TESOL General Concepts

A. a generic acronym referring to teaching English to speakers of other languages in any country and in any circumstance

B. referring to ESL taught in countries where English is the major language of commerce an education

(Brown, p. 3)

English taught in countries where English is not a major language of commerce and education.

(Brown, p. 3)

• 1. Develop an explicit theory.
• 2. Derive a testable prediction from the theory.
• 3. Conduct research to test the prediction.
• 4. Modify (or abandon) the theory if the prediction is disconfirmed.
• 5. Test a new prediction if the first prediction is confirmed.

(Ellis 1985, p. 240)

• 1. Select a phenomenon for investigation.
• 2. Measure its characteristics.
• 3. Collect data and look for systematic patterns.
• 4. Formalize significant patterns as rules describing natural events.

(Ellis 1985, p. 250)

• 1. The Acculturation Model (and Nativization Model)
• 2. Accomodation Theory
• 3. Discourse Theory
• 4. The Monitor Model
• 5. The Variable Competence Model
• 6. The Universal Hypothesis
• 7. A Neurofunctional Theory
• (Ellis 1985, pp. 248, 251 ff)

'...SLA is just one aspect of acculturation and the degree to which a learner acculturates to the target language group will control the degree to which he acquires the second language.' (Schumann 1978c:34)

(Ellis 1985 p. 251)

SLA consists of nativization and denativization.

Nativization consists of assimilation, in which the learner makes the input comform to his/her own internalized view of the L2 system. (Evident in pidginization and early stages of FLA and SLA.)

Denativization involves accomodation, in which the learner adjust his internalized system to make it fit the input.



(Ellis 1985, pp. 253-254)

Proficiency depends on motiviation, which is tied to five factors:

• 1. Identification with the ingroup.
• 2. Inter-ethnic comparison.
• 3. Perception of ethno-linguistic vitality.
• 4. Perception of ingroup boundaries.
• 5. Identification with other social categories.

(Ellis 1985, p. 257)

Halliday's idea that language can be learned by learning to communicate. SLA learners are motivated to accomplish actions, which promotes learning of the L2.

• 1. SLA follows a 'natural' route in syntactical development.
• 2. Native speakers adjust their speech in order to negotiate meaning with non-native spakers.
• 3. The conversational strategies used to negotiate meaning, and the resulting adjusted input, influence the rate and route of SLA in several ways.
• a. The learner learns the grammar of the L@ in the same order as the frequency order of the various features in the input.
• b. The learner acquires commonly occurring formulas and then later analyzes these into their component parts.
• c. The learner is helped to construct sentences vertically; vertical structures are the precursors of horizontal structures.
• 4. Thus, the 'natural' route is the result of learning how to hold conversations.

(Ellis 1985, pp. 259-260)

• 1. The acquisition learning hypothesis. (Internalizing new L2 knowedge, storing it, and using it)
• 2. The natural order hypothesis. (Learners follow an invariable order of acquisition of L2 grammar features)
• 3. The Monitor hypothesis. (Learners use the 'Monitor', a device that edits language performance.)
• 4. The input hypothesis. (Acquisition takes place as a result of the learner having understood input that is a little beyond the current level of his competence [i + 1 level].)
• 5. The affective filter hypothesis. (How affective factors relate to SLA. The filter controls how much input the learner comes into contact with, and how much is converted to intake.)

(Ellis 1985, pp. 261-266)

• 1. Aptitude.
• 2. Role of the first language.
• 3. Routines and patterns.
• 4. Individual differences.
• 5. Age

(Ellis 1985, pp. 263-264)

Distinguishes the process of language use from the product of language use.

• The product (different types of discourse) result from:
• 1. variable competence (the user possesses a heterogeneous rules system) and / or
• 2. variable application of procedures for actualizing knowledge in discourse.

• 1. There is a single knowledge store containing variable interlanguage rules according to how automatic and how analyzed the rules are.
• 2. The learner has a capacity for language use which consits of primary and secondary discourse and cognitive processes.
• 3. L2 performance is variable as a result of whether primary processes employing unalayzed L2 rules are utilized in unplanned discourse, or secondary processes employing analyzed L2 rules are used in planned discourse.
• 4. Development occurs as a result of
• 1. acquisition of new L2 rules through participation in various types of discourse
• b. activation of L2 rules which initially exist in either non-automatic unanalyzed or in analyzed form so they can be used in unplanned discourse.
• 
• (Ellis 1985 p. 268-269)

Theory based on the assumption that linguistic knowlege is homogeneous, identifying marked and unmarked linguistic features.

(Ellis 1985 pp. 270-271)

The neurofunctional approach attempts to characterized the neurolinguistic information processing systems responsible for the development and use of language. (Lamendella 1979:5-6)

Connection between language function and neural anatomy.

(Ellis 1985 p. 271)

• 1. Age differences.
• 2. Formulaic speech.
• 3. Fossilization.
• 4. Pattern practice in classrom SLA.

(Ellis 1985 p. 271)

• 
• (Ellis 1985 p. 276)

• General
• 1. SLA follows a natural sequence of development, but there will be minor variations in the order and rate of development and level of proficiency.

2. At any stage of development, the learner's interlanguage comprises a system of variable rules.

• Situation
• 3. Situational factors are indirect determinates of the rate of SLA and level of proficiency achieved, but do not invluence the sequence and only affect the order in minor and temporary ways.

4. Situational factors are the primary causes of variability in language-learner language.

• Input
• 5. Input that is interactionally (but not necessarily formally) adjusted as a result of the negiotiation of meaning in a two-way discourse functions as a determinant of the sequence, order, and rate of development.

• Learner Differences
• 6. Affective learner differences (motivation/personality) determine the rate of SLA and the level of proficiency, but not the sequence or order of development.

7. The learner's L2 influence the order of development, but not the sequence of development.

• Learner Processes
• 8. Interlanguage development occurs as a product of the learner's use of procedural knowledge to construct discourse.

9. Interlanguage development occurs as the product of the learner's UG, which makes some rules easier to learn than others.

• Linguistic Output
• 10. Language-learner language consists of 1. formulaic speech and 2. utterances constructed creatively.

11. Language-learner language is variable, dynamic, but also systematic.


(Ellis 1985 pp. 278-280)