Effective Language Acquisition: Strategies and Tips

1. Know-how on Foreign Language AcquisitionNorio OtaYork University 外国語習得の心得 ヨーク大学日本語科主任 太田徳夫

2. General requirements • Individualistic • Flexible thinking • Risk-taking • Communicative in your own language • Knowledgeable about your own culture and current affairs • Good reading habit

3. Learning Language in Cross-cultural Communication • Bilingualism & Biculturalism • Communicative-Empathic Approach • Pragmatics & Contrastive Pragmatics • Speech Acts

4. Japanese holistic general descriptive situational context-dependent elliptical English analytic specific explanatory less situational context-independent exhaustive [redundant] Japanese vs. EnglishCognitive/Discourse/Textual

5. Japanese formal indirect [indecisive] rank-conscious submissive concessive agreeable [understanding] appreciative apologetic modest [reserved] responsive less exclamatory less derogative less rewarding English informal direct [decisive] egalitarian independent self-determined competitive [challenging, provocative] less appreciative self-righteous boastful [proud] less responsive exclamatory [exaggerative] derogative rewarding Japanese vs. EnglishSociolinguistic/Pragmatic

6. Japanese Introversive [inconspicuous] collective subjective [intuitive] emotional [sentimental] pessimistic [negative] retrospective English extroversive [conspicuous] individualistic objective [logical] rational optimistic [positive] prospective Japanese vs. EnglishPsycholinguistic

7. Speech Acts • Greeting • Thanking • Apologizing • Making an excuse • Getting angry • Comforting • Requesting • ...

8. How to improve performanceSpeaking/Conversation 1 • Imitate intonation patterns and stress patterns [empathy] "Where have you been?" "What are you looking at?" • Improve pronunciation protrude you lower jaw: [bird burn thing five] vowels: [bought caught boat coat cut cot cat potato robot abroad gross captain capital have to] r vs. l: [parallel hotel write right wring ring] nasalization: [time pound Canada] amount of aspiration: [pin tough top writer] CCC: [strike textbook] -s, -ed • Nonverbal communication: facial expression, body movement, eye-contact • Make conversation interesting: teasing, pun, interesting story • Develop sets of short dialogues. • Have your own opinions on current affairs. • Be knowledgeable about your culture, society and people.

9. How to improve performanceSpeaking/Conversation 2 • Prepare topics for conversation in advance. • Improve sociolinguistic aspects: turn-taking, topic change, politeness, metaphor • Acquire idiomaticity: rule of thumb, on and off, pots and pans, wine and cheese, assume responsibility • Use fillers, exclamations and tags: well, you know, let me see, eh?, really? • Learn verbal idioms: I was stood up., get it over with, turn me on • Learn acronyms: R & D, A.S.A.P., T.G.I.F., the three R's • Repeat patterns and routines: "Long time no see", "What's new? Nothing much." • Become familiar with colloquialism: "Are you kidding?", "You don't say!", "Come on!" • Remember names. • Watch out negative questions. • Prediction and preemption are useful. • Do not take swearing personally.

10. How to improve performanceListening • Improve pronunciation [inner speech]. • Focus on SV and chain of events. • Increase vocabulary through reading. • Use prediction and guessing based on common sense. • Find clues from situation. • Summarize content for memory. • Watch TV and use VCR/DVD: home drama, comedy, news, commercial • Turn on closed caption or subtitle. • Increase background knowledge.

11. How to improve performanceReading • Choose topics that interest you. • Avoid literary work: detective or spy stories • Select short stories with clear story lines. • Do not use dictionary as long as you follow story lines. • Look up the meaning of frequently used words. • Sum up and visualize story. • Finish a book as quickly as possible. • Prediction is not easy but helpful. • Choose short articles in the paper. • Reading the translation in advance may help. • Learn new vocabulary and expressions.

12. How to improve performanceWriting • Increase active vocabulary. • Learn to compose cohesive paragraphs. • Imitate model short paragraphs. • Identify discourse level errors and problems. • Find out reasons for errors. • Become familiar with set texts. • Taiyaku ‘with corresponding translation’ is helpful.

13. How to improve performanceGrammar • From complex sentence to paragraph Subordinate clause Relative clause Embedded sentence • Text organization Pronoun Deixis Conjunction Ellipsis Presupposition Article

14. How to improve performanceVocabulary 1 • Why does English vocabulary seem so difficult to learn? render ‘cause ~’ attend ‘present’, ‘accompany’ gratuitous ‘free’ gratuity ‘tip’ get up - 10 different meanings listed , but it is not that this has 10 different meanings, but 10 different ways used in different contexts are listed in the dictionary. Various meanings of get' are combined with the meanings of 'up'. dip ‘soak’, ‘ladle’ a dip in the pool dip for chips - shin’eki? a dip in prices, dip switch, dipstick dipper the Big/Little Dipper dippy discharge ‘release’, ‘carry out’ vindicate/vindictive relent/relentless condone ‘forgive’ crocus Cro-Magnon crone ‘witch-like old woman’ crony ‘old friend’ cronyism ‘nepotism’ (clone) cringe ‘flatter’ boric acid hosan

15. How to improve performanceVocabulary 2 • Japanese vocabulary and English vocabulary: differences in nature - different strategies JPN ENG: Kanji (morpheme) - based etymological relationship not clear compound verbs verb + preposition conjugation inflection Acquiring vocabulary: ladder stepladder rung Meta-language: syntax cloze in camera Study vocabulary not just memorize. Prefixes and other common elements

16. How to improve performanceVocabulary 3 • Vocabulary and Empathy: Affective judgment and initial strings [sk-] scrumptious, scrupulous, scrutable : why difficult to remember? Most [sk-] words have negative connotation. [Negative] scab, scabby, scabrous, scald. scalp, scaly, scamp, scandal, scandalous, scant, scanty, scapegoat, scar, scarce, scare, scarify, scarlet, scat, scathe, scatter, scavenge, sclerosis, scoff, scold, scoot, scorch, scoria, scorn, scotch, scour, scourge, scowl, scrabble, scrag, scram, scramble, scrap, scrape, scratch, scrawl, screak, scream, screech, screw, scribble, scrimp, scrounge, scrub, scrunch, scruple, scrutiny, scuff, scuffle, scum, scupper, scurf, scurrilous, scurry, scurvy, scut, scuttle, scuzzy, skein, skeleton, skeptical, skew, skid, skim, skimp, skin, skip, skirmish, skittish, skulk, skull, skunk [Positive/Neutral] scan, schedule, scheme, scholar, school, scoop, scope, score, scout, screen, script, scroll, scull, sculpture, skate, sketch, ski, skirt, sky