3. Why Ecology?
It may make as much
sense to separate
language from other
semiotic processes as
it does to separate the
swaying of the tree
branch from the wind
that moves it. (Van
Lier, 2002, p. 149)
6. Emergence
Emergence presupposes a
non-reductive change, from
a lower-level phenomenon
to a higher-level
phenomenon, from
individual ants to ant
colony, from a bunch of
houses to an organized
city, from perception to
thought, from pointing to
language.
(Van
Lier, 2004, p. 82)
8. Emergence
Rather than developing in the linear manner syllabi
and curricula want us to believe, learning develops in
nonlinear, discontinuous ways… If we consider
language learning and teaching as a complex system
with emergent properties, we can no longer look for
cause and effect in the simplistic linear fashion
proposed by a short term proficiency tests.
(Kramsch, 2008, p. 392)
9. Affordances
What learners are exposed
to is not “input”, but
“affordances,” from which
they select those that best
fit their experience and the
activity in which they are
engaged. (Kramsch, 2002
p. 7)
12. Multiple Scales
...patterns of activities and
events which are self-similar
at different scales...for
example the way speakers
use language in one context
may be fractal with the way
they are made to relate to
others in the larger context of
a global economy (Kramsch,
2008, pp. 392-3)
14. The premise that most clearly characterizes an
ecological approach to language acquisition is
that language behaviour always involves more
than can be captured in any single frame or
script. An ecological approach aims to avoid
unjustifiable appeals to normativity–in both
research designs and the interpretation of data.
All settings, we suggest, will on closer scrutiny
turn out to be discoursally and socioculturally
complex.
(Leather & van Dam, 2003, p. 13)
15. Questions
Is ecology really the right metaphor?...language is not a natural
phenomenon after all; it is socially constructed and does not
evolve like living things, not to mention the fact that natural
ecologies involve an awful lot of eating and being eaten.
Some of these ideas would be hard enough to incorporate into a
Canadian classroom. Do you think they would be useful at all in
other cultural contexts?
Do we need an ecological approach to language learning or do
existing approaches cover enough of the same ground?
18. The students are not speaking face to face bridging some sort of
information gap, but they're working side by side, with a joint
focus of activity. (Van Lier, 2004, p. 147)
Learning an L2 involves a struggle to forge a new identity that is
true to the self (Van Lier, 2007, p. 47)
teaching grammar explicitly...by raising the learners awareness of
what they're trying to say and how they're saying it and coming
up with more efficacious ways of saying that thing (Van Lier
2004, p. 90)
The teacher provides assistance, but only just enough and just in
time...taking the learner's developing skills and interests as the
true driving force of the curriculem (Ibid, p. 224f)
19. Scaffolding
continuity (task repetition, connections, variation)
contextual support (safe, supportive environment)
intersubjectivity (mutual engagement, encouragement)
contingency (task procedures, teacher’s actions depend on actions of
learners)
handover/takeover (increasing role for learner, attending to emergent
skills and knowledge)
flow (skills and challenges are in balance, participants are in ‘tune’ with
each other)
(Van Lier, 2007, p. 60
20. Zone of Proximal Development
Interaction
with less
capable peers
REGULATION
SELF
Scaffolding: Modeling…Resourcefulness, Self-access
“If one member of a
dyad undergoes
developmental
change, the other is
also likely to do so”
(Bronfenbrenner 1979:65)
(Van Lier, 2004, p. 158)
“Docendo discimus” (We learn
by teaching)
Inner
Resources:
knowledge,
experience,
memory
investment
Assistance from
more capable peers
or adults
Interaction with
equal peers
21. Emergence presupposes a non-
reductive change, from a lower-level
phenomenon to a higher-level
phenomenon, from individual ants to
ant colony, from a bunch of houses to
an organized city, from perception to
thought, from pointing to language.
(Van Lier, 2004, p. 82)
23. An affordance refers to the fit between
an animal’s capabilities and the
environmental supports and
opportunities (both good and bad) that
make possible a given activity
(Gibson & Pick, 2000, p. 15)
An example to consider in detail is an ant colony. The queen does not give direct orders and does not tell the ants what to do. Instead, each ant reacts to stimuli in the form of chemical scent from larvae, other ants, intruders, food and build up of waste, and leaves behind a chemical trail, which, in turn, provides a stimulus to other ants. Here each ant is an autonomous unit that reacts depending only on its local environment and the genetically encoded rules for its variety of ant. Despite the lack of centralized decision making, ant colonies exhibit complex behavior and have even been able to demonstrate the ability to solve geometric problems. For example, colonies routinely find the maximum distance from all colony entrances to dispose of dead bodies.
