Psycholinguistics and TESOL

Psycholinguistics as it relates to TESOL (TESL, TEFL), "it (Psycholinguistics) is quite often given a lower profile in university courses (including master of arts in TESOL programs) than it deserves" (Field 2008). I have found that to be true in my Masters in TESOL program at Shenandoah University. Psycholinguistics comes from a perspective that First Language Acquisition (FLA) is distinctly different from Second Language Acquisition (SLA). This is in stark contrast to the currently most paradigm of TESOL, the Immersion Method. The Immersion Method, for those that may not know is the using the target language exclusively in the classroom despite research that supports the importance of using students native language at beginner levels. Krashen, Doughty, Long and many other experts in the SLA field are constantly correlating the FLA and SLA processes, when that comparison may not be accurate.

Psycholinguistics as it relates to TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and SLA is a pertinent topic in our field and the TESOL community is now taking a closer look at Psycholinguistics. This is evidenced by last September's issue of TESOL Quarterly which was entirely devoted to this subject.

What is Psycholinguistics? "Psycholinguistics is the study of how the mind handles language...how language is acquired, how it is stored in the mind, and how it is processed in use." (Field 2008). As professionals in TESOL we contemplate the marvel of the brain that allows the Second Language Acquisition process and ask ourselves the simple but complex question of "how learners construct a new language system alongside an existing one (Schwartz & Kroll, 2006). Psycholinguistics investigates and seeks to explain this phenomenon.

Despite the obvious links between TESOL and Psycholinguistics these fields have maintained distinct identities. "Psycholinguistics is sometimes perceived as daunting to teach and study" (Field 2008). There are several factors that make it difficult to bridge the gap between these two directly related fields. The most prominent of which is that Psycholinguistics combines two multifarious fields of study, psychology and linguistics. Thus, there is twice as much to learn to become proficient in this field. Additionally, both fields are complex and replete with their own distinct terminology.

Another reason these two fields, Psycholinguistics and TESOL, although directly linked remain separate is: "Linguists and psychologists have different priorities and different ways of thinking and come from different perspectives" (Field 2008). For instance, "Grammarians are more interested in what could be said than in what people actually say, which irritates psychologists, and psychologists insist on supplementing intuition with objective evidence, which irritates linguists" (Miller 1990).

*If you enjoyed this interesting and informative article on Psycholinguistics and TESOL, please view my other articles on TESOL by clicking my name "Tesl Goddess" for more of my expert advice.

Reference:

Field, John. (2008). Face to Face With the Ghost in the Machine: Psycholinguistics and TESOLTESOL Quarterly, Volume 42, Number 3, pp. 361-374(14).

Miller, G. A. (1990). Linguists, psychologists, and the cognitive sciences. Language,66, 317-322.

Schwartz, A., & Kroll, J. (2006) Language processing in bilingual speakers. In M. J. Traxler & M. A. Gernsbacher (Eds.), Handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 967-999). London: Academic Press.