Cognitive Approaches to Second Language Acquisition

Cognitive

Approaches to

Second Language

Acquisition1

Presented by

Ola Sayed Ahmed

Second Language

Learning Theories By

Rasmond Mitchel

Cognitive Approaches to SLA

Introduction

UG Theorists vs. Cognitive theorists.

Two groups of Cognitive Theorists.

Processing Approaches.

Emergenist/Constructionist Approaches.

2

UG Theorists vs. Cognitive theorists

3

Cognitive theoristsUG Theorists

Cognitive psychology &

neurology

Linguistic systemsHypothesis

•One instantiation of learning

among others.

•Understanding how the human

brain processes and learns new

information is crucial to

understanding SLA process.

•Different from other kinds

of learning.

•Describing linguistic

systems is crucial to our

understanding of the SLL

task.

SLL

How learners access

competence in real time, and the

strategies they employ when their

incomplete competence lets them

down.

Distinction between

competence and

performance with more

interest in competence.

Central

Issues

Another form of information

processed using general

mechanisms.

Separate innate module in

the mind

Language

From Innateness to Cognitivism4

Innate

• Language is a separate module in the mind. LAD & UG

Some aspects

• Of language acquisition are innate and other aspects are not.

Only FLA

• There is a language-specific module only for FLA.

Cognitive

• There is no language-specific faculty and language is learned just like any other type of knowledge.

Language Faculty

Two Groups of Cognitive theorists.5

Pienemann, or Towell & Hawkins are theorists who believe that language knowledge might be special in some way, but are concerned to develop transition or processing theories to complement property theories such as UG or Lexical Functional Grammar. Processingtheorists.

N.C. Ellis, MacWhinny, or Tomasello are theorists who think that the separation between property and transition theories is not legitimate. They want to explain both the nature of knowledge and how it is processed through general knowledge. Emergenist or constructionist theorists.

Overview6

Processing Approaches

• Investigate how SL learners process linguistic information, and how their ability to process the second language develops over time.

• Focus on computational dimensions of language learning.

• They are divided to: Information Processing Approach & Process Ability Theory.

Emergenist Approaches

• Share a usage-based view of language development, driven by communicative needs.

• See learning as the analysis of patterns in the language input. It is an associative learning process that leads to regular/rule-like patterns.

• Regularities that emerge from examples committed to memory give rise to slot-and-frame patterns.

• Verbs are found productive in making abstract generalizations with regard to FLA, while chunks play that role when SLA is concerned.

• Include approaches such as, Emergentism, Connectionism/ Associationism .

Cognitive Approaches to SLL

7

Process Approaches Information-Processing models of SLL

McLaughlin’s (1987-1990) Information-processing model. Anderson’s Active Control of Thought ACT model.

Theories of SL Processing. Processability Theory.

Teachability. Perceptual Saliency Approach

Operating principles of FLA. Operating principles of SLA.

Connectionism/ Emergenist Approach. Connectionism in FLA. Connectionism in SLA.

McLaughlin’s Information-processing model

8

In general the fundamental notion of the information-processing approach

to psychological inquiry is that complex behavior builds on simple

processes.(McLaughlin and Heredia,1996, p.213)

These processes are modular and can therefore be studies independently of one another.

McLaughlin’s Information-processing model

9

McLaughlin’s Information-processing model10

Automatization: is the shift-involved in learning-from controlled processing of information towards automatic one.

Controlled Processing: the temporary activation of a selection of information nodes in

the memory, in a new configuration. It needs a lot of attentional control & constrained by limitations

of the short-term-memory.

Automatic Processing: automatic sequences are stored as units in the long-

term-memory. So they can be available very rapidly with minimal attentional control

whenever the situation requires it.

Practice

(Repeated Activation)

McLaughlin’s Information-processing model11

Restructuring: the continuous movement from controlled to automatic processing within the linguistic system of the SL learner.

It destabilizes some structures in the interlanguage (previously acquired) which accounts for the reappearance of SL errors.

It’s the result of exemplar-based representations becoming rule-based. What happens when a controlled process become automatic prematurely, before it’s native-like? Fossilization.

Anderson’s Active Control of Thought model

12

It enables declarative Knowledge (knowledge thatsomething is smth) to become procedural knowledge (knowledge how to do smth). Can you give an example for each type of knowledge from SLL?

There are 3 kinds of memory: Working memory (short-term memory) capacity

limited.

Declarative long-term-memory.

Procedural long-term-memory.

Anderson’s Active Control of Thought model13

Stages of Learning (movement from declarative to procedural knowledge):

It explains the step-by-step nature of learning.

The proceduralized knowledge is available quickly and efficiently, difficult to modify and applicable only to the situation that gave rise to it.

The learner’s speech becomes more fluent as more knowledge becomes proceduralized.

So are all or most of the SL grammar is learnt through the conscious study and application of explicit rules?

Application of ACT to Leaning strategies14

Anderson’s model has been applied Learning strategies by O’Malley & Chamot. What do we mean by Learning Strategies? What is the difference between them & communication strategies.

Learning strategies are classified into three categories: Metacognitive strategies.

Cognitive strategies.

Social or affective strategies.

Application of ACT to Leaning strategies

15

In the view of O’Malley & Chamot

If learning strategies are a skill then they can be taught and will become proceduralized quickly, therefore freeing working memory space for other aspects of learning. But It’s found that learning them involves investment of time and effort in order to be effective.

Application of ACT to Leaning strategies

16

They make it clear that this approach deals with the rate of learning and

how learning strategies influence it rather than the language learning

rout followed by students.

ACT & fluency Development in SLA

17

Tomwell & Hawkins have incorporated aspects of ACT into their model of SLL.

They reject the idea that Anderson’s model can account for all aspects of SLL, especially the acquisition of ‘core’ grammatical knowledge.

Their model attempt to integrate how learners learn the SL system with how they learn to use the system

In order to explain the natural order of grammatical structure and the rigid stages SL learners go through in their SLL they resort to UG.

They argue that Declarative knowledge could be implicit or explicit & the learner will not have a conscious analyzed knowledge of UG

18

Tomwell & Hawkins Claims & different kinds of learning.

19

Internally derived hypotheses about SL structure give rise to a production stored in procedural memory, first in associative level and eventually in the autonomous form.

Explicit rules can be learnt and stored as procedural knowledge.

Learning strategies facilitate the proceduralization of mechanisms for faster processing of linguistic input.

This model attempts to reconcile internal UG-derived hypothesis with what actually happens during the processes of LL and Language use.

Theories of Second Language Processing

20

Processability Theory by Pienemann

outlined by Pienemann claims that a theory of grammar (Lexical functional Grammar LFG; psychologically plausible) and a processing component should be used in order to understand SLA.

LA is the gradual acquisition of the computational mechanisms that operate on the linguistic knowledge the learners construct.

Feature Unification ( one characteristic of LFG) involves: The identification of grammatical information in lexical entry,

The temporary storage of that knowledge and

Its utilization at another point in the constituent structure.

E.g. a noun & its article should have the same gender, number and case features. *Peter walk a dogs.

Learners cannot access hypotheses about the SL that they cannot process. There is hierarchy of processing resources in which learners will gradually move ‘up’ the structure, first accessing words, then their syntactic categories, then joining them in a phrase.E.g. a word need to be added to the L2 lexicon before its grammatical category can

be assigned.

Theories of Second Language Processing

21

The hierarchy of processing resources

Theories of Second Language Processing

22

Processability Theory by Pienemann He makes a prediction for acquisition route. He applied his model to both morphology & syntax in SLA

and one of the major findings was the clear developmental route in the acquisition of German word order, found in both naturalistic and classroom learners.

The stages are due to the hierarchy of processing procedures that he has outlined, in terms of grammatical information.

Teachability Hypothesis :Rigid route→ structures become learnable when the previous

step on the acquisition have been acquired.

Theories of Second Language Processing

23

Perceptual Saliency Approach by Slobin who:

It’s the Perceptual Saliency that drives the learning process, rather than an innate language-specific module LMC (language making capacity).

He devised a number of operating principles which guide children in their processing of the linguistic strings they encounter.Operating principles of FLA by Slobin.Operating principles of SLA by Anderson.

Operating Principles of FLA by Slobin

24

They are based on the claim that certain linguistic forms are more accessible or more salient to the child than others.

They are 5 cognitive (rather than linguistic) principles that characterize the way in which children perceive their environment and try to make sense of it.

Based on these principles Slobin predicted 5 LA universals.

By 1985 the list of operating principles reached the number of 40.

Operating Principles of FLA by Slobin

25

Operating Principles of FLA by Slobin

26LA Universals:

Operating Principles of SLA by Anderson

27

Anderson’s principles are based on those of Slobinbut are adapted to the learners of second language

They are 7 elaborated principles (p.118)

Operating Principles of SLA by Anderson

28

Operating Principles of SLA by Anderson

29

Operating Principles of SLA by Anderson

30

Operating Principles of SLA by Anderson

31

32 Ola Sayed Ahmed