CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

PSYCHOLINGISTIC ASPECTS OF INTERLANGUAGE

Psycholinguistic is the study of the mental structures and processes involved in the acquisition and use of language. Here we will focus on a small number of major issues L1 transfer, type role of consciousness, process operations, and communication strategies.

L1 TRANSFER

L1 transfer refers to the influence that the learners of L1 exerts over the acquisition of an L2, as we noted in the section on error analysis in chapter 2, the learners of L1 is one of the sources of errors in learner language. This influence is referred to as negative transfer. While the opposite one is called as positive transfer.

L1 transfer can also result in avoidance, when they attempt to avoid such kinds of grammatical system in L2.Overuse is somehow found in L2 learners, when they always use the formal language in the non formal conversation.

According to Eric Kellerman, learners have perceptions regarding the linguistic features of their own language. They treat some features as potentially transferable and others as potentially non-transferable.

It is clear, then, that transfer is governed by learners’ perception about what is transferable and by their stage of development. It follows that interlanguage development cannot constitute a restructuring continuum. That is, the starting point is not the learners’ L1, and learners do not proceed by replacing L1 rules. Rather they construct their own interim rules.

THE ROLE OF CONSIOUSNESS IN L2 ACQUISITION

When children acquire their L1 they seem to do so without conscious effort. In contrast, L2 learners, especially adults, seem to have to work hard and to study the language consciously in order to succeed.

The term “consciousness” is often used very loosely in SLA and argues that there is a need to standardize the concept that underlies its use. For example distinguish between consciousness as “intentionally” and consciousness as “attention” “ Intentionality” refers to whether a learner makes a conscious and deliberate decision to learn some L2 knowledge. It contrast with “incidental learning”, which takes place when learners pick up L2 knowledge through exposure. This distinction is important and helpful. It helps us to see that when Krashen talks about “acquisition” being “incidental” acquisition mightin fact still involve some degree of conscious “attention” to input.

Schimdt argues that learning cannot take place without what he calls noticing- the process of attending consciously to linguistic features in the input.

Schimdt also points to a third sense in which we can talk about consciousness in language learning. He uses the term “awareness to refer to whether learners are conscious of acquiring new L2 elements.

Irrespective of whether learners learn implicitly or explicitly is widely accepted that they can acquire different kind s of knowledge.

Krashen’s view is that most learners are only capable of learning fairly simple rules.

Explicit knowledge may aid learners in developing implicit knowledge in a number of ways. First, contrary to the claims of Krashen, a direct interface may occur. Second, explicit knowledge may facilitate the process by which learners attend to features in the input. Third, explicit knowledge may help learners to move from intake to acquisition by helping them to notice the gap between what they observe in the input and the currents state of their interlanguage as manifested in their own output.

PROCESSING OPERATIONS

a.      Operating principles, is the study of the L1 acquisition og many different languages has led to the identification of a number of general strategies which children use to extract and segment linguistic information from the language they hear.

b.      Processing constraints, govern when it is possible for a learner to move from one stage to another.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Are seen as part of the planning phase. They are called upon when learners experience some kind of problem with an initial which prevents them from executing it.

TWO TYPES OF COMMUNICATIONAL MODEL

One type involves the idea of serial processing. That is, information is processed in a series of sequential steps and results in the representation of what has been learned as some kind of rule.

The alternative type of apparatus involves the idea of parallel distributed processing. This credits the learners with the ability to perform a number of mental tasks at the same time.

QUESTIONS

1.      What is meant by ga[p on page 57

2.      Could you mention kinds of communication strategies that learners do?

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

DISCOURSE ASPECTS OF INTERLANGUAGE

Here we consider about the nature of the communication is and how it affects L2 acquisition. A number of researchers have sought to show how interaction shapes inter-language development.

Acquiring Discourse Rules                                

There are rules in this ways in which native speakers hold conversations. However, L2 learners behave differently. Sometimes they fail to respond to compliment at all. at other times they produce bare responses. There is a growing body of do research investigating learner discourse. This show that, to some extent at least, the acquisition of discourse rules, like the acquisition of grammatical rules, is systematic, reflecting both distinct types of errors and developmental sequences.

The Role of Input and Interaction In L2 Acquisition

just as caretakers modify the way they speak to children learning their L1, so do native speakers modify their speech when communicating with learners. Ungrammatical foreigner talk is characterized by the deletion of certain grammatical features such as copula be, modal verbs (for example, van and must), and articles, the use of the base form of the verb in place of the past tense form, and the use of special constructions such as “ no+ verb”.

Grammatical foreigner talk is the norm. Various types of modification of baseline talk, first, grammatical foreigner talk is delivered at a slower pace. Second, the input is simplified.

When learners have conversation in L2, they sometime do the negotiation of meaning. According to Stephen Krashen’s input hypothesis, L2 acquisition takes place when a learner understands input that contains grammatical forms that are at “i + I”. Krashen suggests that the right level of input is attained automatically when interlocutors succeed in making themselves understood in communication.

Michael Long’s interaction hypothesis also emphasizes the importance of comprehensible input but that it is most effective when it is modified through the negotiation of meaning.

As the interaction between Hiroko and Izumi illustrates, learners often receive negative evidence. That is , their interlocutors indicate when they have not understood and, in the course of so doing, may model the correct target-language forms.

Learners and their interlocutors in constructing discourse and suggests that synthetic structures can grow out of the process of building discourse is called scaffolding. That is the learners use the discourse to help them produce utterances that they would not be able to produce on their own, as in this example from Wagner Gough.

The Role of Output in L2 Acquisition

Krashen claims that the only way learners can learn from their output is by treating it as auto input. That is learners learn L2 by practicing them. She argued that comprehensible output also plays a part in L2 acquisition. She suggests a number of specific ways in which learners can learn from their own output. Output can serve a consciousness- raising function by helping learners to notice gasp in their interlanguages. That is, by trying to speak or write in the L2 they realize that they lack the grammatical knowledge of some features that is important for what they want to say. Second, output helps learners to test hypotheses. Third, learners sometimes talk about their own output, identifying problems with it and discussing ways in which they can be put right.

Questions:

1.      What is said as zone of proximal development on page 48?

2.      What is actually auto input itself?