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Emergentism and second language acquisition

Learners of English as a second language (ESL) begin by saying and writing relatively simple constructions such as He saw [a fly] and The frog watch a kid’s boat [in the lake].  Over time, some learners are able to make remarkable progress and then produce complex constructions such as He went upstairs and looked through the window to see [if mom was coming] and The first thing [they did] was going to mom and dad’s room. Linguists have had a very difficult time predicting and explaining the developmental paths that language learners will follow. 

Scientists constantly encounter very complex phenomena that seem to be difficult to explain. Language, emotions, personality, group behaviour, cellular biochemical pathways, and weather are just a few examples of these very complex phenomena. One approach to explaining these phenomena is HOLISM: analyzing and explaining complex phenomena without reference to component parts. Noam Chomsky (1965, 1986, 1995) has used a holistic approach to explain language and language acquisition (i.e., Chomskian Universal Grammar - CUG). CUG includes a number of hypothetical, abstract, innate principles that are not used for any other cognitive functions (are language-specific), are not learned from exemplars, and are not composed of more basic units. CUG principles lead to very abstract representations of linguistic capacities, including phonetically-null elements and atemporal stages of derivation (i.e., movements or transformations). Holism and CUG principles are problematic when evaluated in relation to a fundamental criterion that guides scientific development, Occam's Razor. Occam's Razor requires that theorists use the most economical system of constructs to explain phenomena.          

In contrast to holism, REDUCTIONISM is an approach that explains a complex phenomenon as the sum of its component parts. Reductionist theories are highly valued according to Occam’s Razor because their constructs are relatively simple, basic units. However, reductionism is insufficient. For example, water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, but the properties of water are not the sum of the properties of hydrogen and oxygen. Similarly, walking, breathing, and sculpting are all systemic properties that are not possessed by the component parts of these actions. With respect to language acquisition, a reductionist approach would be to claim that language is the sum of all of the input that a learner comprehends. However, we can create and understand utterances that we have never heard or comprehended before. The limitations of this explanatory approach are often characterized as 'poverty of the stimulus' or 'underdetermination by the input'.

EMERGENTISM expands upon reductionism in order to explain complex phenomena (for further discussion, see Sawyer, 2002; Stephan, 1999). In my research, I use the following definition of emergentism: a complex phenomenon results from the aggregation, organization, and interaction of its component parts within a particular constellation, system, or context. In order to understand complex phenomena that have a very large number of component parts and processes, emergentists often use computational or connectionist simulations to understand these interactions and their development over time.

Linguistic emergentism assumes that language use and acquisition emerge from basic processes that are not specific to language (for further discussion see Ellis, 1998, 2003; Ellis and Larsen-Freeman, 2006; MacWhinney, 1997, 1998; O'Grady, 2005). I am using an emergentist approach to describe and predict the increasing complexity that is exhibited in longitudinal studies of ESL production. My approach has been informed by Bates and MacWhinney's Competition Model, by Tomasello's construction-based analyses, by O'Grady's emergentist analyses of complex syntactic phenomena, and by the sign-based, lexicalist analyses within Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (e.g., Sag, 1997; Sag, Wasow, and Bender, 2003). Emergentist analyses seek to provide multi-factorial accounts of developmental tendencies across subtypes of constructions. For example, Mellow (2006) accounted for an acquisition order across subtypes of relative clauses in terms of processing complexity, compositionality, input frequency, and functional purposes of language use. Given the diversity of factors and processes that are considered, emergentist analyses do not fit into the individual theoretical approaches that are often discussed in SLA overviews (i.e. functional, cognitive, or linguistic theories; see Mitchell and Myles, 2004; VanPatten and Williams, 2007). Linguistic emergentism has much in common with a number of other approaches to the study of language and language acquisition, including chaos complexity/complex systems theory (e.g., Larsen-Freeman, 1997), cognitive linguistics (e.g., Robinson and Ellis, in press), dynamic systems theory (e.g., De Bot, Lowie, and Verspoor, 2007) and usage-based theories (e.g., Tomasello, 2003).      

I do not assume that learning is principle-based. Instead, I assume that learning is item-based and construction-based. After producing and processing a large number and range of construction types, learners gradually develop linguistic abilities that can be described as grammaticalized, generalized linguistic constructions. My research has investigated the longitudinal development of speech acts, past time expression, referent tracking, semantic development, and complex propositions (dependent clauses), in relation to morphological, syntactic, discoursal, and lexical structures. I have begun to use this same approach to analyze the first language acquisition of Anishininiimowin (also known as Oji-Cree or Severn Ojibwe), a polysynthetic language. 

This framework for understanding longitudinal development is also being used to inform studies of the effects of second language instruction: Without a specific theory of the nature of development, the effects of instruction are very difficult to detect or interpret.  In addition, without a practical theory of instructional design features, it is difficult to interpret the results of instructional studies in a manner that will be relevant to the practices of teachers. 

I am also interested in the ways in which linguistic and psycholinguistic research can be used to inform language education, both for current and future ESL teachers, and for teachers of First Nations (or indigenous) languages. In particular, I am attempting to use insights from SLA research to uncover fundamental similarities across a diverse range of teaching activities that otherwise might be thought of as unrelated, oppositional, or even contradictory. In addition to English, I am working on projects related to the learning and teaching of Anishininiimowin.

           
Some Selected Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

Mellow, J. D. (2008). The emergence of complex syntax: A longitudinal case study of the ESL development of dependency resolution. Lingua, 118, 4, 499-521. (Special issue comparing nativist and emergentist approaches to second language acquisition, guest-edited by Roger Hawkins.) 

Mellow, J. D. (2008). How big is minimal? Lingua, 118, 4, 632-635. (Special issue comparing nativist and emergentist approaches to second language acquisition, guest-edited by Roger Hawkins.)

Mellow, J.D. (2006). The emergence of second language syntax: A case study of the acquisition of relative clauses. Applied Linguistics, 27, 645-670. (Special issue on language emergence, guest-edited by Nick Ellis and Diane Larsen-Freeman.)

Mellow, J.D. (2004). Connectionism, HPSG signs, and SLA representations: Specifying principles of mapping between form and function. Second Language Research, 20, 131-165.

Mellow, J. D. (2002).  Toward principled eclecticism in language teaching: The Two-Dimensional Model and the Centring Principle.  TESL-EJ, 5, 4,  A1, 1-19. Available on-line at:  http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej20/a1.html

Mellow, J. D., & Stanley, K. (2002). Theory development in applied linguistics: Toward a connectionist framework for understanding second language acquisition. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 13, 3-39.

Mellow, J. D., Reeder, K., & Forster, E. (1996). Using the time-series design to investigate the effects of pedagogic intervention on SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18,  325-350.

Mellow, J. D. (1996). On the primacy of theory in applied studies: A critique of Pienemann and Johnston (1987). Second Language Research, 12,  304-318.

Mellow, J. D., & Cumming, A. (1994). Concord in interlanguage: Efficiency or priming? Applied Linguistics, 15,  442-473.

Book Chapters

Mellow, J. D. (2004). The Two-dimensional Model and principled eclecticism: Classroom discourse and perspectives on grammatical syllabi. In Arshad Abd.Samad (Ed.),  Perspectives on Grammar in Language Education  (pp. 18-42). Serdang, Malaysia: Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

Mellow, J. D. (2000). Western influences on indigenous language teaching. In J. Reyhner et al. (Eds.), Learn in Beauty: Indigenous Education for a New Century (pp. 102-113).  Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University. Available on-line at: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/LIB/LIBconts.html

Cumming, A., & Mellow, J. D. (1996). An investigation into the validity of written indicators of second language proficiency. In A. Cumming and R. Berwick (Eds.), Validation in Language Testing (pp. 72-93). Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.

Mellow, J. D. (1992). A case study of rural second-language education: Barriers to adult settlement and education. In B. Burnaby and A. Cumming (Eds.), Socio-political Aspects of E.S.L. in Canada (pp. 292-303). Toronto: OISE Press.

Conference Proceedings

Hack, J. and Mellow, J. D. (2007). A functional analysis of the acquisition of Oji-Cree (Severn Ojibwe). Papers of the 38th Algonquian Conference (pp. 273-288). Winnipeg: University of Manitoba.

Mellow, J. D., & Stanley, K. (2001). Alternative accounts of developmental patterns: Toward a functional-cognitive model of second language acquisition.  Proceedings of the Third Annual High Desert Linguistics Society Conference  (pp. 51-65). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico.

Mellow, J. D. (1991). Integrating language and content in native language teaching. In W. Cowan. (Ed.), Papers of the Twenty-Second Algonquian Conference (pp. 203-212). Ottawa: Carleton University.

Mellow, J. D. (1990). Asymmetries between compounding and noun incorporation in Plains Cree. In W. Cowan. (Ed.), Papers of the Twenty-First Algonquian Conference (pp. 247-257). Ottawa: Carleton University.

Mellow, J. D. (1989). A syntactic approach to noun incorporation in Cree. In W. Cowan. (Ed.), Actes du Vingtième Congrès des Algonquinistes (pp. 250-261). Ottawa: Carleton University.