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Learning and Aquizition

The document discusses language acquisition and learning. It explains that children acquire their first language through exposure and subconsciously picking it up from their environment. Second languages are also acquired subconsciously through comprehensible input and interaction. Learning involves conscious study and attention to form, though acquisition is more important for fluency. Modified input like foreigner talk and interaction help make input comprehensible and facilitate acquisition.

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dongtuyetbangtan
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18 views

Learning and Aquizition

The document discusses language acquisition and learning. It explains that children acquire their first language through exposure and subconsciously picking it up from their environment. Second languages are also acquired subconsciously through comprehensible input and interaction. Learning involves conscious study and attention to form, though acquisition is more important for fluency. Modified input like foreigner talk and interaction help make input comprehensible and facilitate acquisition.

Uploaded by

dongtuyetbangtan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ELT Module 1 – 2021 Lecturer: Dang Ngoc Anh Thu (MA)

THEORY 5: LEARNING AND ACQUIZITION


I. ACQUISITION
1.1 First language acquisition:
How children acquire L1:
 The main way that children acquire L1: by exposure to it, i.e. by hearing and/or reading it all
around us and without saying it. Then they pick it up automatically, i.e. learn it without realizing.

1.2 Second language acquisition:


• A subconscious process: We acquire lg. when we are exposed to samples of the 2nd lg. that
we understand. This happens in much the same way that children pick up 1st lg.= no conscious
attention to lg. forms.
• Acquisition is more important for natural, fluent communication
Lrs. are quite fluent without ever having learned rules.
Lrs should be exposed to comprehensible input

1.3 How learners learn L2: three ways


 Experts generally agree: we learn L2 by picking up language, interacting and
communicating, and focusing on form.
 Acquiring language: by exposure to lots of examples of it, learn from the language in the
surroundings. Hear or read lots of language which is rich in variety interesting to them and
just difficult enough, i.e. just beyond their level, but not too difficult. Acquisition takes place
over a period of time, i.e. not instantly. Learners listen to and read items of language for a long
time before they begin to use them. (a silent period)
 Learners need to use L2 in interaction with other people, i.e. use language to express
themselves and make their meanings clear to other people, and to understand them. The
person they are talking to will show them, directly or indirectly, if they have understood or not.
If they have not, learners need to try again, using other language, until they manage to
communicate successfully.
 Learners need to focus on the form of L2, i.e. on how it is pronounced or written, on how its
grammar is formed and used, and on the form and meaning of vocabulary

II. LEARNING
• A conscious process of study and attention to form & rule learning.
• Lrs. are given formal instruction, they may know rules but fail to apply them.

2.1 Characteristics:
Acquisition Learning
subconscious conscious
natural unnatural
long lasting short lasting
successful unsuccessful

2.2 Learning: Input & Output


- Input: What students hear or read.
Comprehensible/roughly-tuned input: forms and structures which are just beyond the
learner’s current level of competence in the lg.
- Output : what Ss speak or write.

III. Modified input/ Adjusted speech


 1st lg: child-directed speech/ caretaker talk/mother talk/motherese/baby talk
 2nd lg: foreigner talk/teacher talk

1
ELT Module 1 – 2021 Lecturer: Dang Ngoc Anh Thu (MA)

3.1. Caretaker talk/motherese/mother talk/baby talk


• the way parents talk to little children
• Features of caretaker talk:
o slower rate of speech o frequent repetition
o higher pitch o paraphrase
o more varied intonation o topic of conversation are limited
o shorter, simpler sentence patterns

3.2. Foreigner talk/teacher talk


Native speakers (NS) modify their speech when communicating with Non-native speakers (NNS)

Types of talk Examples


Base line talk You won’t forget to buy the ice
 the kind of talk a native speaker addresses other cream on your way home, will you?
native speakers.
Ungrammatical FT No forget buying ice cream, eh?
 Socially marked
 NS’s lack of respect
 Features:
* deletion of “be”/ modal verbs/articles
* using base form for past tense form
* using special construction like “no + V”
Grammatical FT The ice cream – you will not forget
 The norm to buy it on your way home – get it
 Features: when you are coming home. All
* delivered at a slower pace right?
* the input is simplified (shorter sent., no sub.
clauses, no tag Qs.)
* regularised (regular/basic forms= full, no
contracted forms)
* elaborated lg. use (lengthening phrases & sent.)

IV. Role of input & interaction in L2 acquisition


• comprehensible input (i+I) [ right level of input is attained automatically when interlocutors
succeed in making themselves understood in com. , using context + kinds of input modifications
found in FT]
• interactional modifications
• negotiation of meaning
- Formal instruction & Learning process: L-S-R-W; drills, repetition, controlled practice…= enough?
- Acquisition: exposure, motivation, opportunities for use (real tasks to do outside class, games,
drawing pictures, arranging objects => verbal com.)

IMPLICATION
make learning like acquisition by:
 giving lrs both finely- tuned & roughly-tuned input (= using authentic materials)
 modifying this input like the way parents talk to little children (teacher talk, foreigner talk)
 increasing interaction & negotiation of meaning

TEACHING
- Young lrs.: Avoid grammar teaching, children subconsciously acquire lg.
- Adult lrs.: Focused lg. study= useful, desirable + activities that match motivational drive, level,
situational contexts
=> Lg. study: helpful for adults > teenagers; using authentic materials + interaction

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