Second language acquisition

First language acquisition:

 Monolingual language acquisition

 Child language acquisition (most between 18 months and 3 years of age)
o Prosodic and phonological makeup + turn taking (the womb-first months)
o One-word utterances (1st year)
o Two-word utterances + vocabulary growth (2nd year)
o Syntax and morphology (3rd year)
o The process completed (by the age of 4)
o Pragmatics + abstract syntax (up to 6 years of age)

Bilingual acquisition

 Dual acquisition
 Learning two languages at the same time in the early childhood

Bilingual studies focuses on:

 How the two languages are represented in the brain

 How bilingual speakers switch between the languages
 How children and adults process both languages

Types of bilingualism:

 Coordinate bilingualism (learning two languages in distinctively separate contexts)

 Compound bilingualism (developing two language systems simultaneously with a single
context)
 Subordinate bilingualism (learning the secondary language by filtering through the mother
tongue)

Multilingualism

 Several languages are learnt during childhood

 The difficulty of keeping languages apart

Second language acquisition

 The study of human capacity to learn languages other that L1 during late childhood,
adolescence or adulthood
 How learners create a new language system with the limited exposure
 Why students do not achieve the same level of proficiency in the new language
 The study is not about pedagogy but how second languages are learnt
 Started in 1960s as interdisciplinary enterprise of language teaching, linguistics, child
language acquisition and psychology
 Refers to those lg learners whose first language or languages have been acquired
 Bilingualism and SLA may overlap (hard to draw the boundaries)
 SLA BILINGUALISM
Late-learners Early-starters
Pathways towards becoming competent Mature bilingual capacities
Only L2s (not first) All the languages of an individual
Additional language (non-native) Learnt from parents, siblings (native)
Can be L2, L3, L4 Critical period

Heritage language acquisition

 Exposure to a language of personal connection (raised in the home where one lg is spoken,
exposed to another lg which is his/her major)
 First for an individual but not acquired completely
 A form of SLA and a form of bilingualism
 Knowledge of home lg (heritage) and the dominant lg of environment (school, friends)
 Speakers: not fully bilingual because of not continuing a heritage lg in mature life

Context of SLA

 Naturalistic = environment
 Instructed = classroom
 Mixture = both
 L2 vs. foreign lg
 Heritage Language = the language of ancestral family

Foreign Language Second language

Learning of non-native language in
environment of one’s native language
In the classroom
No access to native speakers
e.g. the French learning English in France
the Learning on non-native language in the
environment in which that lg is spoken
In the classroom or not
Access to native speakers
e.g. the French learning English in England.

Interlanguage (Selinker 1972)

 Language system constructed at any point in development;

 Natural language
 Modularity theory – learners’ mental grammar, rules are innate (universal grammar)
 Usage-based theory – experience driven learning and induction of generalisations = rules
emerge from experience
 Frequency and salience in the input + attention and categorisation processes in the learner
 Variability is central to development
 Multiple factors simultaneously conspire to shape the language
 „mowa osobnicza używana przez osobę uczącą się języka obcego, która nie opanowała
jeszcze w pełni tego języka. Inter-język odznacza się pewnymi cechami języka obcego, ale nie
zawiera innych”

Interlanguage processes
 1) Simplification – messages conveyed with little lg (sit = chair)
2) Overgeneralisation – application of a rule not only to contexts where it applies (go = goed)
3) Restructuring – self-reorganisation of grammar knowledge representations (goed = went)
4) U-shaped behaviour – the appearance of a correct or native-like form at an early stage of
development which then disappears and reappears later (accidental accuracy)

SLA Hypotheses by Stephen Krashen

1) The Acquisition Learning - the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process
children undergo when they acquire their first language. Also, the conscious acceptance of
knowledge ‘about’ a language (i.e. the grammar or form). Krashen states that this is often the
product of formal language instruction.
2) The Natural Order - learners acquire parts of language in a predictable order. For any given
language, certain grammatical structures are acquired early while others are acquired later in
the process.
3) Monitor - the acquisition system, initiates an utterance and the learning system ‘monitors’
the utterance to inspect and correct errors
4) Input - language acquisition occurs when learners receive messages that they can
understand, a concept also known as comprehensible input.
5) Affective Filter - one obstacle that manifests itself during language acquisition is the affective
filter; that is a 'screen' that is influenced by emotional variables that can prevent learning.

Nurolinguistic correlates of SLA/ Neurolingwistyczne podstawy

przyswajania języka obcego
Neurolingusitics:

 experimental science
 based on data from impaired or atypical lg

Asks/answers questions as:

 what is the nature of the brain? - Certain parts of the brain are responsible for
understanding words and sentences.
 what is the nature of human language? - Five major components of the structure of
language are phonemes, morphemes, lexemes, syntax, and context. These pieces all work
together to create meaningful communication among individuals.
 what is the difference between the two?
 how language is connected to the brain?/where is lg. localised? - mainly located in two
regions, in the left side of the brain, and are connected by nerves. Together, these brain
 regions and their connections form a network that provides the hardware for language in the
brain

Cerebral dominance

 the two hemispheres of the brain perform different functions

 Controlling or disproportionate influence on certain aspects of behaviour by one
cerebral hemisphere (e.g., language is typically left lateralized in right-handed
people)

Parts of the brain:

1) the left hemisphere

 right side of the body
 language
 time-related functions
 “propositional” thought (analytic, digital)
2) The right hemisphere
 left side
 spatial relations
 music
 part-to-whole judgments
 “gestalt” perception – the ability to quickly estimate a number of dots after a very brief
exposure to them, without having a chance to count them
 “appositional” thought (analogic, synthetic) – recognising the face, finding similarities

corpus callosum - The two hemispheres in your brain are connected by a thick bundle of nerve fibres
called the corpus callosum that ensures both sides of the brain can communicate and send signals to
each other

Broca’s area

 anterior speech cortex

 left hemisphere
 speech production
 Paul Broca, a French surgeon
Cortex

 the surface of the brain

 grey matter
 100 billion neurons (nerve cells)
 the decision-making organ
 receives messages
 initiates actions
 the storehouse of memories
 the seat of consciousness

Wernicke’s area

 posterior speech cortex

 the left hemisphere
 speech comprehension
 Karl Wernicke, a German neurologist

Contralateral brain function

 left hemisphere controls the right part of the body

 right hemisphere controls the left part of the body

Dichotic listening

 experimental technique demonstrating a left hemisphere dominance for syllable and word
processing

Critical period

 a window of opportunity to learn L1

 from birth to puberty
 the acquisition is easy
 linked to lateralisation
 the readiness of the human brain to receive input and learn a language
What happens if a child is not exposed to any language?

 The case of Genie (1970), the girl who was language-deprived during the critical period, was
unable to use language. After some time she developed some lg., however it was very simple
(grammatically and syntactically). Her left hemisphere did not develop lg. capacities, she
used her right hemisphere for lg. functions. She had strong left-ear advantage for verbal and
non-verbal signals
 CONCLUSION – human capacity for language is not limited to one specific area. Brain has the
capacity to accommodate.

Lateralisation

 Left hemisphere is innately predisposed to specialise for lg.

 Lg. is processed in the left hemisphere
 The process begins before lg. develops
 Brain plasticity (flexibility) during childhood
 Thanks to plasticity the right hemisphere can take over many lg. functions if left is removed

Hemispherectonomy

 One hemisphere removed

 Used in epilepsy treatment
 Left hemisphere removed – temporal aphasia
 The reacquiring of language later on
 Lg. is the same as that of normal children
 Not possible with adults or children below 2 years old
 Left hemisphere removed – the right takes its functions

Brain damage = aphasia

 Impairment of lg. functions due to localised brain damage

Broca’s aphasia

 Motor aphasia
 Reduced amount of speech
 Distorted articulation
  Only lexical morphemes (no articles, inflections, plural -s)
 Agrammatic speech

Wernicke’s aphasia

 Sensory
 Difficulties in auditory comprehension
 Very fluent speech without any sense
 Difficulty in finding the correct word (anomia)

Data collection and analysis/Sposoby pozyskiwania danych

językowych i ich analiza

How to begin?

 data should always be collected for a particular purpose;

 the purpose should arise from the unanswered questions of previous analyses;
 the research questions are often as follows: "What else is there that we want to know?" or
"What else do we want to find out that is not shown by the data presented?"

Data collection

 the context in which data are collected (classroom vs. naturalistic);

 types of performance (actual speech samples vs. reactions to TL data vs. thinking data- what
learners say about their learning);
 distinction between longitudinal data and cross-sectional data.

Longitudinal studies

 number of subjects and time frame of data collection,

 amount of descriptive detail,
 type of data,
 type of analysis,
 data is generally collected from a single participant (case study) over a prolonged period of
time • samples are likely to be collected weekly, biweekly or monthly

Characteristics of longitudinal studies:

 case studies,
 detail provided on a learner's speech,
 detail provided on the settings on which the speech event occurred,
 detail provided on other conversational participants or their relationship with the
participant,
  data come from spontaneous speech,
 no control and experimental groups,
 analyses of data in the form of descriptive qualitative comments or narrative expositions,
 the reported results include examples of what a learner said and how the utterances are to
be interpreted.

Drawbacks longitudinal studies

 long time
 lack of generalizability
 no way of probing learner's knowledge any further than what they have produced
spontaneously

Cross-sectional studies

 number of subjects and time frame of data collection;

 type of data;
 descriptive detail;
 analysis of data

Characteristics cross-sectional studies

 data collected from a large number of subjects at a single point in time;

 based on controlled output;
 based on a particular research hypothesis;
 data come from learners' performance on a pre-specified task;
 participants are not described individually;
 no descriptive information is provided;
 background data is presented in the table;
 the results are more quantitative than descriptive with statistical analyses.

Pseudolongitudinal studies

 uses a cross-sectional design;

 the emphasis is on lg change (acquisition);
 data collected at a single point in time,
 different proficiency levels represented; Examples:
 getting to know what learners can do at a particular point in time, noting every instance in
which sth is and is not used, e.g. the present progressive;
 giving the same test to a large group of learners at three proficiency levels;

Advantages cross-sectional studies

 the results can be generalized;

 quick and inexpensive.

Disadvantages of cross-sectional studies

 no detailed information about the subjects;

 no detailed information about the linguistic environment in which production was elicited.
Types of data in SLA research

 lg use data: natural lg use vs. elicited lg use

 metalingual judgements (Judgement test)
 self-report (questionnaires, interviews, think aloud tasks)

Natural lg use

 favoured in case studies;

 provides information about what learners actually do with the L2;
 investigates to what extent and in what ways learners achieve control over their knowledge;
 sheds light on the socio-affective factors;
 gives insight into the strategies learners employ.

Problems with natural lg use:

 time-consuming;
 difficult to collect;
 may not provide information related to the specific features being the target of the study;

Elicited lg use

 favoured in cross-sectional studies;

 clinical vs. experimental;
 provides systematic data;
 uses instruments such as spoken and written tasks, information-gap tasks, oral interviews,
role-plays;
 provides situational control over the data

Problems with elicited lg use

 uncertain status of the data (is the lg ed a true reflection of the learner's style?);
 inadequate information relating to specific lg features.

Metalingual judgement

 provides evidence about what learners know;

 evaluates competence rather than performance;
 asking learners to judge the grammaticality of sentences;
 asking which noun functions as the agent or subject in a sentence

Problems with metalinguistic judgment

 response biases;
 illiterate bilinguals might not give reliable judgements;
 variability arising from different learners.
Self-report

 explores individual differences in learners;

 identifies various learning strategies learners employ;
 can be obtained by means of written questionnaires, oral interviews, think-aloud tasks;
 uncovers some of the affective and cognitive factors involved in L2 learning.

Problems with self-report

 validity
 incomplete
 reliability

Models of language processing and knowledge types/ Modele

przetwarzania językowego oraz rodzaje wiedzy

Processing approaches − the capacities of the human brain and how they operate in the context of
SLA

Processability theory

 the concept of linguistic processor

 production and comprehension of SL is handled by the linguistic processor
 strong prediction on the SLA development

The mechanisms in processability theory

 Canonical order strategy – separate linguistic units require greater processing capacity than
strategies that involve a direct mapping onto surface strings (e.g. the use of single basic word
order)
 initialisation/finalisation strategy – when movement takes place, elements will be moved
into initial/final position rather than somewhere in the middle of the sentence. Helpful in
processing and memorisation (the salience of first and last positions)
 subordinate clause strategy – movement in subordinate clauses is avoided, thus they’re
processed differently. The movement is first in main clauses and later in the subordinate
clauses

Information processing

 automaticity – control over one’s linguistic knowledge (fast, unconscious, effortless)

 restructuring – changes made to internalised representations as a result of new learning;
 U-shaped learning – destabilisation as a consequence of restructuring

o Stage 1 – a learner produces a linguistic form that conforms to target-like norms

o Stage 2 – the learners appears to lose what he or she knew
o Stage 3 – the learner produces a correct form again

Information processing in general

Sensory memory
  Iconic - visual information (< 5 sec.)
 Echoic - auditory information (3-4 sec.)
 It allows for information to enter short term memory

Short term (working) memory

 What you’re aware of at a given second

 Holds about 7 + 2 digits of information
 Small capacity

Long term memory

 Everything that’s happened to you in your life

 explicit (recollection of facts and events, conscious) and implicit (Things that people don't
purposely try to remember, unconscious)
 Explicit -
 This type of memory tends to be stable and can last a long time

Stages of information processing: Sensory memory  working memory  long term memory

The principles of input processing

The primacy of meaning

 The primacy of content words principle (learners process content words in the input before
they process other linguistic features)
 The lexical preference principle (when processing meaning of a sentence or utterance, L2
learners focus on processing lexical rather than grammatical items)
 The preference of non-redundancy principle (learners can learn better just with animation
and narration)
 The meaning before non-meaning principle (learners are more likely to process meaningful
grammatical forms before non-meaningful forms regardless of redundancy)
 The availability of resources principle (the processing of the meaning of the sentence must
not drain available processing resources)
 The sentence location principle (when processing a sentence or utterance, L2 learners tend
to focus on a unit (a word or phrase) that is located in the initial position in a sentence)

The first noun principle

  The lexical semantics principle – in order to interpret sentences, learners may depend on
lexical semantics instead of word order
 The event probabilities principle – learners may depend on event probabilities to interpret
sentences instead of word order
 The contextual constraint principle - learners may depend less on the First Noun Principle if
the previous context constrains the possible interpretation of a clause or sentence.

Acquisition vs. learning

Learning means a conscious process of trying to acquire a second language. Acquisition means an
unconscious process. Second language acquisition means the unconscious or incidental acquisition of
a foreign language, additionally to the mother tongue.

Declarative vs. procedural knowledge

Declarative

 The knowledge about something

 Learning and storage of facts
 Word knowledge (collocation, pronunciation, meaning)
 Accessible to conscious awareness (retrieval is possible)

Procedural

 Motor and cognitive skills that involve sequencing of information

 Using language (forming sentences)
 Inaccessible
 The ability to use procedural knowledge decreases and the reliance on declarative gets
bigger

Representation and control

 Knowledge representation – the level of analysis and mental organisation of linguistic

information
 Knowledge control – the speed and efficiency with which that information can be accessed
 Socio-interactional approaches to SLA/ Podejście społeczno-interakcyjne w
przyswajaniu języka drugiego

Speech Accommodation Theory

 Speech patterns tend to converge or diverge in social interaction . Speakers often adjust their
speech style to the situation and the interlocutor.
 E.g. the way we speak at home is different than the way we speak in the workplace
 Convergence – a linguistic strategy whereby individuals adapt to each other’s speech by
means of a wide range of linguistic features
 Divergence – the manner by which speakers accentuate vocal differences between
themselves and others

Why should speakers accommodate their speech to that of others?

 The benefit of gaining the approval of others

 One as a member of social group, class, or ethnic background

Conversation Analysis

 Characterises L2 learning as socio-interactional practice

 Focuses on the detailed analysis of naturally occurring spoken interactions
 Both in casual and intimate conversation, institutional and public talk, instructional
classroom talk

Goals of Conversation Analysis

 To discover universal mechanisms by which organised talk is possible

 To use context-sensitive social actions as evidence for the existence of a context-free
machinery which includes rules for turn-taking, repair and sequential design

Sociocultural Theory
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of human learning describes learning as a social process and the
origination of human intelligence in society or culture. Vygotsky believed everything is learned on two
levels. First, through interaction with others, and then integrated into the individual's mental
structure.

 It goes beyond linguistics and psycholinguistics

 Is based on the works of Vygotsky
 Grounded in the ontology of the social individual
 Sees SLA as contextually situated
 Concerned with situated Lg.
 Related to internal processes

Concepts of Sociocultural Theory

 Mediation
 Regulation
 Internalisation
 The Zone of Proximal Development

Mediation

 Human activity mediated by symbolic artifacts (language) and material artifacts

 The mediation between humans, social and material world
 People use symbols as tools to mediate and control psychological activity and processes
 The control is voluntary and allows us to plan and think
 The primary tool – language

Regulation

 A form of mediation (regulating the activities linguistically)

 Object regulation (using objects as a way of thinking)
 Other-regulation (others rather than objects regulate learning)
 Self-regulation (activities done with no help)

Internalisation

 Learning without objects, but with little support

 Occurs through imitation/private speech
Zone of Proximal Development

 the space between what a learner can do without assistance and what a learner can do with
adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers

Technology-mediated communication

 a site for socially rich L2 learning

 technology as a medium
 interpersonal communication
 multimedia
 publication
 distance learning
 community participation
 identity formation

TO SUM UP:

 The research shows that technologies put to the use of digital social networks can foster L2
and literacy learning.
 Learning results from interpersonal activity.
 The interpersonal activity forms the basis for individual learning.
 Learning is social in nature.
 Collaborative learning shapes what is learnt.

Input, interaction and output in SLA/ Input, interakcja i output w

przyswajaniu języka drugiego

Acculturation Model

 Shumman (1976)
 Pidignisation Hypothesis
 Pidgin language - a grammatically simplified form of a language used for communication
between people not sharing a common language
 Based on a case study of Alberto from Costa Rics who moved to Boston but couldn’t go
beyond his pidgin English due to the social and psychological distance to the target society
NON-LINGUISTIC DIMENSIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENT ARE IMPORTANT
WHEN LEARNING SECOND LANGUAGE!

Input – what is available to the learner from the environment, i.e. linguistic data produced by other
competent users

Intake – what is internalised (taken in) by the learner

Comprehensible Input Hypothesis

 Krashen (1985)
 Central role of comprehensible input in L2 learning
 Language that learners process should be slightly above their level
 Comprehensible input through listening to other speakers and reading written messages
(street signs, letters, books, etc.)
 Through listening and reading grammar learning occurs naturally
 Input that can be understood by listeners despite them not understanding all the words and
structures in it

The empirical studies have shown that:

 Input is necessary but cannot be sufficient

 Comprehension and acquisition are two different processes
 Learners can comprehend more than they can acquire and vice versa

Interaction

 Involves a number of components: negotiation, recast, feedback

 Learning through the input (exposure to lg.), output (production of lg.) and feedback that
comes as a result of interaction

Negotiation of meaning

 Clarification requests: what do you mean?

 Confirmation checks: you mean X, right?
 Comprehension checks: you know what I mean?
 The interlocutor may confirm understanding, admit non-understanding, seek help, repeat
words, say the message in other words
  Both speakers modify their utterances to increase comprehensibility

Feedback

 Provides learners with info about success of their utterances and gives additional
opportunities to focus on production or comprehension
 Explicit – stating there is a problem
 Implicit – feedback during the course of the interaction

Recast

 Less direct and more subtle form of feedback

 Reformulation of an incorrect utterance that maintains the original meaning of the
utterance, e.g. “Why he wants thus house?”  “Why does he want thus house?”

Interaction Hypothesis

 Michael Long
 Learning of L2 comes from comprehension and interaction
 Interactionally modified input which is adjusted after receiving some signal that the
interlocutor needs some help to fully understand the message

Output

 Language production
 Making meaning and producing messages
 Forces the learner to move from semantic processing to the syntactic one, e.g. “dog, ate,
cake” into “The dog ate a cake”.
 Not only practicing already existing knowledge but also creating knowledge
 Seen as a part of learning

Output Hypothesis

 Merrill Swain (1985)

 Linguistic outcomes of French immersion school in Ontario
 Immersion afforded development in discourse competence but not in grammatical or
sociolinguistic competence
 Production has a competence expanding role
  We acquire language when we attempt to transmit a message but fail and have to try again.
Eventually, we arrive at the correct form of our utterance, our conversational partner finally
understands, and we acquire the new form we have produced.

Input vs. output

 The input refers to the processible language the learners are exposed to while listening or
reading (i.e. The receptive skills). The output, on the other hand, is the language they
produce, either in speaking or writing

SLA in formal environment/ Przyswajanie języka drugiego w

warunkach formalnych
Classroom interaction: research perspectives

 comparative method studies

 the black box

 the effects of formal instruction

Comparative method studies

 compare the effect of different lg teaching methods on on L2 learning;

 are product-based;

 rely on measurements of lg learning;

 do not examine the instructional and learning processes that take place inside the classroom.

The black box

 going inside the classroom;

 classroom as a place of interaction and a provider of opportunities to acquire L2;

 everything that happens in the classroom take place through a process of live ss-ss
interaction;

 research on input/interaction and L2 learning;

 observes and describes interactional events to check how learning opportunities are created.

Formal instruction

 instruction is an attempt to intervene directly in the lg learning process by teaching specific

properties of L2;
  checking whether ss actually learn what they are taught;

 e.g. whether instruction directed at specific grammatical items and rules has any effect on
interlanguage development.

Classroom language

There are three sources of classroom lg:

 teacher

 materials

 other learners

Teacher's talk is limited

Learners' talk is limited and contains errors

Do learners pick up errors from one another?

The study made by Gass and Varonis (1989) confirmed it was not the case.

Processing instruction

 the type of instruction that takes as its basis how learners process input;

 deals with the conversion of input to intake;

 focuses on form-meaning relationship;

  e.g. instructional intervention: traditional grammar instruction in which info is presented to
ss for practice vs. changing the way input is perceived and processed

Teachability/Learnability

 the emphasis on acquisition orders;

 the Monitor Model KRASHEN (learners should strive to increase their second language
inputs, e.g. videos, television, and going through books for reading and make sure they
receive proper error correction in one form or another

 the Natural Order Hypothesis (the idea that children learning their first language acquire
grammatical structures in a pre-determined, 'natural' order, and that some are acquired
earlier than others)

Focus on form

 apart from input ss need interaction and output;

 ss need explicit focus on lg to facilitate acquisition;

 lg focus on instruction;

 focus on form - the need for meaning-focused activities into which an attention to form is
embedded;

 focus on forms - earlier teaching methodologies in which the core principle was the
accumulation of individual lg items (plural endings, passives, etc.).

Affect, age, motivation and individual differences/ Afekt, wiek,

motywacja i różnice indywidualne
Individual Learner Differences

 age
 sex
 previous experience with lg learning
 proficiency in L1
 personality factors
 lg aptitude
 attitudes and motivation
 IQ
 sociological preference (learning with ss or t)
 cognitive styles
 learner strategies

Personality and L2 Learning

What is personality?

 stable traits or qualities in a person;

 dynamic moods related to the cognitive; processing of emotions;
 predispositions learned through social experience.

Three Models of Personality Traits

 The PEN Model - Hans Eysenck

 a biological theory of personality

What is Psychoticism, Extraversion and Neuroticism?

 Psychoticism – it ranges from normality (low psychoticism) to high psychoticism. Individuals

with higher psychoticism scores are more likely to engage in irresponsible or miscalculated
behaviour
 Extraversion - Extraversion is measured on a continuum, ranging from high (extraverted) to
low (introverted).
 Neuroticism - emotional stability to emotional instability

Myers and Briggs Model

The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report inventory designed to identify a person's
personality type, strengths, and preferences.

What are the four traits of MB Model?

 The Big-Five Model

o introversion/extraversion,
o sensing/intuition,
o thinking/feeling,
o judging/perceiving.

Each person is said to have one preferred quality from each category, producing 16 unique types.

What are the five main characteristics of BF Model?

1) openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)

2) conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. extravagant/careless)
3) extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
4) agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/rational)
5) neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident)

Foreign Language Anxiety

What is language anxiety?

 tension
 fear
 freezing up when asked to say
  blanking on the right answers during a test

The researchers concerned with investigating lg anxiety:

Elaine Horwitz (the US) - classroom-related

Peter MacIntyre (Canada) – communicative

FLCAS (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale):

 developed by Horwitz
 33 five-point scale items
 statements about anxiety when producing the lg

IPOAS (Inout, Processing and Output Anxiety Scales):

 developed by MacIntyre and Gardner

 18 five-point scale items
 anxiety caused at the input stage (aural or written), processing stage of comprehending
messages, output stage of what one can do in lg production

Learning Styles and Strategies

Learning styles - preferred ways of processing info

Four learning profiles:

 Convergers - highly skilled in the practical application of ideas and tend to do best in
situations with a problem that require a singular, ideal solution
 Divergers - People with this learning style excel at visualizing the “big picture” and organizing
smaller bits of information into a meaningful whole.
 Accommodators - strong inclinations towards Concrete Experience and Active
Experimentation. Accommodators are doers. They enjoy putting plans into motion
immediately and seeing real-time results.
 Assimilators - the areas of Reflective Observation and Abstract Conceptualization. Rather
than acting quickly on impulse, understanding, and developing theoretical models/scenarios
is one of their greatest strengths. They tend to be more fascinated with abstract ideas rather
than people

Learning Strategies

Conscious mental and behavioural procedures that people engage in with the aim to gain control
over their learning process.

Oxford's SILL (Strategy Inventory for Language Learning):

 Affective - concerned with managing emotions, both negative and positive

 Social - a set of approaches to get students to become active participants in class through
interaction
 Metacognitive:
 o identifying one's own learning style and needs.
o planning for a task.
o gathering and organizing materials.
o arranging a study space and schedule.
o monitoring mistakes.
o evaluating task success.
o evaluating the success of any learning strategy and adjusting.

 Cognitive - improve a learner's ability to process information more deeply, transfer and apply
information to new situations
 Memory-related - the mental processes for storing new information in the memory and for
retrieving them when needed. These strategies entail four sets: creating mental linkages,
applying images and sounds, reviewing well and employing action
 Compensatory - strategies used to help people perform tasks in an alternative manner or by
using adaptive aids