Relevance: communication and cognition

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan H. Foster-Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Language Research

This review article outlines the major tenets of Relevance Theory as presented in the original book (1986) and in the second edition (1995). Each chapter summary is followed by a brief exploration of the points of contact between Sperber and Wilson's ideas and second language research. In some cases this leads to new predictions, in other cases it suffices to point out parallel discussions, which might profit from a Relevance Theory vantage point. It is concluded that Relevance Theory can be usefully exploited to understand second language comprehension and, perhaps, to understand second language acquisition.

Second Language Acquisition Research and Language Pedagogy: A Critical View

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Talebinejad ◽  
Aasa Moattarian
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Class 1 ◽  
Research Findings

<p class="1"><span lang="X-NONE">Over the past several decades, a substantial body of research on second language acquisition has been provided. The current study was an attempt to investigate language teachers’ views on applying research findings in their every day practice of language teaching through a critical lens. Data for this qualitative study was collected by means of a semi structured interview with 10 language teachers teaching English at different language institutes in Iran. Analyses of data revealed that, although teachers find second language acquisition research a useful tool for their professional development; they do not usually consult bodies of research in their every day teaching practice. They report problems in applying second language research in their practice due to problems with practicality, particularity, and possibility. The findings suggest that language teachers need to be exposed to insight from SLA research and practice.</span></p>

scholarly journals Exploring the relationships between theories of second language acquisition and Relevance Theory

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Mariz Maia de Paiva ◽  
Susan H. Foster-Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Communicative Interaction ◽  
Pragmatic Development ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
The Rich

This article explores a number of points at which Relevance Theory makes a useful contribution to second language theoretical models, specifically those of Bialystok and Schmidt and their respective notions of ‘analysis’, ‘control’ and ‘noticing’.It is suggested that the inferential mechanisms of Relevance Theory can account for the contingencies of communicative interaction without which pragmatic negotiations do not make sense, and thus can complement such information-processing accounts through the notions of ‘manifestness’ and the balance between ‘effort’ and ‘effect’.Further research is called for into the integration of information-processing concepts and Relevance Theoretical insights as part of a complex theoretical architecture capable of capturing the rich diversity of pragmatic development in second language acquisition.

Recent research on the acquisition of aspect: an embarrassment of riches?

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roumyana Slabakova
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Aspect Hypothesis ◽  
Lexical Aspect ◽  
Future Aspect

This review article surveys recent research on the first and second language acquisition of temporal and aspectual properties of natural languages.Three recently published books are discussed in the context of the primacy or aspect hypothesis and the prototype, the connectionist and the discourse explanations for the attested acquisition sequences. A potentially misleading terminological issue is highlighted: Deictic tense, grammatical and lexical aspect are often conflated in acquisition studies. Recent research from the (innatist) generative perspective (e.g., Olsen and Weinberg, 1999) is also examined. An alternative explanation of the skewed acquisition sequences in terms of processing costs is proposed. Some important topics for future aspect research are identified.

Natural Phonology and Second Language Acquisition

1996 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Niclas Abrahamsson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Original Theory ◽  
Preliminary Model ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Promising Application ◽  
Phonetic Value

This paper looks at whether Natural Phonology can be directly applied to second language acquisition. First, the original theory, as presented by Stampe and Donegan in the 1970s, is outlined. Secondly, its application to first language acquisition is presented, as this is highly crucial for the following discussion on the naturalness of second language phonology. Thirdly, an attempt is made to establish a preliminary model of the application to second language speech. Findings indicate that Natural Phonology is able to, if not resolve, then at least shed some light on a controversial issue in second language research, namely the distinction between interference and development. With the dichotomy of processes vs. rules offered by Natural Phonology, and hence the interpretation of deviations in second language research as the result of failure of suppression and limitation of processes (instead of as the result of interference from LI phonological rules), the interference/ development distinction collapses. In addition, a principle of closest phonetic value' is postulated in order to explain substitutional variation across learners with differing LI backgrounds. Although highly promising, application of Natural Phonology to second language issues also raises inherent problems in the original theory that need to be resolved. Instead of the notions of innateness and latency of processes proposed by Stampean Natural Phonology, in this paper, suggestions are made concerning the brain's early programming of processes in the form of a model which covers both first and second language acquisition.

Metonymic inferencing and second language acquisition

AILA Review ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 134-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Barcelona
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Lexical Polysemy

The article is a reflection on the various areas of cognitive linguistic research on metonymy that are of potential relevance for SLA. Three of them are particularly relevant: (1) research on metonymy-guided inferencing; (2) research on metonymy-based lexical polysemy, and (3) research on metonymy-based grammatical constructions. Of the three main areas with which the paper is mainly concerned, area (1) is particularly relevant for research on second language comprehension, especially in utterance and discourse types heavily relying on the inferential work of the comprehender; area (2) has already proved to be very useful for research on the inferencing strategies followed by second language learners in their comprehension of new lexical senses in context; and area (3) should be helpful for research on the acquisition of grammatical constructions by these learners.

scholarly journals Applied linguistics

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-210
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Language Research

04–413 Biber, Douglas and Cortes, Viviana (Northern Arizona U., USA). If you look at…: lexical bundles in university teaching and textbooks. Applied Linguistics (Oxford, UK), 25, 3 (2004), 371–405.04–414 Davies, C. E. (U. of Alabama, USA), Developing awareness of crosscultural pragmatics: The case of American/German sociable interactionMultilingua (Berlin, Germany), 23, 3 (2004), 207–231.04–415 Kaufman, Dorit.Constructivist issues in language learning and teaching. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (Cambridge, UK), 24 (2004), 303–319.04–416 Kern, Richard, Ware, Paige and Warschauer, Mark. Crossing frontiers: new directions in online pedagogy and research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (Cambridge, UK), 24 (2004), 243–260.04–417 Liszka, S. A. (U. of London, UK; Email: [email protected]). Exploring the effects of first language influence on second language pragmatic processes from a syntactic deficit perspective. Second Language Research (London,UK), 20, 3 (2004), 212–231.04–418 McArthur, T. Is it world or international or globalEnglish, and does it matter?English Today (Cambridge, UK), 20, 3 (2004), 3–15.04–419 Ying, H. G. (U. of Colorado at Denver, USA; Email: [email protected]). Relevance mapping: a study of second language learners' processing of syntactically ambiguous sentences in English. Second Language Research (London,UK), 20, 3 (2004), 232–255.04–420 Zegarac, V. (U. of Luton, UK; Email: [email protected]). Relevance Theory andthein second language acquisition. Second Language Research (London, UK), 20, 3 (2004), 193–211.

Review article: Three new complementing second language acquisition textbooks

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-379
Author(s):  
Claire Foley
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Processing Approach ◽  
Information Processing Approach

Three new textbooks in second language acquisition (SLA) differ in their aims. Saville-Troike (2006) offers a concise introductory text with an interdisciplinary approach. De Bot, Lowie and Verspoor (2005) provide a more comprehensive and more advanced introductory text with excerpts from the scholarly literature. Sanz (2005) presents an edited volume representing research in various subfields within an information-processing approach to SLA. All three offer valuable material for instructors to draw on, and they complement one another in interesting ways.

The epistemological status of second language acquisition

1986 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie D. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Epistemological Status ◽  
Generative Approach ◽  
Epistemological Basis

In this paper I argue for the necessity of recognizing the epistemological basis of language (and hence of linguistic theory) for research in and theories of second language acquisition. In particular, I review the arguments for a generative approach to linguistic theory (e.g. Chomsky, 1965, 1975, 1981) and for why language as a system of knowledge must be distinct from other sorts of know ledge (Fodor, 1983), with the purpose of clarifying many misconceptions that seem to have arisen with respect to the work in generative grammar over the last 20 years. After doing this I argue that the null hypothesis for second language acquisition is, as concerns its mental representation of linguistic knowledge, that its epistemological status should be assumed to be the same as that of L 1 until proven otherwise. I then demonstrate how SLA theory (e.g. Krashen, 1981) can be elucidated by subsuming (parts of) L2 under linguistic theory with its firm epistemological basis, and how, in particular, one could empirically test Krashen's theory as well as any other theory of SLA that assumes L 1 and L2 to be epistemologically equivalent. In addition I discuss the need for researchers to consider the special epistemological status of linguistic knowledge before prescribing L2 pedagogy. In sum this is a paper that takes a step back into the philosophical debate concerning the mental status of language in general in order for us to be able to take a step forward in second language research in particular.

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