Multi competent

Multicompetent
Second Language Learners
Virginia M. Scott
Academic Director, Vanderbilt University
Center for Second Language Studies
CLAS & CSLS
Teacher Workshop
October 4, 2011


Introduction
2

Confronting realities:
 Our students often study a foreign language for two years; soon thereafter they seem to

remember very little.

 In a class of 20 students, maybe only one has “real talent” in the target language; few of

them achieve advanced- or superior-level proficiency.

 FL teachers don’t always agree about curricular goals and approaches

What should we be doing for all students to prepare them for life and
work in our global community?


Introduction
3

 double-talk vs. double talk

 Our future success as foreign / second language teachers in
the United States lies in adopting an approach to teaching that
empowers students to view themselves as proficient
L2 users rather than as deficient native speakers.

 My argument is based principally on Cook’s notion of
“multicompetence.”


Defining “multicompetence”
4

This term was first coined by Vivian Cook
(Professor of Applied Linguistics, Newcastle University)

at least 20 years ago.
Multicompetence …
… accounts for an individual’s knowledge of language,
including both first language competence and a developing
understanding of a second language.
… is the knowledge of two languages in one mind.


Defining “multicompetence”
5

Cook’s notion of multicompetence is based on 3 principal
ideas:

1. A dynamic understanding of bilingualism
2. The native speaker “problem”
3. The L2 user


Defining “bilingualism”
6
Balanced bilingual:
Covert bilingual:

mastery of two languages is roughly equivalent

hides knowledge of another language because of an

attitudinal disposition
Dominant bilingual: greater proficiency in one of the two languages
Early bilingual: acquired both languages in childhood
Late bilingual: became bilingual later than childhood
Receptive bilingual: understands but does not read or write
Secondary bilingual: second language has been added to a first via
instruction
Incipient bilingual:
(Wei, 2000)

someone at the early stages of bilingualism


Defining “bilingualism”
“The impasse reached can only be
overcome if bilingualism is no longer

regarded as something inside the speaker’s
head, but as a displayed feature in
participants’ everyday behavior. You
cannot be bilingual in your head, you have
to use two or more languages ‘on stage’, in
interaction, where you show others that
you are able to do so.”
(Auer, 1988, p. 167).


What do bilingual people do?
8

Bilingual people …
… stand between two languages (L1 and L2), even
when apparently only using one.
… have the resources of two languages (L1 and L2)
readily available whenever needed.
… code-switch.


Code-switching is …

Le prof,
elle est
really
nice.

Yeah … So, do
you want to go

prendre un
verre now?

 … the alternating use of two or

more languages in a single
conversation event.
 … a natural, observable

occurrence among people of all
ages who speak more than one
language.
 … one indicator of whether a

person is bilingual.
 … is the norm for many

bilinguals.


Code-switching indicates language skill
10

“There is a widespread impression that bilingual speakers code-switch
because they cannot express themselves adequately in one language.
This may be true to some extent when a bilingual is momentarily lost
for words in one of his or her languages. However, code-switching is
an extremely common practice among bilinguals and takes many
different forms…. It has been demonstrated that code-switching
involves skilled manipulation of overlapping sections of two (or more)

grammars, and that there is virtually no instance of ungrammatical
combination of the two languages in code-switching, regardless of the
bilingual ability of the speaker.”
(Wei, 2000, p. 16-17)


Bilingualism as a dynamic system
11

Cook’s notion of multicompetence has served to frame recent research on
multilingualism:

“The multicompetence approach allows us to theorize the interaction
between multiple languages in the speaker’s mind as a natural and ongoing
process and to understand why multilinguals may perform differently from
monolinguals in all of their languages, including the L1.” (Jarvis & Pavlenko, 2008,
p.17)


Bilingualism as a dynamic system
12

Bilingualism is something a person does with both the first and second
languages.

A bilingual person is not two monolinguals in one body but rather a single
speaker-hearer with a unique and complete linguistic system.
(Grosjean, 1997/2000, 2001)

A Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) view offers new ways of thinking about the

terms monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual. Rather than considering them
each as distinct descriptions with particular sets of attributes, they become
variants of one language system.
(de Bot, 2008; de Bot, Verspoor, & Lowie, 2007; Cook 2003; Herdina & Jessner, 2002; Jarvis & Pavlenko ,
2008)


The native speaker “problem”
13
Second language use is not comparable to native-like speech.

Cook notes that “few second language users can pass for native speakers; their
grammar, their accent, their vocabulary give away that they are non-native speakers,
even after many years of learning the language or many decades of living in a
country” (2000, p. 5).

His sense that most people are unable
to achieve full mastery of a second language
is supported by research in neuro-linguistics.


The native speaker “problem”
14

“Given that maturation has [a] strong influence on second
language acquisition, it should come as no surprise that
native-like proficiency in a second language is unattainable.
More surprising … are the miraculous levels of proficiency
that second language learners (at all ages) in fact can reach,
despite the constraints that are imposed by our biological

scheduling.”
(Hyltenstam & Abrahamsson, 2003, p. 578)


The native speaker “problem”
15

“In recent times, the identity as well as the authority of the native speaker
have been put into question. The ‘native speaker’ of linguists and language
teachers is in fact an abstraction based on arbitrarily selected features of
pronunciation, grammar and lexicon, as well as on stereotypical features of
appearance and demeanor.... The native speaker is, moreover, a monolingual,
monocultural abstraction: he/she is one who speaks only his/her
(standardized) native tongue and lives by one (standardized) national culture.
In reality, most people partake of various languages or language varieties and
live by various cultures and subcultures.” (Kramsch, 1998, pp. 79-80)


The L2 user
16

Cook proposed the term “L2 user” to describe a unique, individual speaker-hearer of a
target language who stands in stark contrast to an idealized native speaker.
In his view, the L2 user …


uses a language other than his or her first language (L1).



exploits whatever linguistic resources he or she has for real-life purposes, such as reporting
symptoms to a doctor, negotiating a contract, or reading a poem.



refers to a person who uses a second language at any level, however small or ineffective.


L2 use = a paradigm shift
17

Defining pedagogical goals in terms of L2 use
requires that we rethink …
 the native speaker standard.
 our ideas about L1 and L2 use in the classroom.
 our goals for lower-level vs. upper-level language

students.
 multicompetent L2 learner


Promoting multicompetent L2 learners
18

1. Eliminate a native-speaker
standard.


Promoting multicompetent L2 learners
19

2. Establish a pedagogically coherent understanding of L2 use that is founded on literacy.
“What I mean by “literacy,” then, is more than reading and writing as skills or as prescribed patterns of thinking. It is about
relationships between readers, writers, texts, culture, and language learning. It is about the variable cognitive and social
practices of taking and making textual meaning that provide students access to new communities outside the classroom,
across geographical and historical boundaries. It involves an awareness of how acts of reading, writing, and conversation
create and shape meanings, not merely transfer them from one individual or group to another. It is precisely because literacy
is not monolithic, but variable and multiple, tied to the various sociocultural practices of a given society, that is of key
importance in our teaching of language and culture .”
(Kern 2003, p. 3).


Promoting multicompetent L2 learners
20

3. Design learning goals that are based on the notion of
a multicompetent L2 learner.


Traditional learning goals
21
GOALS
1. Proficiency in
listening, speaking,
reading, writing
2. Grammatical
competence
3. Knowledge about target culture(s)

APPROACH
1. Target-language

input
2. Interaction about
topics of personal
interest related to everyday life
3. Focus on sentence grammar
4. Discussion of culture in target language

OUTCOME
1. Good language learners identified
2. 20% of students continue study of target language
3. Rapid attrition of grammatical knowledge and verbal skills
4. Sense of self as deficient language learner


Goals for promoting
multicompetent L2 learners

22
GOALS
1. Growing ability to read
and interpret a variety of
target language texts
(oral and written) as well as pertinent texts in English
2. Developing awareness of bilingualism and L2 use
3. Increasing sensitivity to the ways “culture” is expressed and perceived in texts

APPROACH
1. Target-language input (oral and written) representing diverse genres
2. Interaction in both target language and English
3. Focus on words and utterances in oral and written texts

4. Discussion of bilingualism and second language development

OUTCOME
1. All learners identified as L2 users at some level
2. 50% of students continue study of target language
3. Maintenance of reading / interpretive abilities
4. Sense of self as L2 user


The multicompetent L2 learner …
23

recognizes acceptable uses of

English (L1) in the classroom.


familiarizes him/herself

with features of bilingual and multilingual language use, such
as code-switching, and other cross-linguistic phenomena.


articulates ways that

his/her multilingual identity is evolving.


seeks out appropriate target-language

texts (oral and written) that contribute to

classroom discussion.

reflects critically

about oral and written target-language texts.


asks increasingly

informed questions about the target language and culture.


exhibits traits of

a multilingual, multi-cultural citizen, such as appreciation of diversity,
tolerance for ambiguity, awareness of human rights issues, etc.

(Scott 2010, p. 163)


Suggested reading
24
Cook, V. (2002). Background to the L2 user. In Cook, V. (Ed.), Portraits of the L2 user (pp. 1-28).
Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Herdina, P., & Jessner, U. (2002). A dynamic model of multilingualism: Perspectives of change in
psycholinguistics. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Jarvis, S., & Pavlenko, A. (2008). Crosslinguistic influence in language and cognition. New York, NY:
Routledge.

Kern, R. G. (2003). Literacy and advanced foreign language learning: Rethinking the curriculum. In H.
Byrnes & H. H. Maxim (Eds.), Advanced foreign language learning: A challenge to college programs
(pp. 2-18). AAUSC Issues in Language Program Direction. Boston, MA: Heinle.

Kramsch, C. (2006). From communicative competence to symbolic competence. The Modern Language
Journal, 90, 249-252.

Scott, V. M. (2010). Double talk: Deconstructing monolingualism in classroom second language
learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Swaffar, J., & Arens, K. (2005). Remapping the foreign language curriculum: An approach through
multiple literacies. New York, NY: The Modern Language Association.