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Evidence for Multi-competence |
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multi-competence: knowledge of two or more languages in the same mind |
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To use two languages familiarly and without contaminating one by the other, is very difficult; and to use more than two is hardly to be hoped. The prizes which some have received for their multiplicity of languages may be sufficient to excite industry, but can hardly generate confidence. Samuel Johnson 1761 |
draft book section on multi-competence and UG
I. Evidence for multi-competence as a distinct state of mind
1.
L2 users differ from
monolinguals in knowledge of the L1
[e.g. VOT, word
associations]
2. advanced L2 users differ from monolinguals in knowledge of the L2 [e.g. ‘ultimate’ attainment, RTs, STM]
3.
people who know an L2 have
a different metalinguistic awareness from people who know only an L1
[e.g.
detection of anomalous sentences, arbitrariness of sign, etc]
4.
L2 users have different
cognitive processes from monolinguals
[e.g. cognitive
flexibility]
II. Evidence for wholistic multi-competence
1. the L1 and L2 share the same mental lexicon
2. L2 users codeswitch readily from L1 to L2
3. L2 processing cannot be cut off from L1
4. both languages are stored in roughly the same areas of the brain
a) hemispheric lateralisation
b) same sites
5. the level of L2 proficiency in academic circumstances is related to the level of L1 proficiency
Note the two lists above come from Cook (1992) and need up-dating and qualification in various ways
Language Teaching and Multi-competence
overall: goal is
multi-competence in its own
right
language is
knowledge
syllabus: defined in multi-competence
terms
emphasis on the
lexicon
grading of functional categories
etc
methods: data
provision
parameter setting
techniques: do not ignore L1 present invisibly in
the situation constantly
Multi-competence Cook references
Cook, V.J. (1991). The poverty-of-the-stimulus argument and multi-competence. Second Language Research, 7, 2, 103-117
Cook, V.J. (1992). 'Evidence for multi-competence', Language Learning, 42, 4, 557-591
Cook, V.J. 'The metaphor of access to Universal Grammar', in N. Ellis (ed.), Implicit Learning and Language, Academic Press, 1994, 477-502
Cook, V.J. ‘Multi-competence and effects of age’, in Singleton, D. & Lengyel, Z. (eds.), The Age Factor in Second Language Acquisition. Multilingual Matters, 1995, 51-66
Cook, V.J. (1995). Multi-competence and the learning of many languages. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 8, 2, 93-98
Cook, V.J. (1996), ‘Competence and multi-competence’ in G. Brown, K. Malmkjaer, & J. Williams (eds.), Performance and Competence in Second Language Acquisition, CUP, 57-69
Cook, V.J. (1997), ‘The consequences of bilingualism for cognitive processing’, in A. de Groot and J.F. Kroll (eds.), Tutorials in Bilingualism: Psycholinguistic Perspectives, Lawrence Erlbaum
Cook, V.J. (1999), ‘Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching’, TESOL Quarterly, 33, 2, 185-209
Cook, V.J. (2001), 'Using the L1 in the classroom' CMLR, 57, 3, 402-423, 2001
Cook, V.J. (ed.) (2002), Portraits of the L2 user, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
Cook, V.J. (ed.) (2003), Effects of the Second Language on the First, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters