UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE LOJA

REA DE LA EDUCACIN, EL ARTE Y LA

COMUNICACIN
ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

SEMANTICS

Foreing Language
Acquisition
Leonela Pinta
Jessica Castillo
May 2016

DIFFERENCES

Developmental
Patterns
The process is not linear: It is more like a
zigzag process (i.e. regular past tense, the
morpheme

ed

in

its

written

pronounced three different ways).

form,

Stages

Stage I Pre-production (Silent Period)

It is observed at the beginning of exposure to the

new language. It may last from a couple of days to
several (months).

Stages
Stage II: Early production

This stage may last up to six months and

students will develop a receptive and active
vocabulary of about 1000 words.

Stages
Stage III: Speech emergence
Students have developed a vocabulary of about 3,000 words
and can communicate with simple phrases and sentences.
They will ask simple questions, that may or may not be
grammatically correct, such as May I go to bathroom?

Stages
Stage IV: Intermediate fluency

English language learners at the intermediate

fluency stage have a vocabulary of 6000
active words. They are beginning to use more
complex sentences when speaking and writing
and are willing to express opinions and share
their thoughts. They will ask questions to
clarify what they are learning in class.

Stages
Stage IV: Intermediate fluency
Student writing at this stage will have many

errors as ELLs try to master the complexity of

English grammar and sentence structure. Many
students may be translating written assignments
from native language. They should be expected
to synthesize what they have learned and to
make inferences from that learning.

Stages
Stage V: Advanced Fluency

It takes students from 4-10 years to achieve

cognitive academic language proficiency in a
second language. Student at this stage will be
near-native in their ability to perform in
content area learning.

Parts of the brain involved in

language learning
Wernicke's area
Identified

byCarl Wernickein 1874, its main function is thee

comprehension of language and the ability to communicate coherent
ideas, whether the language isvocal,written, signed

It is located between theauditory cortexand thevisual cortex, with

some branches extending around the posterior section of thelateral

sulcus, in theparietal lobe.

Parts of the brain involved in

language learning
Broca's area
Broca's areafollowsWernicke's area, and as such

they both are usually located in the left

hemisphere of thebrain.
Broca's area is involved mostly in the production
ofspeech. Given its proximity to themotor
cortex,neuronsfrom Broca's area send signals to
the larynx, tongue and mouthmotor areas, which
in turn send the signals to the corresponding
muscles, thus allowing the creation ofsounds.

Parts of the brain involved in

language learning
Cortical thickness and verbal fluency
Recent studies have shown that the rate of increase in raw

vocabulary fluency was positively correlated with the rate of

cortical thinning. In other words, greater performance
improvements were associated with greater thinning.
One theory for the relation between cortical thinning and

improved language fluency is the effect thatsynaptic pruninghas

in signaling betweenneurons. If cortical thinning reflects synaptic
pruning, then pruning may occur relatively early for languagebased abilities.
The strongest correlations between language fluency and cortical

thicknesses were found in thetemporal lobeand temporal

parietal junction. Significant correlations were also found in
theauditory cortex, thesomatosensory cortexrelated to the
organs
responsible
forspeech(lips,tongueandmouth),
andfrontalandparietalregions
related
to
attention
and

LONG-TERM MEMORY &

SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Memory Types
There are two major categories of memory:
long-term memory and short-term memory.

LONG-TERM MEMORY
A long-term memory is anything you remember that
happened more than a few minutes ago. Long-term
memories can last for just a few days, or for many
years.

There are many different forms of long-term

memories.
The two major subdivisions are explicit
memory and implicit memory.
Explicit memories are those that you
consciously remember, such as an event in
your life or a particular fact.
Implicit memories are those that you do
without thinking about, like riding a bikeyou
once learned how, and you remembered how,
but now do it without conscious thought.

SHORT-TERM MEMORY

Short-term memory is closely related to

"working memory"is like a receptionist
for the brain. As one of two mainmemory
types, short-term memory is responsible
for storing information temporarily and
determining if it will be dismissed or
transferred on tolong-term memory.

Working Memory vs. Short-Term

Memory
Working memory is a newer concept than
short-term memory. The two are often
used interchangeably; however, working
memory emphasizes the brain's
manipulation of information it receives
(using it, storing it, and so on), while shortterm memory is a more passive concept.
Working memory is often thought of as the
brain's "scratch pad" that keeps
information a number, name, or