The following is a list of terms that come up in various blog posts, along with their definitions. This post will be updated as needed.
Additive bilingualism- Bilingual educational models whose goal is to add on the majority language while maintaining the heritage language. As opposed to models that focus solely on quickly gaining proficiency in the majority language. Critical period- The theory that there is an age before which language learning is easy and natural, and after which language learning becomes more difficult and is likely not to result in native-like proficiency. Highly debated as to where the cut-off sits (and is unlikely to be an actual "cut-off" anyway, but a gradual curve). Research suggests there are likely multiple different periods for different skills (e.g. phonology vs grammar). Ecological validity- How applicable the findings of a study are to real-life settings. Heritage language- A minority language learned in the home as a child (see heritage speaker) Heritage speaker- A person who learned a minority language in the home as a child. Often the children of immigrants. Contrasted with native speaker in that they often receive little or no (depending on whether immigration occurred before or after their birth) formal education in the native language. With support, can grow up to be relatively balanced bilinguals or can grow to be much more comfortable in the majority language with limited productive proficiency in the heritage language. L1- First language, given chronological learning. Sometimes confused with dominant language. In simultaneous bilinguals, there can be co-L1s. L2, L3, etc. Second language, third language, etc., given chronological learning. L2 is often used to denote any subsequent language learned, with L3 etc. being used to distinguish the chronology of multiple subsequently learned languages in multilinguals. Late L2 bilingual- A person who was raised monolingual and began learning an L2 in late childhood or adulthood, often formally in school. Can also be called late L2 learner, depending on the current proficiency level, learner denoting less proficiency. Letter fluency- Verbal fluency in letter categories, e.g. F, A, S. Example: "Name as many words as you can that start with F." Also known as 'phonemic,' 'phonetic,' or 'alphabetic' fluency (see verbal fluency). Majority language- The language spoken by the majority of speakers in a country; often the official or de facto official language (in the U.S., English). Minority language- Any unofficial language of a particular country, or in the case of no official language (like the U.S.), a language spoken by a minority of speakers (e.g. in the U.S., any language other than English). Native speaker- A person who speaks a given language, having learned it from childhood and received formal education. Contrasted with heritage speaker in that they either still live in the home country or emigrated after substantial formal education in the home language. Semantic fluency- Verbal fluency in semantic categories, e.g. animals. Example: "Name as many animals as you can in one minute." Also known as 'object fluency' (see verbal fluency). Sequential bilingual- A person who learned one language from birth, and started learning another language later, often still early in childhood. Simultaneous bilingual- A person who learned two languages from birth. Verbal fluency task- A psycholinguistic test. Participants are given a category and must name as many words as possible in a determined amount of time (often 1 minute). There are different types of category, the most common being semantic and letter.
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When I think about what lead me to study bilingualism and second language acquisition, of course that can't be addressed without thinking why I decided to become bilingual myself. Maybe it goes back to childhood perfectionism (I had to hold back tears if I missed a word on a spelling test). A late-acquired L2 is a difficult (if not impossible) thing to perfect, making for a lifelong personal challenge.
As a child, I attended summer language camps at the Concordia Language Villages. First German, which didn't go over so well (I was sick and missed the first day, so I had no friends, and loneliness made it hard to concentrate on the learning), and then Spanish. I had some fun but can't say I learned much. Eventually the costs outweighed the gains, and I stopped going. Then when I was in middle school, my mom bought Spanish in 10 Minutes a Day, a little workbook of ridiculous exercises. I don't think much long-term learning resulted from that endeavor either, surprisingly. So in junior high, I started "language exploration" Spanish classes from scratch. Then I took four years in high school and decided to major in undergrad, because of a nagging irritation: "Why am I not better at this?" My grammar improved, but my conversation anxiety was high, so I started working and volunteering at a bilingual school, where I discovered the awe-inspiring eloquence of the bilingual kindergartener. I got to witness heritage bilingual acquisition firsthand, which sparked my interest in the process itself. After graduation, working with a bilingual literacy program in another school, I had the pleasure of working with those students in both English and Spanish contexts, and was regularly both amused and amazed to watch their development in both languages. They more often than not taught me just as much as I taught them. My personal (and often frustrating) adult second language acquisition combined with my envy of child bilingualism converged into a fascination with the entire process, which I'm lucky to study through my research and promote with my teaching and community engagement. |
AuthorThis is a place where I record thoughts on second language research and pedagogical theory Archives
June 2019
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