Susan Gass | |
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Born | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | May 21, 1943
Known for |
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Awards | 2016: Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize [1] |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Thesis | An investigation of syntactic transfer in adult second language acquisition (1979) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Linguist |
Sub-discipline |
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Institutions | Michigan State University |
Website | Gass on the website of Michigan State University |
Susan Gass (born 1943) is an American Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize-winner [1] linguist. She is currently a professor emerita,retired from the Department of Linguistics,Languages,and Cultures at Michigan State University. [2] Her research focuses on applied linguistics with a special focus on second language learning,corrective feedback,and task-based language learning. She graduated in 1961 from Kingswood School Cranbrook.
Gass served as the Director of the English Language Center,Co-Director of the Center for Language Education And Research,co-Director of the Center for Language Teaching Advancement and Director of the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program at the Michigan State University.
Between 2002 and 2008 she served as president of the International Association of Applied Linguistics.
She is currently the Editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition. [3]
According to Google Scholar,Gass's most cited publications include:Second language acquisition:An introductory course,Second language research:Methodology and design,and Input,interaction,and the second language learner. [4]
One of her major publications is a journal article,published in Applied Linguistics in 1985,entitled Non-native/Non-native Conversations:A Model for Negotiation of Meaning. The article,co-written with Evangeline Varonis,builds on the research focusing on conversational interactions between native speakers and non-native speakers. The paper focuses on interactions among non-native speakers of English. Varonis and Gass noted that negotiation of meaning was the most common among non-native speaker/non-native speaker pairs. [5]
Gass has had work published in several major journals such as Applied Linguistics, Studies in Second Language Acquisition ,Language Learning, The Modern Language Journal ,and AILA Review.
She has co-written books with Larry Selinker,Alison Mackey,Charlene Polio,and Bill VanPatten.
Gass has received numerous outstanding awards throughout her career. [6]
Second-language acquisition (SLA),sometimes called second-language learning—otherwise referred to as L2acquisition,is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. The field of second-language acquisition is regarded by some but not everybody as a sub-discipline of applied linguistics but also receives research attention from a variety of other disciplines,such as psychology and education.
An interlanguage is an idiolect which has been developed by a learner of a second language (L2) which preserves some features of their first language (L1) and can overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics give an interlanguage its unique linguistic organization. It is idiosyncratically based on the learner's experiences with L2. An interlanguage can fossilize,or cease developing,in any of its developmental stages. It is claimed that several factors shape interlanguage rules,including L1 transfer,previous learning strategies,strategies of L2 acquisition,L2 communication strategies,and the overgeneralization of L2 language patterns.
The generative approach to second language (L2) acquisition (SLA) is a cognitive based theory of SLA that applies theoretical insights developed from within generative linguistics to investigate how second languages and dialects are acquired and lost by individuals learning naturalistically or with formal instruction in foreign,second language and lingua franca settings. Central to generative linguistics is the concept of Universal Grammar (UG),a part of an innate,biologically endowed language faculty which refers to knowledge alleged to be common to all human languages. UG includes both invariant principles as well as parameters that allow for variation which place limitations on the form and operations of grammar. Subsequently,research within the Generative Second-Language Acquisition (GenSLA) tradition describes and explains SLA by probing the interplay between Universal Grammar,knowledge of one's native language and input from the target language. Research is conducted in syntax,phonology,morphology,phonetics,semantics,and has some relevant applications to pragmatics.
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig is an American linguist. She is currently Provost Professor and ESL Coordinator at Indiana University (Bloomington).
The phonology of second languages is different from the phonology of first languages in various ways. The differences are considered to come from general characteristics of second languages,such as slower speech rate,lower proficiency than native speakers,and from the interaction between non-native speakers' first and second languages.
NNEST or non-native English-speaking teachers is an acronym that refers to the growing body of English language teachers who speak English as a foreign or second language. The term was coined to highlight the dichotomy between native English-speaking teachers (NEST) and non-native English-speaking teachers (NNEST).
Michael Hugh Long was an American psycholinguist. He was a Professor of Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland,College Park. Long introduced the concept of focus on form,which entails bringing linguistic elements to students’attention within the larger context of a meaning-based lesson in order to anticipate or correct problems in comprehension or production of the target language. Long contrasted this approach with the older method of focus on forms,which calls for exclusive focus on the linguistic forms when teaching a target language,often consisting of drill-type exercises such as conjugation exercises. Long is also usually credited for introducing the Interaction Hypothesis,a theory of second language acquisition which places importance on face-to-face interaction.
The noticing hypothesis is a theory within second-language acquisition that a learner cannot continue advancing their language abilities or grasp linguistic features unless they consciously notice the input. The theory was proposed by Richard Schmidt in 1990.
Voices of the Self:A Study of Language Competence was written and published in 1991 by Raymond Keith Gilyard. Gilyard's autoethnography offers a poignant portrayal of his life as a student in the American public school system during childhood and adolescence. The chapters vary between narrative stories of how Gilyard communicates in different social situations and scholastic analyses of those experiences.
The main purpose of theories of second-language acquisition (SLA) is to shed light on how people who already know one language learn a second language. The field of second-language acquisition involves various contributions,such as linguistics,sociolinguistics,psychology,cognitive science,neuroscience,and education. These multiple fields in second-language acquisition can be grouped as four major research strands:(a) linguistic dimensions of SLA,(b) cognitive dimensions of SLA,(c) socio-cultural dimensions of SLA,and (d) instructional dimensions of SLA. While the orientation of each research strand is distinct,they are in common in that they can guide us to find helpful condition to facilitate successful language learning. Acknowledging the contributions of each perspective and the interdisciplinarity between each field,more and more second language researchers are now trying to have a bigger lens on examining the complexities of second language acquisition.
Focus on form (FonF),also called form-focused instruction,is an approach to language education in which learners are made aware of linguistic forms –such as individual words and conjugations –in the context of a communicative activity. It is contrasted with focus on forms,in which forms are studied in isolation,and focus on meaning,in which no attention is paid to forms at all. For instruction to qualify as focus on form and not as focus on forms,the learner must be aware of the meaning and use of the language features before the form is brought to their attention. Focus on form was proposed by Michael Long in 1988.
The interaction hypothesis is a theory of second-language acquisition which states that the development of language proficiency is promoted by face-to-face interaction and communication. Its main focus is on the role of input,interaction,and output in second language acquisition. It posits that the level of language that a learner is exposed to must be such that the learner is able to comprehend it,and that a learner modifying their speech so as to make it comprehensible facilitates their ability to acquire the language in question. The idea existed in the 1980s,and has been reviewed and expanded upon by a number of other scholars but is usually credited to Michael Long.
The interface position is a concept in second language acquisition that describes the various possible theoretical relationships between implicit and explicit knowledge in the mind of a second language learner. Tacit knowledge is language knowledge that learners possess intuitively but are not able to put into words;explicit knowledge is language knowledge that learners possess and are also able to verbalize. For example,native speakers of Spanish intuitively know how to conjugate verbs,but may be unable to articulate how these grammatical rules work. Conversely,a non-native student of Spanish may be able to explain how Spanish verbs are conjugated,but may not yet be able to use these verbs in naturalistic,fluent speech. The nature of the relationship between these two types of knowledge in second language learners has received considerable attention in second language acquisition research.
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.
In applied linguistics,an error is an unintended deviation from the immanent rules of a language variety made by a second language learner. Such errors result from the learner's lack of knowledge of the correct rules of the target language variety. A significant distinction is generally made between errors and mistakes which are not treated the same from a linguistic viewpoint. The study of learners' errors has been the main area of investigation by linguists in the history of second-language acquisition research.
Larry Selinker is professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Michigan and former director of the university's English Language Institute. In 1972,Selinker introduced the concept of interlanguage,which built upon Pit Corder's previous work on the nature of language learners' errors. Corder's and Selinker's work became the foundation of modern research into second-language acquisition,and interlanguage is accepted as a basic principle of the discipline.
Diane Larsen-Freeman is an American linguist. She is currently a Professor Emerita in Education and in Linguistics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor,Michigan. An applied linguist,known for her work in second language acquisition,English as a second or foreign language,language teaching methods,teacher education,and English grammar,she is renowned for her work on the complex/dynamic systems approach to second language development.
Jacquelyn E. Schachter was professor emerita of linguistics at the University of Oregon. She received her Ph.D. in 1971 from UCLA,with a dissertation entitled,"Presuppositional and Counterfactual Conditional Sentences."
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