Title: Please check
1Please check
2Todays topic
- Introduction
- Approaches to L1 L2 Development
- Nativism
3Announcements
- Turn in reading questions from Mitchell Myles
(2004). - The rough draft of the progressive essay is due
the week before UNM Spring Break. Please dont
delay in getting started working on it. Please
note that YOU will assign yourself the grade for
this assignment. I will provide comments only.
4Quick questions or quandaries?
5Noam Chomsky
- he hypothesized that, children are born with a
specific innate ability to discover for
themselves the underlying rules of a language
system on the basis of the samples of a natural
language they are exposed to. -
(Lightbown Spada, 2006, p. 15)
6Chomskyan Nativism
- The childs language grows in the mind as
the visual system develops the capacity for
binocular vision, or as the child undergoes
puberty at a certain stage of maturation.
Language acquisition is something that happens to
a child placed in a certain environment, not
something the child does. - (as cited in Cowie, 1999, p. 153)
7Contrasting approaches to language development
Language is separate from cognition
Language is a subset of cognition
8Universal Grammar Definition
- Innate linguistic knowledge which, it is
hypothesized, consists of a set of principles
common to all languages. This term is associated
with Chomskys theory of language acquisition. -
- Lightbown Spada, 2006, p. 205
9Another quote
- Children are born with innate knowledge which
guides them in the language acquisition task
(Crain Lillo-Martin, 1999, p. 4) children are
born with innate knowledge which guides them in
the language acquisition task. - (Crain Lillo-Martin, 1999, p. 4)
10100,000 Question
- Which grammatical structures are specifically
preprogrammed in the human brain?
11Most child language specialists today agree that,
at least to some extent, the human brain is
predisposed to
- Attend differentially to language input,
- Process that input according to some preset
principles, and - Formulate unconscious rules for language
comprehension and production.
12Hypothesis Testing
- Formulaic speech (i.e. went)
- Rule formation (i.e. ed)
- Over-extension (i.e. goed)
- Exceptional to the rule (i.e. went)
13Example of grammatical over-extension and
resistance to correction
- Child he falled down
- Mom no Timmy, he fell down
- Child yeah, he falled down
14Browns First 14 Morphemes
- articles
- regular past -ed
- regular 3rd person s
- irregular 3rd person
- uncontractible auxiliary
- contractible copula
- contractible auxiliary
- present progressive -ing (without auxiliary)
- in
- on
- regular plural s
- irregular past
- possessive s
- uncontractible copula (to be as main verb)
15Too good to be true?
- Later studies have questioned this invariant
order (e.g. Lahey, Liebergott, Chesnick, Menyuk,
Adams, 1982). - While this order generally holds true for middle
class native English speaking children, it does
not for other languages, such as Spanish, except
for gross generalities (e.g. Merino, 1992). - Other explanations, such as the influence of
factors such as perceptual salience,
morphological regularity and frequency (e.g.
Goldschneider DeKeyer, 2001).
16Think-pair-share
- What have you learned nativism?
- Anything new or
interesting? - Anything puzzling?
Take notes!
17 Quick Write
- Chomskys theory was a radical departure from
prior perspectives on child language development.
What do you think the most important contribution
of his work might be/have been?
18Small Group Activity
- Individually, fill out the front side
of your K-W-L graphic organizer. - Then, in small group each person share what you
want to learn. - Together, using the readings, try to find the
answers. - Be prepared to share with whole group.
19Krashens Five Hypotheses
- The acquisition-learning hypothesis
- The natural order hypothesis
- The monitor hypothesis
- The input hypothesis
- The affective filter hypothesis
20The acquisition-learning hypothesis
- Language acquisition and language learning are
two different processes that second language
learners can use. Acquisition is the subconscious
development of rules, just like in L1
development. Learning involves formal knowledge
(and teaching) of a language, including error
rection. Krashen argues that error correction
does not lead to acquisition or fluency.
21The natural order hypothesis
- Students acquire (not learn) grammatical
structure in a predictable order that is,
certain grammatical structures tend to be
acquired early and others, late It appears that
the order of acquisition for first language
acquisition is not identical to the order of
acquisition for second language acquisition, but
there are some similarities.
(Krashen, 1994, p. 53)
22The monitor hypothesis
- Conscious learning is not at all responsible for
our fluency but has only one function it can be
used as an editor or monitor We use conscious
learning to make corrections, to change the
output of the acquired system before we speak or
write, or sometimes after we speak or write (as
in self-correction).
(Krashen, 1994, p. 53)
23The input hypothesis
- We acquire by understanding input containing I
1 that is, by understanding language that
contains input containing structures that are a
bit beyond the acquirers current level. We
acquire structure by understanding messages and
not focusing on the form of the input or
analyzing it.
(Krashen, 1994, p. 54)
24The affective filter hypothesis
Low anxiety, high motivation, and high
self-esteem and self-confidence lead to better
second language development, because of the
presence of an affective filter which, when
raised, blocks language input from entering the
individuals language acquisition device.
(Krashen, 1994)
25Five minute silent re-cap review
26Criticisms of Krashens Model
- Difficulty empirically differentiating between
acquisition and learning. - Criticism of acquisition and learning as a
dichotomy, rather than a continuum. - Difficulty empirically testing Krashens
hypotheses.
27Criticisms, cont.
- Use of constructs, such as i 1, affective
filter, or LAD, which cannot be operationally
defined. - Emphasis on input, rather than interaction.
- Notion of affective filter overly simplistic.
28Looking ahead
29Please take a minute for the minute paper.