I have seen the same positive effects of "faking it" among seventh grade
students - specifically, acting as if he had authority, one student who did
not see himself and was not seen by his peers as a good writer, was able to
interact with academically proficient students so that, over time, he
acquired the resources he needed to make substantive contributions within a
small group writing activity. A 1991 study by Jungwirth, "Interaction and
Gender...: in _Educational Studies in Mathematics 22_ makes the argument
that boys regularly fake it more than girls in interaction with the teacher
and get constructed as a result as more competent.
- Judy
At 05:26 AM 12/13/95 -0800, you wrote:
>Sounds like there's some convergence with Lily Wong Fillmore's findings
>that the more gregarious personalities, who throw themselves into exchanges
>with mainstream speakers and do a lot of "faking it" with the little L2
>they have, are the fastest L2 learners.
>
>In other words, personality plays a big role, and may even be more
>important than actual language competence.
>
>Pete Farruggio