Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T10:16:16.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Discourse Worlds in the Classroom and in Foreign Language Learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Willis J. Edmondson
Willis J. Edmondson
Affiliation:
University of Hamburg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The paper begins to explore the nature of the cognitive processing involved in foreign language learning. The notion of a “discourse world” as a set of elements against the background of which a unit of talk makes sense is introduced, and the claim is made that several such “discourse worlds” may be seen to coexist in classroom discourse, in part because of participants' “awareness” (on some level) of why they are there. The notion of a discourse world is then given a psychological interpretation in terms of frame-theory, and the view is argued that the simultaneous activation of several such frames is central to the business of understanding language, and to language learning. The classroom, it is argued, offers rich opportunities for the training of such multi-level perception of foreign language input, with consequent gains in learning. From this perspective Krashen's Monitor Theory is found implausible.

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 1985 , pp. 159 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allwright, R. L. 1981. What do we want teaching materials for? ELT Journal 36; 5–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boekaerts, M. 1981. Is there a direct link between the comprehension process and the production process? New Yorker Werkstattgespräch 1980. In Heid, M. (ed.), Beziehungen zwischen Sprachrezeption und Sprachproduktion im Fremdsprachenunterricht, pp. 26–60. Munich: Goethe-Institut.Google Scholar
Brown, J. 1977. Mind, brain and consciousness: The neuropsychology of cognition. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brumfit, C. 1984. Communicative methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. 1984. Studying second-language learning strategies: How do we get the information? Applied Linguistics 5; 101–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corder, S. P. 1984. Review of Krashen 1981, 1982. Applied Linguistics 5; 56–8.Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. 1979. Brainstorms: Philosophical essays on mind and psychology. Hassocks, Sussex: Harvester Press.Google Scholar
Edmondson, W. J. 1981a. Worlds within worlds—problems in the description of teacher-learner interaction in the foreign language classroom. In Savard, J. G. & Laforge, L. (eds.), Proceedings of the 5th AILA Congress, pp. 127–40. Quebec: University of Laval Press.Google Scholar
Edmondson, W. J. 1981b. Spoken discourse. A model for analysis. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Edmondson, W. J. 1983. Diskurs im Fremdsprachenunterricht als Handlungsgeschehen. In Raasch, A. (ed.), Handlungsorientierter Fremdsprachenunterricht, pp. 39–52. Tubingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. 1984. Can syntax be taught? A study of the effects of formal instruction on the acquisition of WH questions by children. Applied Linguistics 5; 138–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E. 1981. Forms of Talk. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gregg, K. G. 1984. Krashen's Monitor and Occams's Razor. Applied Linguistics 5; 79–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holec, H. 1981. Autonomy and foreign language teaching. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. 1978. Jokes, theories, anthropology. Semiotica 22; 309–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krashen, S. D. 1981. Second language learning and second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Krashen, S. D. 1982. Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Lightbown, P. M. 1983. Exploring relationships between developmental and instructional sequences in L2 acquisition. In Seliger and Long (eds.), pp. 217–43.Google Scholar
Morton, J. 1981. The status of information processing models of language. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, vol. 295. 387–96.Google Scholar
Seliger, H. W. and Long, M. (eds.). 1983. Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Sharwood, Smith M. 1981. Consciousness-raising and the second language learner. Applied Linguistics 2; 159–68.Google Scholar
Suls, J. M. 1972. A two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons: an information-processing analysis. In Goldstein, S. H. & McGhee, P. E. (eds.), The psychology of humour, pp. 81–99. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widdowson, H. G. 1983. Language purpose and language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar