contrastive analysis
TRANSCRIPT
Contrastive analysis
Damaris Escobar
June 2012
REPUBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA UNIVERSIDAD PEDAGOGICA EXPERIMENTAL LIBERTADOR
INSTITUTO PEDAGÓGICO DE CARACASDEPARTAMENTO DE IDIOMAS MODERNOS
CÁTEDRA DE LINGÜÍSTICALINGUISTICS SEMINAR
TEACHER: MIRNA QUINTERO
WHAT IS IT?...
It is the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities. Historically it has been used to establish language genealogies.
Contrastive Analysis and Second Language Acquisition
Contrastive Analysis was used extensively in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in the 1960s and early 1970s, as a method of explaining why some features of a Target Language were more difficult to acquire than others. According to the behaviorist theories prevailing at the time, language learning was a question of habit formation, and this could be reinforced or impeded by existing habits. Therefore, the difficulty in mastering certain structures in a second language (L2) depended on the difference between the learners' mother language (L1) and the language they were trying to learn.
History The theoretical foundations for what became known as the
Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis were formulated in Lado's Linguistics
Across Cultures (1957). In this book, Lado claimed that "those
elements which are similar to [the learner's] native language will be
simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult". While this was not a novel suggestion, Lado was the first to provide a comprehensive theoretical treatment and to suggest a systematic set of technical procedures for the contrastive study of languages. This involved describing the languages (using structuralist linguistics), comparing them and predicting learning difficulties.
During the 1960s, there was a widespread enthusiasm with this technique, manifested in the contrastive descriptions of several European languages, many of which were sponsored by the Center of Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC. It was expected that once the areas of potential difficulty had been mapped out through Contrastive Analysis, it would be possible to design language courses more efficiently. Contrastive Analysis, along with Behaviorism and Structuralism exerted a profound effect on SLA curriculum design and language teacher education, and provided the theoretical pillars of Audio-Lingual Method.
History
CriticismIn its strongest formulation, the Contrastive
Analysis Hypothesis claimed that all the errors made in learning the L2 could be attributed to 'interference' by the L1. However, this claim could not be sustained by empirical evidence that was accumulated in the mid- and late 1970s.
It was soon pointed out that many errors predicted by Contrastive Analysis were inexplicably not observed in learners' language. Even more confusingly, some uniform errors were made by learners irrespective of their L1. It thus became clear that Contrastive Analysis could not predict all learning difficulties, but was certainly useful in the retrospective explanation of errors.
Criticism
Error analysis
Pit Corder (1967) The significance of learner‘s errors.• L2 acquisition should not be looked at
from apurely pedagogical perspective.
• Errors in L2 are interesting because they reflect underlying linguistic rules.
• The study of L2 can be seen as a subfield of general linguistics or cognitive science.
Error analysis
Contrastive analysis Error analysis
Pedagogical orientation Scientific orientation
Focus on input, practice, inductive learning
Focus on linguistic and cognitive processes
Errors of transfer Multiple types of errors
Interlanguage
Larry Selinker (1972): A second language is not an imperfect copy of the target language but a rule-governed linguist system in its own right.
Rod Ellis (1990):• A learner’s interlanguage is a linguistic system.
• A learner’s interlanguage consists primarily ofimplicit linguistic knowledge.
• A learner’s interlanguage is permeable.• A learner’s interlanguage is transitional.
• A learner’s interlanguage is variable.• A learner’s interlanguage is the product ofmultiple interacting forces: transfer, general learning
mechanisms, input.• A learner’s interlanguage may fossilize.
Interlingual vs. IntralingualThere are two types of interferences with second
language aquisition.
Interlingual is the effect of language forms when two languages cross or overlap. It involves with accurate pronunciation or proper way of describing something. For example, instead of "Jackbook" someone may say "the book of Jack."
Intralingual has more to do with proper usage of grammar. Intralingual usually occurs once a large portion of the second language has been acquired. This is where they start making mistakes of the English language that is not explicitly taught, such as, irregular verbs and the correct or incorrect usage of articles.
