How Languages Are Learned

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Learning a first language Milestones and patterns in development Early childhood bilingualism Developmental sequences Summary Theoretical approaches to explaining first language learning Behaviourism: Say what I say Activity: Analysing children's speech Innatism: It's all in your mind The interactionist position: A little help from my friends Summary 2. Theoretical approaches to explaining second language learning Activity: Learner problems Behaviourism Innatism Universal Grammar Krashen's 'monitor model' Recent psychological theories Information processing Connectionism The interactionist position Summary 3. Factors affecting second language learning Activity: Characteristics of the 'good language learner' Research on learner characteristics Intelligence Aptitude Personality Motivation and attitudes Learner preferences Learner beliefs Age of acquisition Activity: Comparing child, adolescent, and adult language learners Summary 4. Learner language The concept of learner language Activity: The Great Toy Robbery Developmental sequences Grammatical morphemes Negation Questions Activity: Learners' questions Activity: More about questions Relative clauses Reference to past Movement through developmental sequences New ways of looking at first language influence Summary 5. Observing second language teaching Comparing instructional and natural settings for language learning Activity: Natural and instructional settings Activity: Classroom comparisons: teacher-student interactions Classroom observation schemes Activity: Observing the kinds of questions you ask your students Feedback in the classroom Activity: Analysing classroom interaction Summary of transcripts Activity: Observing how you respond to students' errors Summary 6. Second language learning in the classroom: Five proposals for classroom teaching 1 Get it right from the beginning 2 Say what you mean and mean what you say 3 Just listen ... and read 4 Teach what is teachable 5 Get it right in the end The implications of classroom research for teaching Summary 7. Popular ideas about language learning: Facts and opinions 1 Languages are learned mainly through imitation 2 Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors 3 People with high IQs are good language learners 4 The most important factor in second language acquisition success is motivation 5 The earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the greater the likelihood of success 6 Most of the mistakes which second language learners make are due to interference from their first language 7 Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time 8 Teachers should teach simple structures before complex ones 9 Learners' errors should be corrected as soon as they are made in order to prevent bad habits 10 Teachers should use materials that expose students only to language structures they have already been taught 11 When learners are allowed to interact freely they learn each others' mistakes 12 Students learn what they are taught CONCLUSION GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX