Second language learning

• acquisition: the gradual development of ability in a language by using

  it naturally in communicative situations with others who know the language
• learning: a more conscious process of accumulating knowledge of

  the features
• Applied linguistics: —practical aspects of language in use
• EFL = English as a Foreign Language
• ESL = English as a Second Language
• Acquisition barriers: Joseph Conrad phenomenon, —affective factor, susceptible group: teenagers (specific stage of social/emotional development
• Joseph Conrad phenomenon - the ability of an adult language learner to achieve mastery in their ability to speak and write L2 while maintaining L1 accent
• affective factor (aka. affective filter): reluctance / lack of motivation to learn a language due to e.g. unpleasant associations, stress and embarrassment, fear of making mistakes
• Conventional teaching methods: Grammar-Translation Method,Audiolingual Method, Communicative Approach
• Grammar-Translation Method origin: the methodology of teaching Latin. —Focus on written rather than spoken language. Typical activities: vast numbers of grammatical rules learnt by heart, tasks on translation
• Audiolingual Method: after WWII (the 1950s), there was a need to create materials/procedures for intensive and quick language training. —Origin: the theory of behaviorism (Pavlov’s dog, stimulus à response).  focus on spoken rather than written language and on pronunciation
• Communicative Approach: —The core method in most of today’s textbooks. —Four skills: reading, speaking, listening, writing, all of them given equal focus
• Unconventional teaching methods: Suggestopedia,The Silent Way,TPR (Total Physical Response),Community Language Learning,Learner Autonomy
• —Suggestopedia: listening while sleeping
• —The Silent Way: only students speak
• —TPR (Total Physical Response): saying the word- showing it physically
• —Community Language Learning: therapy sessions
• Learner Autonomy: 1 to 1 teaching
• Attitude towards errors: mistakes were simply not tolerated) to acceptance/recognition
• transfer: applying structures from L1 in L2
• —positive transfer J à there are similar structures in both L1 and L2, so using a structure from L1 is helpful in learning L2
• —negative transfer L à there is no such correspondence (i.e. a structure that exists in L1 does not exist in L2, so using it in L2 causes misunderstandings and slows down the learning process)
• —interlanguage: There exists a group of mistakes which containing some L1 features + some L2 features + other features independent of L1 and L2
• —fossilization – result of interlanguage at work, forms/structures that do not exist in L2 + get ‘stuck’, most common manifestation – foreign accent
• Motivation in SLL: instrumental: language is seen as a tool with which the learner wants to attain a tangible goal, —integrative: language fluency used for social purposes, making friends, socializing, becoming accepted in a community
• Communicative competence: —The ability to use L2 accurately, appropriately and

      flexibly
• —There are three types of communicative competence:

  grammatical = good choice of lexical/grammatical resource

  sociolinguistic = using language appropriately in a given context (situation)

  strategic = putting together an effective message
• Input: the language that the learner is exposed to
• Foreigner talk: input in simpler structure and vocabulary
• Negotiated input: learner can aquire language through requests for clarification