The Cognitive approach in SLA

1. The Cognitive approach in SLA • SLS 600 Intro to SLA - Dr. Dongping Zheng • Presenter : Jae Won Chung / Sangki Kim

2. Contents • Cognitive Approach • A Brief Introduction of Cognitive SLA Theories • Other Perspectives in SLA • Whats and Whos • Discussion

3. What is the Cognitive approach in SLA? • Previously Learning : Mimicry and Memorization(Behaviourism : Stimuli Responses) • Learning in the Cognitive perspective : Automatization (Developmental psychology : Input automatization)

4. Information processing theories • Focus on how the information of L2 is processed • SL Learning viewed as Conceptualized as psycholinguistics entities to be an internalized cognitive process • Associative-Cognitive CREED • Long-term Memory in SLA (Vocabulary Knowledge) • Cognitive Neuroscience of SLA • Attention heightens the activation level of input - Incidental L2 Learning, Learning without Attention

5. Cognitive-Interactionist approach • Refers to multiple internal (Cognitive) and external (Environmental) factors reciprocally “INTERACT” and together affect the observed processes and outcomes of a phenomenon SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING (Understanding Second Language Acquisition, p.55) • Cognitive-interactionists focus on ATTITUDE, INPUT, INTERACTION, OUTPUT, ATTENTION.

6. Cognitive-interactionist theories(1)(Understanding Second Language Acquisition, p.56-63) • the Acculturation Model (Focus on Attitude) - Schumann, 1976 : the more acculturated a learner can become, the more successful his/her eventual learning outcomes will be. • Comprehensible Input Hypothesis (Focus on Input) - Krashen, late 1970’s : the single most important source of L2 learning : comprehensible input (i+1) • Interaction Hypothesis (Focus on Interaction) - Michael Long, early 1980s : the best kind of input is that has been interactionally modified, “Negotiated”

7. Cognitive-interactionist theories(2)(Understanding Second Language Acquisition, p.56-63) • Pushed Output Hypothesis (Focus on Output) - Merrill Swain, 1985 : Producing the target language may be the trigger that forces the learner to pay attention to the means of expression needed in order to successfully convey his/her own intended meaning. • Noticing Hypothesis (Focus on Attention) - Schmidt, 1990s : In order to learn any aspect of L2, leaners need to notice the relevant material in the linguistic data afforded by the environment

8. other perspectives(1) • the Social Turn : Firth and Wagner (1997) - “We pressed the need for an SLA that can explain “how language is used as it is being acquired through interaction, and used resourcefully, contingently, and contextually”(p. 296.)

9. other perspectives(2) • Emergentism, late 1990s (Post-Cognitivist) - Contemporary family of theories in cognitive science that reconceptualizes information processing as an associative, probabilistic, rational, usage-based, grounded, dynamic and emergent adaptation of the agent to the environment (Understanding Second Language Acquisition, p.107)

10. other perspectives(3) • Language acquisition is a self-organizing dynamic system • Viewing phenomenon to be explained (e.g. L2 learning) as a system(or ecology) composed of many inter-connected parts that self-organize on the basis of multiple influences outside the system • the new approach helps envision additional L2 acquisition more as an ecological phenomenon, ‘a dynamic process in which regularities and system emerge from the interaction of people, their conscious selves, and their brains, using language in their societies, cultures, and world’(Ellis, 2007)

11. Academic and Professional Organizations

12. Publications

13. Who works in this area at UHM? My interests are cognitive and affective factors in adult second and foreign language learning --such as the role of attention and the importance of motivation in learning sociolinguistics (macro and micro) and the particular problems of learning and teaching difficult, less commonly-taught languages. I am interested in second language acquisition, second language writing, foreign language education, and the use of research methods in applied linguistics Interested in Cognitive Science of learningStatistical and embodied components of language acquisitionSentence processingComputational modelingEarly bilingualismLanguage evolution

14. Others • Prominent Researcher - Schumann, Long, Swain, Ellis, Gass, McDonough, Lapkin • What are the primary issues in the area? - Memory and attention in L2 learning, Negative Feedback Episodes, Comprehension vs Production, Grammatical Competence, and so on...

15. References • Ortega, L. (2009) The Linguistic Environment, Understanding Second Language Acquisition, pp.55-81, Wiltshire, Hodder Education • Ortega, L. (2009) Cognition, Understanding Second Language Acquisition, pp.82-109, Wiltshire, Hodder Education • Lightbown P.M, and Spada N, How Language are Learned, pp.34-46, China, Oxford University Press • Ellis, N. C., “SLA: The Associative-Cognitive CREED”. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in Second Language Acquisition: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press • William O’Grady, Miseon Lee, & Hye-Young Kwak (2008) Emergentism and Second Language Acquisition*, To appear in W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (eds.), Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Emerald Press. • Author, A. A. (1996). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. first page-last page). City: Publisher. •       Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (1996). Title of chapter: Subtitle of chapter. In E. E. Editor, & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of book: Subtitle of book (edition, pp. first page-last page). City, ST: Publisher. •       Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (1996). Title of chapter: Subtitle of chapter. In E. E. Editor, F. F. Editor, & G. G. Editor (Eds.), Title of book: Subtitle of book (edition, pp. first page-last page). City, Country: Publisher.