Language society and culture Speech community: is a group of people who share a set of norms, rules and expectations

regarding the use of language. Sociolinguistics: in general terms, sociolinguistics deals with the inter-relationships between language and society. Social dialects: are varieties of language used by groups defined according to class, education, age, sex and a number of other social parameters. Overt prestige: is the generally recognized better or positively valued ways of speaking in social communities. Covert prestige: this hidden type of positive value is often attached to non-standard forms and expressions by certain sub-groups. Social factors Social class and education: In some dialect surveys, it has been found that, among those leaving the educational system at an early stage, there is a greater tendency to use forms which are relatively infrequent in the speech of those who go on to college. Expressions such as those contained in Them boys throwed something are much more common in the speech of the former group than the latter. The social classes also sound different. A famous study by Labov combined elements from place of occupation and socio-economic status by looking at pronunciation differences among salespeople in three New York City department stores, Saks (high status), Macys (middle status) and Kleins (low status). Labov asked salespeople questions that elicited the expressions fourth floor. He was interested in the pronunciation (or not) of the [r] sound after vowels. There was a regular pattern: the higher the socioeconomic status, the more [r] sounds, and the lower the socio-economic status, the fewer [r] sounds were produced. So, the difference in a single consonant could mark higher versus lowah social class. Age and gender: many younger speakers living in a particular region often look at the results of a dialect survey of their area (conducted mainly with older informants) and claim that their grandparents may use those terms, but they do not. Variation according to age is most noticeable across the grandparent-grandchild time span. Grandfather may still talk about the icebox and the wireless. Hes unlike to know what rules, what sucks, or whats totally stoked, and he doesnt use like to introduce reported speech, as his granddaughter might do: Were getting ready, and hes like, lets go Variation according to gender. One general conclusion from dialect surveys is that female speakers tend to use more prestigious forms than male speakers with the same social background. For example, I done it, it growed and he aint can be found more often in the speech of males, and I did it, it grew and he isnt in the speech of females. In some cultures, quite different pronunciations of certain words in male and female

speech have been documented in some North American Indian languages such as Gros Venture and Koasati. Ethnic background: within any society, differences in speech may come about because of different ethnic backgrounds. More generally, the speech of many AfricanAmericans, technically known as Black English Vernacular (BEV), is a widespread social dialect, often cutting across regional differences. When a group within any a society undergoes some form of social isolation, such as the discrimination or segregation experienced historically by African American, then social dialect differences become more marked. Idiolect: this term is used for the personal dialect of each individual speaker of a language. Style: there is a gradation of style of speech, from the very formal to the very informal. Going for a job interview, you may say to a secretary Excuse me. Is the manager in his office. I have an appointment. Alternatively, speaking to a friend about another friend, you may produce a much less formal version of the message: Hey, is that lazy dog still in bed? I gotta see him about something. Register: variation according to use in specific situations is also studied in terms of register. There is an religious register in which we expect to find expressions not found elsewhere, as in Ye shall be blessed by Him in times of tribulation. Jardon: technical vocabulary associated with a special activity or group. In social terms, jardon helps to connect those who see themselves as insiders in some way and exclude outsiders. If you are becoming familiar with surfing talk, you will know whether the following answer to an interview question was yes or no. Diglossia: this term is used to describe a situation in which two very different varieties of language co-exist in a speech community, each with a distinct range of social functions. Language and culture: (culture: socially acquired knowledge) many of the factors which give rise to linguistic variation are sometimes discussed in terms of cultural differences. In the study of the worlds cultures, it has become clear that different groups not only have different languages, they have different world views which are reflected in their languages. Linguistic determinism: stated in this way, you have a theory of language which, in its strongest version, holds that language determines thought. In short you can only think in the categories which your language allows you to think in. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf produced arguments, in the 1930s, that the language of American Indians; for example, let them to view the world differently from those who spoke European languages. Led us look at an example of this reasoning. Whorf claimed that the Hopi Indians of Arizona perceived the world differently from other tribes because their language led them to do so. In the grammar of Hopi, there is a distinction between animate and inanimate, and among the

set of entities categorized as animate were clouds and stones. Whorf concluded that the Hopi believe that clouds and stones are animate (living) entities that it is their language which leads them to believe this. Now, English speakers do not see the world in the same way as the Hopi. In Whorfs words, we dissect nature along lines aid down by our native languages. Language Universals: all languages have certain common properties called language universals. Sociocultural Factors Culture is a way of life. It is the context within which we exist, think, feel and relate to others. It is the glue that binds a group of people together. Culture might also be defined as the ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools that characterize a given group of people in a given period of time. From stereotypes to generalizations: Mark Twain gave us a delightful biased view of other cultures and other languages in the innocent abroad. In reference to the French language, twain commented that the French always tangled up everything to that degree that when you start into a sentence you never know wether you are going to come out alive or not. In a tramp abroad, twain noted that German is a most difficult language: a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronunciation) in 30 hours, French in 30 days and German in 30 years. How do stereotypes form? Our cultural milieu shapes our world view-our weltanschauung- in such a way that reality is thought to be objectively perceived through our own cultural pattern, and a differing perception is seen as either false or strange and is thus oversimplified. If people recognize different world views, they will usually adopt a positive and open-minded attitude toward cross-cultural differences. A close-minded view of such differences often results in the maintenance of a stereotype-an oversimplification and blanket assumption. A stereotype assigns group characteristics to individuals purely on the basis of their cultural membership. Attitudes: stereotyping usually implies some type of attitude toward the culture or language in question. It seems clear that second language learners benefit from positive attitudes and negative attitudes may lead to decreased motivation and in all likelihood, because of decreased input and interaction to unsuccessful attainment of proficiency. Second culture acquisition: second language learning implies some degree of learning a second culture. Acculturation: it is involves the acquisition of a new identity. This creation of a new identity is at the heart of culture learning, or what some might call acculturation. Culture shock: refers to phenomena ranging from mild irritability to deep psychological panic and crisis. It is associated with feelings of estrangement, anger, hostility, indecision, frustration, unhappiness, sadness, loneliness, homesickness and even physical illness.

It is common to describe culture shock as the second of four successive stages of culture acquisition: Stage 1: is a period of excitement and euphoria over the newness of the surroundings. Stage 2: culture shock emerges as individuals feel the instruction of more and more cultural differences into their own images of self and security. In this stage individuals rely and seek out the support of their fellow countrymen in the second culture taking solace in complaining about local customs and conditions seeking escape from their predicament. Stage 3: it is called culture stress. Some problems of acculturation are solved while other problems still continue for some time. Stage 4: represents near or full recovery, either assimilation or adaptation, acceptance of the new culture and self-confidence in the new person that has developed in this culture. Social distance: refers to the cognitive and affective proximity of two cultures that come into contact within an individual. John Schumann described social distance as consisting of the following parameters: Dominance: in relation to the target language group, is the L2 group politically, culturally, technically or economically dominant, non dominant, or subordinate? Integration: is the integration pattern of the L2 group assimilation, acculturation, or preservation? What is the L2 groupss degree of enclosure-its identity separate from other contiguous group? Cohesiveness: is the L2 group cohesive? What is the size of the L2 group? Congruence: are the cultures of the two groups congruent-similar in their value and beliefs systems? What are the attitudes of the two groups toward the other? Permanence: what is the L2 groupss intended length of residence in the target language area? Culture in the classroom: teachers who follow an experiential or process model of culture learning in the classroom can help students turn such an experience into one of increased cultural and self-awareness. Perhaps the best model of the combination of second language and second culture learning is found among students who learn a second language in a country where that language is spoken natively. Geert Hofstede (1986), who used four different conceptual categories to study the cultural norms of fifty different countries. Each category was described as follows: Individualism: individualism cultures assume that any person looks primarily after his/her own interest and the interest of his/her immediate family (husband, wife and children) Collectivist cultures assume that any person through birth and possible later

events belongs to one or more tight in-groups, from which he/shecannot detach him/herself. Power Distance: as a characteristic of a culture defines the extent to which the less powerful persons in a society accept inequality in power and consider it as normal. Uncertainty Avoidance: as a characteristic of a culture defines the extent to which people within a culture are made nervous by situations they perceive as unstructured, unclear, or unpredictable situations which they therefore try to avoid by maintaining strict codes of behavior and a belief in absolute truths. Cultures with a strong uncertainty avoidance are active, aggressive, emotional, compulsive, security-seeking, and intolerant. Masculinity: as a characteristic of a culture opposes femininity. The two differ in the social roles associated with the biological fact of the existence of two sexes, and in particular in the social roles attributed to men. Language Policy and Politics The relationship between language and society cannot be discussed for long without touching on the political ramifications of language and language policy. Virtually every country has some form of explicit ,official or implicit, unofficial policy affecting the status of its native language(s) and one or more foreign languages. World Englishes : The rapid growth of English as an international language (EIL) of communication has stimulated interesting but often controversial discussion about the status of English in its varieties of what is now commonly called world Englishes. ESL and EFL: learning ESL-English within a culture where English is spoken natively-, may be clearly defined in the case of, say, and Arabic speaker learning English in the USA or the UK. Learning EFL, that is, English in ones own culture with few immediate opportunities to use the language within the environment of that culture (for example a Japanese learning English in Japan.) may at first also appear to be easy to define. Language Though and Culture: we saw in the case of first language acquisition that cognitive development and linguistic development go hand in hand, each interacting with shaping the other. Culture is an integral part of the interaction between language and thought. Culture patterns of cognition and customs are sometimes explicitly coded in language. Conversational discourse styles, for example, may be a factor of culture. Planning lessons and units the planning of a speaking lesson English as a foreign language in the Costa Rican Educational system: English is conceived of as a linguistic and cultural tool for communication, which allows the learner to complement his/her whole education. English as an object of study: the object of study of the English language in our curriculum is written and oral communication, emphasizing the four basic linguistic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Basic structures of the subject matter: for the purpose of studying the English language, we have divided the subject matter into three components: formal, functional and cultural. Formal component: it has been called the grammatical component. Functional: refers to the communicative purpose for which we use the language. Cultural: knowing the features of the target culture makes easier to understand the language itself. Some of the cultural features that should be taken into account are: values, attitudes, behavior, patterns, points of view, ways of thinking, appreciation, etc. General guidelines for the mediation of learning: education is considered as a social process in which human beings meet human experiences. Learning is described as a comprehensible, dynamic and meaningful process for those who learn. Cooperative language learning: Cooperative learning: Is group learning activity organized so that learning is dependent on the socially structured exchange of information between learners in groups and in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others. Approach (theory of language): Premise 1: All normal children growing up in a normal environment learn to talk. We are born to talk. Premise 2: Most talk/speech is organized as conversation. Premise 3: Conversation operates according to a certain agreed upon set of cooperative rules or maxims Premise 4: Is that ones learns how these cooperative maxims are realized in ones native language through casual, everyday conversational interaction. Premise 5: Is that one learns how the maxims realized in a second language through participation in cooperatively structured interactional activities. Theory of learning: as we have indicated, a central premise of CLL is that learners develop communicative competence in a language by conversing in socially or pedagogically structured situations. CLL also seeks to develop learners critical thinking skills, which are seen as central to learning of any sort. Learning advantages for ESL students in CLL classrooms: Increased frequency and variety of second language practice through different types of interaction Possibility for development or use of language in ways that support cognitive development and increased language skills

Opportunities to integrate language with content-based instruction Opportunities to include a greater variety of curricular materials to stimulate language as well as concept learning Freedom for teachers to mater new professional skills, particularly those emphasizing communication Opportunities for students to act as resources for each other, thus assuming a more active role in their learning Design Objectives: foster cooperation rather that competition, to develop critical thinking skills, and to develop communicative competence through socially structured interaction activities. The syllabus: CLL does not assume any particular form of language syllabus, since activities from a wide variety of curriculum orientations can be taught via cooperative learning. Types of learning and teaching activities Johnson et al. describe three types of cooperative learning groups: Formal cooperative groups: These last from one class period to several weeks. These are established for a specific task and involve students working together to achieve shared learning goals. Informal cooperative learning groups: These are ad-hoc groups that last from a few minutes to a class period and are used to focus student attention or to facilitate direct instruction. Cooperative base groups: These are long term, lasting for at least a year and consist of heterogeneous learning groups with stable membership whose primary purpose is to allow members to give each other the support help, encouragement and assistance they need to succeed academically. Olsen and kagan propose the following key elements of successful group-based learning in CL: Positive interdependence: Occurs when group members feel that what helps one member helps all and what hurts one member one member hurts all. It is created by the structure of CL tasks and by building a spirit of mutual support within the group. Group formation: Is an important factor in creating positive interdependence. Factors involving in setting up groups include: -Deciding on the size of the group: it will depend on the task, age of the learners and time limit. Typical group size is from two to four.

-Assigning students to groups: can be teacher selected, random, or student selected, although teacher selected is recommended as the usual mode so as to create groups that are heterogeneous. -Student roles in groups: each group member has a specific role to play in a group,. Such us noise monitor, turn-taker monitor, recorder or summarizer. Individual accountability: Involves both group and individual performance, for example; by assigning each student a grade on his or her portion of a team project or by calling on a student at random to share with the whole class, with group members, or with another group. Social skills: Determine the way students interact with each other as teammates. Usually some explicit instruction in social skills is needed to ensure successful interaction. Structuring and structures: Refer to ways of organizing student interaction and different ways students are to interact such as Three-step interview or Round Robin. Cohelo describes three major kinds of cooperative learning focus, each of which has many variations: Team practice from common input-skills development and mastery of facts: All students work on the same material Practice could follow a traditional teacher oriented-directed presentation of new material The task is to make sure that everyone in the group knows the answer Anyone in the group may be called on to answer for the team. This technique is good for review and for practice tests. Students can form new groups every day. Jigsaw: differentiated but predetermined input-evaluation and synthesis of facts and opinions: Each group member receives a different piece of the information. Students regroup in topic groups. Composed of people with the same piece Students synthesize the information through discussion Each student produces an assignment of part of a group project This method of organization may require team-building activities for both home groups and topic groups. This method is very useful in the multi-level class

Information-gap activities in language teaching are jigsaw activities in the form of pair work. Cooperative projects: topic/resources selected by students discovery learning Topics may be different for each grouip Students identify subtopics for each group member Steering committee may coordinate the work of the class as a whole Students research the information Students synthesize their information for a group presentation Each group presents to the whole class This method places greater emphasis on individualization and students interest. Students need plenty of previous experience with more structured group work for this to be effective. Olsen and kagan describes the following examples of CLL activities: Three-step interview Roundtable Think-pair-share Solve-pair-share Numbered heads Learner roles: The primary role of the learner is as a member of a group who must work collaboratively on tasks with other group members. Learners are also directors of their own learning. They are taught to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning which is viewed as a compilation of lifelong learning skills. Thus, learning is something that requires students direct and active involvement and participation. Teacher roles: The teacher has to create a highly structured and well-organized learning environment in the classroom, setting goals, planning and structuring tasks, establishing the physical arrangement of the classroom, assigning students to groups and roles of selecting materials and time. Error correction Students make mistakes: in his book on mistakes and correction Julian Edge suggests that we can divide mistakes into three categories: Slips: that is mistakes that students can correct themselves once the mistake has been pointed out.

Errors: mistakes which they cannot correct themselves. Attempts: that is when a student tries to say something but does not yet know the correct way of saying it. It is now widely accepted that there are two distinct causes for the errors which most if not all students make at various stages: L1 Interference: when L1 and the target language come into contact with each other there are often confusions which provoke errors in a learners use of English. Developmental errors: for a long time now researchers in child language development have been aware of the phenomenon of over-generalization. Foreign language students make the same kind of developmental errors as well. This account for mistakes like she is more nicer than him. Assessing student performance Teachers assessing students: assessment of performance can be explicit when we say that was really good or implicit when, during a language drill for example, we pass on the next student without making any comment or correction. Because the assessment we give is either largely positive or somewhat negative students are likely to receive it in terms of praise or criticism. Apart from tests and exams there are a number of ways in which we can assess our students work: Comments: commenting on students performance happens at various stages both in and outside the class. Marks and grades: when students are graded on their work they are always keen to know what grades they have achieved. Bad grades cam be extremely disheartening. Reports: at the end of a term or year some teachers write reports on their students performance either for the student, the school, or the parents of that student. Students assessing themselves: they frequently have a clear idea of how well they are doing or have done, and if we help them to develop this awareness, we may greatly enhance learning. We can also ask students at the end of an activity how ell they think they have got on-or tell them to add a written comment to a piece of written work they have completed, giving their own assessment of that work. A final way of formalizing an assessment dialogue between teacher and student is through a record of achievement ROA. Here students are asked to write their own assessment of their success and difficulties and say how they think they can proceed. Feedback during oral work Accuracy and fluency: we need to decide whether a particular activity in the classroom is designed to expect the students complete accuracy- as in the study of a piece of

grammar, a pronunciation exercise, or some vocabulary work for example- or whether we are asking the students to use the language as fluently as possible. Feedback during accuracy work: as suggested at the beginning of this chapter, correction is usually made up of two distinct stages. In the first, teachers show students that a mistake has been made, and in the second, if necessary, they help the students to do something about it. Showing incorrectness: this can be done in a number of different ways Repeating: ask the student to repeat what they have say. Echoing: we repeat what he has said emphasizing the part of the utterance that was wrong Statement and question: we can say Thats not right or do people think thats correct? Expression: a simple facial expression or a gesture may be enough to indicate that something that not quite work. Hinting: is to give a quiet hint. Reformulation: an underrated correction for the teacher to repeat what the student has said correctly.

Getting it right: we can say the correct version emphasizing the part where there is a problem. Or we can say the incorrect part correctly. Feedback during fluency work: the way in which we respond to students when they speak in a fluency activity will have a significant bearing not only on how well they perform at the time but also on how they behave in fluency activities in the future. Just as there are ways we can respond to our students once such activities are over. Gentle correction: if communication breaks down completely during a fluency activity, we may well have to intervene. If our students cannot think of what to say, we may want to prompt them forwards. Recording mistakes: we frequently act as observers, watching and listening to students so we can give feedback afterwards. Such observation allows us to give feedback to our studenton how well they have performed, always remembering that we want to give positive as well as negative feedback. After the event: we might want to give an assessment of an activity, saying how well we thought the students did in it, getting the students to tell us what they found easiest or most difficult. When we write examples of what we heard on the board, it is not generally a good idea to say who made the mistakes since this may expose them in front of their classmates.

Feedback on written work: the way we give feedback on writing will depend on the kind of writing task the students have undertaken, and the effect we wish to create. When students do workbook exercises based on controlled testing activities, we will mark their efforts right or wrong, possibly penciling in the correct answer for them to study.

Written feedback techniques Responding: one way of considering feedback is to think of it as responding to students work rather than assessing or evaluating what they have done. When we respond, we say how the text appears to us and how successful we think it has been-and , sometimes, how it could be improved. Coding: some teachers use codes, and can then put these codes either in the body of the writing itself, or in a corresponding margin.

Contrastive analysis and error analysis Faults analysis: recognition, description, explanation, correction. Error analysis: Errors: an error is a sure sign that the learner has not mastered the code of the target language. If an error indicates faulty knowledge of the grammar of the 2 language, we must define the error as something which arises as a result of second language learning and is not, therefore, to be found in the L1 user. Mistake: in contrast, both L1 and L2 users of the language make mistakes social gaffs of varying degrees of seriousness but the native is far more likely to realize that his behavior has been judged to be socially unaccepted and is also far more likely to take steps to remedy the mistake than is the L user. Lapses: since face to face communication is a real time activity, all speakers whether native or not make slips or lapses as we are calling them here and the teacher can for all practical purposes ignore them. Recognition: taking the learners sentence as our input data, we ask first is this sentence possible in the target language? If our answer to this question is negative, we have found a sentence which contains at least one error. To discover whether we are looking at a mistake rather than an error we ask the second question, is the sentence acceptable in this context? A negative answer here defines for us a mistake; an utterance which though grammatical, breaks some social rule for the use of the language. Once we have asked the first two question we leave the stage of recognition and move on through the description stage. Description: the first step is describing the nature of the mistake or error to ask, is the learners sentence intelligible? can we work out what he intended to mean? If we can understand what he was trying to say, we can compare his sentence with that which would be produced by a native and, with such a comparison, list the errors or mistakes. If, on the other hand, we cannot understand, we may need to refer to the learners L, since this may give us a clue to his intentions. Explanation: when we attempt to explain the appearance of a particular error or more generally, type of error in the speech or writing of a learner, group of learners or category of the learner, we are asking why did he say-write this. To attempt to answer such a question is to bring us back to the second of the fundamental questions with

which we began this book How do people learn languages? Since our explanation will be a reflection of our answer, stated or merely assumed to that question. Attitudes to error: how should we view errors? Bluntly, do we feel that they are good or bad. We are about to look at two views on this: the structuralist which assumed that errors were bad and the more recent TG influenced view that, far from being bad errors are a necessary part of learning and therefore good. Structuralist Views: structuralist linguists belief that to learn is to change habits. Errors in their view: Occur when new habits have to be acquired or old ones modified or replaced. When the features of the L2 differ from those of the L1 the learner. Conversely, where the structures are the same there will be no problems. Consist of failing to respond with the correct response to a particular stimulus. It is important to analyze how do features of the L1 transfer into the L2? The phenomenon, termed interference at the time is presumably some kind of process, how does it work? This brings us to a subdivision of interference in phonology into four subtypes. Each of which we shall illustrate with English italian examples. Sound substitution: the most straightforward form of interference is the substitutuion of a sound from the L1 for one in the L2. Underdifferentiation: the learner has failed to recognize in the L2 a phonemic distinction which exist only at the allophonic level in the L1. Overdifferentiation: it can occur when the L1 contains phonemic contrasts which are lacking in the L2 but are imposed on it by the learner in his attempts at producing it. Reinterpretention of distinctions: since the phoneme has always been thought of a consisting of a complex of sounds, or better features, the learner may well seize one one which is crucial in his L1 and use that to make a phonemic distinction which he has perceived when in fact, the feature he has selected plays only a secondary role in the L2. Post-structuralist views: with the emergence of TG in the late 1950s and its denial of both structuralist linguists and its associated behaviourist psychology came a reorientation of the discipline which was to have profound effects not only on linguistics itself but also on applied linguistics. CROSS-LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE AND LEARNER LANGUAGE This treatment will first consider, in historical progression, an era of preoccupation with studies of contrast between the native language and the target language (contrastive analysis) and the effect of native on target language (now called cross linguistic influence)

The contrastive analysis hypothesis: CAH, it claimed that the principal barrier to second language acquisition is the interference of the first language system with the second language system, and that a scientific, structural analysis of the two languages in question would yield a taxonomy of linguistic contrasts between them which in turn would enable the linguist to predict the difficulties a learner would encounter. A well known model was offered by Stockwell, Bowen, and Martin 1965, who posited what they called a hierarchy of difficulty by which a teacher or linguist could make a prediction of the relative difficulty of a given aspect of the target language. Clifford Prator captured the essence of this grammatical hierarchy in six categories of difficulty. Prators hierarchy was applicable to both grammarical and phonological features of language. Level 0 Transfer: no difference or contrast there is between the two languages. The learner can simply transfer (positively) a sound, structure, or lexical item from the native language to the target language. Examples: English and Spanish cardinal vowels, word order, and certain words (mortal, intelligence, arte, americanos.) Level 1 Coalescence: this requires that learners overlook a distinction they have grown accustomed to. Examples: English third person possessive require gender distinction (his/her), and in Spanish they do not (su); an English speaker learning French must overlook the distinction between teach and learn, and use just the one word apprendre in French. Level 2 Underdifferentiation: an item in the native language is absent in the target language. The learner must avoid that item. Examples: English learner of Spanish must forget such items as English do as a tense carrier, possessive forms of wh-words (whose), or the use of some with mass nouns. Level 3 Reinterpretation: an item that exists in the native language is given a new shape or distribution. Example: an English speaker learning French must learn a new distribution for nasalized vowels. Level 4 Overdifferentiation: a new item entirely, bearing little if any similarity to the native language item, must be learned. Example: an English speaker learning Spanish must learn to include determiners in generalized nominals (man is mortal/El hombre es mortal), or, most commonly, to learn Spanish grammatical gender inherent in nouns. Level 5 Split: one item in the native language becomes two or more in the target language, requiring the learner to make a new distinction between Spanish indicative and subjunctive moods. FROM THE CAH TO CLI (CROSS-LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE) The attempt to predict difficulty by means of contrastive analysis is what Ronald Wardhaugh (1970) called the strong version of the CAH. The weak version recognizes the significance of interference across languages, the fact such interference does exist

and can explain difficulties, but it also recognizes that linguistic difficulties can be more profitably explained a posteriori- after the facty. The so-called weak version of the CAH is what remains today under the label crosslinguistic influence CLI suggesting that we all recognize the significant role that prior experience plays in any learning act, and that the influence of the native language as prior experience must not be overlooked. The conclusion that great difference does not necessarily cause a great difficulty underscores the significance of intralingual (within one language) errors, which are as much a factor in second language learning as interlanguage (across two or more languages errors). Markedness and universal grammar: markedness distinguishes members of a pair of related forms or structures by assuming that the marked member of a pair contains at least one more feature than the unmarked one. For example: in the case of the English indefinite articles (a and an) an is the more complex or marked form (it has an additional sound) and a is the unmarked with the wider distribution. Eckman showed that marked items will be more difficult to acquire than unmarked, and that degrees of markedness will correspond to degrees of difficulty. Other researchers focused on the applicability of notions of universal grammar to second language acquisition. As we saw in chapter 2, many of the rules acquired by children learning their first language are presumed to be universal. By extension, rules that are shared by all languages comprise this UG. Such rules are set of limitations or parameters of language. Markedness theory and UG perspectives provide a more sophisticated understanding of difficulty in learning a second language than we had previously from the early formulations of the CAH, and fit more appropriately into current studies of CLI. Learner language: In recent years researchers and teachers have come more and more to understand that second language learning is a process of the creative construction of a system in which learners are consciously testing hypothesis about the target language from a number of possible sources of knowledge: knowledge of the native language, limited knowledge from the target language itself, knowledge of the communicative functions of language, knowledge about language in general and knowledge about life, human beings and the universe. A number of terms have been coined to describe the perspective that stresses the legitimacy of learners second language systems. The best known of these is interlanguage, a term that Selinker adapted from Weinreichs term interlingual. Interlanguage refers to the separateness of a second language learners system, a system that has a structurally intermediate status between the native and the target languages.

Nemser referred to the same general phenomenon in second language learning but stressed the successive approximation to the target language in his term approximation system. Corder used the term idiosyncratic dialect to connote the idea that the learners language is unique to a particular individual, that the rules of the learners language are peculiar to the language of that individual alone. Error analysis: human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the making of mistakes. Mistakes, misjudgments, miscalculations, and erroneous assumptions form an important aspect of learning virtually any skill or acquiring information. Researchers and teachers of second languages came to realize that the mistakes a person made in this process of constructing a new system of language needed to be analyzed carefully, for they possibly held in them some of the keys to the understanding of the process of second language acquisition. Mistakes and errors: in order to analyze learner language in an appropriate perspective, it is crucial to make a distinction between mistakes and errors, technically two very different phenomena. A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a slip, in that it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly. All people make mistakes, in both native and second language situations. Native speakers are normally capable of recognizing and correcting such lapses or mistakes. Mistakes can be self corrected, errors cannot be self corrected. The fact that learners do make errors, and that these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to reveal something of the system operating within the learner, led to a surge of study of learners errors, called error analysis. Errors in error analysis: in our observation and analysis of errors for all that they do reveal about the learner we must beware of placing too much attention on errors and not lose sight of the value of positive reinforcement of clear, free communication. While the diminishing of errors is an important criterion for increasing language proficiency, the ultimate goal of second language learning is the attainment of communicative fluency. Another shortcoming in error analysis is an overemphasis on production data. Language is speaking and listening, writing and reading. The comprehension of language is as important as production. Over the years studies have shown that error analysis fails to account for the strategy of avoidance; a learner that for a particular reason avoids a particular sound, word, structureThe absence of errors therefore does not necessarily reflect native like competence because learners may be avoiding the very structures that pose difficulty for them. Identifying and describing errors: the first step in the process of analysis is the identification and description of errors. Overtly erroneous utterances are unquestionably ungrammatical at the sentence level. Covertly erroneous utterances are grammatically well formed at the sentence level but are not interpretable within the context of communication.

A number of different categories for description of errors have been identified in research on learner language: 1. the most generalized breakdown can be made by identifying errors of addition, omission, substitution and ordering following standard mathematical categories. In English a do auxiliary might be added (does can he sing?) 2. Within each category, levels of language can be considered: phonology or orthography, lexicon, grammar and discourse. 3. Errors may also be viewed as either global or local. Global errors hinder communication; they prevent the hearer from comprehending some aspect of the message. 4. Finally, Lennon suggest that two related dimensions of error, domain and extent should be considered in any error analysis. Domain is the rank of linguistic unit (from phoneme to discourse that must be taken as context in order for the error to become apparent, and extent is the rank of linguistic unit that would have to be deleted, replaced, supplied, or recordered in order to repair the sentence. Sources of error: this is the final step in the analysis of erroneous learner speech . Interlingual transfer: it is a significant source of error. The beginning stages of learning a second language are especially vulnerable to interlingual transfer from the native language or interference. Intralingual transfer: researchers have found that the early stages of language learning are characterized by a predominance of interference (interlingual transfer), but once learners have begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer (generalization) within the target language is manifested. Context of learning: refers for example, to the classroom with its teacher and its materials in the case of school learning or the social situation in the case of untutored second language learning. In a classroom context the teacher or the textbook can lead the learner to make faulty hypotheses about the language, what Richards called false concepts and what stenson termed induced errors because of a misleading explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in a textbook, or even because of a parttern that was rotely memorized in a drill but improperly contextualized. Communication strategies: learners obviously use production strategies in order to enhance getting their message across, but at times these techniques can themselves become a source of error. Stages of learner language development: there are many ways to describe the progression of learners linguistic development. The first is the stage of random errors, a stage that Corder called presystematic, in which the learner is only vaguely aware that there is some systematic order to a

particular class of items. Inconsistencies like John cans sing, John can to sing and John can singuing all said by the same learner within a short period of time. The second or emergent, stage of learner language finds the learner growing in consistency in linguistic production. In general, the learner is still, at this stage, unable to correct errors when they are pointed out by someone else. The third is a truly systematic stage in which the learner is now able to manifest more consistency in producing the second language. While those rules that are stored in the learners brain are still not all well-formed, they are more internally self-consistent an, of course, they more closely approximate the target language system. A final stage, which I will call the stabilization stage, in the development of learner systems is akin to what Corder called a postsystematic stage. Here the learner has relatively few errors and has mastered the system to the point that fluency and intended meanings are not problematic. Variability in learner language: some variability in learner language can be explained by what Gatbonton described as the gradual diffusion of incorrect forms of language in emergent and systematic stages of development. First, incorrect forms coexist with correct; then, the incorrect are expunged. Context has also been identified as a source of variation. In classrooms, the type of task can affect variation. And variability can be affected, in both tutored and untutored learning, by the exposure that a learner gets to norm. Tarone suggested four categories of variation: Variation according to linguistic context Variation according to psychological processing factors Variation according to social context Variation according language function

The emphasis on the context led us consider carefully at the conditions under which uncertain linguistic forms vary. For example, suppose a learner at one point in times says (a) he must paid for the insurance, (b) he must pay for the parking fee. An examination of the linguistic (and conceptual) context (the first of the Tarones categories) might explain the variation. In this case, sentence (a) was uttered in the context of describing an event in the past, and sentence (b) referred to the present moment. Thus the apparent free variation of the main verb form in a modal auxiliary context is explained. Fossilization: the relatively permanent incorporation of incorrect linguistic forms into a persons second language competence has been referred to as fossilization. Vigil and Oller provided a formal account of fossilization as a factor of positive and negative affective and cognitive feedback. They noted that there are two kinds of information transmitted between sources (learners) and audiences (native speakers)

Affective Feedback: Positive: keep talking, I am listening Neutral: Im not sure I want to maintain this conversation Negative: This conversation is over

Cognitive Feedback: Positive: I understand your message; Im listening Neutral: Im not sure if I correctly understand you or not. Negative: I dont understand what you are saying; its not clear.

Form-Focused instruction: any pedagogical effort which is used to draw the learners attention to language form either implicitly or explicitly It is difficult to generalize the diverse findings on FFI over the years, but it may be reasonable to conclude the following: Most of the research suggest that FFI can indeed increase learners levels of attainment, but that the Neandearthal practices (grammatical explanations, discussion of rules, rote practice) of bygone years is clearly not justified. Very few research studies have been able to identify particular stages in which learners are more ready than others to internalize FFI. The possible number of linguistic features in a language and the many potential contexts of learning make this question impossible the answer. The wide-ranging research on learner characteristics, styles, and strategies supports the conclusion that certain learners clearly benefit more than others from FFI. Error treatment: should errors be treated? How should errors be treated? When? Both affective and cognitive feedback can take place simultaneously. (A green light here symbolizes noncorrective feedback that says I understand your message. A red light symbolizes corrective feedback that takes on a myriad of possible forms (outlined below) and causes the learner to make some kind of alteration in production. To push the metaphor further, a yellow light could represent those various shades of color that are interpreted by the learner as falling somewhere in between a complete green light and a red light, causing the learner to adjust, to alter, to recycle to try again in some way. Error treatment options can be classified in a number of possible ways but one useful taxonomy was recommended by bailey who drew from the work of allwright. Seven basic options are complemented by eight possible features within each option. Basic options: to treat or to ignore. To treat immediately or to delay. To transfer treatment (to, say, other learners) or not. To transfer to another individual, a subgroup or the whole class. To return, or not, to original error maker after treatment. To permit other learners to initiate treatment. To test for the efficacy of the treatment.

Possible features: fact of error indicated. Location indicated. Opportunity for new attempt given. Model provided. Error type indicated. Remedy indicated. Improvement indicated. Praise indicated. Describing learners Age: the age students is a major factor in our decisions about how and what to teach. People of different needs, competences, and cognitive skills. Young children: they respond to meaning even if they do not understand individual words they often indirectly rather than directly. They have a need for individual attention They generally display an enthusiasm for learning and curiosity.

Adolescent: teenagers are in fact overall the best language learners. Adult learners: They can engage with abstract thought. They have a whole range of life experiences to draw on. They have expectations about the learning process. Adults tend to be more disciplined.

Learner differences Aptitude: some students are better at learning languages than others. Learner styles: a preoccupation with learner personalities and styles has been a major factor in psycholinguistic research. Are there different kinds of learner? Are there different kinds of behavior in a group? How can we tailor our teaching to match the personalities in front of us? The methodologist Tony Wright describes four different learner styles within a group: The enthusiast: looks to the teacher as a point of reference and is concerned with the goals of the learning group. The oracular: also focuses on the teacher but is more oriented towards the satisfaction of personal goals. The participator: tends to concentrate on group goals and group solidarity. The rebel: while referring to the learning group for his or her point of reference, is mainly concerned with the satisfaction of his or her own goals.

Keith Willing, working with adults students in Australia, produced the following descriptions: Converges: these are students who are by nature solitary. Prefer to avoid groups, and who are independent and confident in their own abilities.

Conformist: they prefer to emphasize learning about language over learning to use it. They are perfectly happy working in non-communicative classrooms doing what they are told. Concrete learners: they are interested in language use and language as communication rather than language as a system. Communicative learners: they are perfectly happy to operate without the guidance of a teacher. They are comfortable out of the class. They are risk-takers and prefer social interaction with other speakers of the language. Learning styles Field independence Ability to perceive a particular, relevant item or factor in a field of distracting items. This style enables you to distinguish parts from a whole to concentrate on something (like reading a book in a noisy train station.) Left- and Right-Brain Functioning As the childs brain matures, various functions become lateralized. Ambiguity tolerance This style concerns the degree to which you are cognitively willing to accept ideas and propositions that run counter to your own belief system (second language learning: words that differ from the native language, rules that not only differ but that are internally inconsistent because of certain exceptions, and sometimes a whole cultural system that is distant from that of the native culture. Reflectivity and impulsivity Psychological studies have been conducted to determine the degree to which, in the cognitive domain, a person tends to make either a quick or gambling guess at an answer to a problem or a slower, more calculated decision. Visual and auditory This kind of learners prefers reading and studying charts, drawing, and other graphic information; while these other type learners prefer listening to lectures and audiotapes. Strategies The field of second language acquisition has distinguished between two types of strategy: learning strategies and communication strategies. Learning strategies were divided into three main categories: metacognitive, cognitive and socioaffective.

Metacognitive: is a term used in information-processing theory to indicate an executive function, strategies that involve planning for learning, thinking about the learning process as it is taking place, monitoring of ones production or comprehension , and evaluating learning after an activity is completed. Cognitive: strategies are more limited to specific learning tasks and involve more direct manipulation of the learning material itself. Socioaffective: strategies have to do with social-mediating activity and interacting with others. Communication strategies: potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal. Communication strategies: Avoidance and Compensatory. Avoidance strategies: syntactic or lexical, phonological and topic. Compensatory strategies: prefabricated patterns and code switching. The application of both learning and communication strategies to the classroom learning has come to be known as strategies-based instruction Personality factors Is a personal judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the attitudes that individuals hold towards themselves: self-esteem Three types of self-esteem: general or global, specific or situational and task self-esteem.

Set of defenses build to protect the ego: Inhibition Learners have to be able to gamble a bit, to be willing to try out hunches about the language and take the risk of being wrong: Risk taking It is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension or worry: Anxiety Debilitative anxiety: harmful Facilitative anxiety: helpful

Is the process of putting yourself into someone elses shoes, of reaching beyond the self to understand what another person is feeling: Empathy Is the extent to which a person has a deep-seated need to receive ego enhancement, self-esteem, and a sense of wholeness from other people as opposed to receiving that affirmation within oneself: Extroversion