Master & Diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language

Entrance Exam

Name: Date:

I. Read the following text and answer the questions below:

Acquisition
In order to study how learner acquire a second language, a clear, operational definition
of what is meant by the term acquisition is needed. Unfortunately, researchers have
been unable to agree on such a definition. Acquisition can mean several things.
First, some researchers (for example, Krashen 1981) distinguish between
acquisition and learning. The former refers to the subconscious process of picking
up a language through exposure and the latter to the conscious process of studying it .
According to this view, it is possible for learners to acquire or to learn rules
independently and at separate times. Although such a distinction can have a strong
face validity particularly for teachers- it is problematic, not least because of the
difficulty of demonstrating whether the knowledge learners possess is of the acquired
or learnt kind. That is why many books use the terms acquisition and learning
interchangeably.
Second, researchers disagree about what kind of performance they think provides the
best evidence of acquisition. We have already noted that some researchers work with
production data, some study learners intuitions about the L2, while others access
learners introspection. Also, some researchers (for example, Bickerton 1981) consider
a feature has been acquired when it appears for the first time, while others (for
example, Dully and Burt 1980) require the learner to use it to some predetermined
criterion level of accuracy, usually 90 per cent. Thus, a distinction can be made
between acquisition as emergence or onset and acquisition as accurate use.
Clearly acquisition can mean several very different things. This makes it very
difficult to compare the results of one study with those of another. Conflicting results
can be obtained depending on whether the data used consist of learners productions,
introspections, or intuitions, or whether emergence or accuracy serves as the criterion
of acquisition.
Taken from: The Study of Second Language Acquisition, Rod Ellis OUP

1. What do you understand by Second Language acquisition?

2. How do you think learners acquire a second language?

II. Critical Reading - Read the extracts in the box and:

1. Summarise in your own words what the writer is saying.

2. State whether you agree or disagree in principle.
3. In the light of your own experience as a teacher or learner, add further criticisms,
positive or negative, of the writers point of view.

Extract 1
The important point is that the study of grammar as such is neither necessary
nor sufficient for learning to use a language.

(from L. Newmark How to interfere with Language learning in Brumfit, CJ.

The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching, OUP)

Extract 2
The language teachers view of what constitutes knowledge of a language is...
a knowledge of the syntactic structure of sentences... The assumption that the
language teacher appears to make is that once this basis is provided, then the
learner will have no difficulty in dealing with the actual use of language...
There is a good deal of evidence to suggest that his assumption is of very
doubtful validity indeed.

(from H.G. Widdowson, Directions in the teaching of discourse in Brumfit,

C.J. The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching, OUP)

Taken from: A Course in Language Teaching, Penny Ur- CUP

Summary Extracts 1 and 2.

III. In a well-organised essay, describe what impact you hope your enrolment in this
Diploma and Master Programme will have on your professional development.
(What is your motivation for enrolling in this Programme? What can you bring
to the Programme? What do you hope to take from it?) Give specific examples.
(150 words- 30 minutes)