I'm reading about theories in second language acquisition, and I see that this field is nearly as controversial as first language acquisition. Several models are introduced, but the most interesting to me are the sociolinguistic models. Second language learning has a huge social component to it. I see the social environment playing a large role in the success or failure of learning a new language.
Every day I teach elementary school Japanese students in an all-English environment, and I know that this environment tends to make the students uncomfortable. Although I speak English the whole time, they are allowed to use Japanese here and there. At this age all English is maybe a little unrealistic - their vocabulary is very limited.
Schumann's conditions that he outlines for successful L2 acquisition are particularly striking because I can easily find examples of each one in my daily life. It kind of takes the thinking out of the theoretical world and puts it squarely in mine.
Every day I teach elementary school Japanese students in an all-English environment, and I know that this environment tends to make the students uncomfortable. Although I speak English the whole time, they are allowed to use Japanese here and there. At this age all English is maybe a little unrealistic - their vocabulary is very limited.
Schumann's conditions that he outlines for successful L2 acquisition are particularly striking because I can easily find examples of each one in my daily life. It kind of takes the thinking out of the theoretical world and puts it squarely in mine.
When I first began thinking about applying to a school to further my studies I read a few books and did some research to figure out what area I would like to concentrate on. I remember clearly going to a seminar and looking through a few readers on various disciplines. I picked up a couple of them, and I remember not picking up the one on sociolinguistics. I have a huge interest in sociology, and obviously in linguistics, but just like beer and ice cream I have no interest in ingesting them both at once.
Now I'm going through the readings in the text on the social aspects of language. I'm particularly interested because the social aspects of language is part of my first assignment that is due later this month.
I live and work in an environment (Japan) that has a lot of emphasis on social norms and customs, so I'm eager to see just what kinds of issues I can take from the readings and apply to my daily life as well as in the classroom.
Now I'm going through the readings in the text on the social aspects of language. I'm particularly interested because the social aspects of language is part of my first assignment that is due later this month.
I live and work in an environment (Japan) that has a lot of emphasis on social norms and customs, so I'm eager to see just what kinds of issues I can take from the readings and apply to my daily life as well as in the classroom.
Lots of information to digest lately. I'm reading about how to critically evaluate research papers lately, and it is an interesting topic. The papers that I have come across to date tend to be more discussion based, rather than research based. The style of the discussion based papers lends itself more to free thinking, while the research papers are pretty much just reporting on facts.
I am starting to see the structure and connections behind the different styles of papers, and how they relate to uncovering new ideas. I'm also starting to get more familiar with certain names that keep popping up, and connecting the names with the different theories is like identifying the heads of state of warring nations.
I am starting to see the structure and connections behind the different styles of papers, and how they relate to uncovering new ideas. I'm also starting to get more familiar with certain names that keep popping up, and connecting the names with the different theories is like identifying the heads of state of warring nations.
Reviewing the literature and recommended readings in LIN5000 has been interesting. The sheer volume of information to digest is a little daunting, and it still feels like we're only skimming the surface. I particularly liked the sections on dialects. Japan is a place that is rife with dialects. Where I live there are several dialects that are identifiable, mainly by neighborhood. In my previous apartment in Futami they spoke a working class version of Japanese, Banshu-ben, which is a sub-dialect of Kansai-ben. In my new neighborhood it is a little more refined Osaka-ben, probably because I'm in more of a business/farming community. Futami was a little more blue collar fishing and construction town, so it is interesting to see that reflected in the language.
I also noticed that living in a foreign country and learning another language makes the deliniations between dialects much more apparent to me than when I lived in America. Maybe it has to do with the size of the countries as well as how people migrated through. In Japan people have been living in the same places for a long time, and it seems like geography plays a big part in how dialects where formed rather than immigration.
I also noticed that living in a foreign country and learning another language makes the deliniations between dialects much more apparent to me than when I lived in America. Maybe it has to do with the size of the countries as well as how people migrated through. In Japan people have been living in the same places for a long time, and it seems like geography plays a big part in how dialects where formed rather than immigration.
So far the studies that I have undertaken have been pretty interesting, but I generally file a lot of the stuff I encounter as "technobabble that I hopefully will understand more fully later". I understand that a lot of the reading that I am doing now forms the "base of the pyramid" and that as I build this foundation of knowledge I can reach more interesting and pertinent information later.
The textbook for LIN5000, An Introduction to Language, is actually one of the more interesting textbooks that I have worked with, and I've found a lot of interesting things in there outside of the normal course of reading.
We're starting to think about our first assignment, and I'll admit the idea is a little daunting. While I am very comfortable with the material in the textbook and the reading that have been assigned, we've also been given a huge list of academic journals, books and other resources that we should use to base our assignment on. This list represents thousands of pages of material, and paring that down into valid supporting facts seems like it will take so long that I must be misunderstanding something.
I'll spend some time this weekend poking at the assignment and we'll see what comes of it. More later....
The textbook for LIN5000, An Introduction to Language, is actually one of the more interesting textbooks that I have worked with, and I've found a lot of interesting things in there outside of the normal course of reading.
We're starting to think about our first assignment, and I'll admit the idea is a little daunting. While I am very comfortable with the material in the textbook and the reading that have been assigned, we've also been given a huge list of academic journals, books and other resources that we should use to base our assignment on. This list represents thousands of pages of material, and paring that down into valid supporting facts seems like it will take so long that I must be misunderstanding something.
I'll spend some time this weekend poking at the assignment and we'll see what comes of it. More later....
Note: These entries serve as my first impressions of a topic before reading and/or studying them in class. They can be pretty rough.
First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition are fundamentally different in that they take place at two different stages of a person's development. With the possible exception of children raised in a bilingual environment, people learn their first language as children, and there is a significant gap in the learning process before they begin to learn their second. Also, children learning their first language have less mental work to do to learn the words for the objects and ideas around them.
In my experiences teaching in Japan the Japanese student learning English shows a great reluctance to stray from their first language, and taking a chance while learning a second language is rare. While this really is a social factor, my point here is that while learning your first language there is a social requirement to learn it, while the second language has no such heavy social burden of requirement.
First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition are fundamentally different in that they take place at two different stages of a person's development. With the possible exception of children raised in a bilingual environment, people learn their first language as children, and there is a significant gap in the learning process before they begin to learn their second. Also, children learning their first language have less mental work to do to learn the words for the objects and ideas around them.
In my experiences teaching in Japan the Japanese student learning English shows a great reluctance to stray from their first language, and taking a chance while learning a second language is rare. While this really is a social factor, my point here is that while learning your first language there is a social requirement to learn it, while the second language has no such heavy social burden of requirement.
Or in lingoese, Children and FLA. I don't have any children myself, and despite overcoming this challenge myself first hand I don't seem to recall quite exactly how I did it. I won't this apparent lack of evidence keep me from spitting out some ideas, however.
Children seem to pick up their language quite easily. I am of the opinion that they are somehow biologically equipped with the mechanism to learn their first language at an accelerated rate. Children at a young age tend to do better with learning a second language as well, so it seems that whatever is in place in their youth fades over time.
Just how do children accomplish this? I believe that it is through a series of trials and errors (mostly errors). The child studies the reactions of those around it while speaking and starts to realize what utterances make words, and what word elicit reactions and responses from people (and animals) around it.
Anyway, these are my impressions of the learning process before my studies begin, and I'll be interested to review these thoughts once my studies complete.
Children seem to pick up their language quite easily. I am of the opinion that they are somehow biologically equipped with the mechanism to learn their first language at an accelerated rate. Children at a young age tend to do better with learning a second language as well, so it seems that whatever is in place in their youth fades over time.
Just how do children accomplish this? I believe that it is through a series of trials and errors (mostly errors). The child studies the reactions of those around it while speaking and starts to realize what utterances make words, and what word elicit reactions and responses from people (and animals) around it.
Anyway, these are my impressions of the learning process before my studies begin, and I'll be interested to review these thoughts once my studies complete.
