Ho Van KetNgo Thi Thao

Doan Anh HuyPham Dang PhucLe Thi Thuy Trang

Nguyen Thi Quynh Anh

Group members

Instructor: Doan Ngoc Ai PhuongMethodology 4

Factors affecting second language learning

The rule of the game:

• We will divide into 2 parts corresponding to the 2 factors which we will present.

• In the first factor, is age of acquisition, we have 5 characters, there is a lucky character. If you choose lucky character, we will give gift to you immediately. If the character you chose is unlucky, you must answer the character’s question. He (She) will give the answer before or after his (her) presentation.

• In the second factor, we have 5 character as well and have 3 lucky characters. Goodluck!

I. ACQUISITION

Maleficent Rancho

Harry potter Kang Moon Yeon Stepmother

II. ACTIVITY

Mak Jake SullyRapunzel

Xiao Yan ZiJack SparrowJack Sparrow

Question: Adult from immigrant families eventually speak the language of their new community with native-like fluency. True or false?

A. TrueB. False

Age of acquisition

Children from immigrant families eventually speak the language of their new community with native-like fluency, but their parents rarely achieve such high levels of mastery of the spoken language .

Many adult second language learners become capable of communicating very successfully in the language

but, for most, differences of accent, word choice, or grammatical features distinguish them from native speakers and from second language speakers who began learning the language while they were very young.

The Critical Period Hypothesis suggests that there is a time in human development when the brain is predisposed for success in language learning.

According to this view, language learning which occurs after the end of the critical period may not be based on the innate biological structures believed to contribute to first language acquisition or second language acquisition in early childhood.

Adults are often embarrassed by their lack of mastery.

Question: “Will there be a difference between learners who begun to learn English before puberty and those who began to learn English later?”

A. YesB. NoC. Can not determine

Mastery of spoken language

Most of studies of the relationship between age of acquisition and second language development have focused on learners’ phonological(pronunciation) achievement.

In general, these studies have concluded that older learners almost inevitably have a noticeable ‘foreign accent’.

But what of other linguistic features (Syntax and morphology) ?

One study that attempted to answer these questions was done by Mark Patknowski (1980).

A.Mastery of the spoken language

Mark Patkowski studied the effect of age on the acquisition of features of second language other than accent.

Even if accent were ignored, only those who had begun learning their second language before the age of 15 could ever achieve full, native-like mastery of that language.

Patkowski examined:

- 67 highly educated immigrants to United States.

- Started to learn English at various ages

- Lived in the United States for more than 5 years.

Patkowski’s main question :

“Will there be a difference between learners who begun to learn English before puberty and those who began to learn English later?”

The findings:32 out of 33 subjects who had begun learning English before the ages of 15 scored at the 4+ or the 5 level.For this group, success in learning a second language was almost inevitably could ever achieve. On the other hand, there was much more variety in the levels achieved by the post-puberty group. ( around the 3+ level)

10

22

1

2+ 3 3+ 4 4+ 5

10

20

Frequency

Pre-puberty learners

2

6

12

9

41

10

20

2+ 3 3+ 4 4+ 5

Post-puberty learners

Frequency

There were some relationships between these other factors and learning success. However, it often turned out that age was so closely related to the other factors that it was not really separated them completely.

For example: Length of residence in the USA sometimes seemed to be fairly good predictor.

A person who had lived in the country for 15 years might speak better than one who had been there for only 10 years, it was often the case that the one with longer residence had also arrived at an earlier age.

However, a person who had arrived in the USA at the age of 18 and had lived there for 20 years did not score significantly better than someone who had arrived at the age of 18 but had only lived there for 10 years.

Patkowski found that age of acquisition is a very important factor in setting limits on the development of native-like mastery of a second language and that this limitation does not apply only to accent.

Experience and research have shown that native-like mastery of the spoken language is difficult to attain by older learners.

Even the ability to distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences in a second language appears to be affected by the age factor that we will be clearer in the study of Johnson and Newport.

Question: At which age do learners have few individual differences in learning second language?

A. Before the age of 10B. After the age of 15C. Both of them

Intuitions of grammaticality • Forty-six Chinese and Korean speakers who had begun

to learn English at different ages.

Judgement of grammaticality task to test 12 rules of English morphology and syntax.

For those who began before the age of 15, and specially before the age of 10.

There were few individual differences in second language ability.

Those who began later,

They did not have native-like language abilities and were more likely to differ greatly from one another in ultimate attainment.

There is a critical period for attaining full native-like mastery of a second

language.

Question: How many tasks were used in the research of Catherine Snow and Marian Hoefnagel-Höhle ?

A. 7

B. 8

C. 9

Is younger really better?

2

3

4

5

1

- Was tested by having learners pronounce 80 Dutch words twice :

Pronunciation

The first time The second time

1

2

3

4

5

12 Auditory discrimination

- Learners saw pictures of four objects. In each group of four there were two whose names formed a minimal pair, that is, alike except for one sound.

- For examples: (in English)

“Hat” and “Cat” “Ship” and “Sheep”

2

3

4

5

13 Morphology

- Was tested using a procedure like the “wug test”, which required leaners to complete sentences by adding the correct grammatical makers to words which were supplied by the researchers.

2

3

4

5

1 4 Sentence repetition

- Required learners to repeat 37 sentences.

- The sentences were increasing length and grammatical complexity.

2

3

4

5

1 5 Sentence translation

- Learners were given 60 sentences to translate from English to Dutch

7

8

9

6 6 Sentence judgement task

- Learners were to judge which of two sentences was better. The same content was expressed in both sentences, but one sentence was grammatically correct while the other contained errors

7

8

9

6 7 Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

- Leaners saw four pictures and heard one isolated word. Their task was to indicate which picture matched the word spoken by the tester.

7

8

9

6 8 Story comprehension task

- Leaners heard a story in Dutch and were then asked to retell the story in English or Dutch (according to their preference)

7

8

9

6 9 Storytelling task

- Required learners to tell a story in Dutch, using a set of pictures they were given.

Question: Children are more likely to reach higher levels of attainment in both pronunciation and grammar than adults. True or false?

A. TrueB. False

ACTIVITYComparing child, adolescent, and adult language learners

X:an indication of the rate of learning

Y: an indication of eventual attainment

Table 3.1: comparison of language learning at different ages

The adolescents were by far the most successful learners.

The adults were better than the children and adolescents on pronunciation in the first test session.

In other words, adolescents and adults learned faster than children in the first few months of exposure to Dutch.

Snow and Hoefnagel-Höhle

Other interpretation: Some of the tasks such as sentence judgement or translation were too hard for young learners. Adults and adolescent learn faster in the early stages of second language development.

Ngô Thị Thảo

Snow and Hoefnagel-Höhle concluded that their results provide evidence that there is no critical period for language acquisition.

Children are more likely to reach higher levels of attainment in both pronunciation and grammar than adults.

adults and adolescent can make considerable and rapid progress towards mastery of a second language in contexts.

Ngô Thị Thảo

Fill in the blank: Early intensive exposure to the second language may .......................the child´s first language.

A. Entail the loss or incomplete development of B. Help remainC. Develop

At what age should second language instruction begin

•People know nothing about the critical period research: younger learners are better

• Both experience and research: Older learners can attain high levels of proficiency in their second language.

=> It depends on the situations or the purposes learners want to acheive.

Example 1: A child who is born to an American father and German mother living in the USA can start to learn both German and English from the monent he is born.

The most favorable situation to speak two languages fluently as an adult.

Getting early intensive exposure to the second language --> the loss or incomplete development of the child’s first language.

=>The objective of second language learning is NATIVE-like mastery of target language.

Example 2: A child of school age who emigrates to the USA has no choice, must start to learn the new language, English as soon as she arrives.

=>The goal is basic commnicate ability for all sudents in a school setting, and when it is assumed that the child’s native language will remain the primary language, it may be more efficient to begin second or foreign language teaching later.

Summary:• Age is one of the characteristics which determine second

language learning.• It is difficult to make precise predictions about how a

particular individual´s characteristics influence his or her success as a language learner.

• However, in a classroom, a sensitive teacher, who takes learners´ individual personalities and learning styles into account, can create a learning environment in which all learners can be successful in learning an second language.