Quotes About Language

because the Japanese learners' attention was regularly drawn to form, they were primed to notice the corrective function of recasts. In the more meaning-oriented French immersion classes, however, recasts were less likely to signal to the learner that the teacher was responding to a language error. Thus is likely that learners assumed that the teachers' recast was simply a confirmation of what they had said.

What enables a child not only to learn words, but to put them together in meaningful sentences? What pushes children to go on developing complex grammatical language even though their early simple communication is successful for most purposes? Does child language develop similarly around the world? How do bilingual children acquire more than one language?

tiny babies are capable of very fine auditory discrimination. For example, they can hear the difference between sounds as similar as 'pa' and 'ba'.

by the time they are a year old, babies who will become speakers of Arabic stop reacting to the difference between 'pa' and 'ba' which is not phonemic in Arabic. Babies who regularly hear more than one language in their environment continue to respond to these differences for a longer period (Werker, Weikum, and Yoshida 2006).

Second language learners are not always aware of their individual cognitive or perceptual learning styles, but virtually all learners, particularly older learners, have strong beliefs and opinions about how their instruction should be delivered. These beliefs are usually based on previous learning experiences and the assumption (right or wrong) that a particular type of instruction is the best way for them to learn.

One important finding is that it is not enough for babies to hear language sounds from electronic devices. In order to learn—or retain—the ability to distinguish between sounds, they need to interact with a human speaker (Conboy and Kuhl 2011). The Internet abounds with remarkable videos of infants reacting to language sounds.

As suggested by Nick Ellis (2003, 2005) and others, language is at least partly learned in units larger than single words, and sentences or phrases are not usually put together one word at a time. As noted in Chapter 1, usage-based research has shown that a learning mechanism, simulated by a computer program, can not only 'learn' from input but can also generalize, even making overgeneralization errors.

certain other aspects of language—for example, individual vocabulary items—can be taught at any time. Learners' acquisition of these variational features appears to depend on factors such as motivation, the learners' sense of identity, language aptitude, and the quality of instruction, including how learners' identities and cultures are acknowledged in the classroom.

language is learned through our perceptual and cognitive experiences and that like all other aspects of learning, language learning involves the discovery, categorization, and determination of patterns through the use of language.

Other studies have measured the electrical activity in brain waves to explore differences in the processing of language input. Some of this research has shown that as an L2 learner's proficiency increases, the brain activity looks more like that of first language processing.

Richard Schmidt (1990, 2001) proposed the noticing hypothesis, suggesting that nothing is learned unless it has been 'noticed'. Noticing does not itself result in acquisition, but it is the essential starting point. From this perspective, comprehensible input does not lead to growth in language knowledge unless the learner becomes aware of a particular language feature.

Of particular importance to this hypothesis is the fact that children are exposed to many thousands of opportunities to learn words and phrases. Learning takes place gradually, as the number of links between language and meaning and among language forms are built up.

For usage-based theorists, acquisition of language, while impressive, is not the only remarkable feat accomplished by the child. They compare it to other cognitive and perceptual learning, including learning to 'see'. That is, the visual abilities that we take for granted, for example, focusing on and interpreting objects in our visual field, are actually learned through experience.

part of the children's language socialization experience at home included parents negatively portraying their own experiences at school, expressing fears about their children's ability to succeed and raising fundamental questions about the value of school in their lives. The researcher concludes that these factors were central in contributing to the children's lack of continued cognitive and linguistic development in school.

As Nick Ellis (2009: 153) put it, 'The language calculator has no "clear" button.' In learning something new, we build on what we already know.

1 Get it right from the beginning 2 Just listen … and read 3 Let's talk 4 Get two for one 5 Teach what is teachable 6 Get it right in the end

To be sure, many adult second language learners achieve excellent language skills. One often sees reference to Joseph Conrad, a native speaker of Polish who became a major writer in the English language, and it is not uncommon to find adult second language learners with a rich vocabulary, sophisticated syntax, and effective pragmatic skills, even though there may be subtle differences between their language use and that of those who began learning the language while very young.

Indicate the extent to which you agree with each statement by marking an X in the box associated with your opinion: SA–strongly agree A–agree somewhat D–disagree somewhat SD–strongly disagree

input flood could help them add something new to their interlanguage, but did not lead them to get rid of an error based on their first language.

learners made more progress when they were given a simple rule and then worked together to find the correct possessive determiners (Spada, Lightbown, and White 2005).

Enhancing the input

Learning conditions Young second language learners are often allowed to be silent until they are ready to speak. They may also practise their second language in songs and games that allow them to blend their voices with those of other children. Older second language learners are often forced to speak from the earliest days of their learning, whether to meet the requirements of classroom instruction or to carry out everyday tasks such as shopping, medical visits, or job interviews.

adults and adolescents can make considerable and rapid progress in their proficiency in a second language in contexts where they use the language in social, personal, professional, or academic interaction.

research has shown that older children and adolescents progress more rapidly than younger children particularly in the early stages of learning. The knowledge and skills that older learners are able to acquire in a relatively short period of time will satisfy the needs of many learners whose goal is to use the language for everyday communication, to succeed on foreign language examinations, or to read texts for an academic course rather than to speak with native-like pronunciation.