Chapter 5. The uncertainty principle in second language acquisition
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Stefano Rastelli
Abstract
This chapter presents three themes that I have discussed with Mike Long on different occasions in recent years: The Discontinuity Hypothesis, the necessity to study the ‘intra-language’ (in addition to the ‘interlanguage’) and the uncertainty principle. The latter is the idea that abstract rules and statistical regularities are entangled states of mind in a L2 learner’s competence, to the extent that researchers can never know whether learners are recognizing a morphosyntactic form (due to its frequency) or they are generating that form by a rule (due to abstract ‘labels that predate the input’). Uncertainty implies that what we can uncover about a learner’s implicit competence depends on how such competence is measured.
Abstract
This chapter presents three themes that I have discussed with Mike Long on different occasions in recent years: The Discontinuity Hypothesis, the necessity to study the ‘intra-language’ (in addition to the ‘interlanguage’) and the uncertainty principle. The latter is the idea that abstract rules and statistical regularities are entangled states of mind in a L2 learner’s competence, to the extent that researchers can never know whether learners are recognizing a morphosyntactic form (due to its frequency) or they are generating that form by a rule (due to abstract ‘labels that predate the input’). Uncertainty implies that what we can uncover about a learner’s implicit competence depends on how such competence is measured.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- In memory of Professor Michael H. Long (1945–2021) vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface xi
- About the editor and contributors xix
- Chapter 1. The legacy of Professor Michael H. Long and his influence in second language acquisition 1
- Chapter 2. Taking the Long view 9
- Chapter 3. Stabilization 29
- Chapter 4. Enhanced incidental learning 77
- Chapter 5. The uncertainty principle in second language acquisition 101
- Chapter 6. Tandem interaction enhancement 113
- Chapter 7. Immediate versus delayed oral negative feedback 127
- Chapter 8. A calculus for L1 transfer 143
- Chapter 9. Age of acquisition in second language thinking 177
- Chapter 10. Age effects in naturalistic and instructed second language acquisition 197
- Chapter 11. Performance on second language speaking tasks 211
- Chapter 12. A task-based needs analysis framework for TBLT 235
- Chapter 13. Can focus on form have an effect on language development? 257
- Index 273
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- In memory of Professor Michael H. Long (1945–2021) vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface xi
- About the editor and contributors xix
- Chapter 1. The legacy of Professor Michael H. Long and his influence in second language acquisition 1
- Chapter 2. Taking the Long view 9
- Chapter 3. Stabilization 29
- Chapter 4. Enhanced incidental learning 77
- Chapter 5. The uncertainty principle in second language acquisition 101
- Chapter 6. Tandem interaction enhancement 113
- Chapter 7. Immediate versus delayed oral negative feedback 127
- Chapter 8. A calculus for L1 transfer 143
- Chapter 9. Age of acquisition in second language thinking 177
- Chapter 10. Age effects in naturalistic and instructed second language acquisition 197
- Chapter 11. Performance on second language speaking tasks 211
- Chapter 12. A task-based needs analysis framework for TBLT 235
- Chapter 13. Can focus on form have an effect on language development? 257
- Index 273
