Formal Approaches to SLA

1. Formal Approaches to SLA Cristina Hudgins Middle Tennessee State University Cmh3j.mtsu@gmail.com

2. Innatism • “Language is a natural biological process driven by the LAD” (Module 3 Lecture Notes). • “Although language rules may not always be similar in every language – the ability to identify correctly formed sentences is universal and independent of meaning” (Chomsky, 2008) • “It is possible that it may place constraints on second language acquisition” (Myles, 2008).

3. Universal Grammar (UG) -a product of innatism • It is “the system of principles and rules that are elements or properties of all human languages” and is “a characterization of the child’s pre-linguistic state” (Chomsky, 1975). • This theory is governed by the idea that everyone is born with an LAD (Language Acquisition Device) and that there are certain principles and parameters present.

4. Universal Grammar (UG) Principles- something that is true for all languages. Parameters- “certain linguistic features that vary across languages” and must be set acording to the language being learned (Gass and Selinker, 2008). Examples include: • Structural Dependence: “linguistic principles operate on syntactic (or structural) units” (Gass and Selinker, 2008). • Subjacency: there is a limited amount of movement that can take place within sentences (Gass and Selinker, 2008) Example: • The Pro-drop parameter encompasses the following: • The omission of subject pronouns • The inversion of subjects and verbs in the declarative • The extraction of a subject from a clause that contains a complemenizer “A language will either have all of these properties or none of them” (Gass and Selinker, 2008)

5. Transfer: The UG Perspective • “A reconsideration of the concept of transfer” (Gass and Selinker, 2008) • Three of the “four areas that make current views of the phenomena of transfer truly different from earlier” ideas of transfer are: • Levels of representation • Clustering • Learnability (Gass and Selinker, 2008)

6. Transfer: The UG Perspective • Levels of representation: • Sentences can be represented in different ways with slightly different meanings. • Therefore, “transfer could occur not just on the basis of surface facts, but also on the basis of underlying structures” (Gass and Selinker, 2008) • Clustering: • “there are properties that cluster together within a parameter” and “one is concerned with how multiple properties of language do or do not behave in a” similar fashion (Gass and Selinker, 2008) • Learnability: • “Where positive evidence is readily available, allowing a learner to reset a parameter, little transfer is predicted” (Gass and Selinker) • “When positive evidence will not suffice to provide learners with adequate information about the L2…transfer is predicted” (Gass and Selinker, 2008)

7. Interactionist Theory • Emphasizes the social aspects of learning a language; the interaction that the learner experiences. (Module 3 Lecture Notes) • Interactions and error corrections that occur in the learning of the second language “assist in promoting second language acquisition” (Lyster and Ranta, 1998) • Interactions are “essential and vital to second language learning because they become a source of input” (Lantolf, 2000)

8. Age and Other Critical Factors • Age: • “Substantial evidence suggests the existance of a critical learning period for first languages” (Phillips, 2002) • There is a critical age of language acquisition. This is thought to be between the ages of two and puberty. “The critical period is thought to be related to brain plasticity and lateralization” (Kasper, 2003). • The ages between 5 and 9 is the time “when the primary language is mostly settled and before the effects from a critical or sensitive period to begin to manifest themselves” (Gass and Selinker, 2008)

9. Age and Other Critical Factors • The native language: • Avoidance • “the native language may influence which structures a learner produces and which strutures are not produces” (Gass and Selinker, 2008) • Learners avoid the differences between the L1 and the L2 • Differential learning rates • Learning times and learning rates differ among learners with different native languages based on the similarities and differences between the languages • Different paths • “paths of acquisition are not identical for speakers of all languages” (Gass and Selinker, 2008) • Facts of the native languages lead learners down different paths.

10. Age and Other Critical Factors • Age continued: • Overproduction • There are “different uses of forms depending on the native language” (Gass and Selinker, 2008) • Predictability/selectivity • “When something in the L2 is different from the L1, there is a novelty effect,” and the information ‘sticks’ more rapidly (Gass and Selinker, 2008). • Second language processing • “Learners begin with a universal processing principle and not with their L1 processing strategy” (Gass and Selinker, 2008) • Interlanguage Transfer: • Multilinguals develop qualities that help trigger UG parameter” (Gass and Selinker, 2008)

11. Tips for Teaching ESL • Give the students as much input as possible • Make sure to help the students make a personal connection • Don’t write on the board too much and expect them to be copying notes and listening to you speak at the same time • “Communicate slowly, clearly and directly” • “Be animated” (Andrew, 2005)

12. Tips for Teaching ESL • Make real-life/real-world connections • Make sure the students feel safe and comfortable in the class • Encourage peer teaching • Encourage connections made between the native language and the target language • Encourage risk-taking, because it is the best way to learn • Try it! • Make a guess! • Etc.

13. The Best Approach for Students I Have Come in Contact With Thus Far • The best approach, I believe, for the students I have come into contact with is a combination of social interaction, error corrections and identifying the similarities and differences between the native language and the target language.

14. The Approach I Feel Most Aligned With. • I feel that I am more aligned with the Interactionist theory. I believe the social and real life connections students can make while listening to and utilizing their newly developing language will help them internalize the language and make connections between their native language and their new language. I do believe there are some innate language factors but I feel students must be taught to utilize those and that they are not the biggest factor in second language acquisition.

15. Resources • http://www.eslflow.com/ • http://www.esl-galaxy.com/lessons.htm • http://www.tefl.net/teacher-training/teaching-tips.htm • http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Houston-TeachingIdeas.html • http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/second.htm

16. References • Andrews, H. (2005). Tips for Teaching ESL Beginners and Pre-literate Adults. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XI, No. 8. http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Andrews-Beginners.html • Gass, S. M, and Selinker, L. (2008). Chapters 5 and 6. In Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course (3rded) (pp. 1-15). New York, NY: Routledge. • Kasper, L. F. PhD. (2003). Language Acquisition in Humans. Retrieved from Dr. Loretta Kasper’sESL 91 on the web: http://kccesl.tripod.com/hypertextstudy/humanlanguagespring03.html • McGuigan, B. (2010). What is Universal Grammar? Retrieved from WiseGeek: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-universal-grammar.htm • Phillips, M. L. (2002). Second Language Learning. Retrieved from https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/view.d2l?tId=14348594&d2l_body_type=1&ou=1579251 • Walqui, A. (2000). Contextual Factors in Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved from the Center for Applied Linguistics website: http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0005contextual.html