Makalah Bilingualism Cognitions Transfer And Learning

Makalah Psycolinguistic

BILINGUALISM, COGNITION, TRANSFER, AND LEARNING

DISUSUN OLEH:

1.   Iyusmidar Arif 

STKIP (SEKOLAH TINGGI KEGURUAN ILMU PENDIDKAN)

BINA BANGSA GETSEMPENA BANDA ACEH

TAHUN AJARAN 2014 / 2015

PREFACE

By saying grace which Allah SWT has given grace, His Taufik and guidance, so that we can finish our material. The tittle is Bilingualism, Cognition, Transfer, and Learning.

In the preparation, the author got a lot of assistance and guidance-guidance of the various parties. Therefore, at this moment we wish to thank profusely for the honor:

1. Ms Sri Wahyuni Mpd as the lecture.

2. All our friends and all those who helped the preparation of this paper.

Hopefully Allah repays all of their good deeds. This materiall is still far from the perfect, therefore, the authors expect criticism and suggestions. Finally the authors hope this proposal  can be useful for teachers  Program and Regional English Language Education in particular, so that they can apply this knowledge to teach lesson for the students. Amin.

Banda Aceh, December, 8 2014

                    

                                  author,

Iyusmidar & Zuriyatina

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE………………………………………………………………………………….i

TABLE OF CONTENTS.………………………………………………………………...ii

BILINGUALISM, COGNITION, TRANSFER, AND LEARNING………………........1

1.      DEFINITON OF BILINGUALISM, COGNITION, TRANSFER,

AND LEARNING………………………………………………………………...1

A.    BILINGUALISM……………………………………………………………...1

·         DEFINITION OF BILINGUALISM………………………………….1

·         TYPES OF BILINGUALISM………………………………………...1

B.     COGNITION………………………………………………………………….2

·         DEFINITION OF COGNITION………………………………………2

·         COGNITION SKILLS………………………………………………...2

C.     TRANSFER…………………………………………………………………...3

·         DEFINITION OF TRANSFER……………………………………….3

·         POSSITIVE AND NEGATIVE TRANSFER………………………...3

D.    LEARNING…………………………………………………………………...4

·         DEFINITION OF LEARNING……………………………………….4

·         TYPES OF LEARNING………………………………………………5

2.      STRATEGIES FOR SECOND – LANGUANGE PRODUCTION………………9

3.      TEACHING READING IN BILINGUAL SITUATION AT HOME…………...10

4.      STRATEGIES FOR BECOMING A BETTER A SECOND

LANGUANGE LEARNERS…………………………………………………….13

REFERENCESS…………………………………………………………………………14

BILINGUALISM, COGNITION, TRANSFER, AND LEARNING

1.    Definition of Bilingualism, Cognition, Transfer, and Learning

A.    Bilingualism

1.      Definition of Bilingualism

Bilingualism is an equal ability to communicate in two languages. For others, it simply means the ability to communicate in two languages, but with greater skills in one language. In fact,it is more common for bilingual people, even those who have been bilingual since birth, to be somewhat "dominant" in one language. 

2.      Types of Bilingualism

Three types of bilingualism are usually used by researchers to describe bilingual children:

1. Simultaneous bilingualism: Learning two languages as "first languages". That is, a person who is a simultaneous bilingual goes from speaking no languages at all directly to speaking two languages. Infants who are exposed to two languages from birth will become simultaneous bilinguals.
2. Receptive bilingualism: Being able to understand two languages but express oneself in only one. Children who had high exposure to a second language throughout their lives, but have had little opportunity to use the language would fall in this category. For example, many children in Chinese or Mexican immigrant households hear English on TV, in stores and so on, but use their home language (Chinese or Spanish) in everyday communication. When they enter preschool or kindergarten, these children are likely to make rapid progress in English because their receptive language skills in English has been developed.
3. Sequential bilingualism: Learning one language after already established a first language. This is the situation for all those who become bilingual as adults, as well as for many who became bilingual earlier in life.

Definitions of bilingualism range from a minimal proficiency in two languages, to an advanced level of proficiency which allows the speaker to function and appear as a native-like speaker of two languages. A person may describe themselves as bilingual but may mean only the ability to converse and communicate orally. Others may be proficient in reading in two or more languages (or bi-literate). A person may be bilingual by virtue of having grown up learning and using two languages simultaneously (simultaneous bilingualism). Or they may become bilingual by learning a second language sometime after their first language. This is known as sequential bilingualism. To be bilingual means different thingstodifferentpeople.

B.     Cognition

1.      Definition of Cognition

Cognition is a term referring to the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension. These processes include thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, andproblem-solving. These are higher-level functions of the brain and encompass language, imagination, perception, and planning.

Cognition is the umbrella term for your learning skills—your ability to process information, reason, remember, and relate.

1.      You are taught something,  some new info.

2.      You think about it.

3.      You talk about it in your own words.

4.      You notice how this new info fits into other things that you know.

2.      Cognition Skills

Cognition skills are what separate the good learners from the so-so learners. Here’s why:

·         Without developed cognition skills, children fall behind because they aren’t able to integrate new information as they are taught it.

·         The sad truth is that most students move on to the next grade before they have mastered the basic academic skills like reading, writing and math… because they haven’t developed cognition skills.

C.     Transfer

1.      Definition of  Transfer

Language transfer is refers to speakers or writers applying knowledge from their native language to a second language. It is the transfer of linguistic features from a language to another language in the speech collection of a bilingual or multilingual individual. It is most commonly discussed in the context of English language learning and teaching, but it can occur in any situation when someone does not have a native-level command of a language, as when translating into a second language.

2.      Positive and Negative Transfer

Negative transfer occurs when speakers and writers transfer items and structures that are not the same in both languages. Within the theory of contrastive analysis (the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities), the greater the differences between the two languages, the more negative transfer can be expected. For example, in English a preposition is used before a day of the week: "I'm going to the beach on Friday." In Spanish, instead of a preposition the definite article is used: "Voy a la playa el viernes." Beginning Spanish students who are native English speakers may produce a transfer error and use a preposition when it is not necessary due to their reliance on English. According to Whitley, it is natural for students to make these errors based on how the English words are used.  From a more general standpoint, Brown mentions “all new learning involves transfer based on previous learning. This could also explain why initial learning of L1 will impact the learning of L2.

Transfer of learning is said to be positive when the learning carried out in one situation proves helpful to learning in another situation. Examples of such transfer are:

• The knowledge and skills related to school mathematics help in the learning of statistical computation;
• The knowledge and skills acquired in terms of addition and subtraction in mathematics in school may help a child in the acquisition of knowledge and skills regarding multiplication and division;
• Learning to play badminton may help an individual to play ping pong (Table Tennis) and lawn tennis.

 The results of positive transfer go largely unnoticed, and thus are less often discussed. Nonetheless, such results can have a large effect. Generally speaking, the more similar the two languages are, and the more the learner is aware of the relation between them, the more positive transfer will occur. For example, an Anglophone learner of German may correctly guess an item of German vocabulary from its English counterpart, but word order and collocation are possible to differ, as will connotations. Such an approach has the disadvantage of making the learner more subject to the influence of "false friends".

In addition to positive (viz., non-negative) transfer resulting in correct language production and negative transfer resulting in errors, there is some evidence that transfer from the first language can result in a kind of technical, or analytical, advantage over native (monolingual) speakers of a language. For example, second-language speakers of English whose first language is Korean have been found to be more accurate with perception of unreleased stops in English than native English speakers who are functionally monolingual, due to the different status of unreleased stops in Korean vis-a-vis English. This "native-language transfer benefit" appears to depend on an alignment of properties in the first and second languages that favors the linguistic biases of the first language.

D.    Learning

1.      Definition of Learning

Learning is the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something: the activity of someone who learns.

Existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves. Learnin

g is not compulsory; it is contextual. It does not happen all at once, but builds upon and is shaped by what we already know. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. Learning produces changes in the organism and the changes produced are relatively permanent.

2.      Types of Learning

a.       Non – associative learning

Non-associative learning refers to "a relatively permanent change in the strength of response to a single stimulus due to repeated exposure to that stimulus. Changes due to such factors as sensory adaptation, fatigue, or injury do not qualify as non-associative learning.

Non-associative learning can be divided into habituation and sensitization.

-          Habituation[edit]

Habituation is an example of non-associative learning in which there is a progressive diminution of behavioral response probability with repetition stimulus. An animal first responds to a stimulus, but if it is neither rewarding nor harmful the animal reduces subsequent responses. One example of this can be seen in small song birds—if a stuffed owl (or similar predator) is put into the cage, the birds initially react to it as though it were a real predator. Soon the birds react less, showing habituation.

-          Sensitisation

Sensitisation is an example of non-associative learning in which the progressive amplification of a response follows repeated administrations of a stimulus (Bell et al., 1995^]. An everyday example of this mechanism is the repeated tonic stimulation of peripheral nerves that will occur if a person rubs his arm continuously. After a while, this stimulation will create a warm sensation that will eventually turn painful. The pain is the result of the progressively amplified synaptic response of the peripheral nerves warning the person that the stimulation is harmful^] Sensitisation is thought to underlie both adaptive as well as maladaptive learning processes in the organism.

b.      Associative Learning

Associative learning is the process by which an association between two stimuli or a behavior and a stimulus is learned. The two forms of associative learning are classical and operant conditioning. In the former a previously neutral stimulus is repeatedly presented together with a reflex eliciting stimuli until eventually the neutral stimulus will elicit a response on its own. In operant conditioning a certain behavior is either reinforced or punished which results in an altered probability that the behavior will happen again. Honeybees display associative learning through the proboscis extension reflex paradigm.

-          Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of behavior. 

-          Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning is one form of learning in which an organism "learns" through establishing associations between different events and stimuli. For example, when a neutral stimulus (such as a bell) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (such as food) which produces some involuntary bodily response all on its own (such as salivating), the neutral stimulus begins to trigger a response by the organism similar (some salivation) to that produced by the unconditioned stimulus. In this way, the organism has "learned" that the neutral stimulus equals something good (just like the unconditioned stimulus).

c.       Play

Play generally describes behavior which has no particular end in itself, but improves performance in similar situations in the future. This is seen in a wide variety of vertebrates besides humans, but is mostly limited to mammals and birds.

There are five types of play:

1.     Sensorimotor play aka functional play, characterized by repetition of activity

2.     Role play occurs from 3 to 15 years of age

3.     Rule-based play where authoritative prescribed codes of conduct are primary

4.     Construction play involves experimentation and building

5.     Movement play aka physical play.

These five types of play are often intersected. All types of play generate thinking and problem-solving skills in children. Children learn to think creatively when they learn through play. Specific activities involved in each type of play change over time as humans progress through the lifespan. Play as a form of learning, can occur solitarily, or involve interacting with others.

d.      Enculturation

Enculturation is the process by which a person learns the requirements of their native culture by which he or she is surrounded, and acquires values and behaviors that are appropriate or necessary in that culture. The influences which, as part of this process limit, direct or shape the individual, whether deliberately or not, include parents, other adults, and peers  If successful, enculturation results in competence in the language, values and rituals of the culture.

e.        Episodec Learning

Episodic learning is a change in behavior that occurs as a result of an event For example, a fear of dogs that follows being bitten by a dog is episodic learning. Episodic learning is so named because events are recorded into episodic memory, which is one of the three forms of explicit learning and retrieval, along with perceptual memory andsemantic memory.

f.       Multimedia Learning

Multimedia learning is where a person uses both auditory and visual stimuli to learn information (Mayer 2001). This type of learning relies on dual-coding theory (Paivio 1971).

g.      E-learning and augmented learning

Electronic learning or e-learning is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. A specific and always more diffused e-learning is mobile learning (m-learning), which uses different mobile telecommunication equipment, such as cellular phones.

Moore (1989) purported that three core types of interaction are necessary for quality, effective online learning:

·         Learner-learner (i.e. communication between and among peers with or without the teacher present),

·         Learner-instructor (i.e. student teacher communication), and

·         Learner-content (i.e. intellectually interacting with content that results in changes in learners’ understanding, perceptions, and cognitive structures).

h.      Rote Learning

Rote learning is memorizing information so that it can be recalled by the learner exactly the way it was read or heard. The major technique used for rote learning is learning by repetition, based on the idea that a learner can recall the material exactly (but not its meaning) if the information is repeatedly processed. Rote learning is used in diverse areas, from mathematics to music to religion. Although it has been criticized by some educators, rote learning is a necessary precursor to meaningful learning.

i.        Meaningful Learning

Meaningful learning is the concept that learned knowledge (e.g., a fact) is fully understood to the extent that it relates to other knowledge. To this end, meaningful learning contrasts with rote learning in which information is acquired without regard to understanding. Meaningful learning, on the other hand, implies there is a comprehensive knowledge of the context of the facts learned.

j.        Informal Learning

Informal learning occurs through the experience of day-to-day situations (for example, one would learn to look ahead while walking because of the danger inherent in not paying attention to where one is going). It is learning from life, during a meal at table with parents, play, exploring, etc.

k.      Formal Learning

Formal learning is learning that takes place within a teacher-student relationship, such as in a school system. The term formal learning has nothing to do with the formality of the learning, but rather the way it is directed and organized. In formal learning, the learning or training departments set out the goals and objectives of the learning.

l.        Nonformal Learning

Nonformal learning is organized learning outside the formal learning system. For example: learning by coming together with people with similar interests and exchanging viewpoints, in clubs or in (international) youth organizations, workshops.

m.    Norformal learning and combined approaches

The educational system may use a combination of formal, informal, and nonformal learning methods. The UN and EU recognize these different forms of learning (cf. links below). In some schools students can get points that count in the formal-learning systems if they get work done in informal-learning circuits. They may be given time to assist international youth workshops and training courses, on the condition they prepare, contribute, share and can prove this offered valuable new insight, helped to acquire new skills, a place to get experience in organizing, teaching, etc.

n.      Tangential Learning

Tangential learning is the process by which people will self-educate if a topic is exposed to them in a context that they already enjoy. For example, after playing a music-based video game, some people may be motivated to learn how to play a real instrument, or after watching a TV show that references Faust and Lovecraft, some people may be inspired to read the original work. Self-education can be improved with systematization. According to experts in natural learning, self-oriented learning training has proven to be an effective tool for assisting independent learners with the natural phases of learning.

o.      Dialogic Learning

Dialogic learning is a type of learning based on dialogue.

p.      Incidental Learning

This type of learning is not planned by either the instructor or the student but occurs as a byproduct of another activity, which may be an experience, observation, self-reflection, interaction, unique event or common routine task. Learning which happens in addition to or apart from the instructor‘s plans and the student‘s expectations.

Incidental learning is an occurrence that is not generally accounted for using the traditional methods of instructional objectives and outcomes assessment. This type of learning occurs in part as a product of social interaction and active involvement in both online and onsite courses. Research implies that there are un-assessed aspects of onsite and online learning which challenge the equivalency of education between the two modalities.

2.    Strategies for second – languange production

In the course of learning a second language, learners will frequently encounter communication problems caused by a lack of linguistic resources. Communication strategies are strategies that learners use to overcome these problems in order to convey their intended meaning. Strategies used may include paraphrasing, substitution, coining new words, switching to the first language, and asking for clarification. These strategies, with the exception of switching languages, are also used by native speakers.

The term communication strategy was introduced by Masoud in 1972, and the first systematic analysis of communication strategies was made by Varadi in 1973. There were various other studies in the 1970s, but the real boom in communication strategy scholarship came in the 1980s. This decade saw a flurry of papers describing and analyzing communication strategies, and saw Ellen Bialystok link communication strategies to her general theory of second-language acquisition. There was more activity in the 1990s with a collection of papers by Kasper and Kellerman and a review article by Dörnyei and Scott,^[8] but there has been relatively little research on the subject since then.

No comprehensive list of strategies has been agreed on by researchers in second-language acquisition, but some commonly used strategies have been observed:

Ø  Paraphrasing

This refers to learners using different words or phrases to express their intended meaning. For example, if learners do not know the word grandfather they may paraphrase it by saying "my father's father".

Ø  Substitution

Learners may avoid a problematic word by using a different one, for example substituting the irregular verb make with the regular verb ask. The regularity of "ask" makes it easier to use correctly.

Ø  Coining new words

This refers to learners creating new words or phrases for words that they do not know. For example, a learner might refer to an art gallery as a "picture place".

Ø  Language switch

Learners may insert a word from their first language into a sentence, and hope that their interlocutor will understand.

Ø  Asking for clarification

The strategy of asking an interlocutor for the correct word or other help is a communication strategy.

Ø  Non-verbal strategies

This can refer to strategies such as the use of gesture and mime to augment or replace verbal communication.

Ø  Avoidance

Avoidance, which takes multiple forms, has been identified as a communication strategy. Learners of a second language may learn to avoid talking about topics for which they lack the necessary vocabulary or other language skills in the second language. Also, language learners sometimes start to try to talk about a topic, but abandon the effort in mid-utterance after discovering that they lack the language resources needed to complete their message.

3.     Teaching reading in bilingual situation at home

Research continues to show that support for the home language is an essential element in supporting children’s academic skills. Parents who engage with their children in their home language through discussion, reading books out loud and in everyday activities help children to do better in school, even. This is in contrast to research many decades ago that encouraged parents to speak the community language at home with their children, believing this would strengthen their children’s academic language skills. We now know that this past research was flawed and that, in fact, the opposite is true.

Below are 10 tips on how teachers and parents can use bilingual books in the classroom and at home to help children excel in language skills as well as to encourage cultural appreciation.

Ø  Teachers read bilingual book out loud in the school language while parents read the same book out loud at home in their language. 

Did you know that parents who read to their children in a home language can actually help strengthen their children’s academic skills? It is true! This is in addition to many other benefits, such as strengthening the parent-child bond through shared language and culture.

Ø  Teachers read bilingual books in the school language and show the words written in the other language. 

Teachers can use bilingual books not only to introduce students to languages that use the Roman alphabet, but also to those languages such as Arabic and Chinese that use different symbols and characters. Seeing that languages can be written using a variety of letters and scripts helps children understand that sounds and words can be represented in diverse ways.  As the teacher reads the bilingual book aloud, she can point out the different words or symbols in the second language.

Ø  Read bilingual books that highlight different cultures. 

When teachers select bilingual books that focus on different cultures, traditions and customs, they are helping children feel comfortable with cultural diversity. It is a gentle way for teachers to cultivate multicultural awareness and appreciation in their students.

Ø  While reading the story in the school language, pick out a few key words in the other language. 

The idea here is to stimulate curiosity and interest in language, not to confuse the students, so keep it to a minimum. By periodically using words from other languages, the teacher shows the students that an effort is being made to understand their languages. When we make this kind of effort, it indicates that our students’ languages are of value and worth learning.

Ø  Parents or volunteers read a bilingual book to the class in one language. 

Have parents of the students volunteer to read bilingual books in their languages out loud to the class. Afterward, the teacher can read the same book out loud in the school language. This strengthens an appreciation of family and community in the classroom, and provides parents the opportunity to offer something in which they are experts: their language. If parents are unwilling or cannot volunteer, find other teachers who know the language and can read the book out loud.

Ø  Encourage students to write their own bilingual books. 

After reading a number of bilingual books out loud, work with students to help them create their own bilingual books. They will feel empowered by the fact that they can speak more than one language. Even if they can’t read or write yet, teachers and parents can work together with the students to write down the words in each language while the child provides the pictures for each page.

Ø  Allow children to pick out bilingual books from the school or public library. 

Having the option to choose our own books is very empowering. Teachers and parents should contact their school and local libraries to find out if they have bilingual books available to borrow. Teachers can also develop classroom “lending libraries” with bilingual books. The benefit of having children pick out bilingual books is that both family members and teachers can engage with children using the same books.

Ø  Ask questions and encourage discussion in both languages. 

Bilingual books provide the opportunity for discussion on the same topic in more than one language. Teachers can promote discussion in the school language while parents can encourage it in their language. Teachers can send home a list of discussion topics for parents to utilize at home if they wish. Meanwhile, parents should feel encouraged to share conversations from home about the target bilingual books with their child’s teacher.

Ø  Encourage children to read bilingual books in both languages. 

If children can read in both languages, then they should be encouraged to do so, even if one language is stronger than the other. In fact, understanding the story in the stronger language can promote comprehension in the weaker language. Teachers and parents can help this language transfer by encouraging students to read the stories out loud to them as much as possible in each language.

Ø  Bilingual books provide an opportunity to have fun with language. 

Having fun with our languages is the most important part of language learning and utilization. Bilingual books provide a springboard for this on many different levels. Discussing the various topics, the words, the different written scripts, and the funny letters in a language’s alphabet are just a few ways teachers can make languages fun and exciting for their students. Parents can help their children learn about the school language by asking questions about words, pronunciation and more in the bilingual books that their children bring home. In our effort to reach language mastery, we often forget that enjoyment is the most important ingredient for language success.

4.     Strategies for becoming a better second languange learner

Based on the extensive research on learning strategies (Challot - O'Malley 1994 Rubin) successful second language learners use some common learning strategies effectively.  The high school second language learner has much in common with the "good" language learners described by Rubin (1975), i.e. they:

             1. Willing guessers.
             2. Accurate guessers
             3. Have a strong drive to communicate
             4. Look for patterns in the language
             5. Try to classify language
             6. Analyze language
             7. Take advantage of all practice opportunity

8. Monitor their own speech
  9. Pay attention to meaning

According to Naiman, Frohlich, and Todesco (1975) successful second language learners use the following six strategies:
                  1. Select language situations that allow one's (learning) preferences to be used
                  2. Actively involve themselves in language learning
                  3. See language as both a rule system and a communication tool
                  4. Extend and revise one's understanding of the language
                  5. Learn to think in the language
                  6. Address the affective demands of language learning

The teacher is expected to bring these strategies to the attention of learners regardless of the subject matter.  This includes encouraging students who already exhibit use of these strategies so that others might 'notice' and imitate them.

REFERENCESS

Chamot, A.U. & Kupper, L. (1989). Learning strategies in foreign language instruction. "Foreign Language Annals," 22, pp13-24.

Chapelle, C. & Roberts, C. (1986). Ambiguity tolerance and field independence as predictors in English as a second language. "Language Learning," 36(1) pp27-45.

Cohen, A.D. & Hosenfeld, C. (1981). Some uses of mentalistic data in second language acquisition. "Language Learning," 31, pp285-313.

Ehrman, M. & Oxford, R. (1988). "Ants and grasshoppers, badgers and butterflies: Qualitative and quantitative exploration of adult language learning styles and strategies." Paper presented at the Symposium on Research Perspectives on Adult Language Learning and Acquisition, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

Ehrman, M. & Oxford, R. (1989). Effects of sex differences, career choice, and psychological type on adults' language learning strategies. "Modern Language Journal," 73, pp1-13.

Gunderson, B. & Johnson, D. (1980). Building positive attitudes by using cooperative learning groups. "Foreign Language Annals," 13, pp39-43.

Hansen, J. & Stansfield, CW. (1981). The relationship of field dependent-independent cognitive styles to foreign language achievement. "Language Learning," 31, pp349-67. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 196 275)

Jacob, E. & Mattson, B. (1987). "Using cooperative learning with language minority students: A report from the field." Washington, DC: Center for Language Education and Research. Center for Applied Linguistics.

Lawrence, G. (1984). A synthesis of learning style research involving the MBTI. "Journal of Psychological Type," 8, pp2-15.

Leaver, B.L. (1986). Hemispherity of the brain and foreign language teaching. "Folia Slavica," 8, pp76-90.

Myers, I. & McCaulley, M. (1985). "Manual: A guide to the development and use of the Myers-Briggs type indicator." Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Oxford, R. (1989). The use of language learning strategies: A synthesis of studies with implications for strategy training. "System," 12(2), pp235-47.

Oxford, R. (1990). "Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know." New York: Newbury House/ Harper & Row.