1. Explaining Second Language Learning
Contexts for Language Learning
Behaviorism
Innatism
Cognitive/developmental perspective
The Sociocultural Perspective

2. Contexts for Language Learning
A child or adult learning a second language is different from a child acquiring a first language in terms of both
1) learner characteristics
and
2) learning conditions

3. Differences in Learning L1 & L2
Learner Characteristics
1. Knowledge of another language
2. Cognitive maturity
3. Metalinguistic awareness
4. World Knowledge
5. Anxiety about speaking L1 L2
Child
(informal)
Adolescent
(formal)
Adult - ? + - + - ? + - + - +

4. Differences in Learning L1 & L2
Learning Conditions
6. Freedom to be silent
7. Ample time & contact
8. Corrective feedback: (grammar and pronunciation)
9. Corrective feedback: (meaning, word choice, politeness)
10. Modified input L1 L2
Child
(informal)
Adolescent
(formal)
Adult + - + - ? - + + +
Child-directed
speech
Foreigner talk or
Teacher talk

5. Differences in Learning L1 & L2
Summary:
SLA (Second Language Acquisition) theories need to account for language acquisition by learners with a variety of characteristics and learning in a variety of contexts.

6. Behaviorism Four characteristics of behaviorism:
1) imitation, 2) practice, 3) reinforcement, and
4) habit formation
Brooks (1960) & Lado (1964):
- emphasizing mimicry and memorization

7. Behaviorism / CAH
A person learning an L2 starts off with the habits formed in the L1 and these habits would interfere with the new ones needed for the L2.
Behaviorism was often linked to the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH):
It predicts that where there are similarities between the L1 and the target language, the learner will acquire target-language structures with ease; where there are differences, the learner will have difficulty.

8. Behaviorism / CAH Criticisms about the CAH:
Though a learner’s L1 influences the acquisition of an L2, researchers have found that L2 learners do not make all the errors predicted by the CAH.
Many of their errors are not predictable on the basis of their L1 (e.g. ‘putted’; ‘cooker’ meaning a person who cooks; ‘badder than’)
Some errors are similar across learners from a variety of L1 backgrounds (e.g. he/she; “th” sound; the use of the past tense)

9. Behaviorism / Summary
The L1 influence may not simply be a matter of the transfer of habits, but a more subtle and complex process of
- identifying points of similarity,
- weighing the evidence in support of some particular feature, and
- reflecting (though not necessarily consciously) about whether a certain feature seems to ‘belong’ in the L2.
By the 1970s, many researchers were convinced that behaviorism and the CAH were inadequate explanations for SLA.

10. Innatism/Cognitivism
Universal Grammar (UG) in relation to second language development
Competence vs. Performance
Krashen’s “monitor model”

11. Innatism: Universal Grammar
UG and SLA
Chomsky has not made specific claims about the implications of his theory for second language learning.
Linguists working within the innatist theory have argued that UG offers the best perspective to understand SLA. UG can explain why L2 learners eventually know more about the language than they could reasonably have learned (i.e. UG can explain L2 learners’ creativity and generalization ability).
Other linguists argue that UG is not a good explanation for SLA, especially by learners who have passed the critical period (i.e. CPH does not work in SLA).

12. Innatism: Universal Grammar
How UG works in SLA:
Two different views -
The nature and availability of UG are the same in L1 and L2 acquisition.
Adult L2 learners, like children, neither need nor benefit from error correction and metalinguistic information.

13. Innatism: Competence vs. Performance
It refers to the knowledge which underlies our ability to use language.
Performance:
It refers to the way a person actually uses language in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Performance is subject to variations due to inattention, anxiety, or fatigue whereas competence (at least for the mature native speaker) is more stable.

14. Innatism: Competence vs. Performance
SLA researchers from the UG perspective (innatism) are more interested in the language competence (i.e., knowledge of complex syntax) of advanced learners rather than in the simple language of early stage learners.
Their investigations often involve comparing the judgments of grammaticality made by L2 and L1 learners, rather than observations of actual language performance (i.e., use of language).

15. Innatism: Krashen’s “monitor model” (1982)
The acquisition-learning hypothesis
The monitor hypothesis
The natural order hypothesis
The input hypothesis
The affective filter hypothesis

16. Innatism: Krashen’s “monitor model”
The acquisition-learning hypothesis
Acquisition: we acquire L2 knowledge as we are exposed to samples of the L2 which we understand with no conscious attention to language form. It is a subconscious and intuitive process.
Learning: we learn the L2 via a conscious process of study and attention to form and rule learning.
Krashen argues that “acquisition” is a more important process of constructing the system of a language than “learning” because fluency in L2 performance is due to what we have acquired, not what we have learned.

17. Innatism: Krashen’s “monitor model”
The monitor hypothesis
The acquired system acts to initiate the speaker’s utterances and is responsible for spontaneous language use, whereas the learned system acts as a “monitor”, making minor changes and polishing what the acquired system has produced.
Such monitoring takes place only when the speaker/writer has plenty of time, is concerned about producing correct language, and has learned the relevant rules.

18. Innatism: Krashen’s “monitor model”
The natural order hypothesis
L2 learners acquire the features of the TL in predictable sequences.
The language features that are easiest to state (and thus to ‘learn’) are not necessarily the first to be acquired.
e.g. the rule for adding an –s to third person singular verbs in the present tense

19. Innatism: Krashen’s “monitor model”
The input hypothesis
Acquisition occurs when one is exposed to language that is comprehensible and that contains “i +1”.
If the input contains forms and structures just beyond the learner’s current level of competence in the language (“i +1”), then both comprehension and acquisition will occur.

20. Innatism: Krashen’s “monitor model”
The affective filter hypothesis
“Affect” refers to feelings, motives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states.
The “affective filter” is an imaginary/metaphorical barrier that prevents learners from acquiring language from the available input.
Depending on the learner’s state of mind, the filter limits what is noticed and what is acquired. A learner who is tense, anxious, or bored may “filter out” input, making it unavailable for acquisition.

21. Innatism: Krashen’s “monitor model”
Summary
Krashen’s “monitor model” (i.e., acquisition vs. learning, monitor, natural order, comprehensible input, and affective filter) has been very influential in supporting communicative language teaching (CLT), which focuses on using language for meaningful interaction and for accomplishing tasks, rather than on learning rules.
Krashen’s hypotheses are intuitively appealing, but those hypotheses are hard to be tested by empirical evidence.

22. The Sociocultural Perspective
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
Language development takes place in the social interactions between individuals.
Speaking (and writing) mediate thinking.
Zone of proximal development (ZPD): when there is support from interaction with an interlocutor, the learner is capable of performing at a higher level.
L2 learners advance to higher levels of linguistic knowledge when they collaborate and interact with speakers of the L2 who are more knowledgeable than they are.

23. The Sociocultural Perspective
The difference between Vygotsky’s socialcultural theory and the interaction hypothesis:
Vygotsky
Interaction hypothesis
Language acquisition takes place in the interactions of learner and interlocutor.
Greater importance is attached to the conversations, with learning occurring through the social interaction.
- Interaction needs to be modified and through negotiation for meaning.
- Emphasis is on the individual cognitive processes in the mind of the learner.