Issues in language learning

Overview
• Some useful terms
• Age and second language acquisition

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Some useful terms/acronyms
• What does each of these refer to – L1/L2/FL/SLA/EFL/TEYL?
• First language (L1) – your mother tongue
• Second language (L2) - acquired in a natural environment, among native
speakers; Ls accept it as their “second language”, together with culture,
customs and behaviour of the language group with which they live (e.g.
learning French or English in Canada); speech interactions in real everyday-life
situations
• Foreign language (FL) - language that is learned in the formal teaching process
within the school program in a country where it is not the basic means of
communication
• MODERN APPLIED LINGUISTICS – second & foreign language = L2!
Some useful terms/acronyms
• Applied linguistics = the branch of linguistics concerned with practical
applications of language studies – language teaching, translation etc.
• SLA = second language acquisition – the process by which people
learn an L2 and also the scientific discipline that studies it

• ESL/EFL = English as a second/foreign language

• TESL/TEFL = teaching English as a second/foreign language
• TESOL = teaching English to speakers of other languages
• FLT = foreign language teaching
Some useful terms/abbreviations
• TEYL = teaching English to young learners
• YLs = young learners
• YLE = young learners’ English…
• Ls/Ss/Ps = learners/students/pupils
• FLL = foreign language learning

• CALL = computer-assisted language learning

• CLIL = content and language integrated learning
First, second, foreign language
• When does the acquisition of our L1 start/end?
• Start: even new-borns prefer to listen to speech compared to non-
speech stimuli + are sensitive to the intonational pattern of their
native language (Hespos, 2007)
• End: people used to think it was by the age of 5, but there are some
aspects of e.g. literacy that are developed later
• E.g. the full use of co-ordinators (like but or yet) is still to be
developed after the age of 11; discourse skills are still developing in
primary schools – different domains of language develop differently
(Cameron, 2001)
First, second, foreign language
• By the way, what linguistic domains/fields do you know?
• Phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, discourse, conversation…
• What do they refer to?
• Phonology – sound systems within a language
• Morphology – formation of words, their structure, roots, affixes etc.
• Syntax – sentence structure and the rules that govern it
• Discourse – unit longer than a sentance – analysis of language in a
social context
• Semantics – study of meaning
First, second, foreign language
• Why should we care about our Ss L1 acquisition?
• Because they will come into FLL bringing with them differently
developed skills and abilities in their L1 -by the age of 5, individual
differences in language domains will be established
• It’s possible that in the same lesson, different Ss will learn different
things – some children will find it easier to learn vocabulary, some will
have different/better conversational skills
First, second, foreign language
• FLL – very little experience of the L outside the classroom (only through
several hours of teaching in a school week) + in the case of English (lingua
franca = a global language) additional exposure through video, TV, computers,
BUT WITHOUT “street” use, i.e. language use for everyday life purposes;

• Language acquisition – picking up language spoken around us (L1, L2)

• Language learning – conscious, effortful process – memorizing words and
rules (FL)
• But nowadays, the distinction is not that strict – it’s just not true that adults
can only learn language – there’s more to it than memorization
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Remember the question?
• Are languages learned mainly through imitation?
Have you ever heard about…
• The Audio-Lingual method?
• Popular in the 90s
• Dialogues – listen and repeat - drills
• Connected to behaviourism – language as a learnt behaviour –
practice a particular construct until you can use it naturally
• No L1 in the classroom
• If you don’t give the expected answer, you get negative feedback
The Audio-Lingual method
• Example (from Wikipedia)
“Teacher: There's a cup on the table ... repeat
Students: There's a cup on the table
Teacher: Spoon
Students: There's a spoon on the table
Teacher: Book
Students: There's a book on the table
Teacher: On the chair
Students: There's a book on the chair
etc.”
The Audio-Lingual method
• Develops listening skills
• Pronunciation
• BUT – not communicative
• Stict error correction – no possibility for being creative/spontaneous
with language

• Callan Method – something similar – watch the video and say what
you think
Are languages learnt through imitation?
• Language learners do not simply internalise a list of imitated
sentences – they produce novel sentences that they haven’t heard
before
• This is based on their developing understanding of how the language
system works
• Some children imitate more, some less, most don’t imitate
everything, but those children who don’t imitate still learn the
language
Are languages learnt through imitation?
• Imitation – more of an individual strategy, but not a universal
characteristic
• In FL – important for pronunciation and intonation
• But for beginners – definitely not enough – won’t lead to language
development?
• Ls learn as they make the effort to understand and make themselves
understood – we’ll come back to this a lot next year
(Lightbown & Spada, 2006)
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Age and second language learning
• Do children really learn languages better than adults? Think about
your own experience, people that you know.
• What do you think the differences between children and adults as
language learners stem from? Brainstorm some differences between
the two groups when it comes to language learning. Also think about
what they might be better at.
Children Adults
Age and second language learning
• Different standards of proficiency between children and adults – think, what do
we expect from children, what do we expect from adults?
• Children – better pronunciation – more flexibility in their speech organs, less
affected by L1
• Different learning methods – children – exposure, songs, games – adults – more
systematic
• Adults will progress faster – advantages: basic concepts of language, social
information connected to language (pragmatics!), can think critically & be
systematic
• Children – less self-consciousness; adults – more fear of embarrassment
• Motivation?
Age and second language learning
• The Critical Period Hypothesis – the idea that there is a window for
language learning
• Young children can learn a L2 particularly effectively BEFORE PUBERTY
because their brains are still able to use the mechanisms that assisted
L1 acquisition.
• Connected to brain lateralisation (brain being separated into two
hemispheres) – Lenneberg, Chomsky
Imagecredits: Chickensaresocute - Own work, CC BY-SA
3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
curid=26371690
Lateralization
• In a majority of people, language abilities – in the left hemisphere
• Broca’s aphasia – critical for pronunciation and production of
language – patients can understand everything but can’t speak
• Wernicke’s aphasia – deficit in language comprehension – semantic
errors although the person speaks fluently
Critical period hypothesis
• Empirical studies: pros & cons reminding us of different needs,
motivations and contexts of different groups of learners.
• Genie – a 13 year-old girl who never learned language, and was never
able to acquire it completely
Which leads us to the question…
• The earlier a second language is introduced in school programmes,
the greater the likelihood of success in learning.

Benefits of early language Challenges of early language

learning programmes learning programmes
Benefits from an early start
Benefits of early language
learning programmes
Increased time
Pronounciation and fluency
Greater global awareness and intercultural
competence
Bilingualism  mental flexibility
Challenges of early language
learning programmes
Few lessons, not much progress – how to sustain
motivation?
Continuity between education periods
Education for teachers
Benefits from an early start
• Lightbown and Spada (2006): where native-like proficiency in a L2 is the
goal, then learning benefits from an early start, but when the goal is
communicative ability in a FL, the benefits of an early start are much
less clear.
• FLL = an essentially different mental activity from early simultaneous
bilingualism and from L1 acquisition.
• Younger children learn grammar more slowly – less progress
• Older children can catch up quickly
• ‘Drip-feed’ approach often leads to frustration – studying for long
periods of time without making progress
Younger is better (Read, 2003)
When learning is:
• Natural
• contextualized and part of a
real event
• Interesting and enjoyable
• Relevant
• Social
• Belongs to the child
• Has a purpose for the child
• Builds on things the child knows,
but also challenges the child
• Supported appropriately
• Part of a coherent whole
• Multisensory
• Active and experiential
• Memorable
• Designed to provide for personal,
divergent responses and multiple
intelligences
• Offered in a relaxed and warm
learning atmosphere
Common features of effective YL programs
• Focused on meaning
• Integrated language instruction with mainstream curriculum
• Used task-based and content-based approaches
• Provided fun in the classroom
• Set up children for success
• Fostered learner autonomy
• Set realistic expectations and assessment
• Provided continuity primary/secondary

Nikolov and Curtain (2000, in Shin & Crandall, 2014)

Let’s recap 
• https://create.kahoot.it/details/early-learning-issues-in-language-learning-i/db25efa3-a45e-4e7e-b68d-
cf81c316d31e
References
• Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Ernst Klett
Sprachen.
• Hespos, S. J. (2007). Language acquisition: when does the learning
begin?. Current Biology, 17(16), R628-R630.
• Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd edition).
Oxford University Press.
• Mains, P. (n.d.) How Children and Adults Learn Language Differently – and
why adults do it better. Retreived from
https://flashsticks.com/how-children-and-adults-learn-language-differently/
• Shin, J.K. & Crandall, J. (2014). Teaching young learners English: From theory
to practice. National Geographic Learning