How Languages are Learned 4th edition. Nina Spada
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of grammar and lists of vocabulary to use in translating literary texts. Another emphasizes the value of having students imitate and practise a set of correct sentences and memorize entire dialogues. Yet another encourages ‘natural’ communication between students as they engage cooperatively in tasks or projects while using the new language. In some classrooms, the second language is used as the medium to teach subject matter, with the assumption that the language itself will be learned incidentally as students focus on the academic content.
How are teachers to evaluate the potential effectiveness of different instructional practices? To be sure, the most important influence on teachers’ decisions is their own experience with previous successes or disappointments, as well as their understanding of the needs and abilities of their students. We believe that ideas drawn from research and theory in second language acquisition are also valuable in helping teachers to evaluate claims made by proponents of various language teaching methods. The goal of this book is to introduce teachers – both novice and experienced – to some of the language acquisition research that may help them not only to evaluate existing textbooks and materials but also to adapt them in ways that are more consistent with our understanding of how languages are learned.
The book begins with a chapter on language learning in early childhood. This background is important because both second language research and second language teaching have been influenced by our understanding of how children acquire their first language. Several theories about first language (L1) learning are presented in this chapter and they are revisited later in the book in relation to second language (L2) learning.
In Chapter 2 we look at second language learners’ developing knowledge, their ability to use that knowledge, and how this compares with L1 learning. In Chapter 3, we turn our attention to how individual learner characteristics may affect success. In Chapter 4, several theories that have been advanced to explain second language learning are presented and discussed. Chapter 5 begins with a comparison of natural and instructional environments for second language learning. We then examine some different ways in which researchers have observed and described teaching and learning practices in second language classrooms.
In Chapter 6, we examine six proposals that have been made for second language teaching. Examples of research related to each of the proposals are presented, leading to a discussion of the evidence available for assessing their effectiveness. The chapter ends with a discussion of what research findings suggest about the most effective ways to teach and learn a second language in the classroom.
In Chapter 7, we will provide a general summary of the book by looking at how research can inform our response to some ‘popular opinions’ about language learning and teaching that are introduced below.
A Glossary provides a quick reference for a number of terms that may be new or have specific technical meanings in the context of language acquisition research. Glossary words are shown in bold letters where they first appear in the text. For readers who would like to find out more, an annotated list of suggestions for further reading is included at the end of each chapter. The Bibliography provides full reference information for the suggested readings and all the works that are referred to in the text.
We have tried to present the information in a way that does not assume that readers are already familiar with research methods or theoretical issues in second language learning. Examples and case studies are included throughout the book to illustrate the research ideas. Many of the examples are taken from second language classrooms. We have also included a number of activities for readers to practise some of the techniques of observation and analysis used in the research that we review in this book. At the end of each chapter are ‘Questions for reflection’ to help readers consolidate and expand their understanding of the material.
Before we begin…
It is probably true, as some have claimed, that most of us teach as we were taught or in a way that matches our ideas and preferences about how we learn. Take a moment to reflect on your views about how languages are learned and what you think this means about how they should be taught. The statements in the activity below summarize some popular opinions about language learning and teaching. Think about whether you agree or disagree with each opinion. Keep these statements and your reactions to them in mind as you read about current research and theory in second language learning.
Indicate the extent to which you agree with each statement by marking an X in the box associated with your opinion:
SA–strongly agree
A–agree somewhat
D–disagree somewhat
SD–strongly disagree
1
LANGUAGE LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
Preview
In this chapter, we will look briefly at the language development of young children. We will then consider several theories that have been offered as explanations for how language is learned. There is an immense amount of research on child language. Although much of this research has been done in middle-class North American and European families, there is a rich body of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research as well. Our purpose in this chapter is to touch on a few main points in this research, primarily as a preparation for the discussion of second language acquisition (SLA), which is the focus of this book.
First language acquisition
Language acquisition is one of the most impressive and fascinating aspects of human development. We listen with pleasure to the sounds made by a three-month-old baby. We laugh and ‘answer’ the conversational ‘ba-ba-ba’ babbling of older babies, and we share in the pride and joy of parents whose one-year-old has uttered the first ‘bye-bye’. Indeed, learning a language is an amazing feat – one that has attracted the attention of linguists and psychologists for generations. How do children accomplish this? What enables a child not only to learn words, but to put them together in meaningful sentences? What pushes children to go on developing complex grammatical language even though their early simple communication is successful for most purposes? Does child language develop similarly around the world? How do bilingual children acquire more than one language?
The first three years: Milestones and developmental sequences
One remarkable thing about first language acquisition is the high degree of similarity in the early language of children all over the world. Researchers have described developmental sequences for many aspects of first language acquisition. The earliest vocalizations are simply the involuntary crying that babies do when they are hungry or uncomfortable. Soon, however, we hear the cooing and gurgling sounds of contented babies, lying in their beds looking at fascinating shapes and movement around them. Even though they have little control over the sounds they make in these early weeks of life, infants are able to hear subtle differences between the sounds of human languages. Not only do they distinguish the voice of their mothers from those of other speakers, they also seem to recognize the language that was spoken around their mother before they were born. Furthermore, in cleverly designed experiments, researchers have demonstrated that tiny babies are capable of very fine auditory discrimination. For example, they can hear the difference between sounds as similar as ‘pa’ and ‘ba’.
Janet Werker, Patricia Kuhl, and others have used new technologies that allow us to see how sensitive infants are to speech sounds. What may seem even more remarkable is that infants stop making distinctions between sounds that are not phonemic in the language that is spoken around them. For example, by the time they are a year old, babies who will become speakers of Arabic stop reacting to the