English (SLA) - Lesson 1

• PABO
• HBO
• Studiejaar 1

Second Language Acquisition

English BP - Lecture 1

Jessie Penning

Programme for today

1. Introduction and practical items 

2. Assessments

3. Learning a second language

Jessie Penning

High school English Teacher

CLIL and diversity coordinator

Australian

31 years

Degrees

[e-mail]

How about you?
Introduce yourself (name) and write down three interesting things about yourself

How do you feel when you need to use English?

1. Fine. I'm a proficient
2. Okay, but I. get nervous
3. Help! I can't speak English
4. Mij niet bellen

Do you think English should be taught at school?

Yes

No

Why should English be taught in primary schools?

English and SLA

Important definitions

• Native language / mother tongue / L1
  
• Second language (L2), third language (L3), …
  
• Foreign language acquisition
  
• Monolingualism – bilingualism – multilingualism
  
• Simultaneous/successive second language learners
  
• L1 interference

Exercise ‘foreign language’

1. Work in pairs and choose a language one of you (person A) speaks to a limited degree (not English, but French of Spanish for instance) and the other one (person B) understand to a limited degree.
   
2. Person A explains in the chosen language why (s)he wants to become a teacher. Person B tries to understand.
   
3. Switch roles.
   

Evaluation

1. Was it difficult to speak the foreign language? Why?
   
2. Did you improve after a few minutes?
   
3. How did you try to express yourself? What were you thinking?
   
4. How did you feel while speaking a foreign language?
   
5. Was it difficult to understand the speaker?
   

Foreign Language - Vocabulary and speaking

Discuss in pairs IN ENGLISH, discuss in class:

- Have you travelled to other countries for your holiday? Which country did you visit?

- Did you speak a foreign language?

- Do you speak any other languages than Dutch? Which ones? Do you consider those languages as your second/third… language? (In other words, how proficient should one be?)

- What do you think the advantages or disadvantages are of speaking other languages in addition to your mother tongue?

EIBO (Engels in het basisonderwijs)

Learning a new language is difficult but fun at the same time.
As a teacher:

• Try to create a positive attitude towards learning a new language.
  
• Try to create a safe environment in which students feel confident enough to speak English.
  

Second language learning

There are multiple theories on how people learn a (second) language.

The ones you need to remember are from:

• Chomsky
  
• Skinner
  
• Brüner

Chomsky

• Strict distinction between grammar and lexicon
  
• Universal grammar which is innate
  
• Language learners construct new utterances based on the universal grammar principles and the new words they learn (creative construction).
  
• Counter argument:
  
•  Children do need language input!
  

Skinner

• Language is behavior = language learners imitate
  
• A baby is a ‘tabula rasa’.
  
• Counter argument:
  
•  Children construct utterances that they
  
•  haven’t heard before (“Nee, boek stuk”)
  

Brüner

• Interactionist theory: language learning in a socio-cultural context
  
• Zone of proximal development (Vygotsky)
  
• Scaffolding = gradually building
  
•  and diminishing help
  

Question

Question: Is second language learning similar to first language learning?

YES!

A second language learner goes through roughly the same stages as a first language learner.

• Use of L1 in the new context (not effective for communication)
  
• Silent period
  
• Use of chunks
  
• Productive L2 use (through a stage of interlanguage which gets closer and closer to the target language)
  

Levels of language, levels of language development

• Phonology
  
• Lexicon
  
• Morphology
  
• Syntax
  
• Semantics
  
• Pragmatics
  

At which levels do you expect L1 interference?

Your school

EIBO: three variants

• EIBO bovenbouw (7/8)

One hour a week

Versterkt: more than one hour a week

CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning (English Methodology)

• Vervroegd EIBO (5/6)
• VVTO: vervroegd vreemdetalenonderwijs (1)
• Pilot: TPO (tweetalig primair onderwijs) = 30 to 50 % English