INTRODUCTION

In outlining a theory of second language acquisition, we have discovered that the

cognitive domain of human behavior is of key importance in the acquisition of
both a first and a second language. The processes of perceiving, judging,
knowing and remembering are central to the task of internalizing a language.
Theories of learning are generalized in nature. They seek to explain globally how
people learn, what common characteristics there are in all learning. Such
theories do not account for the plethora of differing contexts of learning,
differences across individuals in the way they learn items, or differences within
any one individual.
While we all exhibit inherently human traits of learning, every individual
approaches a problem or learns a set of facts or organizes a combination of
feelings from a unique perspective. The three major sections of this module
deal with categories of variation in human learning: variations in types of
learning inherent in the cognitive task; variation in strategies individuals
employ, and variation in personal cognitive styles of learning.
Second language learning involves complex cognitive processes that consist of
many types of learning, and every individual utilizes a variety of strategies and
styles in order to master the language. It is important to understand these
processes so that you can teach effectively and productively.
 TYPES OF LEARNING
The educational psychologist, Robert Gagne (1965), ably demonstrated the
importance of identifying a number of types of learning which all human beings
use. Types of learning vary according to the context and subject matter to be
learned, but a complex task such as language learning involves everyone of
Gagne’s types of learning – from simple signal learning to problem solving.
The second language learning process can be rather efficiently categorized and
sequenced in cognitive terms by means of the eight types of learning.

1. Signal learning generally occurs in the total language process: human beings
make a general response of some kind (emotional, cognitive, verbal, or non-
verbal) to language
2. Stimulus-response learning is quite evident in the acquisition of the sound
system of a foreign language in which, through a process of conditioning and
trial and error, the learner makes closer and closer approximations to native- like
pronunciation.
3. Chaining is evident in the acquisition of phonological sequences and syntactic
patterns – the stringing together of several responses
4. Verbal association is the learning of chains that are verbal. The presence of
language in the human being makes this a special type because internal links
may be selected from the individual’s previously learned repertoire of language.
 TYPES OF LEARNING (CONT.)
5. Multiple discriminations are necessary particularly in second
language learning where, for example, a word has to take on several
meanings, or a role in the native language is reshaped to fit a second
language context.
6. Concept learning includes the notion that language and cognition are
inextricably interrelated; also that rules themselves – rules of syntax,
rules of conversation – are linguistic concepts that have to be acquired.
7. Principle learning is the extension of concept learning , learning to
the formation of a linguistic system, in which rules are not isolated in rote
memory but conjoined and subsumed in a total system.
8. Problem solving is clearly evident in second language learning as the
learner is continually faced with sets of events that are truly problems to
be solved.
 STRATEGIES OF LEARNING
A strategy may be defined as a particular method of approaching a problem or
task, a mode of operation for achieving a particular end, a plan designed for
controlling and manipulating certain information.

In language learning we can distinguish two basic categories of strategies: (1)

learning strategies and (2) communication strategies.

A learning strategy is a method of perceiving and storing particular items for later
recall.

A communication strategy is a method of achieving communication, of encoding

or expressing meaning in a language.

The two types of strategies are quite different in their manifestations though
there is obviously a strong relationship between them.
 LEARNING STRATEGIES
The human organism approaches any new problem with an existing
set of cognitive structures, and through insight, logical thinking,
and various forms of hypothesis testing, calls upon whatever
prior experiences he has had and whatever cognitive structures
he possesses to attempt a solution.
In the literature on language learning strategies, four terms have
commonly been singled out for explications:
1. transfer
2. interference
3. generalization
4. simplification
 TRANSFER AND INTERFERENCE
Transfer is a general term describing the carryover of previous performance or
knowledge to subsequent learning. Positive transfer occurs when the prior
knowledge benefits the learning task – that is, when a previous item is correctly
applied to present subject matter. Negative transfer occurs when the previous
performance disrupts the performance of a second task. The latter can be
referred to as interference, in that, previously learned material interferes with
subsequent material – a previous item is incorrectly transferred or incorrectly
associated with an item to be learned.
It has been common in second language teaching to stress the role of interference
– that is, the interfering effects of the native language on the target (the second )
language.

In fact, it is clear from the learning theory that a person will use whatever previous
experience he has had with language in order to facilitate the second language
learning process.

It is exceedingly important to remember, however, that the native language of a

second language learner is often positively transferred, in which case the learner
benefits from the facilitating effects of the first language.
 GENERALIZATION AND SIMPLIFICATION
Generalization is a crucially important and pervading strategy in
human learning. To generalize means to infer or derive a law, rule,
or conclusion usually from observation of particular instances. The
concept of meaningful learning, is in fact, generalization. Much of
human learning involves generalization. The learning of concepts in
early childhood is a process of generalizing
Inductive and deductive reasoning are two polar aspects of the
generalization process. Classroom learning usually involves a
mixture of both types of reasoning. Deductive reasoning is
commonly used in cases in which , for example a grammatical rule
is presented and the student is subsequently required, through
drills and exercises, to supply instances of that rule. Inductive
reasoning is necessary to infer superordinate principles or rules
from the day-to-day linguistic input the learner receives.
 GENERALIZATION AND SIMPLIFICATION (CONT.)
Simplification is a term that has also been used in the literature on second
language acquisition. In one sense, all human learning is simplification: the
process of “uncomplicating”, of reducing events to a common denominator, to
as few parts of the features as possible. Meaningful learning is simplification, a
process of storing items so that a few higher-order features lead to more and
more lower-order features. Simplification is synonymous with generalization.
But simplification can be contrasted with complexification, the act of
discovering many varied parts of a whole or even parts that do not fit into a
whole.
Complexification is necessary at times in order to counteract a tendency to
oversimplify, to overgeneralize to the point of omitting essential parts of the
whole.
In second language acquisition it has been common to refer to overgeneralization
as a strategy that occurs as the second language learner acts within the target
language, generalizing a particular rule or item in the second language –
irrespective of the native language – beyond legitimate bounds.
Overgeneralization is the incorrect application – negative transfer – of previously
learned second language material to a present second language context. All
generalizing involves transfer, and all transfer involves generalizing.
 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
Communication is the output modality and learning is the input modality of
language acquisition. Communication strategies are systematic attempts to
express meaning in the target language in which the speaker must attend to both
the form (the surface structure) of language and the function (the intended
purpose of the utterances ) of language.
In order to communicate in the target language, the speaker (the learner) must
access the total context of communication, perceive the cognitive, affective, and
linguistic set of the hearer, personally organize his intended meaning, then draw
upon whatever existing structures he possesses to effect that communication.
The resulting utterance will vary from learner to learner depending, among other
things, upon the way linguistic material has been organized, stored, and recalled.
Sometimes a communication strategy will enable the learner to fill in some gaps
when he is uncertain of the correct or appropriate linguistic forms.
In communicating productively in a second language, we use the same
fundamental strategies that we use in “learning” a second language. In a
situation in which a learner discerns either correctly or incorrectly from stored
knowledge that it is appropriate to transfer a first language thought or rule or
pattern, he will do so and in his utterance will reflect that transfer.
 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES (CONT.)
Positive transfer cannot be overtly detected in an utterance since one can
only guess at the underlying causes of correctness; Negative transfer is
often manifested overtly and the hearer, cognitively and affectively,
reacts to such evidence of interference.
Generalization within the target language is also a common production
strategy that stems from generalization in the learning or receptive
stage.
The strategy of avoidance is a most interesting one both psychologically
and linguistically. Avoidance has cognitive and semantic manifestations
when a learner avoids a whole topic of conversation about which
perhaps he feels linguistically uncomfortable. Linguistic manifestations
of syntactic avoidance occurs when a person opts for a simpler
structure that gives enough information by way of presupposition for
communication to continue.
Syntactic avoidance is often manifested by a strategy of paraphrasing. As a
last resort, second language learners sometimes actually switch
languages, reverting entirely to the native language in an effort to
communicate an idea.
 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES (CONT.)
Another common communication device is to memorize certain stock
phrases or sentences without internalized knowledge of the components
of the phrase. “Tourist survival” language is full of prefabricated
patterns, most of which can be found in pocket bilingual “phrase “ books
which list hundreds of stock sentences for various occasions.

A common strategy of communication is a direct appeal to authority.

Learners may, if “stuck” for a particular word or phrase, directly ask a
native speaker (the authority) for the form. Or they might venture a
possible guess and then ask for verification from the native speaker of
the correctness of the attempt.

Finally, when all else fails – when appeal, avoidance, transfer, and other
strategies are all incapable of producing a meaningful utterance –
learners may resort to language switch. That is, they may simply use their
native language whether the learner knows that native language or not.
 IMPLICATIONS TO LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
TEACHING
Much of the work of researchers and teachers in the application of
both learning and communication strategies to classroom learning
has come to be known generically as learner strategy training.
As we seek to make the language classroom an effective milieu for
learning, it has become increasingly apparent that “teaching
learners how to learn” is crucial. Learner strategies are the key to
learner autonomy, and that one of the most important goals of
language training should be the facilitating of that autonomy.
Teachers, therefore, can benefit from an understanding of what
makes learners successful and unsuccessful, and establish in the
classroom a milieu for the realization of successful strategies.
Teachers cannot always expect instant success in that effort since
students often bring with them certain preconceived notions of
what “ought “ to go on in the classroom. Nevertheless, our efforts
to teach students some “technical know-how about how to tackle
a language” are well advised.
 IMPLICATIONS (CONT.)
Several different models of learner strategy training are now being practiced in
language classes around the world.

1. As part of a standard communicative methodology, teachers help students to

become aware of their own style preferences and the strategies that are derived
from those styles.
2. Teachers can embed actual strategy practice into their techniques and materials.
As they utilize such techniques as communicative games, rapid reading, fluency
exercises, error analysis, they can help students either, consciously or
subconsciously, to practice successful strategies.
3. Certain compensatory techniques are sometimes practiced to help students
overcome certain weaknesses.
4. Finally, recent textbooks (Chamot, O’Malley and Kupper 1992; Ellis and Sinclair,
1989) are now including strategy training as part of a content- centered
approach.

We have much to learn in the creation of practical techniques for training learners in
strategy use, but this remains a very exciting and promising area of pedagogical
research at the present time.
 SUMMARY
In Topic 7, we have looked at a number of both relevant and salient cognitive
variables in the learning of a foreign language. It should by now be apparent
that cognitive variables alone represent a quagmire of factors that must be
channeled into an understanding of the total second language acquisition
process.

An awareness of these factors will help us, teachers, to perceive in the learners
you encounters some wide-varying individual differences. We know very well
that not all learners are alike. No one can be neatly pigeon-holed into a
cognitive type. With many styles and strategies operating within a person,
hundreds of cognitive “profiles” might be identified! If we could discover some
overriding and all-pervading variable that classifies learners neatly into
categories of “successful” and “unsuccessful”, then of course we could make a
case for typing language learners.

Teachers need to recognize and understand a multiplicity of cognitive variables

active in the second language learning process and to make appropriate
judgements about individual learners, meeting them where they are and
providing them with the best possible opportunities for learning.
 REFERENCES
Brown, H. Douglas. 1991. Breaking the Language Barrier. Yermouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

. 1994. Teaching by Principles: Interactive Language Teaching Methodology. New

York: Prentice Hall Regents.

Chamot, Anna Uhl and O’Malley, Michael. 1986. A Cognitive Academic Language Learning
Approach: An ESL Content-Based Curriculum. Wheaton, MD: National Clearinghouse for
Bilingual Education.

Ellis , Gail and Sinclair Barbara. 1989. Learning to Learn English: A Course In
Learner Training. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ellis , Rod. 1987. Second Language Acquisition In Context. New York: Prentice Hall.

Hartnett, Dayle D. 1985. Cognitive style and second language learning. In Celce- Murcia, 1985.

Oxford, Rebecca. 1990. Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. New
York: Newbury House Publishers.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
From Group 7