“Psychology of the SLA”

SLA theory and research
1. Neurolinguistics
  1. Studies the stages and sequences of language acquisition, addressing how acquisition happens
2. Learning Process
  1. Studies and organisation of language might differ in the heads of monolingual versus multilingual speakers, addressing what is added and changed in people’s brains when they learn another language
3. Learner differences
  1. Considers aptitude in learning how learning is Learner linked to age and sex, and addresses why differences some L2 learners are more successful than others. 3
Differences in Learners
1. Sex
  1. Of particular potential relevance to SLA are findings in relation to mental representations in the lexicon versus the grammar: females seem to be better at memorizing complex forms, while males appear to be better at computing compositional rules (e.g. Halpern 2000).
2. Aptitude
  1. a) Phonemic coding females are social ability construct, based on b) Inductive language outcomes reflected learning ability from cultural & psychological c) Grammatical constraints & sensitivity influences. d) Associative memory
3. Motivation
  1. Integrative motivation
    1. Involves emotional or effective reasons for learning an L2 , such an intention to participate or integrate in the L2 speech community
  2. Instrumental motivation
    1. Involes a purely practical reason for learning, such as better job opportunities or passing required courses in school
4. cognitive style
  1. It refers to individuals’ preferred way of processing, i.e. perceiving, conceptualising, organising, recalling information It also closely related to personality factors & learning strategies
5. Personality
6. Learning strategies
  1. One goal in SLA research is to identify which strategies are used by relatively good language learners, with the hope that such strategies can be taught or otherwise applied to enhance learning.
7. Age
  1. younger
    1. - Brain plasticity Not analytical -Fewer inhibitions - Weaker group identity
  2. Older
    1. - Learning capacity - Analytic capability -Pragmatic skills - Greater knowledge of L1
Languages and the brain
1. 1. The Brains
    1. Broca's area is reponsable for the ability to language, whereas Wenicke's area is responsable for processing audio
    2. language is represented primarialy in the left half of the brain within an area around the Sylvian fissure.
2. Methods for gathering data have included the following:
  1.  Correlation of location of the brain damage
    1. How independent are the languages of multilingual speakers?
      1. Multiple language systems in the brain are separated or fused?Ervin & Osgood (1954) suggested a three way possibility for how language relate in an individual’s mind
        Ursula speaks French &Coordinate German fluently, but cannot switch readily between thebilingualism two. She must speak all German or all French with you, even if you know both languages.
        Coordinate bilingualism
        Shane speaks EnglishSubordinate natively & German as an L2. each time he learns s.t. newbilingualism in German, he translates it into English to memorise the literal translation
        Subordinate Bilinguarism
        Maria speaks French &Compound English fluently, & often speaks “Frenglish”, with herbilingualism other bilingual friends. She produces & understands this mixture of languages easily
        Compound BIlingualism
  2. Presentation of stimuli from different languages to the R vs. the L visual or auditory fields
    1. How are multiple language structures organized in relation to one another in the brain? Are both languages stored in the same areas?
      1. First Condition 1.An individual was hearing a text, in order to learn a new language task. 2.Colours indicate that there were cells working more than in their resting state, with a higher metabolism. 3.Yellow & red (higher cell activity); blue & black show decreased activity or none at all.
      2. Second Condition 1.The same individual has now learned the language task & is spelling out 2.Now the activity is concentrated in the area of the cortex which is responsible for the motor control of voice
  3. Mapping the brain structure during surgery using electrical stimulation at precise points & recording which areas are involved
    1. Does the organization of the brain for L2 in relation to L1 differ with age of acquisition, how it is learned, or level of proficiency?
      1. The answer is probably “yes” to all three, with the strongest body of evidence showing that age of acquisition influences brain organisation for many L2 learners.
  4. Positron Emission Tomography (PET-scan) & other non-invasive imaging techniques
    1. Do two or more languages show the same sort of loss or disruption after brain damage? When there is differential impairment or recovery, which language recovers first?
      1. One early hypothesis was that in cases of brain damage (some patterns of loss & recovery for both/all of most multilingual persons’ languages), the last-learned language would be the 1st lost, the next-to-the-last learned the 2nd to be lost, and so forth, with L1 the last to remain
        Research on this questions also shows that not only can different languages be affected differentially by brain damage, but different abilities in the same language may be differentially impaired(i.e. syntax |vocabulary,production | comprehension, oral | written)
learning process
1. It claims that learning language is essentially like learning other domains of knowledge: that whether people are learning mathematics, or learning to drive a car, or learning Japanese, they are not engaging in any essentially different kind of mental activity
  1. Stages of information Processing
    1. central processing
      1. Controlled automatic processing restructuring
    2. input
      1. persepcion
    3. Output
      1. Production
Thee effects of MUltilingualism
1. Cognitive & metalinguistic advantages appear in bilingual situations that involve systematic uses of the two languages
2. Bilingual children show consistent advantages in both verbal & non-verbal tasks
3. Bilingual children show advanced metalinguistic abilities

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