Questions For Reflection: Chapter 1: Language Learning in Early Childhood

How Languages are Learned | fourth edition | Patsy M.
Lightbown and Nina Spada
Questions for Reflection
Chapter 1: Language learning in early childhood

1 Some research has found that the best predictor of children’s vocabulary
growth is the amount of language addressed to them by their parents and
other caregivers. What have you seen in this chapter that is compatible with
that finding?
2 Go to the children’s section of a library or bookstore and look at the vocabulary
used in books that are published for children between three and six years old.
Compare these to books for young readers, aged six to eight. What does this
suggest about the importance of continuing to read to children after they have
begun to learn to read at school? Finally, look at the language used in textbooks
for children at age 10 or 11. What can you conclude about the challenge faced
by English language learners entering school at this age?
3 If you are or may be teaching a second language to a group of school-aged
learners with different first language backgrounds, can you think of pedagogical
tasks/activities in which children can display and use their L1 knowledge to help
them learn the second language?
Chapter 2: Second language learning

1 What are the general rules or patterns of negative sentences in English? Looking
at the developmental sequence that has been described for English negation,
think about what learners seem to notice first. Is it word order? Special words?
What features seem hardest for them to acquire?
2 How would you collect samples of learner language for a study of the
acquisition of grammatical morphemes? What kind of speaking or writing task
would be most effective in leading learners to create obligatory contexts for each
of the morphemes listed in Figure 2.1? Do you think some morphemes would
be relatively easy to create contexts for? Which ones do you think would be
difficult? Do you think the ‘wug test’ would be a useful tool?
3 What aspects of learners’ interlanguage are most likely to affect their ability
to use language effectively outside the classroom? Word order? Grammatical
morphemes? Vocabulary? Phonology? Pragmatics? Do you think priorities for
classroom interaction and instruction reflect the importance of these different
language features?
How Languages are Learned | fourth edition | © Oxford University Press

How Languages are Learned | fourth edition | Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada
Chapter 3: Individual differences in second language learning

1 Think of an example of a member of a majority group learning the language of
a minority group and one of a member of a minority group learning a majority
group’s language. How might the power relationships between groups of
speakers affect the attitudes of language learners? How might the status of the
languages affect opportunities for learning?
2 As a second/foreign language teacher or learner, what are your views about
teaching grammar? Do you have any specific preferences for how it should be
taught or when? Do you know what your students’ preferences might be for
grammar teaching and do you think it would be useful to find out?
3 If you were teaching English as a foreign language in a country with
limited opportunities for secondary and post-secondary education, what
recommendations would you make regarding the age at which English
instruction would begin? What research would you draw on in supporting your
recommendations?
Chapter 4: Explaining second language learning

1 Several theories for L2 learning have been proposed in this chapter. Is one of
them more consistent with your own understanding of how languages are
learned? If so, how have your experiences as a teacher or learner brought you to
this view?
2 Schmidt’s noticing hypothesis––that all second language learning in adults
involves awareness of what is being learned––is somewhat controversial. That
is, it has been argued that it is also possible to learn incidentally, without any
awareness or even an intention to learn. However, second language learners
certainly do have ‘aha’ moments when they suddenly understand something
about how the target language works. Do you have any examples of noticing
from your own language learning experiences, or from those of your students?
3 From the perspective of the interaction hypothesis, modified interaction is seen
as an essential resource for second language learners. This is distinguished from
modified (or simplified) input. Can you think of some examples of each? What
are some of the features of modified interaction that you think are especially
helpful to learners? Are there some features that may not support learning?
What are the contexts in which second language learners are most likely to
benefit from modified interaction? Do you think that simplified input is
(also) important?

How Languages are Learned | fourth edition | Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada
Chapter 5: Observing learning and teaching in the second language

classroom
1 Do you think you may have a preference for using a particular type of corrective
feedback in your teaching? For example, would you consider yourself to be a
‘recaster’ or a ‘prompter’ or do you think you use a range of different feedback
types? What could you do to find out?
2 Are you teaching in multilingual classrooms where many of your students have
a first language other than the language of instruction? Do you group these
students together to respond to their needs or do you integrate them with
the rest of the class? What do you think are the advantages/disadvantages of
either decision?
3 The charts that you used to analyse the teacher–student talk and student–
student talk in this chapter include six features (for example, errors, genuine
questions, negotiation for meaning). Do you think there are other features that
should be included in this chart? You can base your decision on the transcripts
provided in this chapter or on your own teaching experience.
Chapter 6: Second language learning in the classroom

1 Keeping in mind that individual learner differences play an important role in
L1/L2 language learning, do you think a particular learner profile might be
more compatible with one of the teaching proposals than another?
2 If you were going to experiment with a new approach to teaching in your
classroom, which of the six proposals described in this chapter would you
choose? Why?
3 This chapter concludes with the suggestion that ‘Get it right in the end’ is the
best approach. Is this consistent with your own views? Why/why not?

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How Languages are Learned | fourth edition | Patsy M.

Lightbown and Nina Spada

Questions for Reflection

Chapter 1: Language learning in early childhood

Chapter 2: Second language learning

How Languages are Learned | fourth edition | © Oxford University Press

Chapter 3: Individual differences in second language learning

Chapter 4: Explaining second language learning

How Languages are Learned | fourth edition | © Oxford University Press

Chapter 5: Observing learning and teaching in the second language

Chapter 6: Second language learning in the classroom

How Languages are Learned | fourth edition | © Oxford University Press

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