Second Language Acquisition

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Directions:

The following essential questions that I have posted are critical to help you explore and understand the assigned readings in W Ch.6 and 7 during Week 6.  These questions are intended to drive and stimulate the discussion and move your understanding beyond the plain sense of the text. Reading my PPT and watching the posted videos will guide you to answer these questions.

Please select only one question out of these posted essential questions in these two chapters, answer them and post your responses in the Week 5 discussion forum (50 words for each question minimum). Please write your answers in your own words!!  Please note:

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· Be coherent;

· Be posted in the time allotted;

· Be respectful;

· Be scholarly

The following questions are based on W Ch.6:

· After looking over the principles and subprinciples of VanPatten’s Model of Input Processing, give an example of how these principles or subprinciples have been demonstrated in your classroom.

· Explain some of the structured input activities that you use/or you would like to use in your classroom, based on the information in the text and your classroom experience, what is your rationale for using a certain activity?

The following questions are based on W Ch.7:

· What are the grammar consciousness raising tasks? Do you support the implementation of these tasks to teach grammar in your class?Why or why not?

· How are GCR Tasks carried out? A specific example is encouraged to be provided here. Do you think this is beneficial for learners?

W Ch. 6 Structured Input Activities

  • A type of input enhancement: structure the input so that learner abandon their inefficient strategies for more optimal ones.
  • The goal:
  • Get learners to notice target forms
  • Alter any incorrect strategies they may be using to process input
  • Emphasize the procedure of how learner process input
  • Principles of VanPatten’s model of Input Processing
  • Help learners make better form-meaning connections

Learners Process Input for Meaning Before Form

 

1) Content words are heard and identified in sentences before grammatical form

2) Learners rely on lexical items before grammatical form

3) Learners process non redundant meaningful grammar before grammatical form

4) Learners process simple sentences before complex speech

5) Learners process sentences in steps: initial position words before final position

The First Noun Principle

1) Word order in sentences can affect how learners make meaning

2) English word order (SVO)

3) Learners can also rely on background knowledge and sentence cues to interpret meaning from sentences where nouns or noun order could confuse them.

Example Provided by Wong

  • See examples provided in the textbook from pp.69-71;
  • Make sure you understand the following:
  • 1) How to created structured input activities?
  • 2) Why the examples provided are structured input activities?
  • 3) How can you differentiate from referential activites and affective activities?

Two Types of Structured Input Activities

  • Referential activities are those that involve only one correct answer.
  • Affective activities do not have any right or wrong answer; learners have to simply indicate their agreement or opinions about a set of sentences.

Example I

    • Activity 1
    • Instruction: Listen to the following sentences and decide whether they describe an action that was done before or is usually done.
    • Example:

 

 

Now Before
1 The teacher corrected the essays.
2 The man cleaned the table.
3 I wake up at 5 in the morning.
4 The train leaves the station at 8 am.
5 The writer finished writing the book.
6 The trees go green in the spring.

According to the input-processing model, learners prefer processing lexical items to morphological items. Since tenses in English can be marked both morphologically and lexically, learners may not process the morphological marker if the tense is also marked lexically with a time reference, such as an adverb of time. The goal of activity 1 is to push learners to process the morphological marker -ed, which they may not otherwise notice if the past adverbial is provided.

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Example II

  • Activity 2
  • Instruction: Read the following statements and decide whether the person is talking about what he currently does or what he will do when he retires.
Now Retirement
1 I meet new people.
2 I will travel a lot.
3 I will work hard.
4 I give money to charities.
5 I will be happy.
6 I am a role model.
7 I play soccer.
8 I will hold many parties.

Activity 2 focuses on the English future tense. In this activity, the time referent has been omitted from the statements. Therefore, to process the tense of the sentence, the learner must pay attention to the morphological marker. Similar activities can be designed with a focus on other tenses.

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Example III

  • Students’ instruction: Listen to each of the following sentences and then decide who is performing the action by checking the box.
  • The teacher’s instructions: Read each sentence only once and then, after each sentence, ask for an answer. Do not wait until the end to review answers.
  • Students do not repeat or otherwise produce the structure.
  • 1. The girl made the man check the house for mice.
  • 2. My dad made my brother babysit the children all night.
  • 3. Mom let the boys go to three different circuses in one week.
  • 4. The boss had the chef prepare several roast geese for the wedding dinner.
  • 5. Jack let Joe collect some of the data required for our project.
  • The professor had the students create hypotheses for their science experiment.
1 Who checked the house for mice? The girl The man
2 Who babysat the children all night? My dad My brother
3 Who went to three different circuses in one week? Mom The boys
4 Who prepared several roast geese for the wedding dinner? The boss The chef
5 Who collected some of the data required for our project? Jack Joe
6 Who had the students create hypotheses for their science experiment? The professor The students

One of the grammatical forms that may be difficult for English language learners is causative construction, sentences in which someone is caused to do something. Examples of such constructions include: “I had my students write an essay” and “I made the man clean the room.” Since these sentences include two agents, according to the input processing model, students may always assign the role of the person who did the activity to the first noun. Therefore, they may have problems interpreting the statements accurately. For example, in the sentence “John had his student write an essay,” students may incorrectly interpret it as “John wrote the essay.” A structured input activity such as the following can be designed to help learners to interpret such statements accurately.

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Suggestions for Developing Structured Input Activities

  • 1.  Teach only one thing at a time. Don’t overburden students until you are sure they have worked out form-meaning relationships.

    2.  Keep meaning in focus. Students must understand to perform an activity.

    3.  Learners must do something with the input. Not just repeat but “internally process”, e.g. students might have to say they agree or disagree rather than just repeat.

    4. Use input. Use oral and written input.

    5.  Move from sentences to context. Work at sentence level, but move to longer utterances and texts.

    6. Keep the processing strategies in mind.  VanPatten distinguishes between Referential and Affective activities. The former involve producing right or wrong answers, the latter invite opinions, beliefs and other affective responses which are more deeply engaging.

Steps to Creating a Structured Activity

Step 1: Choose a grammar point that you want students to process
• I have done well with present tense, past tense, difference between past tenses, subjunctive, adjective agreement (more to come)

Step 2: Create a situation or scenario in which learners will need to process input

Step 3: Write simple sentences using the grammar point that you want students to process
•Remember to avoid time markers like yesterday or tomorrow
•Remember to format them in a way so your subject pronouns aren’t the first word they see

Step 4: Create an input activity to manipulate the input students are receiving (ex: categorizing)

Step 5: Create an extension activity that requires learners to refer to the input and do something with it
•Add three more ideas to this list
​•Decide if you agree or disagree with these statements

W Ch. 7 Grammar Consciousness-Raising Tasks

  • The goal of the task
  • Make learners aware of the rules that govern the use of particular language forms
  • Engage learns in meaningful interaction

What is Grammar
Consciousness-Raising Tasks?

According to the input-processing model, learners prefer processing lexical items to morphological items. Since tenses in English can be marked both morphologically and lexically, learners may not process the morphological marker if the tense is also marked lexically with a time reference, such as an adverb of time. The goal of activity 1 is to push learners to process the morphological marker -ed, which they may not otherwise notice if the past adverbial is provided.

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Activity 2 focuses on the English future tense. In this activity, the time referent has been omitted from the statements. Therefore, to process the tense of the sentence, the learner must pay attention to the morphological marker. Similar activities can be designed with a focus on other tenses.

*

One of the grammatical forms that may be difficult for English language learners is causative construction, sentences in which someone is caused to do something. Examples of such constructions include: “I had my students write an essay” and “I made the man clean the room.” Since these sentences include two agents, according to the input processing model, students may always assign the role of the person who did the activity to the first noun. Therefore, they may have problems interpreting the statements accurately. For example, in the sentence “John had his student write an essay,” students may incorrectly interpret it as “John wrote the essay.” A structured input activity such as the following can be designed to help learners to interpret such statements accurately.

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