Book Report
The Study of Second Language Acquisition (Second Edition) By Rod Ellis
Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2014, 1142pp, 78yuan ISBN 978-7-5446-3388-8 Introduction
Professor Rod Ellis is the deputy head of the Department of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics at the University of Auckland, NewZealand. He is a leading theorist of task-based language learning. This book is written for two main kinds of readers. One is students of SLA research—those beginning their study of L2 acquisition and who wish to obtain an understanding of the SLA. The second kind of reader is the SLA researcher. With the proposing of the concept ?interlanguage,? SLA has become an independent disciplinary and many of its research achievements have been applied into the teaching practice which obtained great effects. As a graduate student majoring in English, learning from this book will benefit us a lot. Main chapter of this book
This book is altogether 1142 pages which make it impossible for me to read and understand it in one semester, so I choose several chapters that I?m interested in. Now, I will introduce the main contents of these chapters in the following parts:
Part one provides the background against which the story is sketched of how SLA as a field has developed to the present day. Beginning with an introduction, Ellis illustrate “what is SLA” in chapter one by presenting a number of case studies. He then provides a framework within which he explores the field. This is the chapter that not only sets the tone but also lays out the blueprint for what the ensuing chapters follow.
Part three and part four are concerned with how SLA is explained. Ellis first addresses the external factors to be considered in Chapter 6 and 7. Chapter 6 examines the relationship of input and interaction to SLA, where the methods employed (e.g. descriptive methods, experimental methods, self-report methods, and introspective methods) for investigating input and interaction are reviewed and relevant findings on L1 and L2 acquisition are discussed. When he moves on to
elaborate on the social aspects of SLA in chapter7, Ellis put emphasis on major recent theoretical expositions, including the inter-group models, language socialization and so on. In this part, I mainly focus on the learning of chapter 9. Key concepts in sociocultural theory such as mediated learning, mediation through social interaction, private speech and new development in SLA research, including corrective feedback, collaborative dialoguing, and metatalk, which are essential to activity theory, are all new perspectives to the conventional SLA researchers and are covered in this chapter.
Part five has only one chapter and readers will enjoy some light-heated reading in the less technical nature of the content as well as its closer relationships to classroom practice. Individual learner differences such as intelligence, working memory, language aptitude, learning style, personality, motivation, anxiety, learning strategy, and the relatively new addition to the field, willingness to communicate, along with learning strategies, are addressed in chapter 13. Despite the unequal weightings given to the different factors, Ellis has been very successful in updating reader on how the research community takes stock of research on “willingness to communicate” by looking at its situated and dynamic nature.
The above are the chapters I focused on in this semester, other parts of this book mainly concerned with the cognitive and psycholinguistic aspects which are beyond my current understanding level, so I hope I can finish the reading of this book in the next semester.
The evaluation of this book
As to the general design of this book, it is reader-friendly inn penmanship and lucidity in exposition. Its clear organization makes it possible for the readers to catch the main point of each chapter. The unique feature of this book is that it takes stock of current thinking and it doesn?t evaluate the stand or fall of any kind of point of view. The author?s macro-view of SLA requires from readers a deeper level of intellectual engagement and critical thinking about what and how the SLA should be, as Ellis approaches these theories by subjecting all of them to relatively unbiased scrutiny. In one word, frequently written and systematically presented, with many tables summarizing research findings in various chapters, people no matter what level you are can definitely learn and benefit a lot from this book.
Gains and reflection
After reading this book, I really learned a lot from it. First, I have a better understanding on the current research status of second language acquisition abroad as well as the up-to-date research trends. Second, I learned a lot of research methods from it which is useful for me to conduct my research. Finally, I make clear my future research direction. At the same time, I can?t help thinking why China doesn?t have any books which enjoy the international influence.
The research of SLA abroad started back in 1960s. The whole development experienced the following stages: contrastive analysis, error analysis, interlanguage, morpheme acquisition, UG and SLA, linguistic typology, corpus linguistics. However, the SLA research started rather late in China. Though great achievements have been achieved, little of them have been applied to the teaching practice. In a word, nowadays, the research trends focus on studying SLA from the perspective of cognition and using the research method of corps.
As to the research method, 高一虹once conducted a survey. The research result is that in Chinese journals, the experimental research only takes 22 percent while 57 percent in English journals which shows a big gap. In SLA research, the method can be classified into two categories: qualitative research and quantitative research. The former includes case study, naturalistic observation, introspective or diary studies. The later consists of experiment study, correlational study and survey. When we conduct research, we should choose the most appropriate methods according to different situations. Nowadays, it is better to combine the qualitative research with the quantitative research together so as to obtain great achievements.
During the process of reading this book, I find that I am extremely interested in the relationship between individual differences and second language acquisition. It is commonly believed that the level of the second language a child can reach not only influenced by all kinds of situations and classroom teaching methods, but also affected by individual differences, which includes age, aptitude, motivation, attitude, personality, leaning style and so on. On my point of view, learning is our own thing. Only when a student really wants to work hard from deep of his heart can he finally achieve success in learning. As a matter of fact, the study on the relationship between
individual differences and SLA is of great significance. The researchers of individual differences emphasize its importance so in their research design, they often focus on finding out the marked differences between SLA learners. However, the theories and researches of SLA put their attention on the situations, input and learning process and ignore the function of individual differences. Though Ellis has listed many factors which have influence on SLA, the problem is that the current research still can not work out how these factors affect the path and rate of SLA. All these factors are an integrated one which we cannot artificially divide them when doing research. During my graduate studies, my goal is trying to find out how these factors affect SLA and applying my research achievements into teaching practice so as to improve the teaching effectiveness and contribute a little to the course of China?s education. My future career plan is to be a secondary school English teacher, so what I learned and researched at present will definitely be beneficial for me in my future work. Teacher is a glorious career which is of heavy responsibility. We often say that we can not change others but we change ourselves. However, it is a teacher that can change a person?s whole life. I am the one who was deeply influenced by my university teacher. Unlike other teachers in the university who devote themselves into scientific research in order to get professional titles, he is a person who really like classroom teaching and wholeheartedly for the students' benefit. I think I have acquired the basic qualities a qualified teacher should have from him.
From this book, I learned that a teacher can help the students to improve their academic performance from the following aspects: first, the teacher should exchange his teaching methods so as to make his classes lively and interesting. Second, set the example for the students and establish a harmonious relationship with students, by doing so, the students? motivation in learning a foreign language can be improved. Finally, teachers should treat every student equally without discrimination. Since we know there are differences between individuals, our teachers should take both the inferior and top students into consideration, trying to find the shinning point of them. If possible, the teachers can try to teacher students in accordance of their aptitude. Although difficult, it is quite possible to achieve this if a teacher can put his heart into applying their principles into teaching practice.
Another thing which impressed me deeply after reading the book is that in foreign countries, the starting point of the research is from ones interest or actual requirement. So in this book, Ellis doesn?t judge the merit of any research. Whatever is reasonable for being. Even the same research can have the different results. However, in China, we are confined by many things. Whether the research is easy to conduct? Whether the research is cater to the mainstream? Rarely will appear such circumstance that a student?s research result is opposite to a master in this field. We always advocate innovation and creativity. Under this environment, when will the society actually achieve this final goal?
As has been said above, I have to admit that my book report is a little bit disorderly and unsystematic, but it is really what I have learned and though after reading the book. We can not change the society, but I can change myself, I hope that my future research can really be helpful to China?s education, even if a little, I will still get full of sense of accomplishment.
《第二语言习得研究》读书报告
