ENG504 Midterm Past Papers Spring 2025

ENG504

Mid-Term

ABSTRACT This comprehensive collection of notes is accurately crafted to empower students to excel academically, ensuring they achieve a minimum of 80% marks in their examinations. The content is organized with clarity and precision, focusing on key concepts, critical analyses, and practical applications tailored to the syllabus. These notes serve as a reliable resource for both thorough preparation and last-minute revision. Designed to inspire confidence and mastery, this guide is an essential tool for students striving for academic excellence.

Maha Malik

Spring 2025

Q. Names of Cognitive Theories

Information Processing Theory ACT Model (Anderson) Connectionism (Emergentism) Processability Theory

1. Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis · 2. Monitor Hypothesis · 3. Natural Order Hypothesis · 4. Input Hypothesis · 5. Affective Filter Hypothesis · Q. Output Hypothesis (Swain)

Functions:

Noticing/Triggering Hypothesis Testing Metalinguistic Reflection

Q. Processability Theory (Pienemann)

Learners follow a fixed sequence in acquiring grammatical structures depending on their cognitive capacity to process them.

Q. Connectionists in SLA

Two Approaches:

Processing Theorists: focus on how learners process language in real time. Emergentists/Constructivists: language arises from repeated exposure and pattern recognition, not innate grammar.

Q. Chomsky’s Criticism of Skinner

Chomsky argued that behaviorism can't explain the creative and generative nature of language. He proposed an innate Universal Grammar (UG) mechanism.

Q. Universal Grammar (UG) Approach

Language acquisition is guided by inborn mental structures. UG provides a framework common to all languages.

Q. Teachability Hypothesis

Structures can only be taught when learners are ready to acquire them (in the next stage of the acquisition sequence).

Q. Perceptual Saliency Approach

Children attend to linguistically salient items first (e.g., endings of words), driving acquisition.

Input that shows learners what is not acceptable. Includes corrections, recasts, and feedback.

Q. Recasts (as Negative Feedback)

Rephrasing learner’s error without overt correction. Helps learners notice errors and improve accuracy.

Q. Fossilization

The process by which incorrect linguistic forms become fixed despite exposure to input or instruction.

Q. Sociolinguistics

Study of how language varies and is used in different social contexts. Concerned with identity, power, and cultural norms.

Q. Cognitive vs Affective Factors

Cognitive: intelligence, aptitude, memory Affective: motivation, anxiety, attitudes

Q. ACT Model (Anderson)

Learning occurs in stages:

1. Declarative
2. Procedural
3. Automatic

Q. Deep vs Surface Processing (Biggs)

Deep: meaningful engagement, personal connection