How Languages Are Learned4th edition

Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada

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Summary of Chapter 3

How Languages Are Learned4th edition

Chapter 3 Individual differences in second language learning

Successful/unsuccessful second language learning experiences

• Recount a successful second language learning experience.– What are the factors that you think contributed to this

success?– How do they relate to the research you’ve read on

individual differences?• Recount an unsuccessful second language learning

experience.– What are the factors that you think contributed to this

failure?– How do they relate to the research you’ve read on

individual differences?3

Difficulties determining how individual characteristics contribute to SLA

• Not possible to directly observe and measure characteristics such as motivation, extroversion, etc.

• Differences in the way in which language proficiency is measured

• Correlational research: not cause–effect

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Positive/negative correlations

• Motivation and language learning success

Positive correlationQualification: While successful learners have been found, in

general, to be quite motivated, the opposite has not been found. Unsuccessful language learners are not necessarily unmotivated, there may be other reasons explaining their lack of success––for example, they may simply not have had sufficient opportunities for contact with the L2. And then there is the chicken and the egg problem––which comes first, success or motivation?

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Positive/negative corrections

• Age of first exposure to an L2 and ultimate attainment

Negative correlation: They vary in opposite directions

Qualification: Some research shows that adolescents and adults are more efficient language learners, at least in the early stages, and some adults do manage to attain native-like command of a second language.

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Learner characteristics

• Intelligence/aptitude• Learning styles• Personality • Motivation and attitudes• Identity and ethnic group affiliation• Learner beliefs• Age

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Aptitude components

• Identify and memorize new sounds.• Understand the function of particular words

in sentences.• Figure out grammatical rules from language

samples.• Remember new words.

– Working memory may be most important.– Successful learners may not be strong in ALL

aspects of aptitude.

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Aptitude: Predictor of success in different L2 environments?

• Wesche (1981): determined learners’ aptitude profiles and placed them in language programmes that were compatible with those profiles.– Findings: better results than when not matched.

• Leila Ranta (2002): children with a strong language analytic ability were the most successful learners in meaning-oriented programmes.

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Learning styles

• Visual learners/kinaesthetic learners, etc.• Challenge:– Find instructional approaches that meet the needs

of learners with a variety of aptitude AND learning style profiles.

• Polyglot savants

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Personality• Extroversion → success in language learning?• Inhibition → less success in language learning?• Anxiety

– Not a static trait––dynamic and dependent on specific situations

– Is all anxiety bad? – Willingness to communicate

• Research does not show a simple relationship between personality traits and L2 learning.

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Defining motivation

• Integrative motivation: learning for personal growth and cultural enrichment

• Instrumental motivation: language learning for more immediate or practical goals

Gardner and Lambert (1972)

• Process-oriented model of motivationDörnyei (2001)

• Motivation in the classroomGuilloteaux and Dörnyei (2008)

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Identity and ethnic group affiliation

• Power relationships– Majority versus minority language learners

• Investment and identity– Adult immigrant learners in the English workplace

Norton (1995)

– Child immigrant students in English kindergarten classes

Toohey (2000)

– Japanese students and their peersTomita (2011)

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Learner beliefs

• Preferences for different types of instruction– Form-based versus communicative approaches– Corrective feedback

• Important for teachers to explore these preferences/assumptions (particularly with older learners)– Help learners explore their repertoire of learning

strategies.

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Age

• Critical Period Hypothesis for L2 learning – Child L2 learners typically more successful than adult L2 learners.– Biological, cognitive, or contextual?

• Older learners may depend on more general learning skills,• Not as effective as innate abilities specific to language that

younger learners have access to.

• But, difficult to compare older and younger learners – not just age that’s different.

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Support for the CPH Patkowski (1980)

• Objective: Study the effects of age on the mastery of L2 features.

• Participants: 67 highly educated immigrants and 15 native speakers

• Target language: English as an L2• Task: Participants were interviewed.• Evaluation: Trained native speakers were asked to

rate the participants’ knowledge of the L2 on a scale from 0 to 5.

• Results: Younger learners judged to be more native-like than older learners.

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Support for the CPH (Cont.)Johnson and Newport (1989)

• Objective: Study the effects of age on learners’ intuitions of grammaticality.

• Participants: 46 Chinese and Korean ESL learners and 23 native speakers

• Target language: English • Task: Hear and judge (correct versus incorrect) a set of

sentences testing 12 rules of English morphology and syntax.

• Results: Younger starters did better than older starters.

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Support for CPH (Cont.) Snow & Hoefnagel-Höhle (1978)

• Objective: Study the effects of age on rate of acquisition.

• Participants: Children (aged 3 to 10), adolescent (12 to 15), and adult (18 to 60) L2 learners.

• Target language: Dutch as a second language• Task: Nine tests of language knowledge and use• Testing: Three times at four- to five-month intervals• Results: Older learners had an initial advantage, but

younger learners caught up over time. Eventually younger learners surpassed older learners.

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Advantages for older learners

• More efficient than younger learners––start off faster– Greater metalinguistic knowledge/problem

solving skills• Younger learners catch up with and surpass

older learners in the naturalistic context but not in the instructed context.

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Older and younger instructed learners in Spain

• Older learners of English as a foreign language progressed faster than younger learners on a variety of oral and written tasks.

• Younger learners caught up with older learners on oral but not written tasks.

• Younger learners did not surpass older learners over time (9 years). (Muñoz, 2006, 2011)

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Revised CPH

• CPH applies only to implicit learning of abstract structures.

• Implicit learning is activated in a naturalistic setting (with massive exposure).

• Explicit learning is activated in school settings.• Therefore, the effectiveness of implicit and

explicit learning mechanisms is context-dependent.

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At what age should second language instruction begin?

Depends … • Learner goals: Ability to communicate and

function in the language.– Native-like language use not a goal for many L2

learners.

• Early start comes with risks, particularly for minority language learners.

• Amount of time for instruction:– 1 or 2 hours a week doesn’t produce advanced L2

speakers. no matter how young they start.– Older learners make better use of the time.

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Conclusion

• Age is necessary but not sufficient for successful L2 learning.

• Many other factors in play …

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