How Languages Are Learned

by Patsy M. Lightbown; Nina Spada

• ISBN13: 9780194422246
• ISBN10: 0194422240
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780194370004, 9780194541268
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-01
• Publisher: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
• More Book Details

Summary

This thoroughly updated third edition presents the main theories of language acquisition, considering their bearing on language teaching. It discusses the effects of factors such as intelligence, personality, and age. It helps teachers assess the merits of different methods and textbooks. This new edition includes more information on theories of first language acquisition and early bilingualism, and the affects of motivation and style.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	xi
Preface to the third edition	xiii
Introduction	xv
Language learning in early childhood	1	(28)
The first three years: Milestones and developmental sequences	1	(6)
Grammatical morphemes	3	(1)
Negation	4	(1)
Questions	5	(2)
The pre-school years	7	(1)
The school years	8	(2)
Explaining first language acquisition	10	(14)
The behaviourist perspective: Say what I say	10	(5)
The innatist perspective: It's all in your mind	15	(4)
Interactionist/developmental perspectives: Learning from inside and out	19	(5)
Language disorders and delays	24	(1)
Childhood bilingualism	25	(2)
Summary	27	(2)
Explaining second language learning	29	(24)
Contexts for language learning	29	(5)
Learner characteristics	30	(2)
Learning conditions	32	(2)
Behaviourism	34	(1)
Second language applications: Mimicry and memorization	34	(1)
The innatist perspective: Universal Grammar	35	(3)
Second language applications: Krashen's `monitor model'	34	(4)
Current psychological theories: The cognitive/developmental perspective	38	(9)
Information processing	39	(2)
Connectionism	41	(1)
The competition model	42	(1)
Second language applications: Interacting, noticing, and processing	43	(4)
The sociocultural perspective	47	(2)
Second language applications: Learning by talking	47	(2)
Theory into practice	49	(4)
Individual differences in second language learning	53	(24)
Who is a `good language learner'?	54	(1)
Research on learner characteristics	54	(20)
Intelligence	57	(1)
Aptitude	57	(2)
Learning styles	59	(1)
Personality	60	(3)
Motivation and attitudes	63	(2)
Identity and ethnic group affiliation	65	(1)
Learner beliefs	66	(1)
Age of acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis	67	(7)
Summary	74	(3)
Learner language	77	(32)
Studying the language of second language learners	77	(5)
Contrastive analysis, error analysis, and interlanguage	78	(4)
Developmental sequences	82	(11)
Grammatical morphemes	83	(2)
Negation	85	(1)
Questions	86	(2)
Possessive determiners	88	(2)
Relative clauses	90	(1)
Reference to past	91	(1)
Movement through developmental sequences	92	(1)
More about first language influence	93	(3)
Vocabulary	96	(4)
Pragmatics	100	(4)
Phonology	104	(5)
Observing learning and teaching in the second language classroom	109	(28)
Natural and instructional settings	109	(5)
Observation schemes	114	(18)
Classroom comparisons: teacher--student interactions	115	(6)
Classroom comparisons: student--student interactions	121	(4)
Corrective feedback in the classroom	125	(5)
Questions in the classroom	130	(2)
Ethnography	132	(3)
Summary	135	(2)
Second language learning in the classroom	137	(46)
Six proposals for classroom teaching	137	(39)
Get it right from the beginning	138	(5)
Just listen . . . and read	143	(7)
Let's talk	150	(5)
Two for one	155	(5)
Teach what is teachable	160	(5)
Get it right in the end	165	(11)
The implications of classroom research for teaching	176	(3)
Summary	179	(4)
Popular ideas about language learning revisited	183	(12)
Glossary	195	(12)
Bibliography	207	(22)
Index	229