Tom
Cobb
Dépt
de linguistique et de didactique des langues
Université
du Québec à Montréal
Montreal
Canada
It
was once assumed that learning a second language (L2) was a universal process
that depended little on the particular L1 of the learner (Dulay & Burt;
Krashen; Goodman, 1970s), and while few researchers any longer believe this to
be entirely true (Koda, N Ellis, Meara, 1990s), it nonetheless remains the
unstated assumption of publishers of language learning materials. There are no
course books with titles like “English reading for the Arabic learner” (despite
the well known challenges of Roman orthography for Arabic speakers), or
“vocabulary strategies for the Chinese learner” (despite the capacity for
massive item learning that is potentially transferable to acquisition of an
L2), and so on. Such books do not exist for good reasons, of course, one being
the need or wish of the publishing companies to sell to a single worldwide
market, the other being the decreasing number of classrooms sharing a common L1
in ESL as against EFL settings.
Admittedly,
there is probably more commonality than difference across L1s in learning
English as a Second Language, so the continued use of one-fits-all materials
makes sense. But surely there is also a case for developing principled,
research based, L1 specific materials, perhaps as supplements, in cases where
the L1 or its ambient culture provides an identifiable set of learner
characteristics or strategies. Is there a market for such materials?
Throughout
the media world, the Internet has arisen as a viable niche-publisher for the
many smaller markets that apparently do not support full commercial ventures.
This paper argues that the need for L1-specific language learning materials
presents just such a market. It presents examples of Web-based materials that
attempt to cope with some of the weaknesses and build on some of the strengths
of a particular group of ESL learners, those whose L1 is Chinese and whose
learning culture can be broadly characterized as Confucian. Three notable
strengths of these learners tend to be (as mentioned) a huge capacity for item
learning; a keen sense of pattern perception that works well in the sciences
but less well in language learning; and an instinctively collaborative approach
to learning. Notable weaknesses include the excessive reliance on dictionaries
while reading, and a “lexical processing” approach generally to second language
comprehension (Ngar & Johnson, 1990s).
If these challenges and opportunities are unlikely to be the focus of
mass market course materials, they can nonetheless be the focus of properly
designed Web-based supplementary materials.
In
this paper, concrete take-home Web-based learning tools and activities for
Chinese learners will be proposed, with empirical indications of their value
where possible. The conclusion will broaden out to seek principles of
L1-specific supplementation of which the Chinese case is but one example. The
paper is based on a plenary speech of the same title given at the TCELT (Tertiary/College English Language Teaching) Conference, “IT in ELT,”
given at Northwestern University in Shenyang, China, and Chinese University of
Hong Kong in June 2006.