Learner Characteristics:
Factors affecting the success of L2 Acquisition
In some studies, IQ scores have been shown to be correlated with some aspects of L2 learning:
· Language analysis
· Rule learning
However, IQ scored do not seem to be correlated with other aspects of learning:
· Oral productive skills
· General communicative competence
Language Learning aptitude
No solid evidence for effect of aptitude, but not much research
Classroom based research (Wesche 1981) has show that instruction focused on students high skill areas produced high satisfaction ratings for students and teachers
· High analytical ability à Teaching focused on grammatical analysis
· Strong memory ability à Teaching focused on language use in specific situations
Personality
No solid evidence for effect of personality, not much research
Some think that extroverted do better than inhibited
· Guiora et al (1972) found that small amounts of alcohol improved pronunciation
· Presumably the result of lowing inhibition
No solid evidence for effect of aptitude, but not much research
Learner Beliefs and
Preferences about Learning
Again,
no strong evidence for learning outcomes
However,
accommodating and recognizing learner beliefs and preferences about learning
can make for better student satisfaction and perhaps affect the students'
motivation.
·
Yorio
(1986) found that international students in a US college ESL program were
dissatisfied with the communicative approach used. They believed that traditional methods (those more familiar to
them) were better.
Integrative Motivation learner wishes to identify
with another ethnolinguistic group
·
Students
greater desire to be like speakers of English than like speakers of their L1
correlated with success. (Foreign students in US Univ.)
Instrumental Motivation learner wishes to further
career, improve social status or meet educational requirements
·
Studies
have found that instrumental motivation is as important as integrative (French
HS students in Maine needing English for education)
· Are the 2 types of motivation really distinct? e.g, “Having friends who speak English”
· Can Foreign language instruction be integratively motivated
Resultative hypothesis: Success in L2 learning produces favorably influences learner’s
attitude toward the L2 and increases motivation to learn.
· However, they results show much conflicting evidence about the role of language learner’s attitude towards the L2 on the success of L2 learning
· Perhaps there is no correlation between attitude and success in the early stages, but there is a correlation in the later stages.
Can
teachers affect integrative or instrumental motivation?
What
about motivation to learn within the classroom?
Age of Acquisition
Children
are more likely to attain native-like proficiency in a second language than
adults.
Possible
reasons:
·
Differences
in motivation/sociological factors
·
Non-access
to UG
·
Neurologically
based critical period (Lenneberg)
o Learning must occur before
puberty
o Loss of plasticity and
reorganizational capabilities after puberty
Critical Period Hypothesis—Human beings are optimally suited to learn certain types of behavior (including second language abilities) during a certain age span, and that after this period has passed, learning the behavior is difficult or impossible (Lenneberg, 1967).
In
general, pronunciation is thought to be more subject to age constraints than
other aspects of language
·
Scovel
(1988) attributed this to the ‘neuromuscular’ basis of speech
·
Long
(1990) suggests the CP for phonology is 6
However,
in early stages of SLA adults outperform children
·
Adults
outperform children with TPR instruction (Asher and Price 1967)
·
NE
adults do better than children in several tasks after 6 but not 10 mo of
exposure to Dutch (Snow & Hoefnagle-Hole 1978)
Johnson and Newport (1989)
A case for the critical
period
Subjects
·
46
native Chinese or Korean learners of English
·
In
the US for at least 5 years
·
Age
of arrival (AOA): 3-39 years old
Method
·
Grammaticality
Judgment Task
Results
·
Accuracy
on GJT correlated with AOA for subjects who arrived in US before puberty
·
Accuracy
on GJT NOT correlated with AOA for subjects who arrived in US after
puberty
Flege, Munro and MacKay
(1995)
· Found that production accuracy linearly declined with AOA, contra Johnson and Newport
Figure here
The Speech Learning Model
(Flege 1995)
·
Without
accurate perceptual “targets” to guide the sensorimotor learning of L2 sounds,
production of the L2 sounds will be inaccurate
·
Second
language sounds which are similar to native sounds will be assimilated to the
native sounds and new perceptual targets will not be established for the second
language in this case
·
However,
second language sounds which are dissimilar to native sounds will not
assimilated to the native sounds and new perceptual targets will be established
for the second language
·
In
addition, there is an age related effect on the establishment of new categories
due to the greater establishment of the L1 categories. Namely, the likelihood
of phonetic difference between L1 and L2 sounds being discerned decreases as
AOA increases.
Bongearts,
van Summeren, Planken & Schils (1997)
·
2
productions of 6 sentences for each talker
·
Judges
rated blocked sentenced on a 5-pt scale
·
Subjects
Group 1: 10 NE speakers of
BE (no regional accent)
Group 2: 11 highly
successful Dutch learners of English, late learners, training in RP
·
Judges:
6 NE speakers of BE (no regional accent)
Results:
·
5
of the 11 subjects in Group 2 were rated as highly as the native English
Speakers
·
Non
of the subjects in group 3 were rated as high