Individual Difference Variables

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Individual Difference Variables

• Second Language Acquisition
• Instructor Prof. ???
• Presenter Linda ??? 9346002
  2005/3/28

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Cognitive style
the different ways or approaches that people have
of thinking and processing information. (ex.)
verbal or visual modes

• Development of cognitive style
• The effect of bilingualism on IQ
• The inappropriateness of traditional tests of
  intelligence for ethnic minority children
• 1. Cultural equivalence of the items
  2. Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Cognitive styles from different cultural
  background and aspects of its functioning

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Cohens conceptual styles

• Analytic typical of the mainstream in the united
  states
• Relational typical of many minority-language
  children
• (Similar analyses V. John, 1972 Ramirez
  Castaneda, 1974 Other Ausubel, 1968 Hill,
  1972 H.D. Brown, 1980)

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Field independence/dependence

• Herman A. Witkin s original formulations the
  theory was strongly value laden. Later, Witkin
  emphasized the value-free nature and on the
  positive social competencies of field dependent
  individuals.
• Manuel Ramirez, Alfredo Castaneda (1974) prefered
  to use field sensitive as the opposite term.

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Assumption of Manuel Ramirez Alfredo Castaneda

• Cognitive styles involve more than a method of
  cognition and are culturally linked, derive
  ultimately from the styles of a cultural group.
  Members of the same cultural group are thought to
  approach the world in the same way and will
  succeed in an educational system that takes this
  world view into consideration. Research proposed
  the teaching strategies be matched to the
  preferred cognitive style of the child.
• But, Kagan Buriel, 1977, did not support their
  findings

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HOW TO ASSESS THE COGNITIVE STYLE?

• FI Portable Rod and Frame Test, Child Embedded
  Figures Test
• ?awkward consequence of measuring strength in
  the social competence of the field sensitive
  individual
• ?a deficit in weak performance on a spatial
  task
• ? Child Rating Form (Ramirez Castaneda, 1974)
• ?problems of reliability validity

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It didnt reflect cognitive functioning, but
rather familarity-unfamilarity with the test
content and testing experiences.

• Bernals research, 1971, found the task favored
  Anglo children because of a differential
  experience readiness among ethnic groups. In
  this study, the groups could be equated in their
  performance under conditions where practice was
  given on similar items with feedback

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How the dichotomies relates to language learning?

• Genesse Hamayan, 1980 FI subjects do well in
  literacy-related aspects of language learning in
  an immersion context.
• Politzer Ramirez, 1981 similar finding in an
  American high school bilingual program
• Valencia, 1980-1 field sensitive ones are more
  imaginative in verbally describing social
  situations

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Other cognitive variables

• Ramirez Castaneda, 1974, found more traditional
  rural Mexican-Americans are more field sensitive
  ?a strong identification with family, community,
  ethnic group. But, Edward De Avila Sharon
  Duncan (1980) failed to find significant
  differences using age as a covariate and the CEFT
  as the measure of field independence in a test of
  Ramirez Castaneda hypothesis

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• De Avila Duncan (1980a) pointed out that a very
  small percent of the variance in school
  achievement is predicted by cognitive style
  variables. They focused more on general aspects
  of cognitive development in contrast to results
  from verbal IQ tests, when tested on more dynamic
  measures of cognitive functioning,
  Mexican-American children do not display lower
  test scores in 1979, proficient bilingual
  children show superior development of a
  metaset that enables them to shift flexibly
  among alternative solutions to problems involving
  abstract symbolic representation.

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• De Avila, Cohen Intili (1981) attempted to
  determine the extent to which instruction
  deliberately intended to further cognitive
  development would promote the academic
  achievement of minority- language children an
  instructional approach that stresses experiential
  knowledge and problem solving can have positive
  effects on the school achievement of
  minority-language children

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Learner Characteristics

• Learning style Linda Ventriglia (1982)
  identified 3 basic language learning styles
• 1. beading beaders acquire words incrementally,
  internalize the semantic meanings of individual
  words before they begin stringing them together
• 2. braiding braiders use an integrative strategy
  based on syntactical relations, acquire the new
  language in chunks or phrases, without conscious
  analysis.

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• 3. orchestrating orchestrators process the new
  language initially on a phonological basis, their
  understanding is based on a grasp of meaning
  implied by intonation rely on oral models for
  language learning
• ?Implication teachers should make adjustments in
  their presentation of the new language to the
  learning style of the child

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Intelligence

• John B. Carroll, a co-developer of the MLAT,
  wrote in 1981 verbal intelligence is required
  in foreign language courses depends upon the
  degree to which the mode of instruction puts a
  premium on a students verbal intelligence in
  order to understand the content of instruction.
• Verbal intelligence, thus, plays a greater role
  in L2 learning when the material is taught in a
  formal manner with great emphasis on reasoning
  analytically about verbal material.

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• Genesee Hamayan, 1980, it may be one reason why
  intelligence has been found to correlate less
  strongly with L2 learning in younger in an
  immersion setting or in a bilingual classroom.
• Little research on the relationship between
  intelligence and language learning in bilingual
  settings ?the problems of measurements except
  Duncan De Avila, 1979

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Personality factors

• Factors relating to self Self-esteem,
  Inhibition, Ego-permeability, Anxiety
• Interpersonal variables Empathy, Extroversion,
  Aggression, Conformity, sociability
• Almost no research on personality factors and
  child language learning may be due to the
  difficulty in measuring such variables in young
  children.

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• Swain Burnaby (1976) perfectionist tendencies,
  quickness to grasp new concepts were found to be
  positively related to French achievement
  talkativeness, sociability were not found to be
  significant predictors of individual
  differences.
• Lily Wong Fillmore (1982b) also found its not
  necessarily the case socially outgoing children
  made the most progress in classroom second
  language learning. Quiet children apparently can
  acquire a great deal by being active listeners
  and progressed more.

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How student characteristics interact with
instructional practices?

• Wong Fillmores finding different children fare
  better under different types of instruction,
  which similar to the idea that no one method is
  ideal for all children.
• However, empirical evidence for the utility of
  such an approach for improving educational
  procedures is weak (Cronbach Snow, 1977).

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Why is it weak?

• 1. Measuring is quite primitive
• 2. Learner style or cognitive style variables may
  be task-specific and may be changed by
  instructions and other situational variables
• 3. Not all instructional methods are ideal for
  all individuals and that the tasks of research is
  to identify those methods that maximize the
  outcome for different individual.

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What student x instructional interactions tell
about in L2 learning in children?

• 1. Wong Fillmore argued that the classroom
  organization, proportion of native speakers, and
  the manner in which the input is presented all
  interact with the personality and motivational
  characteristics of the child in determining
  eventual outcome.
• 2. Hamayan, Genesee, and Tucker (1977) the
  personality traits of conformity and control
  correlated with L2 learning in a conventional
  program, but not in a French immersion program
  (formal grammar training and rote memorization
  which have less value in an immersion program).

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• 3. The level of familiarity of minority-language
  children with the target language such as
  English Cummins (1981b), in contrast, immigrant
  children who have built up literacy-related
  skills in their L1 acquire these skills more
  quickly in a L2 than do native-born children

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• 4. The need to accommodate teachers instruction
  to the cultural styles of ethnic minority
  children
• Philips (1972), Van Ness (1981), Boggs (1972)
  points to the effectiveness of adjusting
  instructional practices to the international
  patterns to which children accustomed.
• Jordan, DAmato, Joesting, 1981, has similar
  finding with Hawaii children in a bilingual
  school children who were taught to be
  cooperative, interdependent (values in the home)
  were more successful when moved to the mainstream
  school.

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Implication of pupils characteristics and their
interaction with instructional practice

• Instructional practices may be more beneficial to
  the language learning of some children, with
  certain backgrounds, than for other children,
  from other backgrounds.
• Ethnographic research accommodation to the
  childs habitual ways of interacting with adults
  and peers makes the transition to the world of
  the school easier and less likely to result in
  failure.

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Age

• Optimal age issue
• Wong Fillmore, 1982a, the older may do better at
  the task of learning a L2 in the school context
  ?they have better-developed cognitive strategies.
• Hakuta, 1983, the older have superior test-taking
  skills than their L2 learning ability.

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CPH younger-is-better?

• Krashen, Long, Scarcella (1979) endorsed a
  younger-is-better position in terms of ultimate
  achievement
• Fathman, 1975 Patkowski, 1980 Snow
  Hoefnagel-Höhle, 1978 ultimate proficiency in
  Morphology, syntax is highest among informal
  learners who have begun acquisition from12-15.
• Izzo, 1981, have similar findings with the
  testing method of Asher Prices (1967) physical
  response.

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• Stern, Burstall, Harley, 1975given the same
  amount of exposure, older children are better L2
  learners than younger ones.
• Similar results were found by Ekstrand (1964,
  1976) Bühler (1972) Florandr Jansen (1968)
  Gorosch Axelsson (1964) in European studies.
• Why?
• 1. Instructional techniques used for young
  children were inappropriate, which emphasize on
  formal grammatical analysis.
• 2. The Canadian research found no difference from
  immersion programs ?little emphasis is on the
  formal aspects of grammar for older ones to be
  advantaged.

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• 3. Cummins (1979b) The findings that older
  children learn better in school settings is
  consistent with the linguistic interdependence
  hypothesis. It means the older ones whose
  ability to deal with literacy-related language is
  more developed, would acquire cognitive/ academic
  L2 skills more rapidly.
• Cummins (1980b) the older and younger
  children have their own different advantages in
  learning L2

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• Linguistic interdependence hypothesis suggests
  that certain aspects of the pupils level of L1
  proficiency are important determinants of the
  outcome of the L2 learning process in classroom
  settings. What matters are skills in dealing with
  context-reduced communication (older children
  should have an advantage).
• Conclusion Early exposure to meaningful
  context-embedded communication from teachers and
  peers in bilingual classrooms is important for L2
  learning. (Cummins,1981b Wong Fillmore, 1982a)

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Age and instruction

• The age of the children have an influence on the
  typ of instruction chosen
• Western researchers communication-based or
  natural approach
• Pupils will benefit from meaningful,
  communicative activities.
• Soviet researchers grammar-oriented approach
• Lg learning as a process of an increasing
  awareness of the rule-governed features of the
  TL.
• -Little empirical research testing the
  contentions of the schools of thought

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Age and exiting

• How long a child should be instructed in the
  school language before being exited to a program
  where instruction is entirely in the L2 under the
  consideration of retaining a bilingual component
  throughout the primary and high schools?
• Its hard to answer!

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• 1. Difference in English ability among
  minority-language children
• 2. To distinguish oral and literacy-related
  language skills
• Jim Commins (1981b) what does it mean to be
  proficient in English? Result in Canada about 2
  years to master the context-embedded aspects of
  English proficiency 5-7 years to master the
  context-reduced cognitive skills
• Paul Rosier (1977) children in bilingual
  program showed some initial inferiority on tests
  but later surpassed the other group receiving the
  direct method it took 3-4 years to show up

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• Lily Wong Fillmore (1982a, 1982c) in studies of
  bilingual classrooms, minority lg children
  acquire oral communicative skills quickly within
  2 or 3 years. But it took much longer to attain
  the level of proficiency required for
  understanding the language in its instructional
  uses (about 4-6 years)
• What criteria are to be used determine whether
  the children are sufficiently adept in the second
  language to do well academically?
• Assessment of context-embedded language skills
  do not provide information about the childs
  ability to understand and use language for
  abstract, academic purposes for survive in the
  all-English curriculum

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Conclusion

• SLA is a complex and overdetermined process, the
  measurement of individual difference variables is
  too crude to explain much of the variance.
• The most consistent results have been obtained
  with the age variable. It may be the childs
  advantage to begin instruction in reading and
  writing in the L2 only after oral language skills
  are established.

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Thanks for paying attention!
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More Analytic and Relational cognitive styles

• The analytic style of the school is formal, very
  sensitive to stimulus, and looking at non-obvious
  attributes. It is lineal instruction, leaving
  relational students at great disadvantage. Its
  notable among businessmen and some academic
  fields.
• The relational style is global, general,
  self-centered and disposed to instill rather than
  abstract properties. It is more sweeping,
  Gelstalt in character, even circular. Its
  observable among artists, creative writers and
  occupations requiring considerable sensitivity.

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Portable Rod and Frame Test

• The subject sits in a dark room ( in the portable
  version of RFT, looks inside box) and sees a rod
  enclosed by an square frame. The rod can rotate
  around its center which is at the center of the
  square. Both rod and frame are illuminated and
  highly visible against the dark background. For
  every item the subject must direct the
  experimenter step by step to rotate the rod until
  it is truly vertical.

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Child Embedded Figures Test

• CEFT was developed by Karp and Konstadt (1963)
  for children who are 5 years or older. It was
  modified by employing a number of similar forms
  and complex figures and eliminating some of the
  practical disadvantages of the Goodenough Eagle
  version which refers to complex figures were
  drawings of familiar but caricatured objects.
  Young children would research for a simple form
  which was integrated in one of the pieces of the
  jigsaw puzzle.

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CHILD RATING FORM

• The instrument originally developed by Ramirez
  and Alfredo Castanada
• It was a direct observation format yielding
  frequency of behavior scales that could be
  completed by the teacher or older children in a
  self-report survey.

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H.D. Browns cognitive style variables

1. Field independence/ dependence
2. Reflectivity/ Impulsivity
3. Tolerance/ Intolerance of ambiguity
4. Broad/ Narrow category width
5. Skeletonization/ Embroidery

FI distinguish parts from a whole take an
analytic approach to information processing FD
organize the world in terms of wholes, perceive
the larger view takes an integrative approach to
information processing