In other words: the science and psychology of second-language acquisition

255 Pages·1994·13.66 MB·English

by  Ellen Bialystok

IN OTHER
WORDS
The Science and Psychology of
Second-Language Acquisition
ELLEN BIALYSTOK
AND
KENJI HAKUTA
..
•
BasicBooks
/1. Dn.·uzon of H.arpcrCotlmsPuMuht'n
G rRteful «kni)Wkdgment is matk for pmniuion to <Tprint the jollowi11g:
Figure 6.1: From "Cwrural Thought Patterns on Inter-Cultural Education.'' by R. B.
Kaplan, 1966, Lang11.zgt L<anrmg, 16. pp. 1-20. Reprinted by permission.
"Sonn~t LXXVlll" by Pablo N•ruda and translation by Stephen Taspcott: Reprin<W
from Ono Hundred Lo, So1111ttt by Pablo Neruda, translated by Stephen Tapscott. Copy
right@ Pablo Neruda, 19~9 and Fundac1on Pablo Neruda, C 1986 by the Un.i,ersity
of Texas Press. By permission of the publisher.
"Sonnet LXXVIII" by Pablo Nedura, translated by Ben Belin: From Fi .. D~ by
Pablo Neruda, translated by Ben Belitt. Copyright 10 1961. 1969, 1972, 1974 by Ben
Be !itt. Used by permission of Grove/ Adanric, Inc.
Copyright © 1994 by Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Hakuta.
Published by BasicBooks, A Division of HarperCoilins Publishers, Inc.
All righrs reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any manner wharsoever without written permission ex<:ept in the
case of brief quotations embodied 1n crit"al a.n:icles and reviews. For information,
address Basic Books, 10 East ~;rd Streor, New York, NY 10022-5299.
Dcsigtted by E1 /nr l...ntint
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicanon Dara
Bialysrok, Ellen.
In other words: the science and psychology of second-language acquisi
tion/Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Halcuta.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-465~7565-7
1. Second-language acquisition. I. Hakuca, Kenji. II. Tide.
P118.2.BS2 1994
41~c20 94-16012
CIP
94 95 96 97 •'HC 9 8 ~ 6 5 4 3 2 I
CONTENTS
Preface Vll
1 FIRST WORD 1
2 LANGUAGE 11
3 BRAIN 51
4 MIND 87
5 SELF 124
6 CULTURE 160
7 LAST WORD 204
References 2 2 1
Index 239
PREFACE
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT LEARNING a second language. It would be
a rare person who is unfamiliar with this experience, whether success
ful at it or not. People encounter this experience in numerous ways:
as a student, as a tourist, as an immigrant. What are the essential
characteristics of learning a second language? Why is it easier for
some people than for others? Are there times or situations in which
the process becomes easier? These are the kinds of questions language
learners inevitably ask and the kinds of issues that commonsense, or
folk theories of language learning, attempt to address.
This book is also about our efforts to understand second-language
learning and the methods we use to come to that knowledge. Schol
ars have long puzzled over the mysteries of language learning, and
researchers have explored numerous aspects of its development.
These academic approaches to language learning have originated in a
variety of disciplines-linguistics, biology, psychology, anthropol
ogy, and sociology; each of these lays some claim to understanding
the process. But what are the differences in the approaches taken by
these disciplines? How do their insights fit together to reveal some
thing more general or more essential about the process of second
language learning?
We expect that most readers will be interested in knowing more
about second-language learning from the point of view of both per-
PREFACE
sonal and academic inquiries into the learning process. The individ
ual is concerned with an experiential question: "How is it that I can
learn another language and what can I do to make it easier?" The aca
demic inquiry borders on the high-stakes classic question about the
nature of humans and language: "What is it about humans that they
can learn language, and what is it about languages that they can be
learned by humans?" The discourse of the book will interweave
attempts to address both of these concerns.
Even a brief moment of reflection reveals that language learning
cakes place in a complex ecology, not in a laboratory. The full reper
toire of our human nature, ranging from our cognitive machinery to
our social and communicative needs, is engaged in the activity. It
would be overwhelmingly difficult and ultimately unproductive even
to attempt to study a system of this complexity in its entirety. Conse
quently, studies of language learning have typically approached the
problem through only one of its many channels. We will examine
five of these channels that we believe jointly comprise the ecosystem
of language learning. These five channels-brain, language, mind,
self, and culture-are the structures around which the book is orga
nized.
Our intended audience is a wide range of people concerned with the
problems of learning a second language. We expect that researchers
will be interested in the implications of our view for seeing how their
approach may be reconciled with a broader perspective constructed
across disciplines. Students of language and language learning will be
interested in the overview of the field and our interpretation of the cur
rem knowledge of this problem. Language practitioners, we believe,
will be interested in the implications of our conception for instruction,
curriculum development, and policy formation. And finally, we expect
that people who have attempted to learn a second language will be
interested in exploring their personal experiences and theories against
the accumulated wisdom of this field.
Like second-language acquisition, writing a book also takes place in a
complex ecology. We have been fortunate in the support we have
PREFACE IX
received for this project. The idea began to take shape when Ellen
Bialysrok was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, courtesy of a
York University Research Leave Fellowship, and spent time dis
cussing second-language acquisition with Kenji Hakum over marga
riras on El Camino Real. The preparation of the manuscript was
partly supported by grams from the Natural Sciences and Engineer
ing Council of Canada to Ellen Bialystok and from the Spencer Foun
dation and the Carnegie Corporation co Kenji Hakura. We also
acknowledge che Stanford Center for Chicano Research, which pro
vided us with a home base away from our usual routines during a
critical phase of the writing.
In addition to this institutional support, we relied as well on our
friends and colleagues for their comments on parts of the manuscript
and for their ideas and arguments that helped shape it. We are
indebted (in alphabetic order) to Frank Bialystok, Jim Clifford,
Rafael Diaz, Fred Genesse, Alan Goodban, Nancy Goodban, Eric
Kellerman, Richard Lalonde, Ray McDermott, Barry McLaughlin,
Amado Padilla, Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, Vernon Percival, Stuart
Shanker, Mike Sharwood Smith, Guadalupe Valdes, Aida Walqui.
Judith Codd was essential in helping us to meet deadlines and in
finding references that we thought we had made up.
But an ecosystem is ultimately a living, breathing entity, and the
core of such a biological structure is family. We are deeply grateful to
the quiet patience with which our families endured the appalling
disruption to their lives: to Frank and Nancy, and ro the children,
Sandra, Lauren, Sachiko, and Luis.
PREFACE
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT LEARNING a second language. It would be
a rare person who is unfamiliar with this experience, whether success
ful at it or not. People encounter this experience in numerous ways:
as a student, as a tourist, as an immigrant. What are the essential
characteristics of learning a second language? Why is it easier for
some people than for ochers? Are there times or situations in which
the process becomes easier? These are the kinds of questions language
learners inevitably ask and the kinds of issues that commonsense, or
folk theories of language learning, attempt to address.
This book is also about our efforts co understand second-language
learning and the methods we use to come co that knowledge. Schol
ars have long puzzled over the mysteries of language learning, and
researchers have explored numerous aspects of its development.
These academic approaches co language learning have originated in a
variety of disciplines-linguistics, biology, psychology, anthropol
ogy, and sociology; each of these lays some claim to understanding
the process. But what are the differences in the approaches taken by
these disciplines? How do their insights fit together to reveal some
thing more general or more essential about the process of second
language learning?
We expect that most readers will be interested in knowing more
about second-language learning from the point of view of both per-
viii PREFACE
sonal and academic inquiries into the learning process. The individ
ual is concerned with an experiential question: "How is it that I can
learn another language and what can I do to make it easier?" The aca
demic inquiry borders on the high-stakes classic question about the
nature of humans and language: "What is it about humans that they
can learn language, and what is it abouc languages that they can be
learned by humans?" The discourse of the book will interweave
attempts to address both of these concerns.
Even a brief moment of reflection reveals that language learning
takes place in a complex ecology, nor in a laboratory. The full reper
toire of our human nature, ranging from our cognitive machinery to
our social and communicative needs, is engaged in the activity. It
would be overwhelmingly difficult and ultimately unproductive even
to attempt to study a system of this complexity in irs entirety. Conse
quently, studies of language learning have typically approached the
problem through only one of its many channels. We will examine
five of these channels that we believe jointly comprise the ecosystem
of language learning. These five channels-brain, language, mind,
self, and culture-are the structures around which the book is orga
nized.
Our intended audience is a wide range of people concerned with the
problems of learning a second language. We expect that researchers
will be interested in the implications of our view for seeing how their
approach may be reconciled with a broader perspective constructed
across disciplines. Students of language and language learning will be
interested in the overview of the field and our interpretation of the cur
rem knowledge of this problem. Language practitioners, we believe,
will be interested in the implications of our conception for instruction,
curriculum development, and policy formation. And finally, we expect
that people who have attempted to learn a second language will be
interested in exploring their personal experiences and theories against
the accumulated wisdom of this field.
Like second-language acquisition, writing a book also takes place in a
complex ecology. We have been fortunate in the support we have
PREFACE ix
received for chis project. The idea began to rake shape when Ellen
Bialystok was a visiting scholar ar Stanford University, courtesy of a
York University Research Leave Fellowship, and spent rime dis
cussing second-language acquisition with Kenji Hakuta over marga
ritas on El Camino Real. The preparation of the manuscript was
partly supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineer
ing Council of Canada to Ellen Bialystok and from the Spencer Foun
dation and the Carnegie Corporation to Kenji Hakuta. We also
acknowledge the Stanford Center for Chicano Research, which pro
vided us with a home base away from our usual routines during a
critical phase of the writing.
In addition co this institutional support, we relied as well on our
friends and colleagues for their comments on pares of the manuscript
and for their ideas and arguments that helped shape it. We are
indebted (in alphabetic order) to Frank Bialystok, Jim Clifford,
Rafael Diaz, Fred Genesse, Alan Goodban, Nancy Goodban, Eric
Kellerman, Richard Lalonde, Ray McDermott, Barry Mclaughlin,
Amado Padilla, Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, Vernon Percival, Stuart
Shanker, Mike Sharwood Smith, Guadalupe Valdes, Aida Walqui.
Judith Codd was essential in helping us to meet deadlines and in
finding references chat we thought we had made up.
But an ecosystem is ultimately a living, breathing entity, and the
core of such a biological structure is family. We are deeply graceful co
rhe quiet patience with whi_ch our families endured the appalling
disruption co their lives: co Frank and Nancy, and co the children,
Sandra, Lauren, Sachiko, and Luis.
1
First Word
If English was good enough for jesus, it is good enough
for ;•ou.
-School superintendent, on refusing request that
foreign languages be taught in high school
IN ToKYo, an American businessman on a three-year stint m
Japan tries ro use his Berlitz-bred Japanese to ask directions for his
next appointment. His children, attending an American school, use
only English at school, but in their neighborhood at home, they have
"picked up" Japanese playing with friends. His wife, alas, spends
most of her time at home because she is unable to work in Japan, but
does her best to exchange pleasantries with her neighbors.
In Toronto, a recent Vietnamese immigrant has limited need for
English in his work as an assistant to a carpenter. Having come from
the rural regions of Vietnam where he had no formal schooling, his
only exposure tO English took place during six weeks in a refugee
resettlement camp. At work, his ~ocabulary knowledge is highly spe
cialized, involving words like studs, nails, sheet,.ock, and doo,. jamb.
Mostly he receives orders and rarely needs to pronounce the words.
At Yale University, a psychology major struggles in an introduc
tory Russian course to fulfill his foreign-language requirement and
wishes that he had gone to a university where there was no such
requirement. Ethnically, his background is Hungarian, and his
grandparents spoke only Hungarian when they immigrated to the
United States. His parents were both bilingual. When he was a child
he heard Hungarian around the house and even understood much of
the conversation, especially the family gossip that was carefully