Overview of points addressed in assessment and evaluation class

Dear students,
In short, below you'll find an outline and some references to the points discussed in class today.

Factors influencing SLA:

L1. First language interference is a delicate issue. The extend to which it influences depends on the distance or the degree of difference between the L1 and L2. For more info on that pages 85-87 of the Lightbown and Spada book.

Major points: Grammar and syntax can influence L2 learning. Example: English uses verb inflections to add tense. Thai adds extra words to add tense to a message.
Word order is another example. English uses subject verb inversion in some cases of question formation. Thai has more freedom in word order without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Phonology and phonetics: First language Intonation and stress patterns can create difficulties in communication or even lead to a communicative break down. Thai is a tonal language. English is a stress timed language. English uses tones to add intention to a sentence. Thai uses tones to change the meaning of a word. In this case more problems would occur for the English speaker learning Thai than the Thai speaker learning English as far as tones are concerned.

Culture: Different mindsets lead to different associations of words and concepts. Concepts have different words in different cultures even though they might share the same language. Basically, a Thai learner of English will use English words that are closer to the perception of a Thai concept than someone from Europe would do.
Example given in class: fixed expressions with figurative meaning “What’s up?”. These are culturally related expressions that are often not easily translated if at all. They come forth from different behaviors in communication and different social relations. Think about the way of addressing someone in Thai, Pi and Nong, and the different names for family relations from father and mother’s side. In more general terms we say that different cultures have different communicative rules and strategies.

Language anxiety: this is the feeling of excitement, fear, anxiety that comes up when is learner is prompted to use the target language. It will impair second language production. Language anxiety is mostly associated with speaking skills but has also been found in writing and listening.

Motivation. The desire to master a certain skill and the willingness to put effort into learning this skill.
Motivated students have a desire to achieve a goal and this goal is some degree of proficiency in the target language. Motivation is considered to be one of the most if not the most influential factor in language learning.

Learner environment: Creating an encouraging and positive atmosphere will definitely increase the satisfaction of the learner. A good learning atmosphere is a prerequisite to learning languages it helps you and the student. A positive attitude toward the learning environment is stimulating the second language achievement in general.

The student. Students, learners, they are individuals. They have feelings, emotions and a history. As language learning is quite a personal experience these factors play a role in language learning as well. Some days students don’t want to learn, some days they’re great. It’s not up to you as a teacher to force students to learn anything. You can facilitate the language learning process through the above mentioned factors but you can’t push students.

Teacher: You as a teacher are largely responsible for the atmosphere in class. If you’re a repressive teacher your classes will feel different than a largely facilitating teacher who emphasizes students’ responsibility in language learning. You’re important as you’re an entity in the class who determines a lot but as it comes to learning and skills development, the students are the most important in class and you’re a facilitating factor in the learning process.

Hope this helps you a bit in understanding the blur of information of today's class.

references:
spada and lightbown, how languages are learned 1997.
Schmitt N. Introduction to applied linguistics.

wikipedia articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_language_acquisition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_language_acquisition#Anxiety