Chapter 2 Getting serious about language play: Language play, interlanguage variation and second language acquisition
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Elaine Tarone
Abstract
In this chapter, which is a slightly revised version of Tarone (2000),1 I will argue that multilingual language play promotes variation in second language (L2) learner performance. While it may at times interfere with second language acquisition (as when it leads to native language use), it may also promote second language acquisition (SLA) in some circumstances. We can think of interlanguage as a dynamic, complex nonlinear system (see Larsen-Freeman 1997). In such a system, forces of individual creativity and social adaptation may play a crucial role in helping to shape a systematically variable interlanguage grammar. This chapter proposes that language play is an important manifestation of those forces of creativity in the process of SLA. At times language play can distract learners, involve off-task behavior and less target language use, and result in the generation of multiple nontarget- like elements in the interlanguage (IL). However, it can also promote risktaking and productively destabilize the IL system in the cognition of the learner, preventing early fossilization of the system. This chapter analyzes instances of language play cited in the SLA research literature between 1975 and 2000, and concludes that there are several ways in which language play may facilitate second language acquisition for those learners who engage in it. Perhaps the most important is that the sort of form-oriented language play which generates creative IL forms is one means by which the IL rule system can be destabilized, making it possible for this complex, dynamic nonlinear system to evolve. Certainly, this sort of language play contributes to the inherently variable nature of the system. Other possible contributions of language play to the process of SLA, in the areas of affect and sociolinguistic competence, are also noted.
Abstract
In this chapter, which is a slightly revised version of Tarone (2000),1 I will argue that multilingual language play promotes variation in second language (L2) learner performance. While it may at times interfere with second language acquisition (as when it leads to native language use), it may also promote second language acquisition (SLA) in some circumstances. We can think of interlanguage as a dynamic, complex nonlinear system (see Larsen-Freeman 1997). In such a system, forces of individual creativity and social adaptation may play a crucial role in helping to shape a systematically variable interlanguage grammar. This chapter proposes that language play is an important manifestation of those forces of creativity in the process of SLA. At times language play can distract learners, involve off-task behavior and less target language use, and result in the generation of multiple nontarget- like elements in the interlanguage (IL). However, it can also promote risktaking and productively destabilize the IL system in the cognition of the learner, preventing early fossilization of the system. This chapter analyzes instances of language play cited in the SLA research literature between 1975 and 2000, and concludes that there are several ways in which language play may facilitate second language acquisition for those learners who engage in it. Perhaps the most important is that the sort of form-oriented language play which generates creative IL forms is one means by which the IL rule system can be destabilized, making it possible for this complex, dynamic nonlinear system to evolve. Certainly, this sort of language play contributes to the inherently variable nature of the system. Other possible contributions of language play to the process of SLA, in the areas of affect and sociolinguistic competence, are also noted.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Chapter 1 Introduction to heteroglossia and language play in multilingual speech 1
- Chapter 2 Getting serious about language play: Language play, interlanguage variation and second language acquisition 17
- Chapter 3 Voice, stance, and role in Chinese immersion second graders’ language use 43
- Chapter 4 Escríbalo en tu own words, güey 67
- Chapter 5 Pedagogical language play in a beginning L2 Chinese classroom 91
- Chapter 6 Translanguaging and language play 117
- Chapter 7 Language play and social positioning in L2 narrative retells 137
- Chapter 8 Channeling Charlie: Suprasegmental pronunciation in a second language learner’s performance of others’ voices 161
- Chapter 9 Coda: Pedagogical implications and applications for language play beyond second/foreign language learning 191
- Subject Index 205
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Chapter 1 Introduction to heteroglossia and language play in multilingual speech 1
- Chapter 2 Getting serious about language play: Language play, interlanguage variation and second language acquisition 17
- Chapter 3 Voice, stance, and role in Chinese immersion second graders’ language use 43
- Chapter 4 Escríbalo en tu own words, güey 67
- Chapter 5 Pedagogical language play in a beginning L2 Chinese classroom 91
- Chapter 6 Translanguaging and language play 117
- Chapter 7 Language play and social positioning in L2 narrative retells 137
- Chapter 8 Channeling Charlie: Suprasegmental pronunciation in a second language learner’s performance of others’ voices 161
- Chapter 9 Coda: Pedagogical implications and applications for language play beyond second/foreign language learning 191
- Subject Index 205
