Part of the 2013 AAAL Colloquium on Low-Literate and Adult L2 Learners

1. COGNITION, LEARNING AND
FORMAL EDUCATION
Andrea DeCapua
AAAL
Dallas, TX
March 18, 2013
drandreadecapua@gmail.com
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2. Ways of thinking and lear2ing
are shaped by
prior lear2ing ex6eriences
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3. INFORMAL WAYS OF LEARNING
immediate practical needs
relevance
observation
orality and
participation
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4. SLIFE
• used to pragmatic learning with immediate
relevance
• oral means preferred communication and
information-sharing mode
• accustomed to contextualized thinking
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5. WESTERN-STYLE FORMAL
EDUCATION
literacy
scientific
reasoning
logical deduction
abstract knowledge formal school
settings
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6. Cognitive Dissonance
Ibarra, 2001
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7. COMMON SLA RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
on
adolescents
and adults
• What are the optimal conditions for SLA?
• What are the characteristics of successful SL
learners?
• What sociocultural factors impact SLA?
• What is the role of motivation in SLA?
• How does L1 impact on the learning of L2?
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8. on adolescents and
adults
RESEARCH HAS FOCUSED
ON LEARNERS WHO ARE
•literate & educated or in the process of
becoming so
•at or close to grade-level knowledge and skills
•in Western-style formal classroom settings
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9. Ways of thinking, lear2ing, and
researching
are shaped by
prior lear2ing ex6eriences
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10. NOW IT IS TIME FOR SLA
RESEARCH TO
re-consider SLA theory and research questions by
turning attention to adolescent and adult learners
who have developed different cognitive processes as
a result of limited or no literacy and because they
have not fully participated in Western-style formal
education
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11. Selected References
Anderson-Levitt, K. (2003). Local meanings, global schooling. Hampshire: Palgrave.
Calderón, M. & Minaya-Rowe, L. (2010). Preventing long-term ELs (Thousand Oaks,
Calif.: Corwin Press, 2010).
Cole, M. (2005). Cross-cultural and historical perspectives on the developmental
consequences of education. Human Development 48, 195-216.
DeCapua, A., & Marshall, H.W. (2011). Breaking new ground: Teaching students with
limited or interrupted formal education. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
DeCapua, A. & Marshall, H.W. (2010a). Serving ELLs with limited or interrupted
education: Intervention that works. TESOL Journal, 1, 49-70.
DeCapua A., & Marshall, H.W. (2010b). Students with limited or interrupted formal
education in US classrooms. Urban Review, 42, 159-173. DOI 10.1007/s11256-009-0128-z.
DeCapua, A., Smathers, W., & Tang, F. (2009). Students with Limited or Interrupted
Schooling: A Guide for Educators. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Flynn, J. (2007). What is intelligence? New York: Cambridge University Press.
Grigorenko, E. (2007). Hitting, missing, and in between: A typology of the impact of
western education on the non-western world. Comparative Education, 43, 165-186.
Ibarra, R. (2001). Beyond affirmative action: Reframing the context of higher education.
Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
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12. Marshall, H.. W., & DeCapua, A. (2013). Making the transition: Culturally responsive
teaching for struggling language learner. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Paradise, R., & Rogoff, B. (2009). Side by side: learning by observing and pitching in.
Ethos, 37, 102-138.
Reese, L., Garnier, H., Gallimore, R., & Goldenberg, C. (2000). Longitudinal analysis
of the antecedents of emergent Spanish literacy and middle-school English reading achievement
of Spanish-speaking students. American Educational Research Journal, 37, 633–662.
Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Tarone, E. (2010). Social context and cognition in SLA: A variationist perspective. In R. Batstone
(Ed.), Sociocognitive Perspectives on Language Use and Language Learning (pp. 54-72). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Tarone, E., M. Bigelow & K. Hansen (2009). Literacy and second-language oracy. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Ozmon, H., & Craver, S. (2008). Philosophical foundations of education. (8th ed.). Pearson:
Upper Saddle River: NJ.
Wolff, E. (2004). Marketing multilingual education in Africa: with special reference to bilingual
approaches to basic education in Niger (Francophone Africa). In J. Pfaffe (Ed.). Making multilingual
education a reality for all: Operationalising good intention (117-158). Proceedings of the joint
Proceedings of the joint Third International Conference of the Association for the Development of
African Languages in Education, Science and Technology (ADALEST) and the Fifth Malawian
National Language Symposium, Mangochi, Malawi 30 August-3 September. 212-233. Zomba: Centre
for Language Studies, University of Malawi & GTZ (German Technical Cooperation).
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