ancient grammatical translation model that had been used by civilizations millennia old).