20.3007, Qs: EFL Vocabulary Acquisition

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LINGUIST List: Vol-20-3007. Tue Sep 08 2009. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 20.3007, Qs: EFL Vocabulary Acquisition

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1)
Date: 03-Sep-2009
From: Robert Easterbrook < u3033076 at uni.canberra.edu.au >
Subject: EFL Vocabulary Acquisition
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:01:18
From: Robert Easterbrook [u3033076 at uni.canberra.edu.au]
Subject: EFL Vocabulary Acquisition

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I'm doing research on vocabulary learning in EFL contexts.

Ernesto Macaro (2001) had said that the brain does not store language as it
appears in society outside the brain. By this he meant that language exists
as 'sounds and squiggles' in the socio-cultural context outside the brain,
but not as 'sounds and squiggles' inside the brain. Inside the brain,
language exists as meaning, e.g. ideas and propositions. I have read this
to mean that the L2 learner therefore does not learn vocabulary as such,
merely the meaning of language items.

I have never read this idea anywhere else. Does anyone know anything about
this theory? If so, can someone clarify for me what this really means. 

Thanks. 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Cognitive Science
                     Language Acquisition
                     Linguistic Theories
                     Neurolinguistics




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