Linking Language

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Linking Language Learning 2 Comparisons
Connections

• Fall 2006
• Scott, Grenvicz, Schwab, Dessein

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Series Overview

• This is the second of three power point
  presentations designed to make you think about
  second language learning.
• This presentation begins with guiding questions
  to engage you in the material.
• Discussion questions appear at the end of this
  presentation. You will write your ideas about
  these questions and turn them in to your teacher.

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Series Overview

• In the first presentation we talked about the
  meaning of COMMUNICATION.
• We also reviewed what is means to be BILINGUAL.
• In this presentation we will compare first and
  second language acquisition.
• This presentation will also engage you in a
  discussion of what it means to use your second
  language to connect to other areas of interest.

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Guiding questions
mama papa

• What are the differences between how babies learn
  their first language (L1) and adults learn a
  second language (L2)?
• Do children have to be taught how to speak?
• How long does it take a child to become fluent
  in her native language?

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Three theories

• Environmentalist
• Nativist
• Interactionist

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1. Environmentalist theories

• Environment shapes learning and behavior
• Children react to their surroundings
• Children learn language from
• Input
• Trial and error
• Error correction

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2. Nativist theories

• Children do not need any kind of formal teaching
  to learn to speak.
• Children are born with a natural capacity to
  learn language.
• The brain contains systems for recognizing
  patterns of sound.
• Chomskys theories and critical period theories
  are important in nativist theories.

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Noam Chomskys L-A-D

• Chomskys theory of the LAD (Language Acquisition
  Device) states that every human is born with
  innate principles of language.
• Children learn language spontaneously and speak
  creatively.
• The poverty of the stimulus theory states that
  what children hear is incomplete and often
  ungrammatical, and cannot account for the
  creativity of their utterances.

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Critical period hypothesis

• There is a critical period for language learning.
• There is no agreement about how long this
  sensitive period lasts.
• Genie the American wild child provided
  evidence that language cannot be learned after
  puberty.

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Genie

• In the fall of 1970, social workers took custody
  of a 13-year-old child who had spent much of her
  life chained to a potty chair in her bedroom. She
  could not speak, walk, or respond to other
  people. She was called "Genie." Her case
  attracted psychologists who were interested in
  finding out whether she could still learn to
  speak. At the time, some linguists, led by MIT's
  Noam Chomsky, believed that human speech is a
  genetically programmed ability. Eric Lenneberg, a
  neuropsychologist, agreed with Chomsky and added
  further that if a person did not learn to speak
  by adolescence, then the natural ability to learn
  language might be lost forever. This theory was
  the so-called "critical period hypothesis."
• Although Genie's situation was one that
  scientists would never create intentionally to
  test their theories, her unfortunate
  circumstances made her a prime candidate for
  experimentation. Genie was past puberty. If she
  could still learn language, it would cast doubt
  on the critical period hypothesis. Ultimately,
  Genie's caretakers were criticized for combining
  their research with her treatment.

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Genie

• Genie's vocabulary grew by leaps and bounds, but
  she was still not able to string words together
  into meaningful sentences. Normal children begin
  by learning to say simple sentences, like "No
  have toy." Soon they are able to say "I not have
  toy." Eventually they will learn to say, "I do
  not have the toy.' Later they will refine the
  sentence to say, "I don't have the toy." Genie
  seemed to be stuck at the first stage.
• We do learn many words from experience, from
  seeing, hearing, reading, and asking. But some
  scientists think that learning how to speak in
  sentences and sensing how words get put together
  in logical order also depends on something that
  is built into our brains from birth. Was Genie's
  brain missing something which was necessary for
  learning language?

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Genie

• Over the next couple of years, some scientists
  concluded that Genie was not mentally retarded,
  even though she was still unable to master
  language. She was brilliant at nonverbal
  communication. Sometimes she would be so
  frustrated at not being able to say what she
  wanted that she would grab a pencil and paper and
  in a few strokes, illustrate fairly complex ideas
  and even feelings. She scored the highest
  recorded score ever on tests that measure a
  person's ability to make sense out of chaos and
  to see patterns. Her abilities to understand and
  to think logically were also strong. She had a
  perfect score on an adult-level test that
  measured spatial abilities. One test required
  that she use a set of colored sticks to recreate
  a complicated structure from memory. She was not
  only able to build the structure perfectly, she
  built it with sticks of the exact same color as
  the first structure! Despite all this, Genie
  remained unable to master the basics of language.
  
• http//www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?chg
  enie

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3. Interactionist theories

• Children require interaction with a care-giver to
  develop language.
• Children follow the attention of the care-giver
  and learn to direct the attention of the
  care-giver these activities involve intention
  reading and pattern finding skills.
• Communication is 3-way child, adult, object.
• Language structure emerges from language use.

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Second language learning

• Think about these questions related to learning a
  second language as an adult
• Does an adult learn a second language the way a
  child learns a first language?
• If not, what happened to the LAD?
• Is there a critical period for L2 acquisition?
• Which is better classroom learning or immersion
  experience?

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Second language learning

• Most people agree that there is a fundamental
  difference between L1 and L2 learning because
• All children learn their first language easily
  and well whereas adults vary in their ultimate
  mastery of a second language.
• Children do not need to be taught their first
  language whereas adults benefit from formal
  instruction.
• Children are intrinsically motivated to learn
  their native language whereas adult mastery of a
  second language is dependent upon attitude,
  motivation, and aptitude.

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Second language learning

• Despite the disadvantages of learning a second
  language in adulthood you are naturally endowed
  with important L2 learning abilities
• mature problem-solving abilities
• general understanding about the nature of human
  interaction.
• competence in your native language.
• Give yourself credit!
• After relatively little formal instruction, you
  can use your L2 to gather information about many
  other subjects. Read the following slide telling
  about Genie in French. You dont know every
  word, but how much can you understand?
• Is there new information about Genie that was not
  included in the earlier information in English?

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Genie est le nom dune jeune fille .

• découverte à Los Angeles le 4 novembre 1970.
• Née en avril 1957, Genie était le quatrième
  enfant d'un couple instable. Sa mère était
  partiellement aveugle à cause d'une cataracte et
  d'un décollement de la rétine. Son père, de
  vingt ans l'aîné de sa mère, était un
  déséquilibré mental, longtemps dépressif.
• À l'âge de vingt mois, Genie allait tout juste
  commencer à parler quand un médecin annonça à sa
  famille qu'elle semblait un peu lente,
  probablement mentalement retardée. Le père de
  Genie a interprété cet avis à l'extrême et, la
  croyant profondément retardée, lui a fait subir
  un sévère isolement et un maltraitement rituel,
  afin  de la protéger .
• Jusqu'à sa découverte, à l'âge de treize ans et
  sept mois, Genie était attachée à une chaise et
  portait des couches-culottes. Elle ne parlait pas
  et pouvait seulement babiller comme un enfant. On
  disait que son père la battait chaque fois
  qu'elle essayait de formuler un mot et
  interdisait à sa femme et à son fils de lui
  parler. Pendant plus d'une décennie elle fut
  complètement cloîtrée, laissée seule dans une
  pièce, sans aucune forme d'échange, de quelque
  sorte que ce soit, avec un humain.

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Final discussion questions

• Write your ideas about these questions and turn
  them in to your teacher
• What theory of L1 acquisition makes the most
  sense to you environmental, nativist, or
  interactionist? Explain.
• If you were asked to use French to explore
  another subject area, what would you choose
  (science, law, art, music, politics, etc.)?
  Explain.
• This Power Point presentation is available at
• http//www.vanderbilt.edu/french_ital/faculty/sco
  tt