Receptive activities
The labeling of reading and listening as “receptive” (as opposed to “productive”) activities does not imply that L2 learners perform them passively and without effort. Learners must actively participate in creating meaning from L2 input, or else writing remains merely marks on paper and speech remains only a stream of noise that people emit through their mouths. We saw examples in Chapter 5 of children and adults who failed to learn a single word of another language even after extended opportunity to do so when they lacked need or motivation. Successful SLA requires active engagement.
Comprehension of written or spoken language involves both bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing requires prior knowledge of the language system (i.e. vocabulary, morphology, phonology, syntax, nonverbal structures, and discourse structure) and interpretation of physical (graphic and auditory) cues. Knowledge of vocabulary is need ed to recognize words and to understand what they mean; knowledge of morphology is needed to interpret complex lexical elements, as well as to perceive grammatical information that is carried by inflections; knowledge of phonology is needed to recognize spoken words, to segment speech into grammatical units, and to relate written symbols to their spoken form; knowledge of syntax is needed to recognize how words relate to one another, and how they are constituted as phrases and clauses; knowledge of nonverbal structures is needed to understand facial expressions, gestures, and other unvocalized elements of speech; knowledge of discourse structure is needed to interpret stretches of language that are longer than a single sentence.
We can generally assume that sufficient prior linguistic knowledge – except perhaps vocabulary – is automatically (and unconsciously) available to L1 and to highly skilled L2 speakers for interpretation of meaning, but the language knowledge of L2 learners is often insufficient for com prehending written or spoken input. At early stages of learning, bottom-up processing is limited to visual or auditory recognition of the limited set of words and word combinations that have been acquired thus far, and of simple grammatical sequences. When L2 input significantly exceeds these limits, understanding is likely to be fragmentary.
Top-down processing can compensate for linguistic limitations to some extent by allowing learners to guess the meaning of words they have not encountered before, and to make some sense out of larger chunks of writ ten and oral text. For both L1 and L2 speakers, top-down processing utilizes prior knowledge of content, context, and culture, which were shown in Figure 6.1 to be essential components of communicative competence.
Content knowledge is background information about the topic that is being read about or listened to; new information is perceived and interpreted in relation to this base. For example, when early reading in an academic text is related to subject matter that L2 learners have already studied in their L1, that prior content knowledge provides a “scaffold” for understanding new terms and integrating new information in a coherent conceptual framework. Indeed, L2 learners may sometimes know more about the topic of a text than do L1 speakers, and thus be able to make considerable sense of what they read or hear in spite of gaps in their com prehension of specific words and grammatical structures.
Context knowledge includes information learned from what has already been read or heard in a specific text or situation, as well as an understanding of what the writer’s or speaker’s intentions are, and the overall structure of the discourse pattern being used; it allows prediction of what is likely to follow, and how the information is likely to be organized.
Culture knowledge subsumes content and context in many ways but also includes an understanding of the wider social setting within which acts of reading and listening take place. Precisely because this knowledge is taken for granted by the writer of the text being read (and often by the teacher in an instructional situation as well), it is rarely expressed explicitly, so that its role in the process of understanding (or conversely, the failure to understand) is rarely recognized. While we can generally assume that many social dimensions of culture knowledge are automatically available to L1 speakers who grow up as members of the native speech community, they are often not within the background experience of foreign language learners.
All types of pre-existing knowledge that readers and listeners bring to the interpretation of text contribute to their schemas, or the mental structures that map the expected patterns of objects and events. These types of knowledge are represented in Figure 6.2.
Reading
Reading is the most important area of activity for individuals to engage in for the development of L2 academic competence, and it is important as well for interpersonal functions and for merely “getting along” in any literate society. For many learners, reading is the primary channel for L2 input and a major source of exposure to associated literature and other aspects of the L2 culture. In the case of a language that is used for wider communication (such as English), reading also provides significant input related to technological developments, world news, and scientific discoveries. Reading ability (literacy) in general is needed not only for access to printed resources such as books and journals but possibly also for access to computers and the Internet. Non-academic situations which require reading range from those which involve interpreting directions on signs and product labels to those which involve receiving news from friends in letters or e-mail.
Grabe (1991) reviews research on fluent academic reading in terms of six component abilities and types of knowledge that are involved in the activity.
Automatic recognition ability. Automatic (as opposed to conscious) word perception and identification is necessary for fluency. There is also some evidence that lower-level automaticity is important (e.g. at feature and letter levels), as well as automatic recognition of syntactic structures.
Vocabulary and structural knowledge. Fluent reading requires a large recognition vocabulary (some estimates range up to 100,000 words) and a sound knowledge of grammatical structure.
Formal discourse structure knowledge. Good readers know how a text is organized, including (culture-specific) logical patterns of organization for such contrasts as cause–effect and problem–solution relations.
Content/world background knowledge. Good readers have both more prior cultural knowledge about a topic and more text-related information than those who are less proficient.
Synthesis and evaluation processes/strategies. Fluent readers evaluate information in texts and compare it with other sources of knowledge; they go beyond merely trying to comprehend what they read.
Metacognitive knowledge and comprehension monitoring. Fluent readers have [unconscious] knowledge about knowledge of language and about using appropriate strategies for understanding texts and processing information. Monitoring involves both recognizing problems that occur in the process of interpreting information in a text, and awareness of non-comprehension.
Fluency in reading takes time to develop in either L1 or L2, but it is an essential aspect of academic competence. Most L2 learners have already learned to read their L1 and thus do not need to begin acquiring this ability anew: there is significant transfer of knowledge and ability from reading in one language to reading in another. The basic concept of deriving meaning from abstract written/printed symbols is the same in most languages, and the same top-down strategies for making inferences, using prior knowledge, and reasoning are applicable. Indeed, level of L1 reading ability is a very strong predictor of how successful students will be in learning to read L2. This is true even when the L1 is represented in a different symbolic writing system (or orthography), as when L1 readers of Japanese or Hebrew transfer reading skills to English L2 (e.g. Saville-Troike 1984; Koda 2005; Koda and Zehler 2007). Content knowledge which is applied in the top-down processing of texts is not language-specific for the most part. Concepts that are learned through the medium of one language
still exist in the mind when access to them is triggered through the medium of another. (Of course, it is always possible that differences might exist in the structure or content of a concept as it was learned in an L1 and as it is presented or assumed in the L2; the conflict, which may go unnoticed, can lead to misunderstanding or confusion. This conflict can exist as well between varieties of an L1, particularly in the application of vocabulary labels.)
Developing fluency in reading requires acquiring sufficient knowledge of the new language elements (especially vocabulary, but also grammar and discourse structure) for these to be recognized and interpreted automatically, without conscious attention. Achieving automatic recognition requires extensive practice: as is true in many other fields of activity, one learns to read by reading.
Purposeful academic reading is possible even during the beginning and intermediate states of L2 learning, since reading for different purposes does not necessarily require the same level of background linguistic knowledge nor automaticity. Grabe (2002) lists the following functions for reading in academic settings, which are listed here in order of their likely difficulty for L2 learners (from least to most difficult):
• Reading to find information: scan or search text for a specific topic, word, or phrase
• Reading for general understanding: get the main ideas and at least some supporting ideas and information
• Reading to learn: understand the main ideas and store meanings and supporting details in a coherent organizational frame
• Reading to critique and evaluate: in addition, reflect on text content, integrate it with prior knowledge, and judge quality and appropriate ness of texts in relation to what is already known about the topic
Even a relative beginner can scan text for a specific topic or word, and intermediate L2 learners can comprehend the main ideas and get some supporting information, but reading to learn and critical/evaluative reading are generally achieved only at advanced levels of SLA (though knowledge of discourse/textual schemas and common technical vocabulary can sometimes enable even a relative novice to gather useful information from a text in another language which utilizes a similar orthography).
Beginning L2 reading
Learners whose L1 is written in a different orthographic system from their L2 need to be able to recognize symbols in the target language as an early step, although they may learn to recognize a number of words by their appearance as whole units before they can identify constituent parts. Different types of writing systems are illustrated in Table 6.7: alphabetic, syllabic, and logographic. The sentences given in English (Roman), Lao, and Greek alphabets, Japanese syllabary, and Chinese logographic characters have approximately the same meaning, ‘She went to the market.’ English L1 learners of Spanish or French L2 share the same Roman alphabet and thus already know the symbols that are used to represent the consonant and vowel sounds of those languages. In contrast, English L1 learners of Lao and Greek or Korean must learn rather different sets of alphabetic symbols to relate to consonants and vowels in those languages; learners of Japanese must learn different sets of symbols to relate to larger syllabic (consonant + vowel) units; and learners of Chinese must learn a logo-graphic system in which symbols (or a sequence of two or more symbols) relate holistically to word meanings. The task is made more difficult when the “same” symbols take different forms in print and handwriting, in upper and lower case (as in the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets), or in initial and final word position (as in Hebrew and Arabic alphabets), and when they occur in both “simplified” and “unsimplified” variants (as in Chinese characters). Another difference in writing systems which may be encountered at an early stage is directionality (e.g. whether print is to be decoded left to right, right to left, or top to bottom, and which part of a book is the “front”).
Learning a new system of graphic representation also requires learning to recognize and interpret new conventions of punctuation. Punctuation provides information about the scope of grammatical constituents within sentences and how they are related, and often signals aspects of meaning that are carried by intonation in spoken language. There are also different conventions for whether punctuation should be used at all, and whether blank spaces should occur between words. (For example, Thai and Lao do not make use of such spaces, and Chinese characters are all equally spaced, regardless of their relation to one another.)
Depending on how much prior oral knowledge of the L2 that learners have before starting to read, rate of progress through beginning stages will vary greatly. Learners who are literate in their L1 and who already recognize a substantial amount of L2 vocabulary and basic grammatical structures can expect to extract a significant amount of information from written L2 text as soon as they can process its graphic representation.
Learners who begin reading L2 without some (prior or simultaneous) exposure to the oral form of the language may be more limited in what they can process (depending on the similarity in the writing systems and the amount of identifiably related vocabulary). Even so, early introduction of reading can be advantageous. The rate of learning (especially of vocabulary) is generally enhanced by having visual as well as auditory input; background knowledge about the topic helps beginners guess meanings of unknown words in context and further enhances incidental learning.
What is acquired in beginning L2 reading is essentially learning how to relate knowledge of different levels of language to graphic representation, along with developing the ability to compensate for limitations in linguistic knowledge through top-down processing. How this is accomplished is largely by transfer of L1 reading processes; transfer is greatly facilitated by selection of content topics which learners have already experienced. (For a comprehensive review of research and its implications for practice, see Grabe 2010.)
Academic reading
Advanced reading ability in both L1 and L2 is usually required to extract detailed information from L2 texts on science, technology, and other subject matter involving both linguistic and nonlinguistic prerequisite knowledge. Prerequisite L2 linguistic knowledge includes:
• A large recognition vocabulary of both basic and subject-specific terms, including their meaning, graphic representation, and probability of occurrence with other lexical items.
• Complex sentence structures, along with punctuation conventions that contribute to syntactic processing.
• Organization features at the sentence level which identify elements that are in focus and distinguish old and new information.
• Organization features at the discourse level, such as how texts are structured and how information is organized (Grabe 2002).
Development of advanced academic reading proficiency requires extensive exposure to written text. Because vocabulary, grammar, and discourse structures differ in the kind of language used for academic versus inter personal purposes, and in written versus oral channels, academic text material provides the most appropriate source of language input for this purpose. Texts about subjects in the target content area ensure exposure to maximally relevant vocabulary selection and additionally add to the background knowledge that readers can use in top-down processing for meaning. Explicit instruction about language structure is useful in achieving advanced academic reading proficiency in an L2, especially if the instruction includes focus on the more complex grammatical forms that characterize this writing and on ways in which information is organized that may differ from L1 texts. Exclusive focus on conversational L2 usage and simplified written text does not adequately prepare learners to accomplish advanced academic goals.
Once advanced reading proficiency has been attained, it can often be maintained at a high level without help from a teacher and even if there is minimal opportunity for exposure to face-to-face interaction or other sources of continuing L2 input.
Listening
Listening accounts for most of the language input for L1 acquisition by children, but L2 learners often have much less opportunity to hear the target language and therefore receive proportionally less input via this channel. Listening is a critically important activity, however, both for learners who want or need to participate in oral interpersonal communication and for learners who want or need to receive information from such oral sources as lectures and media broadcasts.
One way to classify listening tasks is on a continuum from reciprocal to non-reciprocal communication (Lynch 1998). Participation in face-to-face interpersonal interaction is at the reciprocal end of this continuum, and listening to radio or TV news broadcasts is at the non-reciprocal end. Listening to academic lectures or conference presentations has the potential to be relatively more, or less, reciprocal depending on whether listeners have the opportunity to ask questions of the speaker and participate in discussion. Reciprocal communication requires learners to speak as well as to listen, and to collaborate in the negotiation of meaning. Non reciprocal communication places heavier requirements on the listener for processing input and constructing meaning “online” or in real time, without being able to request repetition or clarification.
Another way to classify listening activities is according to whether they require general or selective listening (Nida 1953). General listening requires only that listeners get the general gist of the message, while selective listening requires perception and comprehension of important details. The latter type of task is common for academic lectures in which students are expected to note facts such as names, places, and dates, but also occurs in reciprocal interpersonal conversations such as when the listener is invited to be in a certain place at a particular time.
The theory of SLA most commonly used to account for listening phenomena is Information Processing (see Chapter 4). The first stage is input, or perception which requires noticing relevant auditory cues. This requires much more conscious attention and effort for L2 reception than for L1, especially in early language learning. The next stage is central processing, involving both the bottom-up and top-down factors which were discussed above. Bottom-up processing must be under a high degree of attentional control until components of L2 knowledge become automatic, and many linguistic cues to meaning are inaccessible because of learners’ limited store of phonological, lexical, and grammatical information. Limits are also imposed by the mental “working space” required for conscious processing, which leaves relatively little capacity for new information and higher-order thought. Top-down factors such as prior content knowledge and expectations may already be automatized and available for integration, even at early levels of L2 learning. While this generally facilitates comprehension, the unconscious and automatic access that listeners have to prior knowledge of content, context, and culture may be inappropriate in the L2 situation and could account for some misunderstanding. In addition to potential inappropriate transfer of prior knowledge in top -down processing, interference in bottom-up processing commonly results from transfer from a listener’s L1 phonological system, as discussed earlier in this chapter.
Beginning L2 listening
Speech in a foreign language is initially perceived as merely a stream of noise. The first step in making sense of what people say is recognizing patterns in recurring sequences of sounds and attaching meaning to them. This begins the process of segmenting the stream of speech into meaningful units: sounds that form words, words that form phrases, and phrases that constitute clauses or sentences. Segmenting speech requires not only perceiving sound, but noticing patterns in relation to a context which allows interpretation. As we have seen, this requires the active engagement of learners.
Beginning L2 learners can begin to create sense from auditory input most easily if:
• They know in advance what the speaker is going to be talking about.
• Key words and phrases are learned as recognition vocabulary elements before they are encountered in connected speech.
• Speakers pause frequently at boundaries between parts of sentences.
• Auditory messages are supported by visual images (including writing).
• The communicative situation is a reciprocal one that allows the listener to seek repetition and clarification, or to ask the speaker to slow down.
Many nonlinguistic factors also influence comprehensibility in beginning L2 listening. Interference can be caused by:
• Poor signal quality (such as static or sound distortion)
• Background noise
• Any distraction of the listener’s attention
• Affective features such as anxiety (see a review of factors in Lynch 1998)
Speaker pronunciation is also a factor that influences listener comprehension. Many learners report that they find it easier to understand L2 utterances produced by speakers of their own L1 than by native speakers of the L2, presumably because the speakers’ accent is closer to their own phonological perceptual system. However, research on this topic suggests that familiarity with the accent is even more important (Flowerdew 1994). In universities where different native regional varieties of speech are found among instructors (as well as different nonnative accents), students can improve their comprehension by tape-recording classroom proceedings for subsequent “ear-tuning” (or familiarization), as well as for providing opportunities for review of linguistic structures and content. Replay of recorded L2 speech helps learners “work out what is being said as a prerequisite to understanding what is being meant” (Lynch 2002 :47). Considered within the Information Processing approach to SLA, repetition can enhance noticing and contribute to automatization, by facilitating faster processing of input, and the ability to process longer segments in “working memory.” Video-recording television programs of different genres, especially programs which provide simultaneous closed captioning (or movies with subtitles) can also provide a useful source for listening practice.
Academic listening
Academic listening requires much of the same L2 linguistic knowledge as was listed above for academic reading: a large recognition vocabulary of both basic and subject-specific terms; complex sentence structure; and organizational features at sentence and discourse levels that distinguish new from old information and highlight important content. In addition, academic listening often requires ability to process pronunciation by speakers of different native and nonnative varieties of the language, which can be especially challenging for L2 learners. Tape-recording lectures and other relatively non-reciprocal listening activities is useful for advanced as well as beginning students in such contexts, both for “ear tuning” and for content review. It often takes several weeks for even advanced L2 learners to understand all of the input they need from lectures and other oral events if they have not had recent extensive experience with listening activities; recordings allow for recovery of information that might otherwise be lost, and for recontextualization of key vocabulary that has been noted for subsequent definition or elaboration.
As with reading, development of advanced academic listening proficiency requires extensive exposure to oral, academic text. Unlike reading, listening proficiency can usually not be maintained at a high level without continuing L2 oral input.
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