Second Language Learning and Language Teaching

Discussion topics
1
Are there parts of the second language that we do not need to teach, and
parts that are based on transfer from our first language?
2
How can vocabulary be taught in relationship to grammatical structure?
3
What parts of the second language can be built up by practice? What parts
cannot?
4
How can teachers help students go from the formal language of the
classroom to the informal language outside?
5
How much of students’ success would you attribute to motivation, and how
much to other factors?
6
Is it realistic to claim that the target of L2 teaching should be the L2 user, or
do we have to compromise with students’ beliefs that they want to be like
native speakers?
7
Do you think you have gained more from acquiring a second language than
just the language?
Further reading
Teaching applications of the UG model are discussed in Cook (1994) in T. Odlin
(ed.), Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar; its link to L2 learning is discussed in
Cook and Newson (2007) Chomsky’s Universal Grammar. Useful overall accounts of
some L2 models are in Myles and Mitchell (2004) Second Language Learning Theories;
and VanPatten and Williams (2006) Theories in Second Language Acquisition. A syn-
thesising overview of L2 learning can be found in Spolsky (1989a) Conditions for
Second Language Learning. The Competition Model is discussed more critically in
Cook (1993) Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. The multi-competence
model is treated extensively in Cook (2002) Portraits of the L2 User and (2003) Effects
of the Second Language on the First.
General models of L2 learning
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