IELTS Writing Task 1 | Population Growth IELTS Writing Task 1 | Population Growth Instructions: The table, graph or bar chart below shows population figures for India and China since the year 2000 and predicted population growth up until 2050. Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information delineated in the graph. Intensifiers …
Behaviorism Behaviorism Empirical studies were primarily descriptive and totally objective in nature. In the late 1960s and 1970s, a growing consensus was reached that behaviourist theories of L2 learning were inadequate. L2 learners, like L1 learners, were credited with a ‘built-in-syllabus’, which guided their progress. According to the behaviourist hypothesis, the mind of the newborn …
Sensitive Period Hypothesis Sensitive Period Hypothesis in comparison to Critical Period Hypothesis The review can show that variation in studies and findings with regard to the age groups considered, nature of the pronunciation tests, and length and type of exposure to the second language. One conclusion drawn is that cerebral lateralization is likely to be …
IELTS Writing Task 2 | Paparazzi IELTS Writing Task 2 | Paparazzi Topic: Wherever high-profile people, such as athletes, entertainers, and other celebrities, show up in public places, a crowd of paparazzi chase them to take photos for commercial purposes. What is your opinion about these independent photographers and their interaction with celebrities? General Information …
Declarative Knowledge Declarative knowledge is the same as explicit or controlled knowledge, whereas procedural knowledge is the same is implicit or uncontrolled knowledge. Internalised rules and memorised chunks of the language constitute the ‘what’ of the learner’s system or declarative knowledge (McLaughlin, 1987). Ellis believes that declarative rules can have top-down influences on perception, in …
Inter-group Theory Inter-group Theory Giles and Byrne identified a number of factors that contribute to a group’s ‘ethnolinguistic vitality’—the key construct in the theory. They then discussed the conditions under which subordinate group members (e.g. immigrants or members of an ethnic minority) are most likely to acquire native-like proficiency in the dominant group’s language. These …
Humanistic Language Learning Humanistic Language Learning The best introduction to humanistic learning within language education is Stevick (1997, as cited in Nunan, 2003). He believes that particular classroom techniques matter less than establishing the right emotional climate for the learners. According to Stevick (1990), among different language methods and approaches, Community Language Learning (CLL) seems …
Interaction Hypothesis Interaction Hypothesis Long’s Interaction Hypothesis, especially the updated version, claims that learners do need to pay conscious attention to form in order to benefit from negotiated interaction. The origins of Long’s Interaction Hypothesis lies partly in Hatch’s work on discourse analysis and L2 acquisition and partly in Krashen’s Input Hypothesis. Hatch claims that …
Output Hypothesis Output Hypothesis Swain’s Comprehensible Output Hypothesis emphasises the importance of consciousness, both in terms of learners’ noticing gaps in their interlanguage and developing metalinguistic awareness. The comprehensible output hypothesis constitutes an important addition to work on the role of interaction in L2 acquisition. In other words, output contributes to acquisition. It is in …
Conversation Analysis Conversation Analysis Like ‘discourse analysis’, Conversational Analysis provides a tool for conducting micro-analyses of classroom discourse and, in particular, for examining the sequential development of classroom talk. CA derives from a branch of sociology-ethnomethodology. Seedhouse identified five key principles of this method of enquiry: Indexicality, i.e. the use that interactants make of shared …