LIGHTBOWN, P.
M.; SPADA, A. N. How languages are
learned. Revised Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
_____In the first chapter, we can see
some theories about how language is learned: the behaviourist, the innatist,
and the interactionist.
_____The behaviourist is an imitation
that adults to children, like repetition in some English class in particular
languages’ class. For example: we are in an English particular languages’ class
from Brazil and we want to learn English for our future and these languages
class use the behaviourist. We just repeat some expressions, verbs, in some
times, we do not to understand in which situation we can use it. We can see the
behaviourist in nowadays in first language acquisition. One example: a mother
to want the baby talks, so she will talk several times some expression like:
baby go bye-bye, indicating that she will go out with her baby.
_____The innatist appeared with the
linguist Noam Chomsky. He believes that a child is like a sheet of paper to put
languages. He says that children are biologically programmed for language. This
theory was born to make some differences in the behaviourist.
_____The interactionist is the theory
that we could use in language class everywhere, in my point of view, because
this theory shows the contact with the new language.
In the
second chapter, we see how children and adults learn a second language. And we
review some theories, actually, in a second language view, like the
behaviourism. This theory believes in repetitions and imitations. For the
behaviourist, errors are seen as first language habits interfering with the
acquisition of second language habits.
_____Cognitive theory is a relative
newcomer to second language acquisition research, and has not yet been widely
tested empirically. Because the theory itself cannot easily predict what kinds
of structures will be automatizes through practice and what will be restricted,
direct applications of this theory for classroom teaching are premature.
Cognitive psychologists tend to see second language acquisition (SLA) as the
building up of knowledge systems that can eventually be called on automatically
for speaking and understanding.
_____Krashen has developed five central
hypotheses constitute his “monitor model”: (1) the acquisition-learning
hypothesis; (2) the monitor hypothesis; (3) the natural order hypothesis; (4)
the input hypothesis; and (5) the affective filter hypothesis. His hypothesis
show how you acquire a second language.
_____The interactionist believe in
conversations between native speakers and non-native speakers as the necessary
mechanism for this to take place.
_____The third chapter
begins with the authors affirming that many people believe that learners have
certain characteristics which make them have more or less success when learning
a language. Some of the characteristics are or factors are: intelligence, aptitude,
motivation, personality, and attitudes. When researchers want to find out
whether a factor affects a second language learning, they usually select a
group of learners and give them a questionnaire about the factor. But these
studies not always are right. For example in a series of studies about
motivation, in some of them it was reported that learners with a higher level
of motivation are more successful language learners than those with lower
motivation. But other studies report that highly motivated learners don´t
perform better in a proficiency test than less motivated learners.
_____In this chapter the authors also show the difference between what people think about individual differences and what the researches show to support or refuse these opinions, for example intelligence. Over the years many researchers have linked intelligence with the total capacity of learning a second language. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that intelligence does influence in learning a second language, but, it can be related to the development of grammar, vocabulary, and unrelated to oral productive skills. These explanations go on with other factors such as aptitude, motivation, personality, attitudes, learning styles.
_____When discussing about age of acquisition, it´s shown in the text that this learner characteristic is very considered by researchers. Children do learn easily and faster than adults for many factors, such as the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH).
_____In the fourth chapter, we see some
theories that apply in SLA.
_____In the concept of learner language,
the authors say children’s earliest language is often called “telegraphic”. In
this stage, children leave out many of the small words, like prepositions and
articles, or inflections like the –ed marker for the past tense. Child’s
knowledge of the grammatical system is built up in predictable sequences.
_____About the developmental sequences in
both first and second language acquisition, there are sequences or “stages” in
the development or particular structures. That is, certain features of the
language seem to appear relatively early in a learner’s language while others
are acquired much later.
_____In this chapter we discuss five proposals about second language in
classroom: get it right from the beginning; say what you mean and mean what you
say; just listen; teach what is teachable; and get it right in the end. They
show it with examples, searches, and examples.
_____We see the concepts
about natural acquisition contexts, that the learner is exposed to the language
at work or in social interaction. The traditional instruction environment is
one where the language is being taught to a group of second or foreign language
learners.
_____In this chapter the authors review all theories discussed in this book.
1.
Languages are learned mainly through imitation: this is particularly evident with
children who say things like: I’m hiccing up and I can’t stop and It was upside
down but I turned it upside right. Some learners, particularly children
learning their first language, imitate a great deal. Yet their language does
not develop faster on better than that of children who rarely imitate.
2.
Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors: the research based on extensive
observations of parents and children shows that parents tend to focus on
meaning rather than form when they correct their children’s speech.
3.
People with high IQs are good language learners: in classroom where language
acquisition through interactive language use is emphasized, research has shown
that learners with a wide variety of intellectual abilities can be successful
language learners.
4.
The most important factor in second language acquisition success is
motivation:
classroom teachers can develop positive motivation in their students by making
the classroom itself an environment in which students experience success.
5.
The earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the
greater the likelihood of success in learning: any school should be based in realistic
estimates of how long it takes to learn a second language. One or two hours a
week will not produce very advanced second language speakers.
6.
Most of the mistakes which second language learners make are due to
interference from their first language: when errors are caused by the overextension
of some partial similarity between the first and second languages, the errors
may be especially hard to overcome – particularly if learners are frequently in
contact with other learners who make the same errors.
7.
Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time, and learners
should practise examples of each one before going on to another: it happens when learners are
incorporating new information about the language into their own internal system
of rules. The fact is ESL development is not just adding rule after rule, but
integrating new rules into the existing system of rules, re-adjusting and
restructuring until all the pieces fit.
8.
Teachers should teach simple language structures before complex ones: there is ample evidence to show
that when native speakers or fluent bilinguals address a second language
learner, they quite naturally adapt their speech to ensure that the learner
understands them.
9.
Learner’s errors should be corrected as soon as they are made in order
to prevent the formation of bad habits: errors are a natural part of language
learning. This is true of the development of a child’s first language as well
as of second language learning by children and adults. If the errors is based
on a developmental pattern, the correction may only be useful when learner is
ready for it. It may thus require many repetitions.
10. Teachers should use materials that
expose students only to language structures which they have already been taught: such a procedure can provide
comprehensible input, of course, but learners can comprehend the general
meaning of many forms which they certainly have no “mastered” and, indeed, may
never have produced. When a particular point is introduced for the first time
or when the teacher feels there is a need for correction of a persistent
problem, it is appropriate to use narrow-focus materials which isolate one
element in a context where other things seem easy.
11. When learners are allowed to
interact freely (for example, in group or pair activities), they learn each
others’ mistakes:
some research has shown that second language learners do not produce any more
errors in their speech when talking to learners at similar levels of
proficiency than they do when speaking to learners at more advanced levels or
to native speakers.
12. Students learn what they are taught: it is certainly true second
language learners can only learn the language they are exposed to. However, it
certainly is not the case that students learn everything they are taught or
that they eventually know only what they are taught.
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