Abstract
In the nineteen seventies, Burt and Dulay suggested that negative emotions might act as an input filter inhibiting grammatical development. This idea was reformulated by Krashen as the Affective Filter Hypothesis (AFH) (Krashen 1981, 1982). Educators, applied linguists and SLA researchers have all stressed the value of positive attitudes on learning success. Research on emotions and language learning has mostly focused on the lexicon, on individual styles of learning and rates of success (Dörnyei 2003; Dewaele 2005; Pavlenko 2005) rather than the acquisition of, specifically, syntax and phonology. These are areas which, unlike the lexicon, are generally held to become significantly more difficult with age (Singleton 1995 and 1999). However motivated older learners may be to develop their phonological and syntactic skills, the desired development is by no means guaranteed. How may this be explained in terms of the psycholinguistic mechanisms involved? The AFH was stated in very general terms and never really elaborated. Nevertheless, since the AFH was originally formulated, there has been a lot of research on affect in cognitive neuroscience (e.g. Damasio 1994, 1999; LeDoux 2002). To guide investigations into how affect variably influences grammatical, lexical, semantic and pragmatic growth, the AFH is in need of updating. The MOGUL framework, which takes account of recent research across a range of disciplines, will be used to elaborate it in finer detail in a first attempt to provide a better basis for empirical investigation (see also Sharwood Smith and Truscott 2013).
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Notes
- 1.
This of course does hold so obviously for those who regard the acquisition of grammar as driven by exactly the same mechanisms as any other kind of learning but the affective mechanisms that facilitate or inhibit learning in general is still an area that needs a great deal more research.
- 2.
In Krashen's terms this would be ‘i + 1’, the next grammatical morpheme to be acquired according to the Input Hypothesis (Krashen 1985).
- 3.
This idea is commonly referred to as the James-Lange Theory.
- 4.
Event Related Potential: the participants' brain electrical activity was monitored as they performed the tasks.
- 5.
Thanks are due to Guillaume Thierry for helpful suggestions in interpreting these results.
- 6.
Pienemann’s Processability theory incorporates processing concerns into accounts of language development by explaining stages of acquisition as being governed by the relative processability of linguistic constructions. This theory therefore proposes principles that explain differences between one observed developmental stage and the next. This is different from explaining what the precise mechanisms are that are in operation during the on-line processing of L2 at stage ‘s’ that affect a change into stage ‘s + 1’ (Pienemann 1998). Similarly VanPatten’s Input Processing theory outlines numerous principles that might explain how the learner’s attention is guided to specific aspects of the input. It is not meant to be about L2 parsing or how L2 parsing relates to changes in the learner grammar (VanPattten 2004).
- 7.
Jackendoff's architecture can be seen in two ways, statically as a linguistic-theoretical construct, or in psycholinguistic terms, as a processing system. MOGUL opts for the second way. Chains are constructed incrementally and in parallel until the best available match is found.
- 8.
Not always, however, with exactly the same implications (Sharwood Smith 2004).
- 9.
In Sharwood Smith & Truscott (2013) the word 'extramodular' is used with the same meaning signifying 'outside the language module'.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
More technically stated, “no interface exists between affective structures (AfS) and either phonological structures PS or syntactic structures (SS)”.
- 13.
This states that older L2 acquirers no longer have access to domain-specific mechanisms constrained by Universal Grammar and must rely on general problem-solving skills (Bley-Vroman 1990).
- 14.
As John Truscott (personal communication) has reminded me, one challenge to be faced is how to account, psycholinguistically, for responses in grammaticality judgment tests. If any effect of metalinguistic knowledge can be ruled out, how should we explain the processing of sentences that are judged ungrammatical? An intuitive rejection of an ungrammatical sentence implies negative valence. As with the P600 event-related potential, where is the most plausible location for this valence (within whatever theoretical framework has been selected to guide investigation)?
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Sharwood Smith, M. (2014). Can you Learn to Love Grammar and so Make it Grow? On the Role of Affect in L2 Development. In: Pawlak, M., Aronin, L. (eds) Essential Topics in Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01414-2_1
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