Glottodidattica

1. Lesson 6 Glottodidattica

2. Glottodidattica • Outline • Chapters 4 & 5 Ellis: • Interlanguage as a stylistic • continuum • The acculturation model of L2 • acquisition • Social identity and investment in L2 • learning

3. Glottodidattica • Keywords: pidginization, acculturation, • scaffolding,

4. Glottodidattica • Interlanguage as a stylistic continuum • Elaine Tarone has proposed that interlanguage involves as a stylistic continuum. She thinks that learners develop a capability for using the L2 and this causes “all regularlanguage behavior”. At one end of the continuum is the careful style, evident when learners consciously attending to choose linguistics forms, as when they feel the need to be ‘correct’. At the other end of the continuum is the vernacular style, evident when learners are making spontaneous choices of linguistics form, like in free conversation.

5. Glottodidattica • Tarone’s idea of interlanguage as a stylistic continuum is striking. It explains that any learner language is variable. It suggests that an interlanguage grammar, although different from a native speaker’s grammar, is constructed according to the same principles, because native speakers possess a similar variety of styles.

6. Glottodidattica • Another theory based on the idea of stylistic • variation is Howard Gile’s accommodation theory. • He suggests that when people interact with each • other they also try to make their speech similar to • that of their receiver in order to highlight social • cohesiveness (a process of convergence) or to • make it different in order to emphasize their social • distinctiveness (a process of divergence).

7. Glottodidattica • The acculturation model of L2 acquisition • A similar perspective on the role of social factors in L2 • acquisition can be found in John Schumann’s acculturation • model. Schumman proposed that pidginization in L2 • acquisition results when learners not succeed in • acculturating to the target language-group, that is when • they are unable or reluctant to adapt to a new culture. The • main reason for learners’ unsuccessful acculturation is • social distance. Schumman also recognizes that social • distance is sometimes indeterminate. In such cases, he • suggests that psychological distance becomes important • and identifies another number of psychological factors, • such as language shock and motivation.

8. Glottodidattica • Social identity and investment in L2 learning • The notions of ‘subject to’ and ‘subject of ’ are central to Bonny Peirce’s view of the relationship between social contextand L2 acquisition. The latter requires investment, something learners will only make if they believe their efforts will increase the value of their ‘culture capital’. • L2 acquisition involves a ‘struggle’ and ‘investment’. Learners are not computers who process input data but fighters who battle to affirm themselves and investors who expect a good return on their efforts. In such situations social conditions determine the level of learners’ contact with the L2 and their promise to learn it. However, socio-cultural models can be less relevant to foreign language settings where most learners’ principal contact with the L2 is in a classroom.

9. Glottodidattica • Chapter 5 • DISCOURSE ASPECTS OF INTERLANGUAGE • The study of learner discourse in SLA has been informed • by two different goals. On the one hand, there have been • attempts to discover how L2 learners acquire the ‘rules’ of • discourse that inform native speaker language use. This • work is similar to the work on the acquisition of grammar • and is descriptive. On the other hand, a number of • researchers have tried to show how interaction shapes • interlanguage development.

10. Glottodidattica • Acquiring discourse rules • There are rules or regularities in the ways in which native speakers continue a conversation. In the United States, for example, a compliment usually requires a response and not giving one can be considered a sociolinguistics error. Furthermore, in American English complement response are usually quite elaborate, involving some attempt on the part of the speaker to underestimate the compliment by making some critical comment. • However, L2 learners behave differently. Sometimes they do not reply to a compliment at all. At other times they produce basic responses.

11. Glottodidattica • The role of input interaction in L2 acquisition • Most part of the research on learner discourse has been concerned with if and how input and interaction affect L2 acquisition. Learners’ brains are especially equipped to learn language and all that is needed is minimal exposure to input in order to activate acquisition. Learning takes place as a result of a complex interaction between the linguistic environment and the learner’s internal mechanisms. • Two types of foreigner talk can be identified, ungrammatical and • grammatical. Ungrammatical foreigner talk is socially marked. It often • implies a lack of respect on the part of the native speaker and can be • presented by learners. Grammatical foreigner talk is the norm. There are • various types of modification of foreigner talk. • 1.Grammatical foreigner talk is delivered at a slower speed. • 2.The input is simplified. • 3.Grammatical foreigner talk is sometimes regularized. • 4.Foreigner talk sometimes consists of elaborated language use.

12. Glottodidattica • This results in interactional modifications because the • participants in the discourse engage in the negotiation of • meaning. According to Krashen, L2 acquisition depends on • comprehensible input. Michael Long’s interaction • hypothesis also emphasize the importance of • comprehensible input but claims that it is most effective • when it is modified through the negotiation of meaning. • Another perspective on the relationship between discourse • and L2 acquisition is provided by Evelyn Hatch. Hatch • emphasizes the collaborative attempts of the learners and their • interlocutors in constructing discourse and suggests that syntactic • structures can result from the process of building discourse.

13. Glottodidattica • One way in which this can happen is through scaffolding. Learners use the discourse to help them produce words that they would not be able to produce on their own. Scaffolding of this type is common in the early stages of L2 acquisition and can explain some of the early transitional structures that have been observed in inter language. Other SLA theorists have used the Vygotsky’s theories, to explain how interaction serves as the base of acquisition. The two key constructs in what is known as ‘activity theory’, based on Vigotsky’s ideas, are ‘motive’ and ’internalization’. The first concerns the active way in which individuals define the goals of an activity for themselves by deciding what to attend to and what not to attend to. The second concerns how a learner comes to solve a problem with the assistance of an ‘expert’, who provides ‘scaffolding’, and then internalizes the solution. In this respect, the notion of the zone of proximal development is important.

14. Glottodidattica • The role of output in L2 acquisition • Discourse gives learners the opportunity to produce • language as well as hear it. Krashen argues that • ‘speaking is the result of acquisition, not its cause’. • He says that the only way learners can learn from their • output is by treating it as auto-input. • Output helps learners to test hypotheses. • They can practice a rule and see if it leads to successful • communication or if it gives negative feed-back. • Learners sometimes talk about their output, identifying • problems with it and discussing how they can fix it.

15. Glottodidattica • Summary • In this chapter we have considered a number of ways in which discourse can contribute to L2 acquisition: through the modified input that comes in foreigner talk, through the input learners obtain from negotiation of meaning, scaffolding, and comprehensible output.