Bilingualism

=**Second Language Acquisition **= =**(or...** Learning a 2nd language. I liked Jess's way of saying it) =


 * Focus:**
 * Impact of fear and anxiety on 2nd language acquisition
 * Social psychology
 * situation anxiety

**Potential Focus Question:** **To what extent does situational and state anxiety affect second language acquisition? (To what extent implies at least 3 factors: social, biological, psychological) **


 * Overview:**


 * What is anxiety in regards to the focus question?**
 * of the[| three types], I'd say situation-specific anxiety most pertinent in this essay, with the situation being second language acquisition. As for how its regarded in context to 2nd language acquisition, situation-specific anxiety "based on the general orientation of anxiety resting on certain learning contexts in which a learner does not perceive himself or herself fit or linguistically capable for acquiring proficiency in speaking and/or reading contexts." **


 *  there's something about a switch-off technique to ease anxiety? but this is also important; the factors which affect anxiety **
 *  "The degree of anxiety can also be intensified by a few factors, that often are overlooked: **


 *  1. age - varies between adults and children and the learning context at hand. **
 *  2. Motivated - How motivated is the learner to study the second language **
 *  3. Self-image. Does the learner have enough self-confidence?" **
 *  source: Sasson, Dorit. "Anxiety in Second Language Learning." //Associated Content - Associatedcontent.com//. 16 Nov. 2007. Web. 19 July 2010. . **

//The Multilingual Dilemma p.157// // **notes taken:** babies lose the sounds they aren't exposed to, "and it becomes increasingly difficult to get them back" // // -question: "Is this (mentioning the above statement) a good reason to teach children foreign languages during the most sensitive period for mastering sounds?" // // -where most children who grow up in bilingual households master both languages, there is a slight delay in their overall development but they eventually catch up // // -second language acquisition is facilitated by a good learning environment--> communication and everyday interaction with family members (exceptions: brain with inefficient circuits for language) //

// -the difference in 2nd language acquisition for adults and children are that children can pick up the sounds faster but the adults can understand and master the rules of grammar with better strategies, though their pronunciation and inflection might not be as good //

// **source:** // Healy, Jane M. //Your Child's Growing Mind: a Parent's Guide to Learning from Birth to Adolescence//. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1987. Print.

What is language used for? What I've learned from the // Culture, Language, and Communication // section of the Culture and Psychology book

-language is important for developing, maintaining, and transmitting culture (cross-generational) -we make judgments of people based on their level of mastery in a particular language (what are the implications of this for one who is learning a second language? I know when I hear someone is fluent in five languages I am in awe)

Language is used as a form of communication: 2 types of communication: verbal and nonverbal (which constitutes facial expressions, tone of voice, posture, dress, distance between people)

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis--> relationship between language and cognition where language helps structure our worldview; crucial to culture=language relationship

5 critical features of a language (apply to all languages in all cultures) 1. lexicon 2. syntax and grammar (adj placement, plurals, system of rules for word forms) 3. phonology (system of rules for pronunciation--> spanish and phonetic, latin and "che" sound vs english "see" sound??) 4. semantics (what words mean/represent) 5. pragmatics (system of rules for how language is used and understood in certain social/environmental contexts)

phonemes- smallest and most basic units of sound in a language -->how language gains complexity as sound gains meaning (morphemes) and produces words- strung together in phrases and sentences morphemes- smallest and most basic units of meaning in a language

relationship between culture and language--> culture influences structure and functional use **of language; language= result of culture, but language influences/reinforces cultural values/worldviews (circular reasoning?!??!!) no culture can be understood w/o understanding of its language**
 * association between different cultures' languages and lexicons (as in... Swedish and Norwegian??)**

(source--Matsumoto book)

Is language actually learned? There is a theory that it grows... "The term "language learning" has had its day. It is a relic of the past. A child does not learn language. It grows in the mind-brain of the child." (p. 47 Maher & Groves) "Children already bring a package of relevant information to the process of language acquisition . With this, they can progress to more and more mature states of knowledge." (47 Maher & Groves)

Support-- James Harris "The growth of knowledge ... [resembles] ... the growth of Fruit; however external causes may in some degree cooperate, it is the internal vigour, and virtue of the tree, that must ripen the juices to their maturity." (50)

Chomsky's theory continues to discuss innateness - "means by this not that language is already completed, sitting waiting in the brain of the child, ready to be spoken. Rather, the child has a genetic programme, a blueprint which comes into use when the child is ready. ...Language arises in the mind-brain of the child as a specific realization of the language faculty, which passes through three states: An initial state A series of states (as the child matures in a speech community)  A steady state (at or before puberty)" (48 Maher & Groves)

"The steady state changes only in relatively superficial ways, mainly by acquisition of new vocabulary items that satisfy the conditions of the acquired language. Acquiring a language is less something that a child does than something that happens to the child, like growing arms rather than wings, or undergoing puberty at a certain stage of maturation. These processes depend on external events, but the basic lines of development are //internally determined//. (p 49)

**There is also a doctrine that suggests there are constraints on learning** ** "The doctrine, designed within the intellectual tradition, that human mentality is perfectly plastic and that humans can learn anything is a mistake. Human mentality is highly constrained. It can develop in some directions and not others." -Chomsky (50 groves) ** source: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 32px;">Maher, John C., and Judy Groves. //Introducing Chomsky//. Ed. Richard Appignanesi. New York, NY: Totem, 1997. Print.

numerous factors that focus on difficulty of learning to read in another language: citing Table 1.1 "Characteristics: L1 (language one) beginning readers already know a lot of the language they are beginning to read, (sounds, vocabulary, grammar, discourse). L2 learners do not. ** General effects: **  Learning to read an L2 involves a great deal of language learning.  ** Particular effects: ** L2 learners need very controlled texts. L2 learners need a greater amount of pre-reading activities
 * Learning to Read in Another Language!**
 * notes from //Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing// I.S.P. Nation**

** Characteristics: ** L2 beginners can already read in their L1 ** General effects: ** L2 beginners have general cognitive skills. They have preconceptions and attitudes to reading. They have language specific skills. There will be interference and facilitation effects between the L1 and L2. ** Particular effects: ** L2 beginners do not need to learn what they can transfer from the L1. They may need to change their attitudes to reading. Learners may have to learn a difference writing system.

** Characteristics: ** L2 beginners are usually older than L1 beginners. ** General effects: ** L2 learners have greater metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness. ** Particular effects: ** It is easy to transfer L1 skills. L2 learners can use more explicit approaches and tools like dictionaries. __ This table has been kept simple by focusing on only one learner who is just beginning to read. It is more complicated if you have several learners with different L1s, different L2 proficiencies, different L1 reading proficiencies, and different motivations for reading. " (source: p 7 of "Learning to Read in Another Language" from //Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing//)

//Fluency Development// // Learning requires reading. lots of reading. (p 8) //

// Nation, I. S. P. //Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing//. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.//


 * Language Acquisition:** define what this is

steven pinker

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/papers/JCL%20MacWhinney%20commentary.pdf

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/papers/learnabilityaquisitiondative.pdf


 * other factors:**

http://www.sdkrashen.com/SL_Acquisition_and_Learning/064.html <-- first language only

http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd2073.pdf

http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/factors.htm

http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0005contextual.html

http://www.bhcc.mass.edu/PDFs/TFOT_PsychFactors2ndLang.pdf


 * Broca and Wernicke's areas-**
 * where Wernicke's area- "region devoted to understanding the meaning of words and the subject matter or spoken language, or semantics. Broca's area- "region dedicated to the execution of speech as well as some deep grammatical aspects of language"**


 * "None of the 12 bilinguals had two separate Wernicke's areas, Dr. Hirsch said. In an English and Spanish speaker, for instance, Spanish semantics blended with English semantics in the same area. But there were dramatic differences in Broca's areas, Dr. Hirsch said. **
 * In people who had learned both languages in infancy, there was only one uniform Broca's region for both languages, a dot of tissue containing about 30,000 neurons. Among those who had learned a second language in adolescence, however, Broca's area seemed to be divided into two distinct areas. Only one area was activated for each language. These two areas lay close to each other but were always separate, Dr. Hirsch said, and the second language area was always the same size as the first language area. **
 * This implies that the brain uses different strategies for learning languages, depending on age, Dr. Hirsch said. A baby learns to talk using all faculties--hearing, vision, touch and movement--which may feed into hardwired circuits like Broca's area. Once cells in this region become tuned to one or more languages, they become fixed. If two languages are acquired at this time, they become intermingled. **
 * But people who learn a second language in high school have to acquire new skills for generating the complex speech sounds of the new tongue, which may explain why a second language is harder to learn. Broca's area is already dedicated to the native tongue and so an ancillary Broca's region is created. But Wernicke's area, which handles the simpler semantic aspects of language, can overlap. **
 * --Sandra Blakeslee, July 1997" **
 * (p 121) **
 * the Dr. Hirsch referred to is Dr. Joy Hirsch, head of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's functional MRI Laboratory **
 * source- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Wade, Nicholas. //The Science times Book of Language and Linguistics//. New York: Lyons, 2000. Print. **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 32px;">more on broca's area: **http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/research/2004_HBM_poster.pdf

fear of social rejection & negative evaluation <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fear and anxiety in English foreign language learners. So this study consisted of 112 foreign language learners and the conclusion was that they suffered fears from negative evaluation and "language anxiety"-where "Anxiety as an affective state is defined as an uncomfortable emotional state in which one perceives danger, feels powerless, and experiences tension in the face an expected danger (Blau, 1955)"
 * Why would there be anxiety in second language acquisition?**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> three types: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //trait-// aspect of personality (scovel, 1978) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> state- particular moment in time in response to definite situation (Spielberger, 1983) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> situation-specific- specific situations and events (like public speaking) (Ellis, 1994)

[DOC] ===How self-esteem and //anxiety// affect //second language// learners=== it.snhu.edu/EFL-537/yangyating/Research%20Paper.doc

state anxiety ^

http://www.bhcc.mass.edu/PDFs/TFOT_PsychFactors2ndLang.pdf sweating buckets HAHA

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> for second language learners-- three types of fears: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //Communication apprehension// occurs in cases where learners lack mature communication skills although they have mature ideas and thoughts. It refers to a fear of getting into real communication with others. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //Test anxiety//, on the other hand, is an apprehension towards academic evaluation. It could be defined as a fear of failing in tests and an unpleasant experience held either consciously or unconsciously by learners in many situations. This type of anxiety concerns apprehension towards academic evaluation which is based on a fear of failure (Horwitz and Young, 1991). <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //fear of negative evaluation// is observed when foreign language learners feel incapable of making the proper social impression and it is an apprehension towards evaluations by others and avoidance of evaluative situations.

"<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Is there a relationship between fear of negative evaluation and foreign language anxiety? " good question. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> (source: [])

Tension in the face connection: Mrs. Shute's interview

<span style="color: #08489b; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Other sources (more research into these so I can organize it better) books!

//**Handbook of Language and Literacy: Development and Disorders**// Learning to read and write in 2 languages: (two way immersion= twi) pgs 248-262 []

//** In Other Words: The Science and Psychology of Second-Language Acquisition **// p. 124-203 []

=Language anxiety: conflict and change in the history of English= By Tim William Machan

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [| http://www.vccaedu.org/inquiry/inquiry-spring2003/i-81-worde.html] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> anxiety impairs learning

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> lack of confidence--> hindrance in learning the second language

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> " Language anxiety is said to have a 'subtle' and 'pervasive' effect on cognitive processing ([|MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994]; [|Oxford, 1999]) and to be associated with "deficits in listening comprehension, impaired vocabulary learning, reduced word production, low scores on standardized tests, low grades in language courses or a combination of these factors" ([|Gardner, Tremblay & Masgoret, 1997, p. 345]). In response to their critics (notably [|Sparks & Ganschow, 1995], [|2000]) who do not accept a causal relationship between anxiety and learning, MacIntyre ([|1995a], [|1995b], [|1999]) in the 90s and, more recently, Horwitz, ([|2000], [|2001]) strongly argue that anxiety is a multifaceted variable that can be both a //cause// and a //consequence// of poor language learning and remind us ([|Horwitz, 2000, p. 256]) that "the potential of anxiety to interfere with learning and performance is one of the most accepted phenomena in psychology and education". "

so from all these links--social influences involve belief that they cannot (Americans cant learn a second language?) and fear of social rejection--thus impedes any incentive to learn

[] factors that lead to anxiety--help with social area of syllabus

"H.D. Brown predicted that the construct of anxiety was intricately intertwined with self-esteem, inhibition, and risk-taking, and that it played an important affective role in second language acquisition." []

[] "negative capability"- a solution towards learning anxiety??

Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) is a hindrance to some teachers as it might de-motivate them in teaching foreign languages!! a "whats the point" mentality. hmmm what is it? it's claiming that "<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">after a certain period of time our language learning abilities decrease significantly. Scientists say that as we get older and our brains begin to mature, lateralization occurs as certain functions are assigned to either the left or right side of the brain. Children's brains, which have not lateralized yet, are able to use both hemispheres for language learning. But once lateralization is complete, research suggests that we rely solely on our left hemisphere for language skills. Therefore, we have a critical period of time before we lose this ability to use both hemispheres simultaneously for language learning (Brown 2000)." []

[] this is about learning chinese and english and people's attitudes towards it; difficulties for chinese learners to learn english as well; case study shows how link between subjects of study and students' enthusiasm are linked

[] social pressures to learn foreign languages? less people wanna do it

[]

Anxiety and Speaking English as a Second Language
[|http://ijb.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/4/391]

The effect of multilingualism, sociobiographical, and situational factors on communicative anxiety and foreign language anxiety of mature language learners
^^ require subscription to journal of bilingualism -_-


 * Learning a 2nd language in the 20s to 30s - difficulties**

[| http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/snow10012002.html] ^ what i learned from this article was that though children are more likely to master their second language, they can lose a lot of proficiency in their first language. (This is true in my own life, as i first learned Chinese and only spoke Chinese until i was three, and now my proficiency for English far exceeds my proficiency in Chinese) I also learned that children are more likely to experiment with new sounds and sequences, which may attribute to the anxiety some adults feel in their own learning of second languages.

[] this is the route of development and the rate of learning, I'm not sure if it will tie in with the anxiety part, but with the biological aspect it will

[|http://www.unc.edu/~gerfen/Ling30Sp2002/acquisition.html] I think i read about this on Jess's wiki too- but it goes into the theories of language acquisition: once again the biological aspect of the syllabus can use this information (thanks ms leong!)

Northwestern University - Bilingualism and psycholinguistic research [] ^ for this site, now that I have a more narrow focus, I don't think there's anything that relevant about anxiety in learning?

The bilingual brain []

Critical period effects []

Other links:

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/research/selected_theoretical_papers.html steven pinker

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/nicolesling/theories_of_language_acquisition theories of language acquisition

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/index.html more papers by steven pinker