LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:5 May 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Both Positive and Negative Responses Show That
Firth and Wagner (1997) Have a Point

Talal Musaed Alghizzi, Ph.D. Candidate

Abstract

Firth and Wagner (1997) “claim that methodologies, theories, and foci within SLA reflect an imbalance between cognitive and mentalistic orientations, and social and contextual orientations to language, the former being unquestionably in the ascendancy” (p. 757). This view has led to problematic perspectives on “discourse and communication” in the sense that studies there are, to a larger extent, in formal settings: classrooms, and “idealized native speaker(s) (NS) while viewing L2 learners; (NNS), as “deficient communicator(s) (ibid). Moreover, there is the fact that their recorded conversations are analyzed at “etic (levels) [i.e., analyst-relevant] (rather than at) emic (ones) [i.e., participant-relevant]” (p.760). Therefore, after discussing and reanalyzing the data of some prominent studies in SLA, they call for a whole “reconceptualization” of the SLA field’s methodologies, empirical parameters and theories to account for other contexts, participants, and different types of data analysis (p. 768).

This paper discusses the controversy and comes to the conclusion that both positive and negative responses show that Firth and Wagner (1997) have a point.

Multiple Theories on Second Language Acquisition

Second language acquisition (SLA), considered one of the most fertile areas of linguistic investigation, offers theorists the opportunity to provide theories on the mechanisms and processes by which non-native speakers learn target languages. This field has always been contentious, an arena for competing modifications, elaborations, and criticisms by professional linguists and other interested parties. For example, in McLaughlin’s (1987) book, Theories of Second Language Learning, he discusses five of the most influential theories in SLA: viz., the monitor model, interlanguage theory, linguistic universal, acculturation/pidginization theory, and cognitive theory. He maintains that there are four requirements for a viable theory: “(1)…definitional precision and explanatory power, (2)…consisten(cy) with what is currently known, (3)…heuristical… rich(ness) in…predictions, and (4) falsifiab(ility)” (p.55); however, he finds the five above-mentioned theories unsuccessful because they do not fulfill all of these requirements equally.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Talal Musaed Alghizzi
(Ph.D. Candidate at the University College, Cork, Ireland)
Imam Muhammad Ibn Saudi Islamic University
College of Languages and Translation
Riyadh
Saudi Arabia
t-alghizzi-ie@hotmail.com
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