7.2/7.3
•Is Kaplan´s case influenced by the fact that she spent several years immersed in different French-speaking environments?
Yes, because that experience provided her with different kinds of input.
What is MLAT?
MLAT stands for Modern Language Aptitude Test, and this was a predictive test of language learning rate in formal instruction settings.
•Phonemic awareness: the ability to group sounds and ‘shown’ parts in spoken words.
•
TRUE FALSE
FALSE
The ability to segment sounds and ‘hidden’ parts in spoken words.
TRUE OR FALSE:
Does the superior memory capacity boosts the further L2 vocabulary learning?
False. Actually, a big size of vocabulary in L2 established is better to boost a new larger size L2 mental lexicon.
When are the aptitude differences relevant?
When learning with rules because it involves a designed process, with explicit instructions that will heavily depend on intelligence and academic abilities to be carried out.
What are the components that could guarantee a successful acquisition of a second language? Name three.
Inner motivation, immersion, age and amount of input.
Which are the three cognitive abilities that MLAT comprises?
They are:
1.GRAMMATICAL SENSITIVITY
2.PHONETIC CODING
3. MEMORY CAPACITY
•Which memory capacity can predict individual differences in the ability to learn new vocabulary in a foreign language?
•
a)Long-term memory.
b)Short-term memory.
c)Mid-term memory
d)None of the above.
e)All of the above
f)a & c
b) Short-term memory
What is the difference between children’s ability to learn languages and adolescents and adults?
Children are endowed with the nature and cognitive ability to learn languages implicitly whereas adolescents and adults learn languages via analysis and analogy (explicit).
When Will aptitude not matter?
Probably in conditions of implicit learning, which refers to accidental learning like, for example, learn another language by means of learning something else. And when learners receive no external help, thy will have to depend on their differential analytical or memory-driven capacities.
According to the author, what are the two types of learners who have a special gift for learning languages? Explain them.
1)Ease for learning languages fast: Advantage in L2 learning rate.
2)Ability for learning languages extremely well: Advantage in the capacity for very advanced attainment.
What test is correlated with intelligence regarding L2 aptitude?
The MLAT (Modern Language Aptitude Test) correlates with intelligence scores as reported by Marjorie Wesche in her aptitude study.
Give the definition of phonological decoding:
The ability to access spelling cues and automatically integrate them to identify words and retrieve associated meanings.
Ross et al. suggest that aptitude will matter gradually more as starting age is older. Explain.
Rose suggests this happens because not only due to the biological maturation, but with their learning context. This is to say that learners have less natural exposure to language because they learn their L2 in formal classes.
Name the three principles that Snow’s highlighted from his Aptitude Complex Hypothesis and mention why he emphasize in the first two.
He mentions that these abilities have their effects in combination of “Complexes” which jointly facilitate processing and learning in a specific instructional context.
Is cultural/phylological motivation stronger than strenous motivation to account for the difference in the results from these two cases? Explain.
Yes, because Kaplan had a life-time long drive that motivated her to learn French. On the other hand, Watson´s motivation was only driven by the desire to use French in his field of study.
True or false. Intelligence overlaps completely with foreign language aptitude for grammatical sensitivity.
FALSE.
After reviewing the available evidence, Skehan (1998), concluded that intelligence partially overlaps with foreign language aptitude for grammatical sensitivity.
What does the Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis stablish?
It stablishes that people differ in the ability to handle phonological/orthographic processing operations in their L1 as much as in their L2.
What is the difference between low memory speakers and high memory speakers referring to corrections?
High memory speakers were superior to low memory speakers at noticing the corrections they received during interactions with more proficient interloctors.
What does Robinson´s model make it possible?
Robinson’s (2002) model makes it possible to postulate that an L2 learner is high on some basic abilities and low on others, or high on all (HH) or low on all (LL), thus making up for a range of strong, weak or mixed ability on each of several aptitude complexes.
Were thes two cases influenced by age in terms of critical-period-phonology acqusition? Explain
Yes. Even though current studies state that such a thing as a global critical period for learning languages in children does not exist, they do state that there is a “phonologically critical period” to master the language up to the age of 7.
What is the conclusion reached by L2 aptitude scholars regarding intelligence, first language ability and foreign language aptitude?
It is concluded that intelligence, first language ability and foreign language aptitude partially overlap because they all share a substrate in which academic skills and grammatical sensitivity are implicated.
What do Obler and Hanningan explain referring to the verbal memory abilities related to the case studies mentioned?
Exceptional verbal memory abilities emerged as a distinguishing trade in association with talented L1 verbal performance with a cognitive style that favors successful performance on tasks that call for implicit/memory based processing.
Harley and Hart say that different dimensions of aptitude will matter more at different ages. Explain.
Since memory is heavily involved in general implicit learning processes and analytical processing of information in general explicit learning processes, memory may be more predictive of differential outcomes with young learners, whereas analytical ability might play a much larger role in explaining differential success among older learners.
What does Robinson´s model make it possible?
It follows from Skehan’s model that some people may be very good at one or more of the processing stages of learning (e.g. noticing or lexicalizing) but average or poor at the remaining ones (e.g. patterning or controlling).