Unit 2 Readings Elizabeth L. Moore
*Freeman & Freeman Chapter 2: Written and Second Language Acquisition
*Gass and Seinker Ch. 1 Introduction & Ch. 2 Looking at Interlanguage Data
*Pinker Chapter 2 Chatterboxes
Gass and Seinker:
*Second language acquisition is not about pedagogy.
*Learners create a language system known as interlanguage (IL) this is when you take part of your language and part of the second language and make it one.
*Language learning consists of more than memorizing the rules it involves learning to express the needs in a communicative ways
Pinker:
*Language not cultural invention but the product of special human instinct.
*Stated :working class or the less educated of the middle class speak a simpler or coarser language.
*Also touches on is language hereditary especially like a SLI
*Deaf Children will learn sign language like language if their parents are deaf
*Discussed how it is either a gene or is it a missing piece have the brain that causes language to form or not form.
Freeman & Freeman:
· Researchers agree children acquire the first language. This is usually rapid and without formal instruction.(Freeman & Freeman pg 23)
· Suggestions are both written and second languages can be acquired. This has important implications for teaching because the role of the educator is different in an acquisition classroom compared to that of a learning classroom(Freeman & Freeman page 23)
· Researcher Schumann theories vary from that of Krashen’s. Schumann’s say social and psychological plays a part in the learning process. (Freeman & Freeman page 41)
· Researcher Brown states that your brain plays a part and if you learn a second language between age 2 and puberty will speak it without an accent. Meaning that older people can’t acquire all the aspects of a language (Freeman & Freeman page 42-43)
· This Chart with information from Freeman & Freeman will contrast the thoughts of the learning and acquiring language theories for reading, writing, reading & writing and Krashen’s Theory:
| | Learning Language | Acquiring Language |
| Reading: | Goal: Identify words to get to the meaning of the text Method: Use phonic rules to sound out words and learnt to identify words that do not follow the rules. Learn to break down words into parts Classroom Activity: Learn vocabulary. Read orally so the teacher can help students learn to identify words and plug in words students don’t know | Goal: Use background knowledge and cues from three language systems to construct meaning from the reading. Method: Use graph phonics as just one of the three languages curing systems to gain meaning from the text. Study word parts only during linguistics investigation. Classroom Activity: Read to acquire vocabulary by encountering words through the context. Read silently using the strategies the teacher has taught. |
| Writing: | Goal: Learn how to produce a good piece of writing. Method: Begin with the parts and build up to writing a whole story. Teacher directly instructs the student in how to form letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs. Approach to correctness: Writing products must be conventional from the beginning. The Teacher corrects each piece of writing. | Goal: Produce good writing and acquire knowledge of the writing process. Methods: Start with a message and develop the skills needed to write the message. Teachers create conditions for authentic written responses and then helps students express themselves in writing. Approach to correctness: Moves naturally from inventions to convention. Classmates and others respond to draft. |
| Reading and Writing | Goal: Teach language directly so students can produce correct language forms Methods: Break language into component parts and read each part Classroom activities: Student who drills and exercises to practice language Attitude towards errors: Teachers correct errors to help students develop good language skills | Goal: Make language comprehensible so students can use language for different purposes Methods: Use carious techniques to make the linguistic input understandable Classroom activities: Student use language in communicative situations Attitude towards errors: Errors are natural so teacher keeps the focus on meaning and help students understand and express ideas. |
| Krashen’s Theory | Conscious: We are aware we are learning the items It is what happens in school when we study rules and grammar | Subconscious: We are not aware we are acquiring it. It is what happens in and out of school when we receive messages that we understand |
