Activities Chapter 5 (Saville-Troike, 2006)

Questions for self-study

1) Match the following terms to their definitions:

1 (c) auxiliary language

2 (a) foreign language

3 (b) second language

 

1. (2) A French person studies German for six years because the school system requires it.
2. (3) A Chinese family immigrates to Canada and studies English so as to enter the school systems and the work force.
3. (1) In India, native speakers of Tamil learn English to participate in official Indian governmental proceedings.

 

2. Variation in second language can occur for linguistic, psychological, or social reasons. Match the following communicative contexts to the corresponding description(s) of second language variation. Two responses have more than one possible answer, so consider multiple options and explain your reasoning for each match.

 

1. When answering the question “what are you doing?” a child responds, “I’m dancing,” pronouncing the final syllable of dancing “ing.” The child then elaborates, “I’m dancing with my doll.” and pronounces the final syllable of dancing “in.” –> Linguistic reason –>  Saville-Troike (2006, p. 102) states that the phonological variable [ŋ] is more likely to be used before a word beginning with a back consonant or before a pause, as it happens in the first example “I’m dancing.”, where the speakers pauses after saying “dancing”. On the other hand, the variable [n] is more likely to be used before a front consonant. (Saville-Troike, 2006, p. 102).

 

1. The same child on a playground tells a classmate “Yesterday I was dancing with my doll,” pronouncing the final syllable of dancing “in.” She later tells a teacher the exact same thing, pronouncing the final syllable of dancing “ing.” –> Psychological or microsocial reasons –> Psychological: Since the child is paying attention to language form when producing language, she produces the variable [ŋ] when talking to her teacher, which is a formal setting, and the variable [n] when talking to her classmate, which is a casual conversation (Saville-Troike, 2006, p. 103). Microsocial: The child produced the variable [ŋ] because the context implied that there was a level of formality in the participants’ relationship (teacher-student), but she produces the variable [n] because the context and the participants’ relationship were informal (Saville-Troike, 2006, p. 103).

 

1. A student always remembers third person ‘s’ inflection on present tense English verbs when writing, i.e. “John walks to school,” but often omits it when speaking, i.e. “John walk to school.” –> Psychological reason –> According to what I understood regarding what Saville-Troike (2006, p. 102-103) says, the student has not automatized the use of the third person ‘s’ inflection on present tense English verbs when speaking .

 

3. According to Sociocultural Theory, interaction is necessary for (and a cause of) language acquisition, and all of learning is a social process.

 

4. The Zone of Proximal Development represents an area of potential development where the learner achieves more through interaction with a teacher or a more advanced learner.

 

5. The Acculturation Model identifies group factors that are likely to create social distance between learner and target groups and ultimately inhibit L2 learning (such as dominance of one group over the other, or the desire of the learner group to maintain its lifestyle).

 

6. Additive bilingualism is where members of a dominant group learn the language of a minority without threat to their L1 competence or to their ethnic identity. Subtractive bilingualism is where members of a minority group learn the dominant language as L2 and are more likely to experience some loss of ethnic identity and L1 skills.

 

7. Formal learning is instructed learning, usually occurring in schools. Informal learning is naturalistic, occurring in settings where people contact and need to interact with speakers of another language.

Active learning

 

1. The author claims that face-to-face interaction is not absolutely necessary for second language acquisition. What do you think? Support or refute this claim based on your own experience.

I also think that face-to-face interaction is not absolutely necessary for L2 learning. As Saville-Troike (2006, p. 20) states, “Children additionally require interaction with other people for L1 learning to occur. In contrast, while reciprocal social interaction generally facilitates SLA, it is not a necessary condition. It is possible for some individuals to reach a fairly high level of proficiency in L2 even if they have input only from such generally non-reciprocal sources as radio, television, or written text.” In my case, interaction has helped me to acquire English but my main source of input has been non-reciprocal (listening to music, listening to lectures, reading books, etc.) so I think that interaction helps the learners improve their skills significantly after having receiving comprehensible input.

 

2. Communicative competence is defined as “what a speaker needs to know to communicate appropriately within a language community.” How is this different from pure linguistic competence? Do you believe linguistic competence is sufficient for effective communication, or do you agree that communicative competence is necessary? Provide real-life examples to support your viewpoint, combined with theoretical explanations from the chapter.

 

Linguistic competence refers to the “(…) knowledge of the specific components and levels of a language (…)” (Saville-Troike, 2006, p.134), whereas, as Saville-Troike (2006, p. 100) asserts, communicative competence “involves knowing not only the vocabulary, phonology, grammar, and other aspects of linguistic structure (although that is a critical component of knowledge) but also when to speak (or not), what to say to whom, and how to say it appropriately in any given situation. Further, it involves the social and cultural knowledge speakers are presumed to have which enables them to use and interpret linguistic forms.” Therefore, from my point of view, communicative competence is also necessary. For instance, when being in an academic setting, you are expected to know both the linguistic language structure, such as grammar and vocabulary, and the way in which you express yourself in an appropriate way as you are in a formal context.

 

3. Subtractive bilingualism is defined as having members of a minority group learn the dominant language as L2, where they are more likely to experience some loss of ethnic identity and L1 skills. What are the challenges to maintaining ethnic identity and L1 skills while learning an L2 in the L2 setting? Is it possible to be a minority group in an L2-dominant setting and experience more of an additive bilingualism, where the L1 skills and identity are maintained? Support your answer with your own experiences and the experiences of people you know.

 

Yes, it is possible to maintain the L1 skills and identity when being part of a minority group in an L2-dominant setting. For example, when Latino families settle down in the USA, they usually maintain their Spanish-speaking skills and identity because they usually interact in their mother tongue when being at home, so their “roots” are not forgotten. Another example takes place in Colombia where indigenous people maintain their identity and native language even though they are speaking Spanish and being in contact with non-indigenous people in several situations.

 

4. Considering your own learning, or the learning of someone you know well, do you believe in scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development? Describe examples in your own life when you are the learner in need of scaffolding, and when you are the more advanced learner or teacher providing a learner with more opportunity for development.

 

Yes, I believe in scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development. For example, I think that everyone is going to be in the two positions at some point or at every point in their lives. There is always going to be someone who knows more than I do and who can help me understand and learn many things I do not know, and there is always going to be someone whom I can help understand and learn things I already know. For example, I have had many teachers and professors whose teachings have been of great value to me and I have also been working as an English teacher with children, so I help them learn many things they did not know.

References:

Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing Second Language Acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.