SLA W5.1 PDF

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Second Language Acquisition – Week 5.1

Unit 5. Theories in SLA. Theory construction is of vital importance in the field of scientific research in general and in the field of SLA in particular because knowing the processes involved in language acquisition will facilitate the understanding of the field itself and will speed up progress in research. 1. What is meant by a theory? “A more or less formal, more or less explicit, synthesis of what is ‘known’ at a given point in time about some natural phenomena, such as the factors involved in SLA.” 2. Theories of SLA range along a continuum from nativist through interactionist to environmentalist. In which way do they differ? Nativist  they propose a relationship between innate mechanisms and knowledge. Environmentalist  they claim that knowledge is based on experience. Interactionist  there is a relationship or interaction among innate abilities, learned abilities and environmental factors. 3. What do nativist theories consist of? Native theories are the ones that attempt to explain the process of language acquisition by claiming that we are born with an innate device that predisposes us to learn languages in a natural way. - Some claim that what is innate is the endowment which allows us to learn the language. - A second group holds that innateness rests on a series of general cognitive notions and mechanisms that are used for all types of learning, including linguistic learning. - There is still a third group that proposes that the innate endowment includes both linguistic principles and general cognitive notions. 4. -

What are the five major claims in Krashen’s theory? The Acquisition-learning Hypothesis The Natural Order Hypothesis The Monitor Hypothesis The Input Hypothesis The Affective Filter Hypothesis

People acquire second languages only if they obtain comprehensible input and if their affective filters are low enough to allow the input ‘in’. When the filter is ‘down’ and appropriate comprehensible input is presented (and comprehended), acquisition is inevitable. It is, in fact, unavoidable and cannot be prevented – the language ‘mental organ’ will function just as automatically as any other organ. 5. What is the main shortcoming of the MT according to its critics?  It has been really influential  It shed new light on some of the important aspects of SLA

 His ideas stimulated further research.  It was applied to the SLA classroom.  It states facts that seem reasonable and logical, but when analyzing them from an empirical point of view, they cannot be scientifically tested. 6. What are the general characteristics of environmental theories of learning? These theories claim that it is not innate factors, but nurture or experience which affect learning. Behaviourist theories are by far the best known examples. However, stimulusresponse models fell into disfavor after the publication of Chomsky’s critical review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. Neo-behaviourist theories, on the other hand, were quite influential in the field of teaching as they provided the theoretical background of the Audio-Lingual Method, although these theories were also questioned by innatists. Connectionist models can be considered a branch of behaviourist theories and they have triggered quite a lot of interest, particularly in areas such as motor control, visual perception and memory. One of the best known models is the Parallel Distributing Processing (PDP) put forward by McClelland, Rumelhart and the PDP Research group in 1986. Their theory is a cognitive one based on the processing of input and they consider learning as consisting of the strengthening and weakening of connections in neural networks as a function of the frequency of stimuli in the input. We can state that apart from Connectionism, no other theory can be considered completely environmentalist, although there are others that can be included in this category since they try to justify acquisition by invoking learner external variables. Shumman’s model is one of these as he tries to account for naturalistic SLA as a result of acculturation. 7. What does social distance consist of according to Schumann’s Model? A group phenomenon consisting of eight factors: social dominance, integration pattern, enclosure, cohesiveness, size, cultural congruence, attitude and intended length of residence.  Chomsky’s Universal Grammar (UG) Humans are genetically supplied with a language-specific endowment which they call Universal Grammar. Input data alone is not sufficient to guarantee language acquisition. The main role of the UG is offer the hearer with the adequate linguistic principles so that he/she can cope with the rules of language overcoming in this way the problem of the poverty of the stimulus. UG is a universal notion and it applies to any language in the world. Principles (general notions) vs parameters (adapting those general notions (we adapt them again when learning an L2)  Core grammar: it is based on principles and parameters once the correct settings have been triggered.  Peripheral grammar: linguistic knowledge has to be learned by experience.  It has motivated a huge amount of SLA research  They claim that language learning is complete by age five (as they believe) is questionable.  The assumption that all syntactic structures are innately acquired is also questionable.

 Finally, the fact that the input learners receive is degenerate has also been criticized. Krashen’s video questions 1. It’s difficult because it’s late acquired  Natural Order Hypothesis 2. No, error correction doesn’t help acquisition 3. Teach German; demonstrates how comprehensible input is adequate. 4. Acquire / understand messages / memorize / grammar / shock / everything / messages / comprehensible 5. Input Hypothesis 6. Listening, picking up comprehensible input, she needed time before being ready to talk....