California Teacher of English Learners (CTEL) › Theories, Models, and Processes of Second-Language Acquisition
In a classroom of adult second language learners it is best to encourage _____________.
free and natural conversations about contemporary or personally relevant topics
strictly academic discourse
only supervised conversations on specific topics, so the teacher can supervise language use by the students
None of these
The first thing to remember when teaching second language learners is that they are already fluent conversationalists in another language! This is the primary difference between facilitating primary and second language acquisition. Second language learners, in order to progress to the difficult goal of pragmatic competence, will be more stimulated and more apt to acquire language when they engage in natural conversations similar to those they will or would like to have in their real lives. Allowing learners to express themselves naturally and without constant strict supervision is key.
According to a semantic theory of second language acquisition, meaning is ______________.
the most important and fundamental factor in language acquisition
a purely theoretical construct, and thus unimportant in practical language acquisition
a detrimental idea to the early stages of language acquisition
an existentially irrelevant and pernicious term
Semantic theory holds that meaning is the single most important factor and goal of all language. According to this theory, to acquire language is to gain the ability to express meaning. This theory identifies four kinds of meaning: semantic, lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic.
Which of the following is the best technique to teach students to produce a short essay on a contemporary topic?
Have the students gather in small groups to discuss the topic, generate a thesis, and write introductions that they then workshop as a group
Give the students an abundance of essays to take home, telling them they will produce their essays the next day
Have the students read several model essays, both positive and negative in advance, and then have them discuss the essays in small groups
None of these
The best way to help students synthesize information about essay structures is to make sure that all aspects of language learning are incorporated into the process. By having students read, write, talk, and listen while composing their essays you will be developing all of their language skills, while also allowing the students to be comfortable, while combining social and solitary work.
In providing corrections for beginner-early intermediate second language learners it is best practice to _________________.
avoid correcting all mistakes, and instead focus on providing consistent feedback in a specifically targeted area
correct every single mistake in order to provide the learner with maximum input
provide only a summary paragraph response that is encouraging; individual sentences should not be commented upon
Not applicable; beginning students should not be asked to write or read
Beginning and early intermediate second language learners are very far away from being able to produce a text that does not require significant correction. To correct every grammatical point in a student's work at this level would be deeply discouraging to a student, and would simply overload them with information, making it impossible for them to actually synthesize the corrections. The best thing to do is to give specific, targeted feedback on a grammar point that the student can take in and learn from. Doing this over a long period of time, as the points are incrementally integrated the student will improve.
Semantic meaning refers to ___________.
the meaning of an individual word
the meaning of a sentence
the meaning of a phoneme
the meaning of a paragraph
This is a simple, but important, definition: semantic meaning refers to the meaning generated by a single word in isolation.