1- The behavioristic perspective

 Second language applications: Mimicry and

memorization
 Learning by heart

 Nelson Brooks and Robert Lado

2- The innatist perspectvie
Two concepts in particular are still of central importance
inUniversal Grammar (UG):
(1) What needs to be accounted for in language acquisition is
linguistic competence, or speaker-hearers’ underlying
knowledge of language. This is distinguished from linguistic
performance, or speaker-hearers’ actual use of language in
specific instances.
(2) Such knowledge of language goes beyond what could be
learned from the input people receive. This is the logical
problem of language learning, or the poverty-of-the stimulus
argument.
Chomsky:
 argues that language acquisition is an innate structure, or function, of
the human brain.
 believes that there are structures of the brain that control the
interpretation and production of speech.
 points out that children do not need any kind of formal teaching to
learn to speak.
 factors that Chomsky used to support his theory:
 There is an optimal learning age. Between the ages 3 to 10 a child is
the most likely to learn a language in its entirety and grasp fluency.
 The child does not need a trigger to begin language acquisition, it
happens on its own. The parent does not need to coax the child to
speak, if it around language production, the child will work to produce
that language on its own
 It does not matter if a child is corrected, they still grasp the language
in the same manner and speak the same way. During one stage, a
child will make things plural that are already plural.
 Limitation : - The theory is hard to prove because it is
not allowed to insolate somebody just to do a research
Second language applications:
Krashen’s ‘Monitor Model’
 Acquisition-learning hypothesis.
 Adult second language learners have two mean for
internalizing the target language, which are
“acquisition” and “learning”.
 Acquisition is a subconscious and intuitive process of
constructing the system of the language. He suggested
that we “acquire” the language just like we pick up our
first language.
 On the other hand, learning is a process in which
learners attend to form, figure out the rules, and aware
of their own process.
“fluency in second language performance is due to what
we have acquired, not what we have learned.”

“Learning” can not be “acquisition” and there are no

interferences between acquisition and learning.
 The Monitor Hypothesis.
 It is a device to monitor or edit the learner’s output. It is
supposed to be responsible for editing, making
correction consciously.
 This is why it is found in the “learning” process not the
acquisition.
 Explicit and intentional learning should be avoided
because it may hinder the acquisition process.
 Only once fluency established, monitoring and editing
should be activated.
 The Natural Order Hypothesis.
 We acquire the language rules in a predictable or
“natural” order.
 I noticed that language features that are the easiest to
state are not always the first be acquired.
 e.g. Adding ‘-s’ to the third person singular verbs is easy to
state but many of second language learners fail to apply it in
spontaneous conversation.
 The Input Hypothesis.
 “Comprehensible input” is the only true cause of second
language acquisition.

 An important condition for language acquisition to

occur is that the learners understand input language
that contain structure a bit beyond his current level of
competence.
 Based on this hypothesis, it is suggested that the
speech should not be taught directly in classrooms.
Speech will emerge once the learner has built up
enough comprehensible input.
 Affective Filter Hypothesis.
 ‘Affective filter’ is a metaphorical barrier that prevents
learners from acquiring language even when the
appropriate input is available.
 “Affect” refers to the feelings, motives, needs, attitudes
and emotional states.
 The best acquisition will occur in environment where
anxiety is low and defensiveness absent. A learner who is
tense anxious may ‘filter out’ the input, making it
unavailable for acquisition.
3-The Cognitive/Developmental
Perspective
 They see no need to believe that:
 humans have language specific device.
 acquisition and learning are different.

 They believe in: The general theory of learning (the

gradual development of knowledge).
 Information Processing Model
 In IPM, SLA is seen as building up of knowledge
 This knowledge becomes automatic during speaking
and understanding

Automaticity

Practice

Paying
Attention
Information Processing
 Other cognitive psychologists say that SLA is like
learning any other skill starting as declarative
knowledge and then changing into procedural
knowledge.
 IPM
SLA is like skill learning
Procedural
• Information that we Knowledge
have and know we have.
All learning begins with • Knowledge that
declarative knowledge. underlies fluent or
It is sometimes referred automatic performance.
to as 'knowledge that'. Also referred to as
'knowledge how’.
Declarative
Knowledge
Information Processing
 Restructuring Model:
 Refers to the interaction of knowledge we already have,
or on the acquisition of new knowledge (without
extensive practice) which fits into an existing system
and causes it to be restructured
 Sudden bursts of progress and backsliding may not be
explainable in terms of a gradual build-up of
automaticity through practice.
 They seem rather to be based on.
Usage-based learning
 Language structure emerges from language use. children
build their language relying on their general cognitive
skills.
 UB approaches assume that all language knowledge, is
‘constructed’ on the basis of the input, and learning take
place implicitly during meaning-focused input processing.
 The relationship between quantity and quality of input is
important: Because the input to which adult L2 learners are
exposed to, is fundamentally different – in both quantity and
quality – from the L1 input which is typically available to
young children.
Common objections to UB theory:

The three most common objections are:

1. It cannot deal with more complex constructions,
especially those involving two verbs and syntactic
embedding.
2. It cannot specify how the generalization process is to
be constrained, and
3. It does not deal with the so-called ‘poverty of the
stimulus’.
The competition Model
 MacWhinney (2001).

 This is a functional approach which assumes that all

linguistic performance involves “mapping” between
external form and internal function
 This approach considers that learning the system of
form–function mapping is basic for L1 acquisition.
 Competition model (form-function mapping)
 horse
 form: sounds [hors]
 function: 4 legs/ hay eating animal
 Horses eat hay.
 Word order-form: horses + V + hay

 Function: “horses” is S.; “hay” is O.

 inflection- _s: form; function: more than one horse

Language and the brain
 Principal hemispheric specializations

Left hemisphere Right hemisphere

Phonology Nonverbal (as babies’ cries)
Morphology Visuospatial information
Syntax Intonation
Function words and inflections Nonliteral meaning and ambiguity
Tone systems Many pragmatic abilities
Much lexical knowledge Some lexical knowledge
Second Language Applications
The interaction hypothesis

The noticing hypothesis

Input processing

Processability theory

The role of practice

The Interaction Hypothesis
1. Researchers within this perspective argue that
conversational interaction is an essential condition
for second language acquisition.

2. Comprehensible input is important.

3. How to make input comprehensible?

 Therefore
Interactional
Comprehensible Interactional
modification makes
input promotes modification
input
acquisition. promotes
comprehensible.
acquisition.
The Interaction Hypothesis
 Modified interaction does not always involve linguistic
simplification. It may also include:
 Elaboration
 Slower speech rate
 Gesture
 The provision of additional contextual cues
 Examples of modifications

Comprehension checks

Clarification requests

Self-repetition or paraphrase
The Noticing Hypothesis
 Nothing is learned unless it has been noticed.
 Learners realize certain language features.
 These features will enter the learners’ own second
language system.

 L2 learners could not begin to acquire a language

feature until they had become aware of it in the input.
Input processing
 VanPatten (2004)

 Learners cannot attend to form and function at the

same time
Van Patten’s 3 principles:
 P1: Learners process input for meaning before they process
it for from.
 Learners process the content words in the input before
anything else.
 Learners prefer processing lexical items to grammatical items
(e.g. morphological markings) for semantic information. e.
Learners prefer processing ‘more meaningful” morphology
before “less” or “nonmeaningful” morphology
 P2: For learners to process form that is not meaningful,
they must be able to process informational or
communicative content at no (or little) cost to attention

 P3.:Learners possess a default strategy that assigns the role

of agent to the first noun (phrase) they encounter in a
sentence.”We call this first noun strategy.”
Processability Theory
 Also known as Multi-dimensional Model
 This model includes the following claims:
 Learners acquire certain grammatical structures in a
developmental sequence.
 Developmental sequences reflect how learners
overcome processing limitations.
 Language instruction which targets developmental
features will be successful only if learners have already
mastered the processing operations which are associated
with the previous stage of acquisition.
The role of practice
 Practice includes:
 Language production
 Being exposed to language
 Language comprehension
 Practice makes language processing easier and
automatic.
 Practice should be:
 Interactive
 Meaningful
 A focus on task-essential forms
4-The Sociocultural Perspective
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
 Language development takes place in the social
interactions between individuals.
 L2 learners advance to higher levels of linguistic
knowledge when they interact with knowledgeable
speakers.
 Learning occurs when the interaction takes place at
the learner’s zone of proximal development (ZPD).
 Learner
can do
unaided

 The ZPD is the difference Zone of

proximal
between what a learner developme
can do without help and nt
(Learner
what he or she can do can do
with
with help. guidance)
Learner
cannot
do
 Learning is thought to occur when an individual
interacts with an interlocutor within his or her zone of
proximal development (ZPD)-that is, in a situation in
which the learner is capable of performing at a higher
level because there is support from an interlocutor.
 The ZPD
Krashen's i+ 1
The Z P D is a metaphorical
location in which learners In Krashen's i+ 1, the input
coconstruct knowledge in comes from outside the learner
collaboration with an and the emphasis is on the
interlocutor. comprehensibility of input that
The emphasis in ZPD is on includes language structures
development and how learners that are just beyond the
co-construct knowledge based on learner's current
their interaction with their developmental level.
interlocutor.
Summary
 There is no agreement on a “complete” theory of
second language acquisition yet.

 Each theoretical framework has a different focus and it

has its limitations.
1. Behaviorism: emphasizing the role of the environment,
but ignoring the mental processes that are involved in
learning.
2. Innatism: emphasizes the role of innate abilities. But it
is based on intuitions and not solid evidence.
3. Information processing and connectionism:
involving controlled laboratory experiments where
human learning is similar to computer processing.
4. Interactionist position: modification of interaction
promotes language acquisition and development.