SLS 460 Midterm Part 1

• Pronunciation very important; taught explicitly from start
• Students imitate and repeat after instructor/recording modeling sound, word, or utterance
• Instructors use information from phonetics (e.g. modified IPA, charts demonstrating articulation of sounds)

• Focus on sound system without phonetic alphabet or explicit linguistic information (unlike Audiolingual Method)
• Teacher speaks as little as possible
• Gestures or tools indicate what students should do
• 1) Tap out rhythmic patterns with pointer, hold up fingers to indicate number of syllables or stress, model proper positioning of articulators
• 2) Sound-color charts, fidel charts, Cuisenair rods

• Procedure
• i. Translation
• Students form small circle
• One student initiates conversation with another
• student by giving a massage in L1
• Teacher translates into L2
• Student repeats translation
• ii. Recording
• Teacher records students’ conversations in L2
• iii. Transcription
• Teacher transcribes students’ utterances for practice and analysis of linguistic forms
• iv. Analysis
• Students analyze and study transcripts of L2 sentences to focus on vocabulary or grammar rules
• The teacher asks if students wish to practice the pronunciation of new utterances
• v. Reflection and observation
• Learners reflect and report their experience of
• the class, as a class or in groups

• L2 learning as the same process as child first language acquisition
• Teach language through commands and physical activity
• 1) Stress-free environment
• 2) Comprehensible input
• 3) Initial focus on listening without pressure to speak

• Using language to communicate should be central
• in all classroom language instruction
• Authentic and meaningful communication = goal of classroom learning
• Threshold level of pronunciation for non-native
• English speakers; below threshold level = unintelligible
• Techniques: listen and imitate, visual aids, tongue twisters, phonetic training, minimal-pair drills
• Teaching topics
• i. Segmental features: Individual sounds (e.g. /r/ vs. /l/)
• ii. Suprasegmental features: Rhythm, stress, intonation
• iii. Most important aspects of segmentals and suprasegmentals (e.g. in English, the /p, b/ distinction (pack vs. back) and word stress are crucial)

Biologically determined period of life during which maximal conditions for language acquisition exist; prior to completion of lateralization (period occurring around puberty in which the assigning of certain functions to different hemispheres of brain is complete)

Increase loss of brain “plasticity” --> incapable of achieving native-like pronunciation in a second language at any time after puberty

• Learners will acquire target language to degree that they acculturate
• i. Sociocultural variables: social dominance patterns, size of foreign-language population, amount of congruence between foreign and target language cultures
• ii. Affective variables: ego permeability, personality, type of motivation, degree of culture shock
• Affective variables carry more weight than sociocultural ones; individuals may successfully learn languages under unfavorable conditions and not learn under favorable ones

• individual learns L2 to attain a certain goal (personal gain)
• does not contribute to successful acculturation
• - immediate/practical goals
• - ex. job promotion

• desire to be socially integrated in the target culture (personalgrowth)- desire to know more about the culture and community of the target language groupand even a desire to be more like members of that group
• **not on study guide, but just in case** assimilative motivation: desire to become anindistinguishable member of the target group

• seeks to predict errors based on a linguistic comparison between learners’ L1 and the target language
• - more similarities between L1 & L2= easier acquisition
• - more differences= more difficult to acquire
• - behaviorists’ view: language acquisition is result of habit formation (stimulus,imitation/practice, positive reinforcement)
• L2 learning as a process of overcoming the habits of the NL in order to acquire new habits of TL

• seeks to describe & analyze different kinds of errors that learners actually made and to understand how learners process the target language
• - to understand how learners process L2 language data

• learners sometimes avoid using certain features of language which they perceive to be difficult for them
• - L2 learners use a particular word of structure they find difficult with a lower frequency than native speakers performing the same task

• functions independently of speaker’s L1 & TL
• follows a system all its own based on L1 structures, L2 input, language universals, and communication strategies

• a plateau in language learning beyond which it is difficult for learners to progress without exceptional effort or motivation
• - persistent lack of change in interlanguage patters, even after extended exposure to or instruction in TL

how different pattern of speech sounds compared to local variety

listener’s perception of how easy or difficult it is to understand a given speech sample

degree of listener’s actual comprehension of an utterance

• Signals learners may need modified input, i.e. foreigner talk
• Certain accents, particularly European accents, associated with sophistication

• Loss of intelligibility
• Discrimination
• - stereotyping: deny someone with a Middle Eastern accent service or employment bc assume from Iraq (disliked country)
• - harassment: coworker mocks L2 accent
• - job discrimination: denied job because of accent even when speaker is intelligible or language skills are unrequired

• Familiarity with L2 speech improves comprehension
• Listeners’ attitudes: understand less when thought other person is from different language background, listeners lack confidence to communicate with L2 speakers