THEORIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Second Language Acquisition
Behind every teaching approach is
some kind of a theory of
language learning/acquisition
Second language acquisition
theories are intrinsically related to a
wide variety of disciplines such as
applied linguistics, sociolinguistics,
psychology, neurology, and
education.
Various theories and models have
been emerged over the years to
study the process of language
acquisition.
Three main schools of thought provide theoretical
paradigms in language acquisition:
Behaviorism (Skinner's Behaviorist Theory)
Innatism (Chomsky's Innatist Theory).
Krashen's Monitor Model/Monitor Theory
Behaviorism (1940s-1950s)
•B.F. Skinner (1904 –1990) was an
American psychologist, behaviorist,
author, inventor, and social
philosopher.
• He considered mind as Tabula Rasa (a blank
slate) that means there is nothing when a
baby is born. Skinner said, "give me a child,
and I will shape him into anything" (T.V.
interview, 1960).
Behaviorism (1940s-1950s)
•Behaviorism is a precursor to cognitive
learning.
•Language:
-is behavior defined as a set of habits.
-can be taught/learned as any other behavior
•Teaching:
-should be done through conditioning.
-consequences determine behavior (e.g. reward or
successful communication).
Behaviorism (Cont)
According to B.F. Skinner's Behaviorist
Theory, learning is the result of
Imitation (word-for-word repetition of someone's
else utterances).
Practice (repetitive manipulation of form).
Feedback on success(positive reinforcement).
habit formation.
Audio-Lingual Method as part of
Behaviorist Theory
It was a method for teaching foreign languages
popular in 1950s and 1960s.
It is supported by the behaviorist theory of
Skinner.
It does not use mother tongue to explain vocabulary
or grammar.
Students drilled in the use of grammar in the target
language.
English is taught as a second language through
discussion, conversation, and reading.
Students learned language through a series of drills
involving imitation, repetition and practice (Richards
& Rodgers, 2001)
Behaviorists' Views
Behaviorists view the process of
child' language acquisition in Reinforcement
the following steps:
Controlled Drilling
Memorization
Repetition
•Reinforcement can either be negative
Imitation
or positive.
•Reinforcement will trigger general
stimulus.
Noam Chomsky and Audio-Lingual Method
Chomsky refuted the audio- lingual method that is
based on the behaviorist theory of language learning
for the following reasons:
It could not function as a model of how humans learn
languages.
Learning is not imitated behavior.
Sentences are not learned by imitation and
repetition, but "generated" from the learners'
underlying "competence."
Language is creative and generative, not a
habit (Richards& Rodgers, 2001).
2.Noam Chomsky's Theory of Innatism (1959)
o Language is an innate capacity. A child's brain
contains special language learning mechanism at
birth.
o Every child has a" language acquisition
devise" (Traxler, 2012).
o Children need only minimum language exposure
to prime the LAD.
o Human brain is ready innately for language in the
sense when children are exposed to speech, certain
principles for discovering and formulating language,
automatically starts to operate.
The LAD Theory
Chomsky asserted that children were born with the
instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language.
The LAD is a postulated organ in the brain
supposed to function as a congenital device for
language acquisition.
LAD encodes the major principles of a language
and its grammatical structure into the child's brain.
This theory contradicted B.F. Skinner' theory of
behaviorism and operant conditioning.
Chomsky’s LAD Theory
Stephen Krashen' Theory of Second Language
Acquisition
"Language acquisition does not require
extensive use of conscious grammatical
rules, and does not require tedious
drill."(Stephen Krashen, 1987)
"Acquisition requires meaningful interaction
in the target language - natural
communication - in which speakers are
concerned not with the form of their
utterances but with the messages they are
conveying and understanding." (Stephen
Krashen, 1987)
Krashen's theory of second language acquisition
consists of five main hypotheses:
The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis
The Monitor hypothesis
The Natural Order hypothesis
The Input hypothesis
The Affective Filter
hypothesis
1- Learning Vs. Acquiring
According to Krashen, there are two
independent systems:
•The acquired system is the product of a
subconscious process. It requires
meaningful interaction in the target
language.
•The learned system is the product of formal
instruction and learning. It involves a conscious
process which results in conscious knowledge
about the target language
2-The Monitor Hypothesis
The monitor hypothesis asserts that a learner's
learned system acts as a monitor to what they
are producing.
Three specific conditions needed to use Monitor:
Sufficient time
Focus on form
Know the rule
When Monitor is not used, errors are natural
3-The Natural Order Hypothesis
• (Krashen, 1987)
4- The Input Hypothesis
The input hypothesis is only concerned with acquisition,
not learning.
The L2 learners improve when they receive more and more
L2 'input'.
"Human acquires language only by understanding messages
or by receiving comprehensible input" (Krashen, 1987).
Speech will 'emerge' once the acquirer has built up enough
comprehensible input (Krashen, 1987).
It is also termed as interaction hypothesis which was later
studied as a model by Michael Long
5-The Filter Hypothesis
Affective Filter is a BARRIER that prevents learners from acquiring
language.
A number of attitudinal variables (that act as barrier) affect SLA:
• Low Motivation
• Self Confidence
• Anxiety
According to Krashen (1982), there are ways to lower the affective filter.
A teacher needs to be aware of the student's home life, the home life is
the biggest contributor to the affective filter.
References
Herrera, S.G.,& Murry, K.G. (2011). Mastering ESL and Bilingual
Methods. (2nd ed.). U.S.A: Pearson Education, Inc.
Richards, J.C.,& Rodgers, T.S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching. [Online]. Cambridge Language Teaching
Library. (2nd ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Retrieved
from: Cambridge Books Online
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667305>
Krashen, Stephen D. Principles and Practice in Second
Language
Acquisition. Prentice-Hall International, 1987.
Oxford Seminars. (1992). TESOL/TESL Certification Course: Training
References
Skinner, B.F. (1957). Verbal Behavior. Acton,
MA: Copley Publishing Group.
Traxler, M.J. (2011). Introduction to psycholinguistics:
Understanding Language Science. Wiley- Blackwell.
Retrieved from
http://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-
EHEP002301.html
Wikipedia. (2015). Tabula Rasa . Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa
