Foreign Language Acquisition

1. GAYATHRI RAJA RAM
13 MAY 2018
LIBRARY @ ORCHARD
SKILLS EXCHANGE MEETUP
Foreign Language
Acquisition

2.  Language theories and myths
 Language acquisition strategies for European and
Asian languages
 Habits leading to language competency
 Social domain for language acquisition
 Affective domain for language acquisition
 Crafting your language acquisition plan
 Mobile apps for language acquisition

6.  Incidental acquisition
 conscious or unconscious use of context clues during reading
and listening activities
 common means of learning new vocabulary, especially for
proficient learners or learners who have high motivation for
language learning
 Direct instruction
 Teaching of meaning and mediating learning of words via
structured instruction
 Common means of learning language formally. Grammar,
spelling and written work is at the core of direct instruction.

7.  Learning languages is one of the hardest thing to do
 Maybe. But people do it anyway! =)
 I am not intelligent enough to pick up languages
 Language learning and intelligence are NOT correlated.
 I’m too old/have poor memory/not well-travelled etc
 Brain plasticity is for life. You can learn language at any stage.
 Practice makes perfect
 Nope. Practice makes PERMANENT.
 You can learn languages in 14 / 28/ 50/ x number of days
 Maybe. But it’s best not to believe
marketing claims. =)

8.  Features of European languages
 Similar scripts and have one major parent language – Latin.
 Alphabetic principle
 Phonology is similar
 Stable and predictable spelling rules
 Morphology and syntax are similar
 Tense, possessives, plural inflections are common features
 Sentence formation rules are almost identical
 Subject + Verb + Object (Simple sentence)

9.  Focus on acquiring Vocabulary + Grammar
 Vocabulary
 Thematic focus
 Phonics based approach
 Grammar
 Focus on sentence formation and learn the inflections well
 Master the Subject-Verb-Object sentence order
 Simple ➔ compound ➔ complex sentences
 Learn question tags and answers
 Acquire common Regular + irregular verbs & singular + plural
nouns

10.  Features of Asian languages
 Different scripts & unique letter formations
 Phonology and tone is specific to the language
 Alphabetic or logographic principles
 Morphology and syntax are fairly
transparent
 Spelling and word formation rules
are predictable
 Sentence formation rules can
be complex

11.  Learn the script and phonology
 Decode and encode with reading practice
 Pay attention to tones
 Learn the sentence formation rules
 Is it in SVO order?
 How do question tags work?
 What are the morphological rules?
 Eg: Do you add suffixes for plurals?
 How to express tenses?

12.  Most habits for language competency are ‘common
sense’. The real difference lies in its execution. =)
 Some common sense advice:
 Use target language regularly and consistently
 Make mistakes and get someone to correct you
 Master the alphabets + spelling so that you can code and
decode language on your own ➔ incidental learning
 Focus on vocabulary AND grammar. They go hand in hand.
 Do levelled work → reading, spelling in increasing difficulty
 Set achievable goals + reward yourself
 Get a buddy to cheer / nag you to reach your goals.

13.  Social Domain refers to the interactive side of human
behaviour related to the acquisition of second
languages.
 Linguistic distance between L1 & L2
 Eg: Chinese L1 and Korean L2 / Tamil L1 & French L2
 Language attitudes
 How the language is valued plays a part in acquisition
 Learner and peer influence
 Goals and depth of socialising / assimilation will differ
 Dialect and register
 Some languages are used more in certain contexts and have greater
appeal to learners.
 Eg: Korean pop music

14.  Affective domain refers to the emotional side of
human behaviour.
 Self-Esteem → Global, Specific, Task-based
 Empathy → Awareness, Knowledge and identification with
another
 Anxiety → Facilitative (fight), Debilitative (flight)
 Motivation → intrinsic and extrinsic needs for exploration,
stimulation, knowledge & ego (self-fulfilment).

15.  Motivation
 Genuine need or love for (language) learning
 Looking for new challenges
 Want to impress someone? =P
 Time
 Consistent practice and test yourself
 Commitment
 At what point do you want to stop or give up?
 Some resources
 Books, online resources, language buddy etc…
 A teacher / Someone to keep tabs on you (optional)

16.  Immersion in the new language environment
 Travel?
 Take a class?
 Or find friends in a certain area?
 Thematic use
+
 Use everyday context
 Order food / ask for directions etc in target language
 Switch your email / Operating system to target language
 Read books & listen to the news

17.  Choose your target language and study the features
 Decide on the competency level you want to reach
 Evaluate your resources & abilities
 Allocate time and be realistic
 Break down topics / themes to cover and put them
on a timeline
 Set goals and reach them within a time limit
 Attend lessons or communicate your goals to a
buddy to check and practice language with
 Keep practising. Learning doesn’t stop. =)

18.  Based on your plan, you can get specific with
choosing a language buddy. Here are some realistic
things you can look out for:
 L1 speaker / Native speaker → able to coach you on
phonology, reading, spelling, language features and cultural
aspects of language
 Subject area expert → Eg: able to teach grammar,
handwriting etc.
 Socio-emotional goals buddy → Someone to keep you on
track for your learning goals.
 Seeking the same goals → Learn the language with someone
who has similar learning goals and motivations.

19.  Clarify learning goals and get on the same page
 Follow the PPP approach
 Present
 Focus on the topic or chapter that you will be covering
 Practice
 Demonstrate or explain the context of what you are covering
 Produce
 Practice writing, spelling, speaking or listening tasks with the
materials that you will be covering.
 Be participative so that learners can bounce off ideas
and have an interactive experience
 Anticipate questions and mistakes so that you can
cover the features of the target language

20.  Phonology
 Learning the sounds of the language
 Differentiating and producing tones
 enunciation
 Differences in script
 Alphabetic vs Logographic
 Spelling
 Handwriting and letter formation
 Grammar
 Word order
 Tenses, plurals, irregular verbs
 Sentence formation and question tags

23.  There are many learning resources available to us
via the internet or published books. Here are some
features you can look out for:
 Grouping of vocabulary items via themes or grammar classes
 Organisation → Easy to difficult
 Repetitive and cumulative
 Has a presentation aspect – eg: has pictures + words
 Allows for sufficient practice
 Progress monitoring
 Covers reading, writing, listening and speaking
 Bonus: teaches translation between target language and your
L1.

24.  Some apps to get you started:
 Duolingo.
 HelloTalk.
 Mindsnacks.
 Busuu.
 Babbel.
 Memrise.
 Leaf.
 Lingua.ly.

25.  Frayer’s model
 Visual thesaurus
 Cartoons
 Wordle
 Word sorting

26.  Designed by Dorothy Frayer at the University of
Wisconsin
 Has many expansion possibilities
 Suitable for beginners
 Four sections:
 Critical characteristics
 Non-critical characteristics
 Example
 Non-example

27.  Add sections like:
 Illustrations
 Mnemonics
 Dictionary definitions
 synonyms / antonyms
 Part of speech
 Different senses of the word
 Word intensity
 Arrange synonyms Eg: Happy, ecstatic, jubilant
 Morphology
 Related Greek/latin roots

32.  Developing vocabulary and grammar is important
 Don’t just focus on one aspect. It can end up being a crutch to
successful language acquisition =)
 Language learning structures can be adjusted to
every need, learner and goal
 Learning a language isn’t as hard as people make it out to be.

33.  Weblinks:
 Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/
 Visual thesaurus: www.visualthesaurus.com/
 Visuwords: www.visualthesaurus.com/
 Snappywords: http://www.snappywords.com/
 Frayer model generator:
http://www.worksheetworks.com/miscellanea/graphic-
organizers/frayer.html
 Spelling city: http://www.spellingcity.com/

34.  Chaffin, R. (1997). Associations to unfamiliar words:
Learning the meanings of new words. Memory &
Cognition, 25, 203 (24).
 Krashen, S. (1989). We acquire vocabulary and
spelling by reading: Additional evidence for the
input hypothesis. The Modern language Journal, 73,
iv, 439-464.
 Nation, I.S.P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another
language. Cambridge: C.U.P.