How Do We Know? Support for the Principles

Like we did in the chapter about listening/viewing, this section will give you some of the theoretical and research background that supports the principles you just explored for speaking/signing.

There is plenty of research that demonstrates the importance of just jumping in and finding opportunities to practice. It may seem really obvious that you have to practice speaking or signing in order to speak or sign a language, but in fact this was questioned by Krashen in the mid-1980s when he claimed that comprehensible input alone was sufficient for language acquisition (see Chapter 6 on Listening and Chapter 8 on Reading). We now know this is not true! Researchers like Swain (1985; 1995) and Long (1996) showed that although input was essential, output is also critically important for continuing to make progress in learning a language. Without enough attention to output, learners such as those in the French immersion schools in Québec in the 1970s would plateau and stop progressing. Their use of language was fluid but not complex and many grammatical details were not acquired. This indicates that when learners are challenged to choose their words and negotiate meaning with others, they are much more likely to notice what they don’t know. They are more likely to ask questions, talk about the language, and incorporate what they have learned into what they say later. Also, if they notice forms and linguistic problems, it can push them to modify their output, leading to more syntactic understanding and mental processing that contribute to their second language larning.  (Swain & Lapkin, 1995).

Here, we can also introduce Sociocultural theory, which has its roots in the work of Vygotsky, a very influential Russian psychologist. Sociocultural theory argues that “the mechanisms underlying development are not situated in the head but in the social environment” (Lantolf & Xi, 2023, p. 1). Vygotsky theorized in the 1930s that learning happens through the careful interactive support of a more knowledgeable person in a supportive environment. Lantolf and other researchers have applied this theory to second language learning, arguing that social interaction with others is essential to making key mental and cultural connections about the new language.

Remember that the importance of social interaction in learning both language and culture was discussed in Chapter 4. Human interaction is a multifaceted process and learning to communicate is a social phenomenon that cannot be reduced to memorizing vocabulary lists, grammatical forms and pronunciation points as often presented in textbooks. Take for example the common question, what?. This one word can have many different meanings depending on context. It can feel aggressive, inquisitive, rhetorical, sarcastic, or caring, depending on tone of voice, eye contact, and gesture, not to mention the relationship and history of the speakers. Many of these nuances of pragmatics (see Chapter 4) take time to acquire across many contexts, both in a first and second language. Some kids have a hard time understanding sarcasm sometimes because certain social cues may take longer to learn. Therefore, language is not only an exchange of words, but a full-fledged social interaction involving “… the reciprocal influence of individuals upon one another’s actions…” (Goffman, 1959, p. 8). It is no surprise that many researchers who focus on languaculture, intercultural competence, and pragmatics in language learning are influenced by Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory.

So if interaction is so important, how can we actually do it when our language skills are still at a novice or intermediate level? The research on various communication strategies that people use can give us a clue. Communication strategies are “the ways in which an individual speaker manages to compensate for this gap between what she wishes to communicate and her immediately available linguistic resources,” (Faucette, 2001, p. 1). These strategies can keep the conversation going, upholding the interactional element that is so important to communication and learning. Rabab’ah (2016), for example, demonstrated in his quantitative research on English language learners in Jorden that when language students learned and practiced a range of communication strategies to keep talking (such as asking for clarification, guessing, and correcting themselves), they far outperformed a control group (a group that did not have this strategy training) on a major standardized test.

Using strategies to maintain interaction can make communication feel messy and less precise, and that’s okay! Remember circumlocution? This literally means “to talk around” and has been described as “getting around your problem with the knowledge you have” (Corder, 1967, p. 105). Research confirms that circumlocution is an excellent strategy for keeping the conversation going, and can even give you more speaking practice since you are practicing using the words you know! Liskin-Gasparro (1996) found that both intermediate and advanced learners of Spanish successfully used circumlocution as one of their strategies to pass oral exams (a situation in which it is clearly very important to keep talking!). In another study,  Salazar Campillo (2006) similarly shows how a group of English learners who did not know specific terms in English “were nonetheless able to compensate for this lack by means of circumlocutions” (p. 13). These circumlocutions included describing the word (“it’s something you put on the floor”), using a superordinate (“it’s a kind of chair”) or, most frequently, describing the item’s function (“it’s a kind of pen you can write with. You can write very thick letters with it”). Notice that the language needed to circumlocute is simple and connected to your own experience, so the more time you put into learning frequent and relevant vocabulary, the easier it is to keep talking, even when your vocabulary range is still small.

Another strategy we mentioned before is translanguaging, or the “multiple discursive practices’ of bilingual speakers” (García, 2009, p. 45). Using one’s first language as a communication strategy is not recommended if you are using it to avoid the second language; however, if you are using it to smooth over a moment of difficulty or capture a specific meaning in another language you know, it can be a very positive and effective part of communication. In this case translanguaging is the ability to draw on two or more linguistic systems, weaving between grammatical and cultural patterns as they intertwine with one another. In a close analysis of interaction by Al Masaeed (2020), we see how two learners of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) navigate a complex conversation about one of their housemates who, like them, is an international student in Morocco. Throughout the conversation, three languages are used; MSA (the target language in this case), Moroccan Arabic, and English. All three languages are used appropriately, but NOT interchangeably. The students used either Moroccan Arabic or English in this case to deepen the other’s understanding of the emotion they were trying to convey. This is certainly not a case of avoidance or laziness; it is an excellent multilingual skill. Heritage speakers of a language are often very experienced at translanguaging.

Finally, keeping a positive attitude towards your own learning can directly impact your success. A large scale study of 1208 high school students in Saudi Arabia studying English concludes that “learning attitude significantly influences language learning and has a notable impact on students’ foreign language proficiency” (Li et al., 2024, p. 1). Moreover, in this study the use of language learning strategies played a pivotal role in linking students’ attitudes and proficiency. Our suggestions to embrace your accent and be patient with yourself are grounded in evidence that successful language learners tend not to be only focused on an end goal so much as enjoying the process of learning itself. In other words, the path itself is worth traveling.

Watch this video from the Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) to see how you can use interactive strategies to explore the pronunciation of your target language with a positive attitude.

These theories and research are just a small slice of the evidence for the principles we have shared with you. There is much more to read and explore if you are interested in the reasons “why” behind our suggestions for how to keep speaking in a second language. To get a better idea of the actual strategies themselves, move on to the next section!

References

Al Masaeed, K. (2020). Translanguaging in L2 Arabic study abroad: Beyond monolingual practices in institutional talk. The Modern Language Journal, 104(1), 250-266. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12623

Corder, S. (1967). Error analysis and interlanguage. Oxford University Press.

Faucette, P. (2001). A pedagogical perspective on communication strategies: Benefits of training and an analysis of English language teaching materials. Second Language Studies, 19(2), 1-40. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/40640

García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Wiley/Blackwell.

Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of self in everyday life. Doubleday,

Lantolf, J. P., & Xi, J. (2023). Digital language learning: A sociocultural theory perspective. TESOL Quarterly, 57(2), 702–715. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3218

Liskin‐Gasparro, J. E. (1996). Circumlocution, communication strategies, and the ACTFL proficiency guidelines: An analysis of student discourse. Foreign Language Annals, 29(3), 317-330. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1996.tb01245.x

Li, Y. & Wang, C., & Al-Hamed, H. (2024). Mediating effect of language learning strategies in the relationship between learning attitude and proficiency. Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 41, 116-131. https://doi.org/10.32038/ltrq.2024.41.09

Rabab’ah, G. (2016). The effect of communication strategy training on the development of EFL learners’ strategic competence and oral communicative ability. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 45(3), 625–651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-015-9365-3

Salazar Campillo, P. (2006). The use of circumlocution in the foreign language context. Porta Linguarum, 5, 7–16. http://hdl.handle.net/10481/30430

Swain, M. (1985) Communicative competence: some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. M. Gass and C. G. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 235–253). Newbury House.

Swain, M. (1995) Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook and B. Seidlhofer (Eds.), Principle and practice in applied linguistics: studies in honour of H. G. Widdowson (pp. 125–144). Oxford University Press.

Swain, M., and Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16(3), 371–91. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/16.3.371