Usage-Based Approaches to Language Acquisition and Language Teaching

Usage-Based Approaches to Language Acquisition and Language Teaching PDF

Author: Jacqueline Evers-Vermeul

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2017-03-06

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1501505491

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Although usage-based approaches have been successfully applied to the study of both first and second language acquisition, to monolingual and bilingual development, and to naturalistic and instructed settings, it is not common to consider these different kinds of acquisition in tandem. The present volume takes an integrative approach and shows that usage-based theories provide a much needed unified framework for the study of first, second and foreign language acquisition, in monolingual and bilingual contexts. The contributions target the acquisition of a wide range of linguistic phenomena and critically assess the applicability and explanatory power of the usage-based paradigm. The book also systematically examines a range of cognitive and linguistic factors involved in the process of language development and relates relevant findings to language teaching. Finally, this volume contributes to the assessment and refinement of empirical methods currently employed in usage-based acquisition research. This book is of interest to scholars of language acquisition, language pedagogy, developmental psychology, as well as Cognitive Linguistics and Construction Grammar.

The Usage-based Study of Language Learning and Multilingualism

The Usage-based Study of Language Learning and Multilingualism PDF

Author: Lourdes Ortega

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2016-05-16

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1626163251

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When humans learn languages, are they also learning how to create shared meaning? In The Usage-based Study of Language Learning and Multilingualism, a cadre of international experts say yes and offer cutting-edge research in usage-based linguistics to explore how language acquisition, in particular multilingual language acquisition, works. Each chapter presents an original study that supports the view that language learning is initiated through local and meaningful communication with others. Over an accumulated history of such usage, people gradually create more abstract, interactive schematic representations, or a mental grammar. This process of acquiring language is the same for infants and adults and across varied contexts, such as the family, the classroom, the laboratory, a hospital, or a public encounter. Employing diverse methodologies to study this process, the contributors here work with target languages, including Cantonese, English, French, French Sign Language, German, Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Spanish, and Swedish, and offer a much-needed exploration of this growing area of linguistic research.

Usage-Based Approaches to Language Acquisition and Processing

Usage-Based Approaches to Language Acquisition and Processing PDF

Author: Nick C. Ellis

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 2016-06-13

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781119296522

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Nick C. Ellis, Ute Römer, and Matthew Brook O'Donnell present a view of language as a complex adaptive system that is learned through usage. In a series of research studies, they analyze Verb-Argument Constructions (VACs) in first and second language learning, processing, and use. Drawing on diverse epistemological and methodological perspectives, they show how language emerges out of multiple experiences of meaning-making. In the development of both mother tongue and additional languages, each usage experience affects construction knowledge following general principles of learning relating to frequency, contingency, and semantic prototypicality. The implications of this work will be of value to students and scholars from a wide range of disciplinary interests in language and learning. "This is an impressive volume that will inspire researchers for generations to come. Focusing on the construction and acquisition of language, it combines a comprehensive synthesis of theory with a detailed account of extensive empirical work." —Susan Hunston, University of Birmingham "This book is a phenomenal synthesis of a formidable research program. In a feast of corpus, psycholinguistic, acquisitional, and simulation evidence, the authors’ bold theoretical insights advance knowledge about human language to unprecedented levels." —Lourdes Ortega, Georgetown University "The authors present a superb synthesis of approaches to verb-argument constructions and convincingly demonstrate the close links between lexical patterning and constructional meaning. An absolute must-read for anyone interested in usage-based approaches to language learning." —Ewa Dabrowska, University of Northumbria at Newcastle "This book represents an outstanding achievement. The authors illustrate why the most exciting work in the language sciences today is conducted across disciplinary boundaries. Working at the intersection of experimental, computational, and corpus-based approaches, their research inspires us to look beyond our own disciplines to observe language data from all angles." —Patrick Rebuschat, Lancaster University

Constructing a Language

Constructing a Language PDF

Author: Michael TOMASELLO

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-06-30

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 0674044398

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In this groundbreaking book, Tomasello presents a comprehensive usage-based theory of language acquisition. Drawing together a vast body of empirical research in cognitive science, linguistics, and developmental psychology, Tomasello demonstrates that we don't need a self-contained "language instinct" to explain how children learn language. Their linguistic ability is interwoven with other cognitive abilities.

Usage-Based Dynamics in Second Language Development

Usage-Based Dynamics in Second Language Development PDF

Author: Wander Lowie

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2020-07-14

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1788925262

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This book honours the contribution of Marjolijn Verspoor to the development and implementation of dynamic usage-based (DUB) approaches in second language (L2) research and pedagogy. With chapters written by renowned experts in the field, the book addresses the dynamics of language, language learning and language teaching from a usage-based perspective. The book contains both theory and empirical work: the initial theoretical chapters present cutting-edge thinking in relation to both the scope of DUB theory and its applications, providing conceptual perspectives from cognitive grammar and linguistics, thinking-for-speaking (TFS), and Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) approaches, united by their shared underpinnings of language as a dynamic system of conventionalized routines. The second half of the volume showcases state-of-the-art methodologies to study dynamic trajectories of language learning, empirical investigations into the above-mentioned theoretical concepts, and innovative classroom implementations of DUB language pedagogy.

Second Language Acquisition and Task-Based Language Teaching

Second Language Acquisition and Task-Based Language Teaching PDF

Author: Mike Long

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-07-31

Total Pages: 513

ISBN-13: 1118882210

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This book offers an in-depth explanation of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and the methods necessary to implement it in the language classroom successfully. Combines a survey of theory and research in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) with insights from language teaching and the philosophy of education Details best practice for TBLT programs, including discussion of learner needs and means analysis; syllabus design; materials writing; choice of methodological principles and pedagogic procedures; criterion-referenced, task-based performance assessment; and program evaluation Written by an esteemed scholar of second language acquisition with over 30 years of research and classroom experience Considers diffusion of innovation in education and the potential impact of TBLT on foreign and second language learning

Usage-inspired L2 Instruction

Usage-inspired L2 Instruction PDF

Author: Andrea E. Tyler

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2018-02-15

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9027264465

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This book presents a set of compelling essays collectively making a persuasive case for why a usage-based perspective on language is fast becoming a leading theoretical framework for investigating second language (L2) learning and the foundation for effective, innovative, engaging pedagogy. Drawing on 20 years of research in psychology, psycholinguistics, cognitive science, and linguistic theory, including discourse analytic approaches, the combined contributions paint a picture of theoretically-informed L2 pedagogy which emphasizes all facets of language as meaningful, embodied, and socially situated. The introduction and conclusion offer an outline of five foundational tenets essential to a usage-inspired pedagogy and a heuristic for developing usage-inspired L2 research and pedagogy. Each essay provides a unique vantage on usage-inspired L2 instruction and a demonstration of the efficacy of usage-based pedagogy. This volume will be invaluable for SLA researchers, graduate students, and classroom teachers interested in exploring usage-inspired L2 pedagogy.

The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language

The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language PDF

Author: Edith L. Bavin

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781107605428

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The best survey of the subject available, The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language brings together the world's foremost researchers to provide a one-stop resource for the study of language acquisition and development. Grouped into five thematic sections, the handbook is organized by topic, making it easier for students and researchers to use when looking up specific in-depth information. It covers a wider range of subjects than any other handbook on the market, with chapters covering both theories and methods in child language research and tracing the development of language from prelinguistic infancy to teenager. Drawing on both established and more recent research, the Handbook surveys the crosslinguistic study of language acquisition; prelinguistic development; bilingualism; sign languages; specific language impairment, language and autism, Down syndrome and Williams syndrome. This book will be an essential reference for students and researchers working in linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, speech pathology, education and anthropology.

Usage-based Models of Language

Usage-based Models of Language PDF

Author: Michael Barlow

Publisher: Stanford Univ Center for the Study

Published: 2000-01

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9781575862194

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How do humans learn how to speak and understand language? For years, linguists have developed numerous models in attempts to explain humans' ability to communicate through language. Historically, these approaches were rooted and restricted in rule-based linguistic representations. Only recently has the field of linguistics been willing to forego formal representations and models to accommodate the usage-based perspective of studying language. Deviating from traditional methods, the contributions presented in this volume are among the first works to approach linguistic theory by developing and utilizing usage-based models. The contributing authors were among the principal leaders in their fields to leave behind rule-based linguistic representations in favor of constraint-based systems whose structural properties actually emerge from usage. The volume begins with an introductory chapter that defines contributors' interpretations of usage-based models and theories of language. The reason for the shift from formal linguistic theories to the gradual acceptance of usage-based models is also examined. Using methods such as Cognitive Grammar, the Lexical Network Model, Competition Model, Relational Network Theory, and Accessibility Theory, the selected works demonstrate how usage-based models evince far greater cognitive and neurological plausibility than algorithmic, generative models.

Contemporary Approaches to Second Language Acquisition

Contemporary Approaches to Second Language Acquisition PDF

Author: María del Pilar García Mayo

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9027205256

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Second language acquisition (SLA) is a field of inquiry that has increased in importance since the 1960s. Currently, researchers adopt multiple perspectives in the analysis of learner language, all of them providing different but complementary answers to the understanding of oral and written data produced by young and older learners in different settings. The main goal of this volume is to provide the reader with updated reviews of the major contemporary approaches to SLA, the research carried out within them and, wherever appropriate, the implications and/or applications for theory, research and pedagogy that might derive from the available empirical evidence. The book is intended for SLA researchers as well as for graduate (MA, Ph.D.) students in SLA research, applied linguistics and linguistics, as the different chapters will be a guide in their research within the approaches presented. The volume will also be of interest to professionals from other fields interested in the SLA process and the different explanations that have been put forward to account for it.