Language acquisition for DEL students and teachers

language acquisition for teachers

2. LanguageAcquisitionTheories
HowdoLanguageAcquisitionTheoriesexplain
childrenlanguagedevelopment?
Threebasictheoriesoffirstlanguageacquisitionhave
beenputforwardovertheyears:Behaviorist,Innatist,andInteraction
BehavioristTheory
Forlanguageacquisition,behavioristshypothesized
thatchildrenlearnedtheirfirstlanguagethrough
stimulus,response,andreinforcementaswell,
postulatingimitationandassociationasessential
processes.
Forexample,tolearnthewordball,thechildwould
firstassociatethewordballwiththefamiliar
sphericalobject,thestimulus.

3. Nextthechildwouldproducethewordbyimitation,at
whichtimeanadultwouldpraisethechildforsaying
ball,therebyreinforcingthechild’scorrectverbal
response.
Behavioristsassumedthatthechild’smindwasatabula
rasa,ablankmentalslateawaitingthescriptureof
experience.Twochallenges
1)Behavioristconceptsofimitationandreinforcement
couldnotaccountfortypicalchildutteranceslike“Him
don’tsayitright,”-amispronunciationofthe/r/inthe
wordrabbitasa/w/,saying,“It’sawabbit!”-whichwere
clearlynotimitationsofadultspeech.
and(2)behavioristscouldnotexplainhowanynovel
utterancewasproduced,eventhosethatwere
grammaticallycorrect.

4. Infact,mostutterancesweproduceinconversation
orwritingareoriginal.Thatis,theyareready-made
phraseswehavelearnedbyhearingandrepeating.
Inaddition,childlanguageresearchersnoticedthat
parentstypicallyreinforcetheirchildrenforthe
meaningoftheirutterances,notforgrammatical
correctness.
Fortheseconcerns,NoamChomsky(1957)engaged
inaheateddebatewithbehavioristB.F.Skinner
(1957),attackingbehavioristtheoryasinadequate
toexplainobservationsofchildlanguage
development.
INNATISTTHEORY

5. InnatistTheory
Chomskyhassomestrongargumentsagainstthe
behavioristexplanationoflanguageacquisition,
usingexamplesfromchildren’sdeveloping
grammars,suchasourexampleabove.
Chomsky’sexplanationsofgrammaticalrules
becamethesubjectofpsychologicalresearchon
languageuseintheinterdisciplinaryfieldof
psycholinguistics.
Thinkingdeeplyaboutchildren’sdevelopmentof
grammar,Chomskyconcludedthatlanguage
acquisitioncouldonlybeaccountedforbyan
innate,biologicalLanguageAcquisitionDevice
(LAD)orsystem.

6. Specifically,heclaimsthatinfantsuniversally
possessaninnate“grammartemplate,”oruniversal
grammar,whichwillallowthemtoselectoutthe
manygrammaticalrulesofthelanguagetheyhear
spokenaroundthem,astheygraduallyconstruct
thegrammaroftheirmothertongue.
Fromtheinnatistperspective,childrenconstruct
grammarthroughaprocessofhypothesistesting.
Forexample,achildmayhypothesizetherulethat
allpluralnounsendwithan-s.
Thuswhentheycometoawordsuchaschild,they
formthepluralaschilds,orwhentheycometothe
wordman,theysaymansfortheplural.
Gradually,theywillrevisetheirhypothesisto

7. accommodateexceptionstothepluralrule.Thus
childrencreatesentencesbyusingrulesratherthanby
merelyrepeatingmessagestheyhaveheard,asassumed
bybehaviorists.
Thisapplicationofrulesaccountsforthegenerative
natureoflanguage.Withafinitesetofrules,peoplecan
generateaninfinitenumberofnovelutterances.
AccordingtoChomsky,childrenacquiretherules,with
littlehelpfromtheirparentsorcaregivers.
ButpsychologistHowardGardnercriticized(Gardner,
1995,p.27),theChomskyanviewas“toodismissive
andhearguesthat,“whiletheprinciplesofgrammar
mayindeedbeacquiredwithlittlehelpfromparentsor
othercaretakers,adultsareneededtohelpchildren
buildarichvocabulary,mastertherulesofdiscourse

8. anddistinguishbetweenculturallyacceptableand
unacceptableformsofexpression.”
Thisinterestintheroleofpeopleinthesocial
environmentprovidesthefocusofthenext
theoreticalperspectiveonlanguageacquisition,the
interactionistperspective.
InresponsetoChomsky’semphasisoninnate
grammarmechanismscenteredintheinfant,
interactionistshavebroughtbackaninterestinthe
roleofthesocialenvironmentandtheinfluenceof
parentsandcaregiversonchildren’slanguage
acquisition.
InteractionistTheory

9. InteractionistTheory
Accordingtotheinteractionistposition,caregivers
playacriticalroleinadjustinglanguagetofacilitate
theuseofinnatecapacitiesforlanguageacquisition.
Theinteractionistviewthustakesintoconsideration
theimportanceofbothnatureandnurtureinthe
languageacquisitionprocess.
Interactionistsstudythelanguagemothersandother
caregiversusewhencaringforinfantsandyoung
children,withspecialattentiontomodificationsthey
makeduringthesesocialinteractionstoassist
childrenincommunication,particularlyconversation.
Children’slanguagedevelopsovertime,notwithina
singleinteraction.Rather,childrenareconstantly

10. Rather,childrenareconstantlyconstructing
meaningastheyinteractwithpeopleandtheworld
aroundthem.Throughtheseinteractions,they
graduallysortoutthenuancesandconstructthe
multiplemeaningsofwordsandphrases.
Theinteractionistperspectiveacknowledgesthe
importantrolesofboththechildandthesocial
environmentinthelanguageacquisitionprocess.
SecondLanguageAcquisitionTheories
Theoriesabouthowpeoplelearntospeakasecond
(or3
rd
or4
th
)languagearedirectlyrelatedtothe
firstlanguageacquisitiontheoriesdescribed
previously.

11. Therearetworeasonswhy.Firstofall,becausefirst
languageacquisitionisauniversalachievementof
childrentheworldover,researchersandeducators
interestedinsecondlanguageacquisitionand
teachinghaveoftenusedfirstlanguageacquisitionas
anidealmodel,onethatmayinformusabouthowa
secondlanguagemightbetaught.
Theremarkableamountofinformationwhichwas
generatedaboutfirstlanguageacquisitionindifferent
languagesprovidedanaturalresourceforsecond
languageacquisitionresearchers,notonlyintermsof
theory,datacollection,anddataanalysis,butalsoin
termsofframingtheresearchquestionsthemselves.
Oneofthefirstquestionswassimply:

12. Isasecondlanguageacquiredinthesamewayasthe
first?Ifso,
whataretheimplicationsforclassroominstruction?
Becausefirstlanguageacquisitionissosuccessfully
accomplished,shouldteachersreplicateitsconditionsto
promotesecondlanguageacquisition?Ifso,how?
Thesequestionsarenotfullyansweredyet.
Second,thestudyoffirstlanguageacquisitionhasnow
emergedasanecessarilyinterdisciplinaryfield
involvinganthropology,psychology,education,and
linguistics.
Asyoucanimagine,carefulattentiontosocialand
culturalconventionsisessentialininvestigatinghowa
secondlanguageislearned,giventheintimate
connectionsbetweenlanguageandculture.

13. Followingsectionshowshowsecondlanguageacquisition
isdescribedandexplainedfromthethreeperspectives
examinedforfirstlanguageacquisition:Behaviorist,
Innatist,andInteractionist.
BehavioristPerspectivein2
nd
LanguageAcquisition
Behavioristtheoriesoflanguageacquisitionhave
influencedsecondlanguageteachinginanumberofways
thatpersisttodayinmanyclassrooms.Ifyouhavetakena
foreignlanguageinhighschoolorcollege,youare
probablyfamiliarwiththemethodsinformedby
behavioristlearningtheories.
Onebehavioristlanguageteachingmethodpopularinthe
1960sistheaudiolingualmethod,inwhichdialoguesare
presentedontapeforstudentstomemorize,followedby
patterndrillsforpracticingverbformsandsentence
structures.

14. Studentsarefirsttaughttolistenandspeakandthen
toreadandwritebasedontheassumptionthatthisis
thenaturalsequenceinfirstlanguageacquisition.
Forbehaviorists,theprocessesinvolvedinsecondor
foreignlanguagelearningconsistedofimitation,
repetition,andreinforcementofgrammatical
structures.
Errorsweretobecorrectedimmediatelytoavoid
formingbadhabitsthatwouldbedifficultto
overcomelater.
Ifyouweretaughtwiththismethod,youmay
rememberthedrill-and-skillpractice,oftencarried
outviaaudiotapesinalanguagelaboratory.
InnatistPerspective

15. InnatistPerspectivein2ndLanguageAcquisition
JustasChomsky’stheoriesinspiredpsycholinguiststo
recordanddescribethedevelopinggrammarsof
youngfirstlanguagelearners,theyalsoinfluenced
researchonsecondlanguagelearning.
Onesuchtheoryputforthtoaccountforsecond
languagedevelopmentwasthecreativeconstruction
theory(Dulay,Burt,&Krashen,1982).
Inalarge-scalestudyofSpanish-speakingand
Chinese-speakingchildrenlearningEnglishinschool
(Dulay&Burt,1974),dataanalysisofthisstudy
showedthatthemajorityoferrorsweresimilarto
thosemadebynativeEnglish-speakingyoungstersas
theyacquiretheirmothertongue.

16. Basedontheseresults,theauthorsproposedthat
Englishlanguagelearnerscreativelyconstructthe
rulesofthesecondlanguageinamannersimilarto
thatobservedinfirstlanguageacquisition.
DulayandBurtthereforeconcludedthatsecond
languageacquisitionissimilartofirstlanguage
acquisition.
KRASHEN’SFIVEHYPOTHESES
Continuingintheinnatisttradition,StephenKrashen
(1982)developedaseriesofhypothesesaboutsecond
languageacquisitionthathavetakenrootinthefield
ofsecondlanguageteachingdueinparttoKrashen’s
desiretoaddressclassroomsecondlanguagelearning.
Krashen’sfivehypothesesare:

17. Krashen’sfivehypothesesare:
(1)theacquisition-learninghypothesis,
(2)themonitorhypothesis,
(3)thenaturalorderhypothesis,
(4)theinputhypothesis,and
(5)theaffectivefilterhypothesis.
Eachoftheseisdiscussedhere.
Coming soon