1. The document discusses research on language acquisition and the brain, including hemispheric specialization and differences between first and second language learning. 2. It also covers various theories of second language acquisition, including information processing theory and connectionism. Key aspects of these theories include controlled vs automatic processing, declarative vs procedural knowledge, and the role of attention, practice, and restructuring. 3. Finally, the document discusses individual learner differences and factors that influence success in second language acquisition, such as age, gender, aptitude, motivation, cognitive style, personality, and learning strategies.

2. 1. Language and the brain
2. Learning process: SLA
3. Differences among learners

3. Principal hemispheric specializations (p69)
also see Brown (2007):p125
Left hemisphere Right hemisphere
Phonology Nonverbal (as babies’ cries)
Morphology Visuospatial information
Syntax Intonation
Function words and inflections Nonliteral meaning and ambiguity
Tone systems Many pragmatic abilities
Much lexical knowledge Some lexical knowledge

4. 1. lateralization 2-puberty
2. Critical period hypothesis
3.Broca’s area/ Wernicke’s area- B&W
4. language activity /core linguistic processes
5. SLA-right hemisphere involvement
L2-learnt by many means; use more
memorization /L1-learnt by single means

5.  Coordinate bilingualism
 Compound bilingualism
 Subordinate bilingualism

7. 1. Information processing (IP)
(1) Attention-processing
(2) Skill Learning Theory
(3)Restructuring
2. connectionism
--PDP

8.  Cognitive psychologists
 language acquisition storing, integrating, → and retrieving
information.
 do not think that humans have a language-specific module (i.e. LAD)
in the brain.
 do not assume that ‘acquisition’ and ‘learning’ are distinct mental
processes.
 L2 acquisition→ the building up of knowledge → automatically

9. Input Central processing Output
Perception Controlled-automatic
processing
Production
Declarative –procedural
knowledge
Restructuring
noticed input→pay attention
to it →intake (frequency,
perceptual saliency…p75)
practice Fluency in speech and
writing

10. Input: notice, pay attention→intake
Brown (2007):p300, 302
- Controlled processes
- Automatic processes

11. Attention controlled automatic
Focal
Performance based on formal
(intentional attention)
rule learning
Performance in a test situation
Peripheral Performance based on implicit
learning or analogic learning
Performance in communication
situations
From Brown (2007), p300

12. Declarative knowledge
Procedural knowledge
Three stages:
(1) information is stored. (drowned-drown+ed)
(2) associative stage: (past tense…+ed)
(3) autonomous stage

13. Anderson thinks that L2 learners do not reach full
autonomy as L1 learners. What factors may
influence the process of achieving autonomy in L2
acquisition?

14.  L2 knowledge as continua of controlled-automatic and
explicit-implicit
from exemplar-based to rule-based
Restructuring :because L is complex, hierarchical,
not (necessarily) linearly
Restructuring doesn’t necessarily happen all at
once, but over time

15. U-shaped behavior is often evidenced during
restructuring
Stage 1 Stage 3
correct utterances
feet feet
Stage 2
incorrect utterances
foots

16.  Multidimensional Model
 Processability Theory
 Competition Model

17.  2 principal axes: developmental & variational
 grammatical structures (organized hierarchically)
 Individual variation
 Focus on the relationship between implicit knowledge and output
 hierarchy:
(1) Canonical order strategy (COS)
(2) initialization /finalization strategy (IFS)
(3) subordinate clause strategy (SCS)

18. Reorientation of Multidimensional model
Hierarchy of processing skills
(1) lemma/word access (ex:apple)
(2) category procedure (ex: three apples)
(3) phrasal procedure(ex: three big apples)
(4) S-procedure (ex: There is an apple./
 There are three apples)
(5) Clause boundary

19. Functional approach: L1 form-function
mapping→SLA
 Competition among cues that signal functions
Cue strength: task frequency/ contrastive
availability/ conflict reliability
Language process involves “competition”
among the various cues

20. 1. horse
-form: sounds [hors]
-function: 4 legs/ hay eating animal
2. Horses eat hay.
- Word order-form: horses + V + hay
- Function: “horses” is S.; “hay” is O.
- inflection- _s: form; function: more than one
horse
(p79)

21.  Focus on the increasing strength of associations between stimuli
and responses (IP: focus on the inferred abstraction of “ rules” or
restructuring.)
 Learning is change in the strength of these connections; learning is
not dependent on UG or rule-formation.
 Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP): a network of nodes (units)→
repeated patterns of units (input)→ extract regularities→
probabilistic association (connection strengths/patterns of
activation)
 Frequency influences learning

22. IP PDP
Attention is available for
controlled processing vs.
automatic processing
Not serial in nature
Attention is distributed in local
pattern
Processing is parallel pattern
Knowledge is not stored in
memory or retrieved as patterns
Connection strengths /Patterns
being recreated

23. Why are some L2 learners more successful than
others?

24.  Age
 Sex
 Aptitude
 Motivation
 Cognitive style
 Personality
 Learning strategies
 (the last three are closely related to and interact with each
other.)

25. Children are more successful L2 learners?
1. initial rate learning (success) / older learners
have an advantage (popular belief)/ learners
who are introduced to the L2 in childhood
(ultimate achievement)
Critical period hypothesis

26. Younger advantage Older advantage
Brain plasticity Learning capacity
Not analytical Analytic ability
Fewer inhibitions(usually) Pragmatic skills
Weaker group identity Greater knowledge of L1
Simplified input more likely Real-world knowledge

27. Female are better L2 learners?
--verbal fluency
--women’s brain may be less asymmetrically
organized than men’s for speech (Kimura 1992).
--women: better at memorizing complex forms/
men: better at computing compositional rules
(Halpern 2000)
--differences related to hormonal variables

28. • Phonemic coding ability: the capacity to process
auditory input into segments which can be stored
and retrieved. If the hearer cannot analyze the
incoming stream of speech into phonemes in
order to recognize morphemes, input may not
result in intake.
• Inductive language learning ability and
grammatical sensitivity concerned with central
processing.

29. • Associative memory capacity: how linguistic items
are stored and with how they are recalled and
used in output (speaker fluency).
• Skehan (1998 )concludes that language learning
aptitude “is not completely distinct from general
cognitive abilities.”

30. • Significant goal or need/desire to attain the goal/ perception
that learning L2 is relevant to fulfilling the goal or meeting the
need/belief in the likely success or failure if learning L2/value of
potential outcomes or rewards

31. • 2 type of motivation(Brown 2007, p175)
• --integrative motivation: based on interest in
learning L2; emotional or affective factors are
dominant (learning by a member of the dominant
group in a society)
• --instrumental motivation: involves perception of
purely practical value in learning L2 (learning by a
subordinate group member)

32. Refers to individual’s preferred way of
processing: (perceiving, conceptualizing,
organizing and recalling information.)
Brown (2007):p120

33. Field-dependent Field-independent
Global - Particular
Holistic - Analytic
Deductive
(top-down)
- Inductive
(bottom-up)
Focus on meaning - Focus on form

34. Anxiety :most attention in SLA research.
Low anxiety facilitates language learning.
Instructional context or task influences anxiety
and reporting. (oral performance)
Systematic cultural differences are found
between groups of learners. (face concept)
Low anxiety and high self-confidence increase
Ss motivation to learn.

35. Anxious - Self-confident
Risk-avoiding - Risk-taking
Shy - Adventuresome
introverted - Extroverted
Inner-directed - Other-directed
Reflective - Impulsive
Imaginative - Uninquisitive
Creative - Uncreative
Empathetic - Insensitive to others
Tolerant of ambiguity - Closure-oriented
Boldface print means positive correlation with success in L2 learning.

36. • Metacognitive : preview a concept/ decide specific
aspects of input in advance/ rehearse linguistic
components/ self-monitoring of progress and
knowledge states
• Cognitive: repeat or translate/ remember words by
L1’s sounds/ create vivid images/ guess meanings
through inferencing.

37. Social/affective: seek chances to interact with
native speakers/ work cooperatively with peers/
ask Qs/ request repetition, explanation, or
examples

38. Concern for language form (but also attention to
meaning)
Concern for communication
Active task approach
Awareness of the learning process
Capacity to use strategies flexibly in accordance
with task requirements

39. How do you feel about multilingualism so far?

40.  Positive effects:
1. foreign language study is good for “training the mind.”
2. an essential characteristic of “educated” and “cultured”
members of society
3. on intellectual function based on “measures of conceptual
development, creativity, metalinguistic awareness, semantic
development, and analytic skills” (p93)

41. Negative effects:
1. negative impact on general intelligence
 2. capacity limitations for language acquisition
and maintenance, that simultaneous bilingualism
in childhood may result in a narrower range of
lexical development in either language and that
intensive and continued use of L2 many reduce
accessibility of L1

42. Thank you for your attention!!