==LANGUAGE ACQUISITION==

We all acquire lgs the same way. When we understand the messages. Comprehensible input.

Natural process of acquisition is: speaking in groups, listening, gathering of comprehensible

input.
Affective filter hypothesis is : motivation, self-esteem, Anxiety

Affective filter and anxiety has to disappear to make learning effective.

Comprehension hypothesis – you begin with understanding messages, having interesting

conversations, read and listen to stories/books and the result is grammar and vocab you
acquire.
Skill building hypothesis – begin by learning rules, by memorizing vocabulary followed by
exercises, and then there is correction and practice

ACQUISITION is a product of subconscious process: Requires meaningful interaction, promotes

natural communication, based on inductive approach.
LEARNING is a product of formal instruction: it’s a conscious process, based on deductive
approach.

L1 vs L2 acquisition contrasts:
1 AGE
2 TRANSFER – patterns / references
3 INTERFERENCE
4 EXPOUSURE
5 ATTAINMENT

L1 vs L2 parallels
1 EXPOUSURE
2 REPETITION
3 ERRORS
4 RECEPTIVE BEFORE PRODUCTIVE

Differeneces/Factors:

Socio-cultural:
Socio-economic bg, Ethnic identity

Cognitive:
Learning styles, cognitive styles, learning strategies, language aptitude, working memory,
intelligence

Psychological:
Motivation, Attitude, Anxiety, Self-efficacy, Locust of control, personality, risk taking
Physical: Age, Gender
Other: Bilingualism, Willingness to communicate

==Motivation==
To be motivated the learner needs to have smth to look forward to, a purpose related to a goal
or objective.
Motivation is CRUCIAL in lg learning.

1. Finding learner’s passion – Introducing “hot elements” in the classroom, self-expression,

Psychological principle of “immediacy”.
2. Changing learner’s reality – Learners need more quality instruction, quality “homework”,
helping learners change their reality means moving them seeing lg, learning in a different
way.
3. Connecting to learning activities – personalized warm-ups = relevance, provocative topics,
visual aids, tangible references, Inductive learning, feedback

TYPES
Integrative – Lg learning for personal growth and cultural enrichment
Instrumental – Motivation arises out of a need to learn the L2 for functional or external reasons
Intrinsic – Refers to the motivation to engage in an activity because that activity is enjoyable and
satisfying to do.
Extrinsic – Those learners whose actions are carried out to achieve some instrumental end, such
as, earning a reward or avoiding punishment.

FACTORS
1. Motivation and Personality Variables
2. Attitudes and Motivation

ROLE OF TEACHER
1. Student’s comprehension
2. Correction errors
3. Grade your own paper
4. You are the making definitive progress

==RISK-TAKING==

Risk-Taking – enacted through a willingness to try new ideas and possibilities, and engage with
the potential for failure

Positive roles of risk-taking

1. Increases opportunities to hear the lg (obtain input)
2. Increases opportunities to speak (obtain output)
High risk task – Hardly achievable; unmotivating; does not constitute a real long term
accomplishment.
Medium risk task – Achievable; motivating; constitute a long-term success
Low risk task – Easily achievable; unmotivating; does not constitute a real long term
accomplishment.

Micro-risks – strategies to help implement risk-taking behaviour in the classroom, in small ways

Examples:
Praise effort not outcome, Open-ended project based assignments, allow retakes, Acknowledge
your mistakes, Encourage sts to support each other, The reward system.

==ANXIETY==

State anxiety – temporary condition, not enduring characteristic of someone’s personality,

example late for work.
Trait anxiety – constant condition, without a time limit, a stable personality trait
Debilitating anxiety – type of anxiety associated with poor learning and performance
Anxiety – General feeling of tension, your brain’s reacting to stress
Situation Specific anxiety – occurs mainly in classrooms, it’s triggered by a particular type of
situation such as public speaking
Facilitating Anxiety – type of anxiety that improves lg performance

Achievement Anxiety test measures anxiety levels as well as an impact on our performance
caused by it.
Foreign language anxiety apprehension and nervousness sts feel when producing foreign lg.

Non-comprehension – Teacher spoke too fast and no one understood.

Speaking activities – Student being too nervous before an oral presentation.
Pedagogical and instructional practices – Student can’t keep up with the material in the
classroom
Error correction – Teacher correct the student in the middle of their oral presentation

Anxiety reducing aspects:

Sense of community, Classroom environment, role of the teacher

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY
Avoidant – skipping class because of the fear of failing
Physical – Headache before a presentation, Sweating as soon as your name is called by the
teacher
Internal – Forgetting what to say in the middle of presentation / Wrong answer getting mad at
teacher.
==SOCIO-ECONOMIC BG==

Socioeconomic status – the position or standing of a person or group in a society.

3 levels of status : high, middle, low

While measuring we focus on income, occupation and education

Low income can’t manage to accumulate wealth for future generations.

Occupational status measures social position by describing job characteristics, decision-making
ability and control, and psychological demands on the job.
Higher lvls of edu ARE associated with bttr economic and psychological outcomes.

Sts with lower socio-economic bg have lower and slower academic achievement.
Raising the level of instruction can help to create equality in sts achievement.
Students may be disadvantaged within the learning process bcause of socioeconomic factors or
their home environment.
Learners with greater cultural and social affluences lower are more likely to achieve academic
success.

==Ethnic Identity==

EI – refers to the subjective experience embracing the feelings, experiences, enact behaviours
through which ppl position their membership in a single or multiple ethnic group/s.

Common example of EI include people of colour/nationality/cultural circles

Wallace Lambert differentiated two patters of EI interactions with lg learning.
Accents can shape our identity and mark our geographical and societal belonging
Cultural upbringing does play a crucial role in L2 learning.
Shift of ethnic groups is influenced by migration and intermarriage.

==LANGUAGE APTITUDE== MASTERING

LA – is a general capacity to master L2. It varies between individuals.

It should be separated from general IQ and achievement, as well as motivation

LA has capacity that enhances rat and ease the learning.

Phonetic coding ability – ability to analyze and retain new sounds

Associative memory – The ability to memorize new vocab
Grammatical sensitivity – The ability to identify the functions words play in sentences
Inductive lg learning ability – Making extrapolations of material
PATHS OF RESEARCHING LA:
Predictive – were to determine the relationship between aptitude and final L2 results.
Interactional – which purpose was to assess the role of aptitude in mediating the effect of
educational programs.

MODERN LANGUAGE APTITUDE TEST

1Number Learning
2Phonetic Script
3Spelling Cues
4Words in Sentences
5Paired associates

There are more tests than MLAT

MLAT is mostly used with adults studying foreign lg context
Some tests require payment

Age IS important in LA
Compared to Uni Sts high school sts had less exposure to target lg. (effect of aptitude was noted.)
Sts in uni lg programs are a more ‘select’ population with less variation in aptitude leading to the
lower correlations between aptitude and success for this group.

==PERSONALITY==

-someone’s character especially the way they behave towards other ppl
A characteristic way of thinking, feeling and behaving
The type of person you are, shown by the way you behave, feel, and think.

Extrovert – an energetic person who enjoys being with others.

Introvert – someone who is shy, quiet and prefers to spend time alone.

Personality AFFECTS SLA

MBTI is often used to measure personality
Basic personality components are TRAITS

Introverts – overarousal, avoid stimulating situations, better at demanding reflective attention

exercises, Less fluent in L1 n L2
Extroverts – underarousal, Find stimulating situations, Better at conversional activities, Generally
more fluent in L1 n L2

Referring to Introverts, high state of nervous system interferences with Short term memory
High arousal allows a memory trace to last longer
Low oral production depends on Short term memory
Extroverts do better at conversional activities.
Introverts are at an advantage in activities requiring reflective attention.
Extroverts re found to be generally more fluent both in L1 n L2.

==LOCUST OF CONTROL==

Locust of control – the degree to which people believe that they, as opposed to external forces,
have control over the outcome of events in their lives. This concept was developed by Julian
Rotter in 1954.

Locust of control can be seen as a part of personality construct, but it is largely learned.

Internal LOC : Control of life, Praise or blame themselves, less willing to take risks, They re-
evaluate their future performances after the failure.
External LOC : Outside factors, Praise or blame others, more willing to take risks, They need
encouragement and guidance.

Internal locust of control is related to higher academic success.

Competence, self-efficacy and opportunity need to be matched with internal orientation of
control.
Internals need realistic sense of their influence.
Bi-locals have the mixture of internal and external locusts of control.
Different kinds of locusts CAN affect lg achievement.
The environment we grow up in INFLUENCES our locust.

Scale of Rotter to measure locust includes 29 questions with statements including 2 options of
answers, 6 are lie-detectors.

Males tend to be more internal when it comes to academic achievement.

As people get older they tend to be more internal.
People from different countries vary in locusts.

==Self-Efficacy==

It refers to an individual’s belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviours necessary to

produce specific performance attainments.

INFLUENCES:
Various experience, Performance experience, Social Persuasion, Imaginal experience, Physical
and emotional states.

Learners with high efficacy attribute failure to lower attempts.

Learners with low efficacy attribute failure to low abilities.
High levels of SE rely on themselves and are patient during the process of finding a solution to a
complex problem and make more effort in over to overcome challanges.
COMPONENTS
Performance accomplishment
Vicarious learning
Verbal Engagement
Emotional states

SSE Scale – 9 statements referring to you mental wellbeing on a 10 point scale.

Self-Efficacy worksheet – Participants respond how confident they feel about doing the daily
practices presented to them.
Self-Efficacy Scale (NEUPERT) – questions about daily exercising Scale from 1 (very sure) to 4 (not
all sure), higher score = higher SE

==ATTITUDE==

A predisposition or tendency to respond in an evaluative manner toward someone or smth.

Types of attitudes:
ATTITUDES TOWARDS L2 COMMUNITY AND SPEAKERS
ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING AND TARGET LG
ATTITUDES TOWARD LG’S AND LG LEARNING IN GENERAL

Lg attitude plays a key role in lg learning and teaching

Attitudes towards a particular lg may be negative
L2 learners with a positive attitude towards the target culture and people will learn more
effectively.
According to Robert Gardener, attitudes affect motivation, which affects acquisition.

ATTITUDES:
Affective – refers to the feeling and emotions that one has towards an object like or dislike.
Cognitive – made up beliefs and ideas or opinions about the object of the attitude.
Behavioural – refers to one’s consisting actions or behavioural intentions towards the object.

Attitudes discourage a person to act in a certain way.

Attitudes are learned.
Attitudes tend to persist but can be modified by the experience.
Factors affecting:
Learner personality context, Self-confidence, Foreign lg teacher, Learner’s parents, Learner’s
peer groups, community

==Learning Strategy==

LS is an action or an activity taken by the learner to make learning easier.

Reciprocal questioning is about students creating their own questions about a topic.
 Three-steps interviews are about the students quizzing one another.
In the pause procedure pause means pause for two or three minutes during a lecture to enhance
sts understanding.
The muddiest point strategy does include feedback from the teacher.
In the devil’s advocate approach choosing an appropriate topic IS important.
Peer teaching activities include different activities.

The teacher’s role in the Active Learning Classroom IS important.

You SHOULD put yourself in your students’ position when you prepare an activity.
While preparing exercises you should consider physical arrangement of your classroom and
number of sts.

==INTELLIGENCE==

Intelligence is a set of skills of problem solving enabling the individual to resolve genuine
problems or difficulties. To create an effective product, and the potential for finding or
creating problems.

FACTORS INFLUENCING INTELIGENCE DEVELOPMENT:

Biological endowment – health
Personal life history – environment
Cultural and historical bg

Multiple Intelligences theory by Howard Gardener focuses on understanding how we process,

learn and remember information.

Intelligence CAN be taught or enhanced through teaching

Intelligences AREN’T fixed throughout life.
The existence of different intelligences proves that different learners posses results in different
learning styles and different needs.

INTELLIGENCES:
Visual-Spatial, Naturalistic, Logical-Mathematical, Interpersonal, Verbal-linguistic, Existential, Bodily-
Kinesthetic, Musical

==WORKING MEMORY==

Has limited capacity

Stores information for a brief period
Has multiple components
Is crucial for reasoning and comprehension

Working mem has different systems for different types of info.

Short term mem is one system for all types of info.
Processing info happens in working mem.
COMPONENTS of WORKING MEM:
Central Executive drives the whole system
Inner eye stores visual and spatial info
Phonological loop deal with lg info
The episodic buffer communicates with Long term mem

STEPS:
1 SENSORY MEM – CONCIOUS INFO / NO PROCESSING
2 SHORT TERM MEM – RECEPTION OF INFO
3 WORKING MEM – CONCIOUS PROCESSING OF INFO

Errors caused by working mem

1.working mem activity
2.actual knowledge

Learners with poor working MEM

Do not answer questions often

Perform worse in larger groups
Are prone to distractions
Have problem with multitasking
Have problems with remembering long sentences

How to improve working mem?

Monitor sts
Reduce difficulty
Re-present important info
Use memory aids and visuals
Explain tasks slowly and in steps

Talk to parents and try to introduce:

Memory games
Memorization techniques
Routines
To train their memory

==WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE==

INDIVIDUAL MOTIVATION AND DESIRE TO USE SL IN REAL-LFIE COMMUNICATION SITUATIONS

IMPORTANCE OF WTC:
Superior communication in daily lives
Greater improvement of lg skills
A predictor of SL achievement
Motivation and attitude are better than the innate ability.

LAYER 1 Communication behaviour – Using L2 in general

LAYER 2 Behavioural intention – Intention to communicate if given the opportunity
LAYER 3 Situational antecedents – Desire to communicate with a specific person. State
communicative self-confidence.
LAYER 4 Motivational propensities – Interpersonal motivation: social roles, intergroup motivation,
sense of belonging, L2 confidence.
LAYER 5 Affective and cognitive context – Intergroup attitudes, Social situation, Communicative
competence
LAYER 6 Social and individual context – Intergroup climate: attitude towards the L2 community,
personality attitude motivation.

First 3 layers employ influences dependent on the specific context in which a person functions at a
given time.
Bottom 3 layers represent stable, enduring influences on L2 communication.
Bottom 3 layers are a foundation on which layers interact with each other.

5 antecedents mentioned
Motivation, Personality, Own abilities, Anxiety, Content and context

How to boost WTC

Closer relationship between lecturers and sts

Mental break for sts
Humouring classroom
Attractive topics of discussion

==GENDER==

Individual differences – factors that identify a person

Sexism in lg is Adjectives only used to men/women

Ideology that one sex is superior to another.

Women are more status conscious than men

Men are perceived as a tough gender
Men and Women are not addressed the same
Women are not perceived as tough gender
Traits of men and women attitude towards lg: vocabulary, voice, tone, syntactic structure, style,
conversational style

Zimmerman and West – Controversial rules (main point of the research)

The results of the research:

Questions – women
Minimal resources – men
Attention getters – women
Topic initiation – women

Powerless lg – words and phrases that suggest that the speaker is uncertain about their message or
themselves.
Disclaimers – are remarks offered before a statement that indicate doubt, signal a problem, or ask
for sympathy or understanding
Hedges – signal uncertainty or anxiety about your statement by lessening the impact of your words.
Tag questions – lessen the force of a declarative sentence
Polite forms – indicate deference and subordination
Fillers – meaningless words, phrases or sounds that mark a pause or hesitation in speech
Politeness – can be defined as showing awareness and consideration of another person’s face.
Face – someone public self image
Face-threatening act – threat to person self-image
Face-saving act – to lessen the possibility to threat someone’s self image
Negative face – the need to be independent; to be free from impositions
Positive face – the need to be connected and to belong to a group

==Bilingualism==

Bilinguals are individuals that have native-like control of 2 lgs

Multilingualism – use of more than 2 lgs

TYPES OF BILING
Subordinate bilingualism
Compound bilingualism
Coordinate bilingualism

TYPES OF MULTI
Maximal multilingualism
Minimal multilingualism – not as fluent as native

Benefits of being bilingual

Better processing of info in the environment
Leading to a clearer signal for learning
Academic advantage over other children
Increase brain power
Awareness of other cultures

Unitary system Hypotheses

Separate System Hypotheses – 2 different grammatical systems

Distinction between bilingualists:

Context of acquisition
Age of acquisition
Degree of proficiency
Identity n ‘native’ or native-like qualities

Phenomenon of bilingualism
Simplification – we pick simpler words from 1 lg
Overgeneralization
Transfer – rules from 1st to 2nd lg
Code switching

==Learning Styles==

Refers to approaches to learning in a more general sense and applies to all aspects of learning.
Learning style has been defined as “an individual’s natural, habitual and preferred of absorbing,
processing, and retaining new information and skills.

Knowing LS helps you:

Be more productive
Increase achievement
Be more creative
Improve problem solving
Make better decision
Learn more efficiently

Tabelka na kartce of LS :D

==AGE==

During the Critical Period it is easier to learn languages.

Critical Period doesn’t throughout early adulthood.
So called “sensitive period” suggests that experiences have an affect on brain
In the Process of lateralization language functions become lateralized to the left hemisphere
Generally speaking, children prefer memory-based learning
Older starters outperform younger beginners in the short periods of learning
After the Critical Period it is possible (but difficult) for an adult to receive a native-like proficiency
 IMPRINTING - rapid learning in young animals which patterns its behaviour on an adult model.

Ultimate attainment - the final outcome of the second language acquisition.

What children require to learn:

1.Various sources
2.Visual information
3.Accoustic input
4.Tactile information
5.Emotions and memories from previous context

Biographical variables:

1. age of acquisition - the age at which learners are immersed in the second language context.
2. age of first exposure – for an example a visit to the second language country.
3. length of residence - the amount of time spent immersed in the second language context.

Endogenous variables:

1. motivation
2. psycho-social interaction with L2 culture
3. aptitude
4. learning styles and strategies

Learning mechanisms
Children – slow implicit learning
Adults – Explicit instruction learning