L2 Acquisition: The Social Perspective

1. L2 Acquisition:The Social Perspective Guadalupe Valdés Stanford University

2. First steps: • In order to talk about the social in L2 acquisition, we need to expand the ways that in which we think about language. • We have to focus on • why and how language varies • how people learn to talk in different ways

3. The first question that concerns us today: • Why do people talk the way they do?

4. A thought experiment • Speaking well in a biker bar

5. A second question: • How do people learn to talk the way they do?

6. Language socialization • Children are socialized through language. • Children are socialized to use language.

7. Language competence

8. In monolingual speakers, language varies • A child from Boston and a child from Mississippi will acquire the accents of the adults and children with whom they interact. • A child whose family emphasizes displaying information will learn how to do that. She will display what she knows at home and at school.

9. A child whose parents care about how well she can think on her feet and defend herself will learn how to do that also. • In every case, children acquire the grammatical and sociolinguistic rules used by adults and children around them. • By the time they arrive in school, children know how to use language in effective ways in their families and communities.

10. Studies of different communities • Heath (1983) studied three different communities: • Maintown • Roadville • Trackton • She described how children were expected to use language and to engage in literacy events very differently.

11. Speech repertoires • Over a life time, individuals acquire a repertoire of styles and ways of speaking that allow them to present themselves appropriately and /or effectively in different contexts, for different purposes. • Researchers have argued that there are no single style speakers.

12. They acquire different ways of speaking • Not by overt teaching and instruction but by becoming members of particular social groups who use language in particular ways.

13. For many theorists, L1 acquisition • Is not merely a question of acquiring the linguistic system.

14. It also involves:

15. What about L2 acquisition?

16. As is the case for L1 • Much of the focus of SLA research has been on the acquisition of the linguistic system. • Many theorists have focused on L2 acquisition as a mental process that occurs within the brains of individual learners.

17. By comparison, a social view of SLA focuses on: • Issues of identity • The relationship between learners and more knowledgeable others • Ways in which learners become a part of a larger conversation • Communities of practice

18. In terms of identity: • This group of theorists considers that social explanations must go beyond merely taking into account the context and particular “social” factors (race, class, gender). • They view identity not as an essence, but as a positioning.

19. Theorists influenced by Vygotsky (1978) believe that: • Learners’ mental processes are constructed through their relationships with others. • More skilled “knowledgeable others” provide the scaffolding needed by learners in acquiring the next levels of development.

20. Theorists influenced by Bakhtin (1981) maintain that: • All speakers participate in a dialogue of a linked utterances (voices in a conversation) that surround them. • They respond to these utterances appropriating them for use for their own particular purposes.

21. Community of practice theorists (e.g., Lave & Wegner, 1991): • Consider that all learning takes place in a participation framework--not in the individual mind. • Learners are part of “communities of practice.” • They move from “legitimate peripheral participation” to full participation in the practices of the community.

22. To summarize: • Theorists who view L2 acquisition from a social perspective believe that the process must involve relationships and interactions with speakers of the target language.

23. What does all of this mean for teachers? • Let’s first look at the ways that individuals acquire an L2 outside of school.

24. All over the world: • Many middle class professionals often decide to raise their children using two languages. • They carefully plan their children’s exposure to the two languages, purchase materials, and plan trips to provide optimal exposure to the two languages.

25. Working class immigrant families: • Use only their home language with their children. • Are isolated among other immigrants. • May have little education. • May have little contact with English-speaking people. • Assume that the children will acquire English at school.

26. Youngsters who are English language learners: • Often have little contact with native English-speaking students both at home in their community. • At school, Interactions in English take place at a ratio of 25 or 30 to 1. • If they are lucky, they will have regular access to English from relatives who have been here longer, from older siblings, and from neighbors.

27. If they are not lucky: • They will be ridiculed by their peers when they attempt to speak English. • They will be excluded from all opportunities to hear fluent English from their native-speaking peers. • They will be exposed to a watered-down curriculum. • They will be at great risk for academic failure.

28. What about “teaching” the L2? • Approaches to “teaching” L2 have varied over time from the analytical to the experiential (Stern 1990). • Handout

29. What about “ultimate attainment”? • Many theorists maintain that the key difference between L1 and L2 acquisition is ultimate attainment. (Cook, 2002) • Native-like attainment is considered to be exceedingly rare in L2 acquisition.

30. Be that as it might, • Some theorists believe that in order for English language learners in American schools to acquire the English that they need in order to learn through English: • Learners must have available to them speakers of English who know the language well enough to provide both access to English and help for learning it. • The social setting must bring learners and English speakers into frequent enough contact to make language learning possible. (Wong Fillmore, 1991)

31. To conclude: • Considering the social in L2 acquisition raises a variety of questions • whether one is concerned with the characteristics of the social setting • or whether one believes that the full language system can only be acquired in everyday interactions with fluent speakers of that language

32. Subject-matter teachers need to consider: • The dilemmas involved in working with English language learners when the ratio of fluent English speakers is 25 or 30 to 1. • The significance of students “flawed” English in learning content.