Module-1-Principles-and-Theories-of-Language-Acquisition.docx
- 1. 1 Module 1 Principles and Theories of Language Acquisition and Learning INTRODUCTION Teaching a language speaks more than just about the methods. Before methods and approaches were introduced, the nature and principles of language (and learning) and its theoretical foundations were conceived and laid first. This was to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas about language and to encourage discovery of a more refined language position. In this module, you will learn about the nature of language and learning, along with the principles and theories of language acquisition and learning. A year or few years from now, you will be practicing your profession. Knowing the differing views on how language is learned and acquired gives you the benefit of having a carefully planned and effective delivery of instruction to your would-be learners. COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of the module, the students are expected to: 1. understand the nature/characteristics/principles of language and learning 2. Graphically organize the different theories of language acquisition and learning. CONTENTS OF THE MODULE This module is divided into two lessons: Lesson 1: Nature/Characteristics/Principles of Language and Learning
- 2. 2 Lesson 2: Theories of Language Acquisition and Learning HOW TO USE THE MODULE 1. This module contains two lessons: 1) nature/characteristics/principles of language acquisition and learning and 2) theories of language acquisition and learning. Articles and discussion for each lesson are provided. Read them thoroughly for better understanding. 2. For every lesson, specific learning outcomes are stated. Work on these. 3. Learning activities are also designed in order for you to acquire the SLOs. Perform or do the activities. Follow instructions strictly. 4. Evaluation is given at the end of the lesson to check whether information is accurately understood. Be honest in taking the test. 5. The following grading system will be followed: Midterm/Final exams 40% Written Outputs a. Learning Activities & Assignments 30% b. Assessment 30% 6. Submission of written outputs must be done during the distribution of the next module, but if you can submit your work earlier, the better. 7. Should there be questions or clarifications with regard the instructions and presentation of the lessons, kindly contact me through FB messenger or through SMS.
- 3. 3 Lesson 1 Nature/Characteristics/Principle of Language and Learning Specific Learning Outcomes During and at the end of the lesson, the students are expected to: 1. Justify the characteristics of language as presented in the article used 2. Paraphrase the seven (7) principles of learning 3. Connect the ideas about language and learning in relation to acquisition Motivation/Prompting Questions What to you is language? What words do you associate with LANGUAGE? What about LEARNING? Try building a word map for the two concepts—language and learning. Use a separate sheet for this. Discussion Two separate works are presented below. The first is an excerpt of the article written by Dr. Sarath Samaranayake and the second are screenshots taken from the booklet, The Nature of Learning, edited by Hanna Dumont, David Istance and Francisco Benavides. The Nature of Human Language and its Characteristics Dr. Sarath W. Samaranayake Department of International Language Teaching Silpakorn University, Sanam Chandra Place Campus, Thailand. Introduction If a question like “What is a language?” is posed to someone, it is likely that he/she will say that we communicate with language. But If we probe into
- 4. 4 this concept and ask someone to explain it, he or she will say that, with language, we express our thoughts, feelings, concepts and exchange information. However, a description of this kind does not provide us with a complete meaning to the question asked above because human language is such a phenomenon that one may naturally be tempted to explore it further. Therefore, we need to examine language from a broader perspective. To express that we communicate with language, too, does not reveal much about language because we are aware that even animals do communicate, even though they do not have a language. Human beings have other means of communication, in addition to language. For these possible reasons stated above, it is necessary to investigate how language differs from other human and non-human communication system. Literature relevant to human language reveals that language comes under the discipline called semiotics which is the science of signs or the study of communication systems. Several concepts in semiotics are embedded in the following explanation by Lyons (1981). A signal is transmitted from a sender to a receiver along a channel of communication. This signal will have a particular form and will convey a particular meaning (or message). The connection between the signal and its meaning is established by the code. Thus, the message is encoded by the sender and decoded by the receiver. Recorded literature indicates that the attention of linguists, anthropologists and sociolinguists and psychologists has attracted to different aspects of human language for generations (Lightbown & Spada, 2006). When talking about human language, the first thing which strikes our mind is that it is unique among all communication systems. This is to emphasize that language is very versatile. To understand this characteristic of language, let us consider the traffic lights which can convey only a very few messages such as GO, READY, STOP. Likewise, the number of messages that animals can convey is limited. However, with human language, people have the ability to talk about anything existing under the Sun. What enables us to use the language in such a remarkable manner is worth discussing in detail. A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols Bloch and Trager (1942, p. 5) define the language, “A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co- operates.” If we examine this definition, we find that each key word in this definition is a characteristic of language. Thus, we can conclude that a language is a set of symbols. For example, (returning back to the restaurant scenario) the signal transmitted in the restaurant, coca cola, consists of at least four
- 5. 5 symbols: /kou’, kӘ’ kou.lӘ/. The substance of these symbols is sound produced by mouth. Hence, they are vocal symbols. A symbol is a form, which stands for some real thing, i.e. some meaning. Thus, there are different symbols for different meanings. The term ‘vocal’ may need further clarification because the language can be written as well as spoken. When we produce symbols with mouth, we use phonic medium. But we can also produce the same symbols by drawing bits of lines on a paper with a pen or a pencil. This method is called graphic medium. This transferability of medium appears to be a special feature of language. Then if language can be both spoken and written, the question next arises is as to why language is defined as vocal symbols. In discussion of language, linguists generally are concerned with spoken language or what they call ‘primacy’ of language. Primacy of speech means that speech is basic, and writing is only secondary. There are many reasons to justify this view. Some of them are stated below. Structural priority: We write what we speak. This does not mean that spoken language and written language are identical. It only means that writing is a device to transfer the phonic medium to graphic medium. Moreover, there are more than 3000 spoken languages in the world, but only a few hundred of them have writing systems. Based on this premise, one cannot say that the unwritten languages are not languages. On the other hand, there is no language, which is only written and not spoken. Historical priority: Human beings have had spoken languages for millions of years, but the history of writing is not even five thousand years old. Every human speaks a language every day, but a clear majority does not either read or write. Biological priority: spoken language is natural, whereas written is artificial. Written language can be said as man-made in the sense that every human child acquires spoken language without any conscious learning. There is no logical connection between the form and its meaning Given the reasons above, language is speech to a linguist. With this background knowledge, I now describe the next important key word ‘arbitrary’ in the definition of Bloch and Trager (1942). Vocal symbols in natural languages are arbitrary. This means that there is no logical connection between the form of a symbol and its meaning. For example, there is no connection whatsoever between the sound
- 6. 6 /pen/ and the object called pen. There is no reason to call a ‘chair’, except that speakers of English call it so. Further, a few words in any language can be onomatopoeic, e.g. The English word ‘crow’, ‘flutter’, ‘splash’ are related to their meanings. Arbitrariness of language is not limited to words. There is no reason for “He is a doctor”, to be a statement and “Is he a doctor?” to be a question except the agreement among the speakers of English to interpret them in that way. It is now evident that the arbitrariness of forms is one of the factors, which make language so versatile. If we had to match forms with meaning, it would be impossible to make words for many things. For example, what sounds will suit abstract concepts such as democracy and kindness. Thanks to arbitrariness, anything could be called anything. Duality of human language Given the understanding of the characteristics of human language, I now move to examine another characteristic which makes it much more efficient than any other communication system. That is called duality. Language forms consist of units and the smallest unit of the language is the phoneme. However, the syllables are larger than phonemes while morphemes and words are at a higher level than syllables. These units belong to two classes: phonemes and syllables which have no meaning of their own, but morphemes and words are meaningful units. In other words, meaningful units are made of meaningless units. For example, let us examine the word ‘umbrellas’. It consists of nine phonemes. /Λmbrella:z / The nine phonemes make three syllables: Λm, brel, la;z. Therefore, we can see that neither the phonemes nor syllables have any meaning. These phonemes make two morphemes: umbrella+s. These two morphemes as a full word have meanings as other full words have. This type of characteristic (duality) is an important feature of language. If each of the phonemes or syllables had a meaning of its own, we cannot use that phoneme again in another word. To simplify this, imagine /Λm / in ‘umbrella’ means the ‘handle’. Then it cannot be used in the word ‘umpire’. It is because of duality and arbitrariness of language; we can form unlimited number of words with a small number of phonemes. The next key word in Bloch and Trager ’s definition is ‘System’. A language is a system of symbols and this does not mean to say that a language is not merely a collection of symbols. It was Ferdinand de Saussure (1959) a Swiss linguist who introduced the concept of language as a system. A language can be compared to a game of chess. What makes a game of chess a game of chess? Let us
- 7. 7 imagine that there is a chessboard, chess pieces and more significantly, the rules for moving those chess pieces, you could use any small object as a dummy piece and continue the game. Similarly, the pieces of language games are phonemes, morphemes and words, and a set of rules of how to use them when speaking or writing. For example, the English language system allows its users to say or write as, “Peter ate a piece of bread”, but not “ate a piece of bread Peter”, or “A piece of bread ate Peter. The rules of the system, unlike the symbols, are invisible, but they can be discovered when they operate. It is the symbols and the rules together that form the system. Another term which is similar to the meaning of system is ‘structure’. As discussed above, we realize that a language has a system. Another important characteristic of human language is its productivity which will be dealt with in the following section. Human language is productive According to Chomsky (1965), the most important property of human language is its productivity because humans can understand and produce indefinitely many utterances that nobody has either produced or heard previously. It means we can produce brand new sentences, except when we use conventional expressions such as “Good morning”, “How are you?” and “I’m fine. Thank you”. The number of phonemes, morphemes and words in a language are limited, but with these limited symbols, we can create countless sentences which cannot be done in any other communication system. Animal signals are ready-made fixed messages, perhaps like our “Good morning”. As Chomsky has pointed out that productivity of language is due to its structure dependence and recursiveness. “By recursiveness, we mean that certain grammatical constructions can be extended indefinitely by repeated application of the same rules. Thus, noun phrases may be coordinated without limit; Jack and Jill and Annie and Frank and ……….went to dance” (Robins, 1980). Commenting on another characteristic of human language, Firth, (cited in Widdowson,1971, p. 102) claims, The moment a conversation is started whatever is said is a determining condition for what in any reasonable expectation may follow. There is positive force in what you say, and there is a negative side too, because what you say shouts out most of the language of your companion, leaving him only a limited range of possible responses. Careful analysis of what Firth has claimed informs us that we are not free to tell what we want as we are bound by social rules, norms and ethics that have established in each society.
- 8. 8 Source: Samaranayake, Sarath (nd). The nature of human language and its characteristics. Retrieved from www.academia.edu
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- 10. 10 Source: Dumont, H. et al.,(nd). The nature of learning: using research to inspire practice. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org Learning Activities/Exercises A. Explain in your own words why language is: 1. A system 2. Arbitrary 3. A set of symbols 4. Productive B. State each principle of learning in a sentence. Teacher Intervention Should you have questions, concerns or clarifications, feel free to contact me through FB messenger or through mobile text or call. Practice Task/Assessment With the inputs on language and learning, how would you apply the principles of learning in the teaching of language so that acquisition would be possible? Use a separate sheet for your answer. Be direct to the point. Feedback to Assessment Answers to the Learning Activities will be given when the next module is distributed. Assignment Personal Reflection: How do I learn?
- 11. 11 Please tell me about your: a. interest/motivation for learning b. learning styles and strategies c. preferred learning environment d. prior knowledge (about English) e. abilities f. views about learning
- 12. 12 Lesson 2 Theories of Language Acquisition and Learning Specific Learning Outcomes During and at the end of the lesson, the learners are expected to: 1. Outline the theories of language acquisition 2. Explain the major points of the theories 3. Conform or oppose to the theories Motivation/Prompting Questions Have you ever observed how babies acquire their first language? Or were you told by your parents or guardians how you learned to say your first set of vocabulary? Tell me about it. Discussion Today, we will be learning about the different theories of language acquisition. Embedded in this lesson are PowerPoint slides that highlight the major points of the topic. Familiarize yourselves with these theories.
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- 16. 16 Source: Trawińzki, Mariusz (2005). An Outline of second language acquisition theories. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Akademii Pedagogicznej, p.8-18
- 17. 17 Learning Activities/Exercises Exercise 1. In an outline, present the different theories of language acquisition with their major points/views. Exercise 2. From what was presented, agree or disagree on the following statements: (Justify your point.) a. Learning results after positive reinforcement. b. Learning is best before puberty. c. Interaction helps language acquisition. Teacher Intervention Should you have questions, concerns or clarifications, feel free to contact me through FB messenger or through mobile text or call. Practice Task/Assessment Explain the major point/s of each theory in your own words. Feedback to Assessment Answers to the Learning Activities will be given when the next module is distributed. Assignment Personal Reflection: What are my views on language acquisition and learning?
- 18. 18 NOTE: You are to submit your RAW work under motivation and learning activities and your ANSWER on the practice task. You have weeks to work on your module before the next one will be distributed. May you give glory to God through your work. God bless you all.