User:Hyeonah/sandbox

Adding Critical period hypothesis

In 1967, Eric Lenneberg argued the existence of a critical period (approximately 2-13 years old) for the acquisition of a first language. This has attracted much attention in the realm of second language acquisition. For instance, Newport (1990)  extended the argument of critical period hypothesis by pointing to a possibility that when a learner is exposed to an L2 might also contribute to their second language acquisition. Indeed, she revealed the correlation between age of arrival and second language performance. In this regard, second language learning might be affected by a learner's maturational state.



First of all, thank you for giving me helpful suggestions!


 * 1) Versa1: Pick two sections and see if the references are reliable - Interesting point! I didn't know that there are main articles that link to another Wiki pages. I would choose "Comprehensible output" section and see whether the references are reliable. If I find this scrutiny useful, then I will move on to another section. But first, let me go over just "Comprehensible output" section.
 * 2) Coffeekoala: Reorganization & general grammar editing & Updating the lead: First, I changed the order of the contents, as I described below. At this moment, I will try to focus on reorganization and updating the lead and start to focus on general grammar editing.
 * 3) Dr. Mckee: SLD citations - I added Tomasello, 2005 in UG section. I will look for Week 9 readings and see what I can add another citation in my Wiki.



Hi! I noticed that for each heading there are "Main Article" subheadings with a links to another Wikipedia pages that discuss the theories but do we know that these pages are well authored also? A strength of this page is how well it is organized for all of the content that it already contains. Since it already has so much content with references, I would pick two sections and focus on finding out if the references are reliable and add to them while at the same time editing the content for each. I think this page already has so much to work with. Versa1 (talk ) 05:03, 26 September 2019 (UTC) ~

Dear Hyeonah: Looks like you have found many areas that can be improved with this article! I agree with all of your criticisms of the article. I think good places to start would be with reorganization and general grammar editing. The citations you have in mind seem like important contributions to the article as well. I would also recommend updating the Lead to include some of the major theories in SLA. ---Lucy Coffeekoala (talk) 01:54, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

Consider our readings in Weeks 7 and 9. Two of them refer explicitly to research on L2 learning. Cecilemckee (talk) 17:15, 28 September 2019 (UTC)



*** SLD citation

The fundamental argument for the existence of an innate universal grammar is the argument from the poverty of the stimulus.

From the field of linguistics, the most influential theory by far has been Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar (UG). The core of this theory lies on the existence of an innate universal grammar, grounded on the poverty of the stimulus (Tomasello, 2005). The UG model of principles, basic properties which all languages share, and parameters, properties which can vary between languages, has been the basis for much second-language research.

From a UG perspective, learning the grammar of a second language is simply a matter of setting the correct parameters. Take the pro-drop parameter, which dictates whether or not sentences must have a subject in order to be grammatically correct. This parameter can have two values: positive, in which case sentences do not necessarily need a subject, and negative, in which case subjects must be present. In German the sentence "Er spricht" (he speaks) is grammatical, but the sentence "Spricht" (speaks) is ungrammatical. In Italian, however, the sentence "Parla" (speaks) is perfectly normal and grammatically correct. A German speaker learning Italian would only need to deduce that subjects are optional from the language he hears, and then set his pro-drop parameter for Italian accordingly. Once he has set all the parameters in the language correctly, then from a UG perspective he can be said to have learned Italian, i.e. he will always produce perfectly correct Italian sentences.

Universal Grammar also provides a succinct explanation for much of the phenomenon of language transfer. Spanish learners of English who make the mistake "Is raining" instead of "It is raining" have not yet set their pro-drop parameters correctly and are still using the same setting as in Spanish.

The main shortcoming of Universal Grammar in describing second-language acquisition is that it does not deal at all with the psychological processes involved with learning a language. UG scholarship is only concerned with whether parameters are set or not, not with how they are set. Schachter (1988) is a useful critique of research testing the role of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition.

LEAD SHOULD BE CHANGED

Theories of second-language acquisition are various theories and hypotheses in the field of second-language acquisition about how people learn a second language. Research in second-language acquisition is closely related to several disciplines including linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and education, and consequently most theories of second-language acquisition can be identified as having roots in one of them. Each of these theories can be thought of as shedding light on one part of the language learning process; however, no one overarching theory of second-language acquisition has yet been widely accepted by researchers.

Generally, approaches provide information about how people acquire their knowledge of the language and about the conditions which will promote successful language learning.

'''→ Theories of second-language acquisition are various hypotheses and claims about how people learn a second language and also what conditions may facilitate successful language learning. The field of second-language acquisition (SLA) is closely related to interdisciplinary disciplines, such as linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and education. This has resulted in multiple hypotheses and claims regarding SLA. While each theoretical framework has a different focus, the major four research strands in the SLA can be summarized as follows: (a) linguistic dimensions of SLA, (b) cognitive aspects dimensions of SLA, (c) socio-cultural dimensions of SLA and (d) instructional dimensions of SLA. Taken together, understanding each relevant theory or hypothesis in SLA can be expected to provide a clearer picture of the complexities of second language learning process.'''

1. The order of the contents should be modified. For instance, to follow the chronological order, as described in the history section, universal grammar should come first.

2. I think behaviorist account of SLA should be illustrated because a host of SLA theories have been made to oppose behaviorist theory.

3. There are some ambiguous or unclear parts that need to be more fine-tuned. For example, in history section, naturalistic studies should be explained in more detail, so that readers can understand this concept more easily.

4. The last paragraph at the history section contains sort of biased view in that current research is split into two areas, linguistic and psychological approaches. Then what about sociocultural approach? Still, multiple research using sociocultural approach have been conducted recently.

5. In semantic theory section, an example should be added in lexical meaning and semantic meaning, respectively.

6. Sociocultural theory is too short, compared to other sections.

7. Complex dynamic systems theory section is still unclear. 8. There are some grammatical errors, like "can be best capture". 9. The Semantic theory section.

1) The content needs to be more added.

2) Citation: Taft, M. (2013). Reading and the mental lexicon. Psychology Press.

3) Grammar edit: "For the second-language learner, the acquisition of meaning is arguably the most important task. Meaning is at the heart of a language, not the exotic sounds or elegant sentence structure. There are several types of meanings: lexical, grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic. All the different meanings contribute to the acquisition of meaning resulting in the integrated second language possession.[22]

10. Pragmatic meaning – meaning that depends on context, requires knowledge of the world to decipher; for example, when someone asks on the phone, “Is Mike there?” he doesn’t want to know if Mike is physically there; he wants to know if he can talk to Mike."

Could an example mentioned below be an example of pragmatic meaning?

"Even with hard yakka, you've got Buckley's of understanding this dinkum English sentence, unless you're an Aussie.

"An Australian has no difficulty understanding the above sentence, while other English speakers might struggle. The words 'yakka,' 'Buckley's,' and 'dinkum' are in the vocabulary of most Australians, that is, they are stored as entries in the mental lexicon, and therefore an Australian has access to the meanings of these words and can consequently comprehend the sentence. If one possessed no mental lexicon, communication through language would be precluded."

Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/mental-lexicon-psycholinguistics-1691379

11. Complex Dynamic Systems Theory needs to add citation.

Izumi, S., & Bigelow, M. (2000). Does output promote noticing and second language acquisition? Tesol Quarterly, 34(2), 239-278.

12. In the output hypothesis section 1) Citation needed: Swain, M. (1993). The output hypothesis: Just speaking and writing aren't enough. Canadian Modern Language Review, 50(1), 158-164.

13. In the history section In the 1970s paragraph, Noam Chomsky from Innate vs. Acquired article can be cited as a counter argument to behaviorism.

14. In the lead section

Second language acquisition is closely related to several disciplines including, linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, cognitive science (The article "cognitive science" can be cited) , neuroscience...

Tomasello, M. (2005). Beyond formalities: The case of language acquisition. The Linguistic Review, 22(2-4), 183-197."https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognitive-science/"15. Sociocultural theory: "It will thus pay particular attention to research that has examined the diverse social, historical, and cultural contexts in which language learning takes place, and how learners negotiate and sometimes resist the diverse opportunities those contexts offer them (Norton, 2011)".

Vygotsky: focuses on how the development of a person as a social and cultural being takes place via the acquisition of language as a tool for thinking and acting (Risager, 2007)