1. What is output in the context of SLA?
According to Van Patten (2003), output is the language that a
language learner produces which has a communicative purpose (Van Patten, p
63-64) That is, speaking and writing. Some examples of output are:
·
To talk with a partner in order to solve a jigsaw activity.
·
To describe a picture using the pattern and the vocabulary given
by the teacher.
·
To write a letter for a pen pal who speaks the target language.
·
To fill in a form to complete an activity about the professions.
·
To write a resume.
2. What is the role of Output in the creation of a learner's linguistic system?
Van Patten (2003)
claims that there are three possible roles of output in the creation of the
learner’s linguistic system. The first
role would be that output plays the same role as input. This assumption would
give as much importance to the productive skills as to the receptive skills in
the first stages of language acquisition. This would reject Krashen’s
assumption that claims that language learners need to be exposed to the target
language and therefore go through a “silent period” before they can produce
language on their own.
Other role of output would be “no role” at all. However; it is
difficult to assume that output do not actually have any influence upon the
development of the learner’s linguistic system. Morgan-short, K; Wood Harret
(2006) came to the conclusion on one of their researches that a combination of
output practice along with meaningful input based instruction would be very
beneficial for building fluency and accuracy in the L2 (Morgan-short, K; Wood Harret, 2006, p.59)
The third role is that output plays a facilitating role. Van
Pattern (2003) asserts that producing language helps learners process
information they would not be able to notice without the output production
experience. (Van Patten, p 69)
3. How do learners
develop the skill for speaking in a second language?
Van Patten (2003:70)
states that there are two aspects to consider when talking about speaking. They
are fluency and accuracy. Even though the meaning of these terms is described
by the author, it is not possible for him to define how they really develop. In
fact, he states that are no almost no research on skills development in
speaking, so it seems to be difficult not to relate the development of this
productive skill without turning to the development of skills theories in
cognitive psychology.
4. How does
interaction facilitate L2 learning?
According to Gass & Mackey (2006) as cited by Swain:M;
Susuki,W (2008:558) “interaction facilitates L2 acquisition because it connects
input, attention, and output in productive ways”
Some examples of the facilitating role of interaction in L2
learning are:
·
Through interaction competent language speakers can modify their
speech so the listener can understand their utterances (Modified output and
comprehensible input)
·
Negotiation of meaning is possible when two learners try to get
meaning from each other’s statements.
·
According to Swain (2005) as cited by Swain,M; Susuki, W (2008) producing
language (as in a conversation) can stimulate learner’s awareness of linguistic
forms. This might occur when a teacher
interacting with a student use a recast or a metalinguistic explanation of the
target language to convey meaning, encouraging the learner to pay attention to
grammar.
5. What is the role of
corrective feedback in SLA?
In the language teaching field, feedback is said to be key to
the learners’ success in SLA since it seems to provide the “tools” for the
students’ to develop their competencies in the TL through thoughtful teacher’s
correction. However, It is important to state that no agreement has been made
regarding the true impact of corrective feedback on SLA which is still an
ongoing debate. De vries, B;Cucchiarini,
C; Helmer & S;Van Hout, R (2010) lists
some type of corrective feedback that might have some impact on the learner’s
language acquisition process.
1)
Explicit Feedback:
Teachers explicitly provides the correct form and indicate where the
student is incorrect. According to some
researchers, this type of feedback has proven to be the “most effective” to
deal with errors. Students are conscious they have made a mistake or an error.
2)
Recast: A teacher
reformulates a student’s utterance without the error. Teacher Luis Vera said
that this type of correct is not always noticed by the learner so it would be
less effective than the explicit feedback.
3)
Clarification request: It’s a type of questions that requires
the reformulation of an utterance so that it can be understood.
4)
Metalinguistic
feedback: It has information about the
language usually focused on a grammar aspect of it.
5)
Elicitation: It’s a
teacher attempt to foster the production of an utterance by asking for
completion of a sentence.
6)
Repetition: It’s the teacher’s repetition without the erroneous
utterance.
6. What is
"scaffolding", and what is its role in L2 learning?
In simple words,
scaffolding consists on the fact that more competent language users of the L2
such as a teacher or a tutor helps the less experience ones (children or
students) achieve goals in the L2 that they would be unable to complete on
their own. Celce Murcia, M;Brinton,
D;Snow, M (2014:558) mentions that scaffolding plays a supporting role which
set the students up for success.
