Download L1 L2 THE CRITICAL PERIOD HYPOTHESIS

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Chapter 03. AGE AND ACQUISITION
Main Concept
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The Critical Period Hypothesis
Cognitive considerations – Ausubel’s theory – Ausubel’s rote vs. meaningful learning
Issues in L1 acquisition revisited
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1. Activity-based teaching and learning
: all teaching—even direct teaching—must be planned so that learners play active roles as they learn. Four of
the ABC principles describe how classroom instruction can be planned and conducted to promote active
student roles in learning.
2. Communicative teaching and learning
: focuses on the importance of authentic, comprehensible communication in the learning of language. For
teaching and learning to be effective and efficient, language must be used in ways that clearly convey meaning
and have communicative purpose.
TYPES OF COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
 Comparing C2 vs. A2 (age factor)
L1
L2
THE CRITICAL PERIOD HYPOTHESIS (CPH)
1. Definition: A biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired more easily and beyond
which time language is increasingly difficult to acquire.
2 issues: biological timetable, starting from first lg. acquisition (Singleton & Ryan, 2004), critical point for
SLA occurs around puberty, what it means to be “successful” in learning a second lg? foreign accent,
Neurological & phonological considerations should be examined. (suggested direction for the future)
3. NEUROBIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
〮 Lateralization of the brain was thought to be a key to learning languages.
〮 As the human brain matures, certain functions are assigned, or “lateralized” to the left hemisphere of the
brain.
 There’s are controversies on “the left hemisphere is the lg. and the right one does something else.”
How lg. is lateralized in the brain? When? Whether or not its process affects lg. acquisition?
• Eric Lenneberg (1967) and others suggested that lateralization is a slow process that being around
the age of 2 and is completed around puberty.
• Adams (1997) did a longitudinal study of a boy who at 8yrs had no speech, underwent a left
hemispherectomy, and then at the age of 9 suddenly began to speak!
• Thomas Scovel (1969) proposed a relationship b/w lateralization and SLA.
=> The plasticity of the brain prior to puberty enables children to acquire a first and second lg.
=> Once the lateralization is completed, it is difficult for people to be able to easily acquire
fluent control of a second lg. or to acquire “authentic (nativelike)” pronunciation.
• Birdsong (1999), Singleton & Ryan(2004) : neurological factors in first and second lg. acquisition.
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=> Their research casts the possibility that there is a critical period both in first and second lg.
acquisition.
4. In short, one must be careful to distinguish b/w ‘emergence’ of lateralization (at birth, but quite
evident at five) and ‘completion’ (only evident at about puberty).”
5. Sociobiological critical period (Scovel, 1988)
• Scovel’s evidence pointed toward the development of a socially bonding accent at puberty,
enabling species
(1)to form an identity with their own community as they anticipate roles of parenting and
leadership,
(2) to attract mates of “their own kind” in an instinctive drive to maintain their own species.
(3) Scovel’s conclusion is that there are “foreign” accents after puberty.
(4)Walsh & Diller (1981, p. 18): Lower-order processes (pronunciation), Higher-order(semantic
relations)
6. Singleton & Ryan(2004) and Hyltenstam & Abrahamsson(2003) support that “A neurologically
based critical period and the acquisition of an authentic accent.”
7. Right-Hemispheric Participation
 Obler(1981, p. 58) noted that in second lg. learning, there is significant right hemisphere participation and
that “this participation is particularly active during the early stages of learning the second lg.”
1) Obler cited the strategy of guessing at meanings, and of using formulaic utterances, as example of
right hemisphere activity.
2) Obler found support for more right hemisphere activity during the early stage of SLA. Her studies seem
to suggest that second lg. learners (adult) might benefit from more encouragement of right-brain activity
in the classroom context.
3) Others(Genesee, 1982; Seliger, 1982) found support for right hemisphere involvement in the form of
complex lg. processing as opposed to early lg. acquisition.
4) Genesee concluded that “there may be greater right hemisphere involvement in lg. processing in
bilinguals who acquire their second lg. late relative to their first lg. and in bilinguals who learn it in
informal contexts.”
8. Anthropological Evidence
1) Jane Hill (1970) : Adult can, in the normal course of their lives, acquire second languages perfectly. Hill, J. (1970, pp. 247248) [PLLT, p. 62)
Should study on the influence of social and cultural roles which lg. and phonation play, and the
role which attitudes about lg. play, as an alternative or a supplement to the cerebral dominance
theory as an explanation of adult foreign accents.
2) Sorenson (1976) Tukano culture of South America. (at least 24 languages were spoken)
- During the adolescence, individuals actively and almost suddenly began to speak 2/3 lgs. which
they have been exposed at some point. Moreover, “in adulthood may acquire more languages;
as he approaches old age,
- field observation indicates he will go on to perfect in his knowledge of all the languages at his
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disposal
3) Flege (1987) and Morris and Gerstman (1986) : cited motivation, affective variables, social factors
and the quality of input as important in explaining the apparent advantages of the child.
9. THE SIGNIFICANT OF ACCENT
1) Foreign accent
〮 Research on the question of authentic control of the phonology of a foreign lg. supports the critical period.
〮 The cause was from age factor, neuromuscular plasticity, cerebral development, sociobiological programs,
and the environment of sociocultural influences.
〮
Scovel(1988) In terms of statistical probability, it’s clear that the chances of any one individual
commencing a second lg. after puberty and achieving a scientifically verifiable authentic native accent
are infinitesimal.
2) Gerald Neufed (1977, 1979, 1980, 2001)
〮 Conducted studies on adult’s accent as native speakers.
〮 He suggested that “older students have neither lost their sensitivity to subtle differences in sounds,
rhythm, and pitch nor the ability to reproduce these sounds and contours”(1979
〮 Moyer(1999) and Bongaerts, planken, and Schils(1995) centered on the strong version of the CPH.
〮
More recent studies assert “the available evidence does not consistently support the hypothesis
that younger L2 learners are globally more efficient and successful than older learners” (Singleton
& Ryan, 2004, p. 115).
COGNITIVE CONSIDERATIONS
1. Jean Piaget (1972; 1955), Piaget & Inhelder(1969)’s outline of intellectual development
Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2)
Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7)
Operational stage (ages 7 to 16)
concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11)
Formal operational stage (ages 11 to 16)
2. Singleton and Ryna(2004, pp. 156-159) offer a number of objections to connecting Piagetian stages of
development with critical period arguments, not the least of which was the ‘vagueness’ and lack of
empirical data in Piaget’s theory.
3. Ausubel (1964): adults learning a second lg. could profit from certain grammatical explanations
and deductive thinking that obviously would be pointless for a child.
. Adults’ learning = suitability and efficiency of the explanation, the teacher, the context, other
pedagogical variables
. Children’s learning = Children do learn second languages well without the benefit- or hindrance-of
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formal text, and other pedagogical variables
4. Ellen Rosansky (1975, p. 96)
〮 Initial language acquisition takes place when the child is highly “centered”: He is not only egocentric
at this time, but when faced with a problem he can focus on one dimension at a time.
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This lack of flexibility and lack of decentration may well be a necessity for lg. acquisition.
〮
Young children generally are not “aware” that they’re
and attitudes placed on one lg. or another.
acquiring a lg. nor they ware of societal values
5. Robert Deeyser(2000)
Implicit learning (acquisition of linguistic patterns without explicit attention or instruction)
cf. explicit learning
6. Bialystok (2002, p. 482) ‘the logic that connects results to his preferred conclusions.’
Strong case for CPH must show a ‘discontinuity in learning outcomes.’
7. The lateralization hypothesis
1) As the child matures into adulthood, some would maintain, the left hemisphere becomes more dominant
than the right hemisphere.
It’s possible that the dominance of the left hemisphere contributes to a tendency to overanalyze and to
be too intellectually centered on the task of second lg. learning.
2) (Sullivan, 1967, p. 12) Progressive interior organization of knowledge in a stepwise fashion.
〮
Cognition develops as a process of moving from stages of doubt and uncertainty (disequilibrium)
to stages of resolution and certainty(equilibrium) and then back to further doubt that is, in time also
resolved.
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14- 15 years: formal operations are firmly organized & equilibrium is reached to motivation
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The child is cognitively ready and eager to acquire the lg.
Necessary for achieving the cognitive equilibrium of adulthood
3) Ausube’s Rote vs. meaningful learning
• People of all ages have little need for rote, mechanistic learning
• Most items are acquired by meaningful learning, by anchoring and relating new items &
experiences to knowledge that exists in the cognitive framework.
• Children’s learning is not rote but meaningful with activities that is contextualized and purposeful.
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LINGUISTIC CONSIDERATIONS
1) Bilingualism
• Code-switching: The act of inserting words, phrases, or even longer stretches than the normal
schedule for first lg. acquisition.
• Children do not generally mix up languages.
• Bilinguals are not the two monolinguals in the same head(Cook, 1995, p. 58).
• Reynolds(1991), Schinke-Llano(1989): Cognitive benefit of early childhood bilingualism.
• Lambert (1972): bilingual children are more facile at concept formation and have a greater mental
flexibility.
2) Interference from L1,L2
• Children’s learning is similar to first lg. learning processes.
• Similar strategies & linguistic features are present in both first and second lg. learning in children.
• Adult SL is focally or peripherally-systematically, they attempt to formulate linguistic rules on the
basis of whatever linguistic information is available to them.
3) Order of acquisition
• Children learning a second lg. use a creative construction process, just as they do in their first lg.
• Dulay & Burt (1972, 1974a, 1974b, 1976) = Roger Brown (1973)
1) present progressive (-ing)
2) [and 3] in, on
4) plural (-s)
5) past irregular
6) possessive (-’s)
7) uncontractible copula (is, am, are)
8) articles (a, the)
9) past regular (-ed)
10) third-person regular (-s)
11) third-person irregular
 Controversy
Doubt on the statistical procedures used in the studies (Rosansky, 1976; Andersen, 1978;
Larsen-Freeman, 1976)
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Zobl & Liceras(1994, p. 161) “search for a unified theoretical account for the L2, and L1
morpheme orders.”
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Bardovi-Harlig(1999) : the earlier morpheme studies were too focused on morphology & on a formoriented approach, and showed that attention to a semantic-oriented approach had no explanatory power.
〮
Goldschineider & DeKeyser (2005, 2001)
1) perceptual salience (how say it is to see or hear a given structure) 2) semantic complexity (how many
meanings are expressed by a particular form) 3) Morpho-phonological regularity (the degree to which
lg. forms are affected by their phonological environment) 4) Syntactic category(grammatical
characteristics of forms) 5) Frequency in the input (the number of times a given structure occurs in
speech addressed to the learner)
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Part II Psychological Factors
Chapter 04. HUMAN LERANING
Main concept
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AUSUBEL’S SUBSUMPTION THEORY
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Transfer, interference, overgeneralization
Gardner’s multiple intelligence
〮 Deductive vs. inductive
Learning & Training
〮 How do human beings learn? 〮 Any basic principles of learning applying to all human acts?
〮 How can you evaluate the usefulness of a theory?
Steps for training a dog (Analogy)
1) Specify entry behavior 2) Setting a goals to reach
3) devising methods of training 4) evaluation procedure
1. PAVLOV’S CLASSICAL BEHAVIORISM
√Ivan Pavlov: Classical conditioning: conditioned response, unconditioned response, S-R
* experiments: smells of food (unconditioned response)  sound of bell (neutral stimulus) [repeated stimulus]
 response (conditioned response: salivation at the sound of the bell)
√John B. Watson (1913) + John Locke
1) Human behavior should be studied objectively.
2) No mentalistic notions of innateness & instinct
3) Classical conditioning theory for learning: by process of conditioning, Stimulus-response connections
4) More omplex behaviors are learned by building up series or chains of response.
√Thorndike’s Law of Effect – modified our understanding of human learning
2. SKINNER’S OPERANT CONDITIONING
√ Neobehaviorist Skinner’s Operant conditioning tries to explain human learning & behavior.
: Operant behavior is behavior in which one “operates” on the environment  Stimuli is deemphasized.
e.g. Crying can be both operant and reinforcers.
Reinforcers(events/stimuli)
: follow a response and that tend to strengthen behavior or increase the possibility of a recurrence of that response
constitute a powerful force in the control of human behavior.
≫ Reinforcers are far stronger aspects of learning than is mere association of a prior stimulus with a following
response, as in the classical conditioning model.
≫ We are governed by the consequences of our behavior, and therefore Skinner felt we ought, in studying
human behavior, to study the effect of those consequences.
√Punishment (positive reinforce or an aversive one?)
-Skinner’s book, The Technology of Teaching (1968): Any subject matter can be taught effectively and successfully
by a carefully designed program of step-by-step reinforcement.(e.g. programmed instruction)
- Controlled practice of verbal operants under carefully designed schedules of reinforcement.
e.g. ALM (audiolingual method, 1950s-60s)
3. ★ AUSUBEL’S SUBSUMPTION THEORY ★
√ David Ausubel: Meaning is not an implicit response, but a “clearly articulate and precisely differentiated
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conscious experience that emerges when potentially meaningful signs, symbols, concepts, or
propositions are related to and incorporated within a given individual’s cognitive structure
on a nonarbitrary and substantive basis” (Anderson & Ausubel, 1965, p. 8).
√ ★Rote vs. Meaningful learning
1) Rote : the process of acquiring material as “discrete and isolated entities that are relatable to cognitive structure
only in an arbitrary and verbatim fashion.  Mental storage of items having no/ little association with
existing cognitive structure.
2) Meaningful : a process of relating and anchoring new material to relevant established entities in cognitive
structure  ★ Subsumption
√ Frank Smith(1975, p. 162)
-Manufacturing meaningfulness- is a potentially powerful factor in human learning.
-We can make things meaningful if necessary and if we are strongly motivated to do so.
e.g cramming for an exam
- Similar strategies can be used in parlor games. By associating items either in groups or with some external stimuli,
retention is enhanced.
* The distinction is not important itself, but the significance lies in the efficiency of the two kinds of learning
in terms of retention, or long-term memory. Cf. “magic seven”
Systematic Forgetting
1) Since rotely learned materials do not interact with the law of association, and the retention is influenced by the
interfering effects of similar rote materials learned immediately before and after the learning task
(proactive vs. retroactive inhibition)
2) In case of meaningfully learned materials, retention is influence by the properties of “relevant and cumulatively
Established ideational systems in cognitive structure with which the learning task interacts”(Ausubel, 1968, p.108).
3) Little influence on meaningful learning from concurrent interfering effect
4) Obliterative stage of subsumption “memorial reduction to the lest common denominator”(Ausubel, 1963, p. 218).
Cognitive pruning (Brown, 1972):
√ Pruning is the elimination of unnecessary clutter and a clearing of the way for more material to enter the cognitive
filed.
√ Child’s learning of the concept of “so hot that it will burn”-excessive heat that could cause physical pain.
√ Subsumptive forgetting (pruning) is “systematic”.
Language attrition
√ Focused on a variety of possible causes for the loss of SL skills
√ More vulnerable to forgetting items: lexical item> idioms (faster in forgetting)
√ Neurolinguistic blocking  contributes long-term forgetting of a language(Obler, 1982).
ROGERS’S HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
√ Rogers and Vygotsky share some views in common in their highlighting of the social and interactive nature of
learning.
√Rogers – therapeutic approach – 19 principles of human behavior
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Concerned with learning from a “phenomenological” perspective
Whole person- development of an individual’s self-concept, his/her personal sense of realisity
Nonthreatening environment
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√★Roger’s position has important implications for education (p. 97)
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The focus shifted from teaching to learning.
Transformative pedagogy (O’Hara, 2003, p. 64)
The goal of education is facilitation of change and learning.
Teacher’s role : facilitator, Valuable individual, Communicator
Classroom activities and materials in lg. learning should utilize meaningful contexts of genuine
communication with students.
• Learner-centered classroom with negotiation of learning outcomes, being engaged in discovery learning, and
relation the course content to students’ reality outside the classroom. (p. 99 in the box)
Table 4.1. Theories of learning (*Fill in the blanks)
Behavioristic
COGNITIVE
CONSTRUCTIVIST
Classical
Operant
[Pavlov]
Respondent
conditioning
E__________ response
S R
[Skinner]
Governed by
consequences
E_________ response
RS(reward)
[Ausubel]
Meaningful = Powerful
Rote = weak
★_______________★
[Rogers]
Fully functioning person
Learning how to learn
______________of learners
No punishment
Programmed
Instruction
Association
_____________forgetting
Empowerment
Cognitive “__________”
TRANSFER, INTERFERENCE, AND OVERGENERALIZATION
• Transfer : the carryover of previous performance or knowledge to subsequent learning.
Positive / Negative transfer
• Interference: previously learned materials interferes with subsequent material – a previous
items is incorrectly transferred or incorrectly associated with an item to be learned.
Native language  positively transferred  a second language learning
• Overgeneralization : To generalize means to infer or derive a law, rule, or conclusion.
Much of human learning involves generalizations.
The learning of concepts in early childhood is a process of generalization.
In SLA, it refers to overgeneralization as ‘a process that occurs as the second lg. learner acts within the target
lg., generalizing a particular rule or item in the second lg. irrespective of the native lg.-beyond legitimate bounds.
Deductive reasoning  “Sherlock Home’s deductive detective method”
: a movement from a generalization to specific instances: specific subsumed facts are inferred or deducted from a
general principle
e.g. Grammar Translation – overemphasized the use of deductive reasoning in lg. teaching appropriate at times to
articulate a rule and then proceed to its instances
•
Both inductively and deductively oriented teaching methods can be effective, depending on
the goals and contexts of a particular lg. teaching situation.
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Word War II
Army Specialized
program(ASTP) “Army
Method”
Pronunciation, pattern drill
Chomsky
deep structure
Cognitive & affective
David Nunan(1989, p. 97)
Counseling-learning
Foundation for Direct Method
Community language learning (CLL)
The Audiolingual Method
• Inductive reasoning
: one stores a number of specific instances and induces a general law / rule conclusion that governs or subsumes
the specific instances
e.g. study in the ‘field’ (natural, untutored lg. learning), native lg. learning
•
Learners must infer certain rules and meanings from all the data around them.
Language aptitude: The questions are …………..
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•
•
1. Is there an ability or “talent” that we can call foreign lg. aptitude?
2. If so, what is it, and is it innate or environmentally “nurtured”?
3. Is it a distinct ability or is it an aspect of general cognitive abilities?
4. Does aptitude vary by age and by whether learning is implicit or explicit?
5. can aptitudinal factors be reliably measured?
6. If so, are they predictive of success in learning a foreign language?
John Carrol’s : The Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT)
Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB)
Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB)
Context-reduced
Context-embedded
New research on language aptitude
: the CANAL-F test (Cognitive Ability for Novelty in Acquisition of Language-Foreign)
Dornyei & Skehan (2003) aptitude may be related to various “stages” or what might be called processes, of second
language acquisition.
e.g. attention, short-term memory / phonemic coding ability – noticing of phonological patterns
inductive learning, chunking, retrieval abilities
Peter Robinson’s (2005, 2002, 2001) aptitude is a complex of abilities that include, processing speed, short/long-term
memory, rote memory, planning time, pragmatic abilities, interactional intelligence, emotional intelligence, and selfefficacy
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√ ★Gardner (1999, 1983)’s seven different intelligences(=multiple intelligences)
1. ______________________
2. ______________________
3. Musical
4. ______________________
5. Bodily-kinesthetic
6. Naturalist
7. ______________________
8. ______________________
Reflection
1.
List some activities you consider to be rote and others that are meaningful in foreign language classes you have
taken (or are teaching). Do some activities fall into a gray area b/w the two?
2. In your group, brainstorm typical language classroom activities or techniques that foster your type of intelligence.
Make a list of your activities and compare it with the other lists.
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