ABetterUnderstandingofSecondLanguageTheory

1、A Better Un dersta nding of Second Lan guage TheorySecond Language Learning Theory, written by Rosamond Mitchel, Florrenee Myles and Emma Marsde, provides much help for learners who want to get an in-deep explorati on of theories in differe nt perspectives. Though it is not easy to grasp all that wr

2、iters provide, I do get much ben efits and have a better un dersta nding of the theories of sec ond Ian guage lear ning. Fort un ately, as a sec ond Ian guage teacher, with help of those theories, I can in struct my stude nts more effectively and scie ntifically, becausean understanding of how Iangu

3、ages are learned and processedwill lead to more effective teach ing practices.First of all, there are some differences between econd Ianguagesand foreign Ianguages. Second Ianguage, as explained in the book, are any Ianguages learned later than in earliest childhood; while foreign Ianguages have no

4、substantial local users or members of speaker. I n this book, in spite of differi ng lear ning purpose and circumsta nces the authors in clude foreig n Ian guages un der the more gen eral term of sec ond Ian guages because they believe that the un derly ing lear ning processes are esse ntially the s

5、ame for more local and for more remote target la nguages. Therefore, broadly speak ing, sec ond Ian guage lear ning in clude the lear ning of any Ian guage, to any level, which takes place sometime later tha n the acquisiti on of the first la nguage.In this book, differe nces betwee n in dividual le

6、ar ners are poin ted out. Accord ing to the authors, the most prominent cog nitive and affective emoti on al/ emotio nal factors, which have bee n claimed o in flue nee aspects of the sec ond Ian guage lear ning process and/ or ultimate lear ning success,are Ian guage aptitude, la nguage learning st

7、rategies, la nguage attitudes, motivatio n, self-c on fide nee, an xiety and willi ngn ess to com muni cate. As men tio ned above, la nguage teachers n eed turn some atte nti on to learners cognition and affections, such as learners' interest, the importanee and ben efits of lear ning a sec ond

8、Ian guage and also providi ng esse ntial n ecessary lear ning strategies.In fact, the research of sec ond Ian guage lear ning has a long history, however, the recent history of it can be divided into the following stages. The first period is the 1950s and early 1960s, theoriz ing about sec ond Ian g

9、uage lear ning was still very much an accompa niment to the practical bus in ess of Ian guage teach ing. During this period, behaviorism and Con trastive An alysis were the most famous theories. The 1970s is the sec ond period, which was regarded as the beg inning of the SLL field, for many new theo

10、ries were put forward. Error An alysis and the con cept in terla nguage were born. In additi on, the most importa nt empirical findings of this period were probably the results of the so-called morpheme studies, and, at a con ceptual level, Krashe n ' Monitor Model, which was a logical theoretic

11、al development arising from such studies. Later, i n the early 1980s he refi ned and expa nded his theoretical claims based around a set of five basic hypotheses: The Acquisition - learning Hypothesis; The Mon itor Hypotheses; The Natural Hypothesis; The In put Hypothesis; The Affective Filter Hypot

12、heses. Schumans pid ini zati on/ acculturati on model is ano ther importa nt one as it views second Ianguageacquisition from a radically different angle, taking acco unt of the socioculture sett ing in a new way. Partly in resp onse to developme nts in lin guists and in first Ian guage acquisiti on

13、research, partly in react ion to the 1970s proposals of Burt, Dulay, Selinker, Krashen and others, partly in response to the continuing great postwar expa nsion of sec on d/foreig n Ian guage educati on, the 1980s were a period of strong development for second Ianguage learning theorizing and empiri

14、cal research. Many of the many stra nds of research which continue today can trace their origi ns to this period. The sig nifica nt fruits are e impact of Chomskya n linguistics, information processing models of SLL, the Interaction Hypothesis and out-put Hypothesis. Of course, there are many other

15、1980s developme nts.There are differe nt groups of theories accordi ng to differe nt perspectives, such as linguistic perspectives, which includes Universal Grammar, monitor theory; psychological perspectives, which includes behaviorism, cognitive psychology, connectionism, multidimensional model; i

16、nteractionist perspectives; sociocultual perspectives and socioli nguistic perspectives.In this book, what impresses me most is sociocultral perspectives for it helps me get to know Ian guage lear ning from a completely differe nt an gle. In other words, we can view lear ning in esse ntially social

17、terms. Vygotsky is con sidered to be the foun der of this theory. Con temporary in terpretati ons and modificatio ns to Vygotsky's origi nal ideas mean that current sociocultural belief, the centrality of Ianguage is as a tool for though” or a means of mediation in mental activity and learning i

18、tself is also a mediated process. Importa ntly, lear ning is also see n as socially mediated, that is to say, it is depe ndent on face-to -face in teract ion and shared process such as joint problem-sol ving and discussi on, with experts and also with peers.One of the key ideas of socioculture persp

19、ectives regulation, including self-regulatio n or self-ma nageme nt, and other-regulati on. The n ext one is scaffold ing which is the process of collabrative talk (supportive talk) that guides, directs and promotes the no vice/lear ner. Accordi ng to Stone, scaffold ing has four key features:1. The

20、 recruitment by an adult of a child'invoIvement in a meaningful and culturally desirable activity bey ond the chilcfs curre nt un dersta nding or con trol;2. Assista nee . Usi ng a process of on li ne diag no sis” of the lear ner 'un dersta ndi ng and skill level, and the estimati on of the

21、amount of support required;3. Support which is not a uniform prescription, but may vary in mode, for example, physical gesture, verbal prompt, exte nsive dialogue, as well as in amount;4. The support provided is gradually withdrawn as control of the task is transferred to the lear ner.So Donato furt

22、her puts it, scaffolded performanee is a dialogically constituted in terpsychological mecha nism that promotes the no vice's intern alisatio n of kno wledge co-c on structed in shared activity".The third key idea is Vygotsky "sthe Zone of Proximal Developme nt, also known as ZDP, that

23、is, the doma in of kno wledge or skill where the lear ner is not yet capable of in depe ndent function al, but can achieve a desired outcome give n releva nt assista nee. The other importa nt key ideas are Microge nesis, private and inner speech and Acivity theory. Sociocultural perspectives have a

24、great in flue nee on sec ond Ian guage lear ning and can provide both lear ners and teachers practical guida nee, for example, teacher had better give n no vices dyn amic assessme nt, a systematic attempt to apply the ZPD ides to measureme nt of in dividual lear ner capacities, which breaks with the

25、 traditional dichotomy between assessment and instruction'. Dynamic assessmenthas been developed in general education, in varied forms. Kozulin andGi ndis sum up the un derly ing prin ciples of DA:1. Cognitive process are modifiable and an important task of assessment is to ascerta in their degr

26、ee of modifiability, rather tha n remai n restricted to estimatio n of the child'ma nifest level of fun cti oning;2. In teractive assessme nt that in cludes a lear ning phase provides better in sight into the child slearning capacities than unaided performanee.3. The primary goal of assessmentis

27、 to suggest psychoeducational interventions aimed as the enhan ceme nt and realisati on of the chi' late nt ability to lear n.In con clusi on, sociocultural perspectives theory provides a theoretical support for the curre nt popular cooperative lear ning, which also emphasizes the peer face-to-f

28、ace interaction and peer-regulation to reach higher level. What's more, sociocultural perspectives theory has established itself as a vigorous player in the field , of sec ond Ianguage learning research, making a range of ambitious theoretical claims, and supporting these with diverse if uneven

29、empirical activity. Its central ideas have undoubted appeal for educators, and concepts such as the ZPD, scaffolding and activity theory provide appeali ng alter native in terpretatio ns of the sec ond Ian guage learning and developmental opportunities afforded by classroom basics such as teacher-st

30、udied in teractio n, problem-solvi ng and com muni cative tasks, lear ner strategy trai ning, focus on form and corrective feedback. The rece nt concen tratio n on con cept-basedi nstructi on, and ack no wledgeme nt of the artificiality ' of classroom sec ond Ian guage lear ning, should in itiat

31、ed a more focused age nda and moire susta ined empirical inv estigati on of key ideas.What makes a deep impression on me is Universal Grammar, which is true of the first Ianguage acquisition as well as a second Ianguage acquisition. Chomsky claimed that the main goals of lin guistic theory are to find out the an swers to three basic questi ons about huma n Ian guage:1. What constitutes knowledge of Ianguage?2. How is knowledge of Ianguage acquired?3. How is knowledge of Ianguage put to use?The an swers to the three questi ons can help lear ners get a clear look at the prin ciples and mak