ANEP CEIP

Departamento de Segundas Lenguas y Lenguas Extranjeras

NICOLS BRIAN
Training Course for English Teachers
Montevideo, Uruguay
March 9 -13, 2015

possible
results of
classroom
activities

reasons
why some
activities
succeed
and others
fail

THEORIES
& MODELS

Psychological
interpretations

explain

help

FLA

Linguistic
interpretations

childrens acquisition FL / L2

make the classroom a better place for

Chomsky Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

input

Content of sentences
heard by children from
parents, adults and
other children,
television, etc.

LAD

output

Adult competence in a
language that is
formally described by
a grammar of that
language

Slower rate of speech

Distinct pronunciation
Less complex sentences
Rephrasing and repetition
Meaning checks
Gestures and visual reinforcement
Concrete reference
Scaffolding increasing childrens responsibility
as participants in the conversation

COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
patterns
connections
- context
- emotion

2 independent systems of FL performance

Acquisition

Learning

to L1 acquisition
requires meaningful interaction and natural
communication
speakers concentrated in the communicative
act
implicit, subconscious
informal
attitude
stable order of acquisition
formal instruction product
explicit, conscious
conscious knowledge about the
language (e.g.: grammar rules)
formal situations
simple to complex order of learning

communicative language:
acquisition
fluency: consequence of
acquisition
teaching about the language:
enables to develop monitor

Rules learned formally

MONITOR used to check
on output as it arrives in the
mind
Monitor functions:
- Planning
- Editing
- Correcting

Conditions: 1) the language learner has sufficient time

2) he/she focuses on form and correctness
3) he/she knows the rule

The learner can only apply formally learned rules

Students acquire different grammatical morphemes in

regular and predictable sequences (natural order)
Studies: Dulay & Burt, 1974; Fathman, 1975; Makino, 1980; Krashen, 1987.

A language program
syllabus should not be
based on this order
- it should be based on
communicative uses of the
language.
Ease of learning is not the same thing as apparent
simplicity or complexity.

I.
II.

Progressive (-ing)
Plural
Verb "to be"
Auxiliary verbs
Articles (a, an, the)
Irregular past

III.
Regular past
Third person singular (-s)

Stage

About how
many words?

Pre-production (the "Silent

Period")

500 receptive words

Early Production

1000 receptive/active words

Speech Emergence

3000 active words

Intermediate Fluency

6000 active words

Continued Language
Development

Content Area Vocabulary

Linguistic progress lies in the effort made to comprehend

comprehensible input.
Acquisition takes place when:
Learner

Stage i
Learners
current stage of
linguistic
competence.

E
X
P
O
S
E
D
T
O

Stage i +1
Second
language
comprehensible
input one step
beyond his / her
present stage.

Natural communicative input - each learner will receive

some i+1 input
Enough non-linguistic cues to enable the learner to
decipher the message without understanding everything
in the text.

COMPREHENSIBLE OUTPUT (Swain, Snow)

REGULAR, PLANNED, SCAFFOLDED,
MEANINGFUL OPPORTUNITIES FOR
PRODUCTION

Attempts at communication should be:

valued
shaped to make them acceptable and understandable
( communicative means of correction)

Input must be experienced under conditions that lower the

anxiety, and raise the motivation and self-image of the
learner.
Selfconfidence

Motivation
Learner

Anxiety

The affective filter is a mental block.

Total Physical
Response

Total Physical Response

(James Asher, late 1960s): developed to encourage
the use of right-hemisphere processes - more open
to the new habits that SLA requires.
TPR, music, rhythm, drama and games stimulate the
right hemisphere and thus facilitate language
acquisition.
TPR uses movement to help establish meaning and
set a purpose for language use.

TPR theoretical basis

Means to introduce a L2 through listening and physical
involvement, especially in early stages of instruction.
Engaging and effective way of introducing new
vocabulary and making it meaningful.
The child first deciphers the meaning of the L2 in the
right hemisphere in association with observed
actions.

TPR theoretical basis

The left brain observes this association between
language and action for hours before it is ready for an
attempt to talk. The child's understanding is
demonstrated in body expressions.
Right brain stimulation increases the chances for longterm retention for new vocabulary at any level; it
helps students internalize complex structures more
effectively.

TPR SEQUENCE
When giving the command for the fist time the
teacher models the desired behavior.
After several repetitions of the same command,
the teacher removes the model.
After students respond confidently to a
number of single commands, the teacher
begins to combine commands in new ways.
Students are not expected to respond orally
until they feel ready.

TPR SEQUENCE
Early oral responses:
student taking the role of the teacher and giving
commands:
- yes-no replies
- one-word replies

The sequence of commands must never

become predictable, and students must be
confident that the teacher will never
embarrass them.

Teacher, teacher, dame un pencil

FL LEARNERS ERRORS:
native language
foreign language
systematic, not random

The learner progresses along an acquisition

continuum (Seliger, 1988) from zero competence to
near native competence in the FL

(Selinker, 1972

The language (separate linguistic system) that a

learner uses in communication while progressing
toward native speaker competence in the FL.

This interlanguage:

is not her Native Language

is not the FL
contains elements of both.

It gradually develops towards the rule-system of the

FL.
INTERLANGUAGE: the various shapes of the
learner's language competence.

FL

Interlanguage n

Interlanguage ....

Interlanguage 3

L
E
A
R
N
I
N
G
S
T
A
G
E
S

Interlanguage 2

Interlanguage 1
L1

All FL speakers are on some stage of interlanguage.

Errors are not signs of failure, but evidence

of the learner's developing system.

These forms WILL emerge when the

learner is attempting to express
meaning in the FL, as opposed to
practicing structured exercises.

(Dulay, Burt, Krashen 1982) - direct error correction

has little or no influence on the accuracy of
messages.

Correction that responds to the meaning of the

message has a much greater likelihood of making a
difference for the speaker.

Frequently correcting grammatical errors tends to

shift the students attention away from the message
being communicated and to inhibit their willingness
to speak.

REGRESSION
The learner fails to express herself in areas
(phraseology, style or vocabulary) he mastered earlier

OVERGENERALIZATION
The learner searches for a logical grammar of the FL
that would cover every aspect of it, or seeks to find
every aspect of existing grammars confirmed in the
FL.
The learner draws on aspects of the FL already
learned and overuses them.
E.g.: dont= negative
I dont eat. You dont eat. They dont eat. *She dont eat.

OVERELABORATION
The learner wants to apply complex theoretical
structures to contexts that may call for simpler
expression.

INTERFERENCE FROM L1
"Language interference, i.e. transferring linguistic habits
of the L1 to the FL (and possibly vice versa), is an
inevitable outcome of the language contact which occurs
in the process of learning a FL" (Krzeszowski 1967: 34)