Psychology of SLA + Wild Child

Chapter 4 in Saville-Troike was a very interesting read for me at this point in my studies in TESOL. Previously, I have studied a few of the concepts presented in this chapter in other psychology classes, such as the functions of Broca's and Wernicke's areas, however, never from a linguistic point of view, focusing on the matter of Second Langiage Acquisition. It was interesting to read about how the language processing takes place when it is more than one language being processed, such as in cases of bi- and multilingualism. A specific fact that I found interesting, mentioned by Saville-Troike on page 71, is the idea that "For some multilinguals, it appears that L1 and L2 are stored in somewhat different areas of the brain." She further develops this statement, offering ideas such as for L2, greater memorization of words and phrases is involved, whereas in L1, it's direct processing of words for meaning.

In relation to the topic of the psychological issues involved in Second Language Acquisition, I would like to reflect upon the movie we watched in Tuesday's class session, L'Enfant Sauvage, which told the story of Victor, a feral child, who gradually yet amazingly developed a quasi-language system throughout the film.

I think that Victor's case supports the Critical Period Hypothesis. Although Victor seemed to be developing some language and comprehension skills throughout the movie, I believe that they would be more fully developed and concrete if he had begun to work on them from a younger age. In the movie, it was stated that Victor was believed to be around age ten, a few years after the critical period for language development window closes. If Victor's teaching had began a few years earlier, his progress probably would have been more marked.

It was quite sad to see the villagers' reactions to Victor upon his arrival in the city. They crowded and shouted, making him a spectacle of sorts and viewing him as strange and dangerous. Though this attention he was receiving was obviously negative, the positive attention he received from Madame Guerin and Dr. Itard was very helpful not only to his personality development and continued well-being but, ultimately, his increased language development.

L1 versus SLA

As others have mentioned in their blog posts, this week's readings (Saville-Troike 3 & Lightbown-Spada 1 & 2) present a wealth of information, theories, and terms related to first and second language acquisition.

While reading these chapters, the first things that came to my mind was that I would definitely have to re-read these chapters a few times in order to effectively process and store all of this information. Hopefully, our class discussion will also aid in my understanding of these concepts. However, something that I found very interesting when reading was how easily I was able to relate the concepts presented regarding second language acquisition to my own experience as a foreign language learner. Many of the concepts that are practiced and taught in SLA have formal names that I previously was not aware of. For example, the process of 'Stimulus- Response- Reinforcement', I learned was really just a fancy way of saying 'Practice makes perfect', a term I have always heard associated with language development and that is essential for the mastery of any skill.

It was also interesting to me to read through the chart on page 33 of Saville-Troike, which discussed all of the different levels and concepts that must be mastered by a L1 or L2 learner, including not only the lexicon, which many people solely associate with language learning, but additionally syntax, morphology, and discourse. Reading about and becoming aware of all these concepts as processes have enabled me to critically think about how I go about L2 learning and what techniques I need to adopt in order to get the best skills I can.

Week 1 Reflections

Although I have already taken two linguistics classes as part of the TESOL sequence, I was excited to begin a class in which I would learn about specific practices and theories in TESOL. The first two chapters in Saville-Troike's book were an excellent introduction to the study of TESOL. Although I was familiar with or at least had heard of many of the terms before, I felt very happy with the amount of detail, yet ease that they were explained in.

There were quite a few things that I came across while reading that I felt very strongly about. In tonight's presentation, the boys thoroughly explained and reinforced the ideas that were presented in the text. One thing that I found interesting was the Monitor Theory, more specifically, the final stage- the Affective Filter Hypothesis. Upon first examining this theory, it seemed very convoluted and complicated to me and I really didn't understand it. However, with their excellent presentation, I realized that the Affective Filter Hypothesis, which says that in a low-stress learning environment, the filter (how much you limit your speech, etc) is lower. I was quickly able to make sense of this concept by thinking about my experiences with this concept. For example, in our very own ENG 344 class. Because I am surrounded by a great group of peers and educators who share the same passion for languages, learning, and teaching as I do, I feel very comfortable in this setting and am not at all shy when speaking up. This concept can also be obviously related to the environment of a foreign language class. If there is a high level of intimidation, then the speaker's filter will be higher.

I believe that I am very lucky to have ended up in this section of 344. I look forward to sharing my ideas with my classmates through these posts as well as reading about their ideas and thoughts.