Second Language Acquisition Theories

 IMPORTANT THEORIES IN THE FIELD OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Many theories have been developed to explain SLA. Every theory of SLA covers some aspect of language acquisition process. There are large numbers of SLA theories and some of the important are discussed. These are the theories which have caused the greatest impact in SLA field.
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 THE UNIVERSALIST PERSPECTIVE IN SLA

The Universalist theory defines linguistics as a universal element. Universal grammar hypothesis is in contrast to the environmental perspective of Chomsky (1976), who considers language as a mirror of the mind. According to Chomsky theory, there is a language acquisition device because of which every human being is biologically endowed with a language learning faculty. This language acquisition device is important for the initial state of language development. According to the Universal grammar theory the input from the environment is insufficient for language acquisition

The Universal Grammar approach is not concerned with environmental perspective of language and is only concerned with learner’s mind that contains a language.

Universal grammar can be explained through two perspectives, the data driven perspective and the theory-driven perspective:

 The data driven perspective only study surface features of variety of languages. It examines how languages vary and which principles cause this differentiation. This approach looks at external factors or input as fundamental constituent. The data driven approach have several characteristics. For example there are several patterns which are present among languages and these patterns vary among languages. It focuses on universal aspect of language or what is common among languages i.e. subject, object or verb. And it focuses on implications of universals aspect of language for example property that is common among languages is that they all have vowels.

The theory-driven perspective studies in depth the properties of language. It analyses highly abstract principles of grammar. Internal factors which are part of cognitive and linguistic process is its main focus. The theory-driven approach includes the characteristic that language is acquired through innateness. This approach see language as a part of brain .According to this approach there are specific conditions and set of principles where knowledge of language develops.

 BEHAVIOURIST PERSPECTIVE IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Behaviourism is significant in educational psychology it takes language learning process as conditioning process and as habit formation. Behaviourist theory emphasises stimulus, response, and reinforcement as the important element of language learning.

In these theories behaviour is seen as reaction to internal or external stimuli in any particular environment. The environment is the source to provide a stimulus and this stimuli cause response in learners. The role of environment is very important in the exercise of learner’s abilities because it provides stimuli that give shape to person’s responses and it selectively reward some responses and not others. The language learning includes a set of stimulus-response-reward chains. Behaviourism looks language as a set of structures and acquisition as a system of habit formation and ignores internal mechanisms. Learning is automatically acquired through stimulus and response in the form of mechanical repetition.

Audio-lingual method is the   one of the behaviourist language teaching method which was popular in 1960’s. It was developed after World War 2 in the United States. In this method students memorise certain dialogues because according to this method language learning is process of habit formation.

They are supposed to learn the second language through imitation, repetition and reinforcement of certain structures. Errors are considered as formation of bad habit and they are needed to be corrected simultaneously.

                                             NATIVIST PERSPECTIVE IN SLA

Nativist theory of second language acquisition states that language is innate to humans from their birth. It is quite opposite to behaviourist theory, as they are of the view that the child learns language from imitation and practise.

According to this theory humans are born with a built-in-device that makes them able   to acquire language. This theory is advocated by Chomsky (1956) which claimed existence of inborn properties of language in children which predisposes them to acquire language.  This theory tends to explain mystery of native language acquisition is a very short time. Chomsky describes that this innate knowledge is present in “little black box” known as Language Acquisition Device (LAD). This acquisition is a systematic perception of language which helps to construct an internalised system of language.

McNeill (1966) further worked on this theory and described Language Acquisition Device consisting of some innate linguistic properties ; LAD has ability to differentiate speech sounds from other sounds which are present in the environment ; it has ability to group linguistic items into various classes that can be polished later,  it has  knowledge  that only a definite  kind of linguistic system is viable  and that other kinds are not; and it has the ability to involve in constant assessment of the developing linguistic system in order to build the simplest  system out of the linguistic data that are experienced.

 ACCULTURATION PERCEPTIVE IN SLA

Acculturation is an environmental-oriented theory   presented by Schumman (1978). In his investigation of some syntactic aspects with six learners he used questionnaires, observed their conversation for ten months and used a quantitative treatment to his experiment. According to him the people who are more socially and psychological distant from the target language group can acquire less amount of English.

In his opinion the social and psychological unification of the learner with the target language  group is necessary for SLA .According The acculturation theory the  learners will be unsuccessful in SLA if there are more social and psychological distances between them and the speakers of the second language.

SOCIAL INTERACTIONAISTS THEORY IN SLA

Social interactionists theorise that language emerged because of its social role in human interaction. The environment and social interactions are the key elements in language development. Input is important in social interactions as it provides a model for negotiation.

Hatch did not accept Krashen’s Input Hypothesis and were of the view that input alone is insufficient to explain SLA. Hatch does not agree that that learner first learn structures and then use them in their discourse. She believes the reverse possibility.

According to her one learns how to do conversation and interact verbally and then because of Hatch (1978) and Long (1981, 1996), this verbal conversation syntactic structures are developed

Long (1981) worked on interactionists theory and based upon his empirical study he observed that during conversation between  native speakers there are  less modifications in interaction than in the conversation between native and non-native speakers. He claims that modified input plays a positive role in SLA and these modifications in interactions signs the successful SLA.

Long (1996:451-2) suggests that negotiation for meaning, that stimulate interactional adjustments between the speakers cause proficient language acquisition  because it helps to  connect input , output, particularly selective attention and  internal learner capacities in productive ways.

According to Larsen-Freeman and Long both innate and environmental factors are involved in it and  that is the reason they consider interactionists views more influential than other theories .they are the first who view language as a matter of discourse.

 OUTPUT HYPOTHESIS IN SLA

Swain (1985, 1995) presents output hypothesis after the Krashen’s input hypothesis in which she claims when an individual practice any language, it helps them to observe their own production.

She says output helps the learners to monitor the gap between what they can say and what they want to say.  It helps them to know where gap lies in learning. Output helps in “noticing” in addition to it, it has two main functions: to stimulate reflection and to test hypothesis. She says that output helps to monitor what works and what does not.

 SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY IN SLA

The socio-cultural theory views language or learning as a socially mediated process it was proposed by Vygotskian .According to him language is a cultural artifact that links social and psychological activities. Mediation is a basic principle in socio cultural theory.

According to his point of view development cannot be separated from its social context and language plays a central role in mental development. Lantolf and Thorne (2007) suggest that socio-cultural theory can also be applied on SLA.

They are of the view that man is a social being and he cannot be separated from the society he is living. Man learns language from interaction with his fellow beings in any society that is why interactionists perspective of SLA is important.      

Learners observe others using language and imitates others in the social world and with the collaboration of their language learners they move from one learning step to another.

Vygotsky introduced new concept named by him as ‘scaffolding’ which is assistance and aid one learner gets from another person. This assistance can be given from teachers, relatives, classmates etc which helps them to perform their learning tasks proficiently.

THEORY OF CONNENNECTIONISM IN SLA

            Connectionism rejects the Chomsky’s theory of the innate endowment and describes SLA in terms of information processing and mental representations. Elman et al (1996) accept that there is internalised system of language, but they disagrees that they are directly contained in our genes.

            Any learning is taken as a matter of neural networks. The connection of these networks are strengthened or weakened and are dependent on experience. The processing of experiences and the repetition of it causes the strengthening of these connections.

THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH OF SLA

According to the communicative approach, the primary goal of teaching second language is to enable students to use the target language in their daily communication. Adherents of this approach are of the view that teaching vocabulary and structures are less important. If they will be only taught grammar and its usage there preparation will be inadequate.

In other words it can be said that the rules of grammar should be taught with its practical implication. Students should be taught how rules are used in some particular social context. According to this approach the learners cannot communicate efficiently unless they have command over usage and the use of language. It is only through the context, negotiating for meaning and interaction that students can use second language effectively.

KRASHEN’S FIVE HYPOTHESIS

The most important and well accepted SLA theories are of Krashen. Stephan Krashen most of the study was on bilingual language acquisition. His language theories had a great impact on SLA and teaching field since the 1980s.

Krashen theory consists of five hypotheses which are the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis, the Monitor hypothesis, the Natural Order hypothesis, the Input hypothesis, and the Affective Filter hypothesis.

THE ACQUISITION-LEARNING HYPOTHESIS

The Acquisition learning hypothesis is one of the most important hypotheses which emphasise the distinction between acquisition and learning.

According to him language acquisition is a subconscious process, similar to the child acquisition of his first language. Language acquisition can only takes place in a very non-threatening environment which promotes meaningful interaction and natural communication. While acquiring any language, the focus is not on the form but on the communicative aspect of the language. Acquisition of language is important for both children and adults

On the other hand language learning is a conscious process which occurs in academic settings. Language learning gives the conscious knowledge of grammatical forms and rules of grammar. According to Krashen point of view language acquisition is more important than language learning.

 THE MONITOR HYPOTHESIS

                    The Monitor Hypothesis further shows the relationship between acquisition and learning. Conscious learning is outcome of monitoring and learned grammar .According to Krashen, learning system have a role of ‘Monitor’ which function is to plan, edit,  and correct whereas the acquired system does not work in this way as it is the utterance initiator. Second language learners focus on form and think about correctness of sentence structure. Role of conscious learning should be limited for proficient language learning. Role of monitor should be minor and its purpose should only to correct deviation in normal speech.

                                                    KRASHEN'S MONITOR HYPOTHESIS 

   Krashen also describes that there is individual differences among language learners according to the use of ‘monitor’. There are over-users of monitor who uses monitor excessively, and there are under-users that maybe not learned or those who does not prefer to use monitor. And optimal user is those who use the monitor appropriately. Lack of self-confidence is generally related to the over-use of the 'monitor'.

 THE NATURAL ORDER HYPOTHESIS

The Natural Order Hypothesis in this hypothesis, Krashen claims that we acquire language in a predictable order. Grammatical items are acquired in the natural order, such as some grammatical structures can be acquired earlier in comparison with other structures. This natural order is not dependent on the learner’s background, age or the conditions of exposure. There is some agreement between individual acquirers that reinforced the existence of a Natural Order of language acquisition.

 THE AFFECTIVE FILTER HYPOTHESIS

According to this hypothesis there are some variables which impact the language acquisition process. These variables prevent the input from reaching LAD (Language Acquisition Device). LAD term was used by Chomsky which is the part of the brain that is responsible for language acquisition.

The Affective filter hypothesis embodies that the variables like low motivation, high level of anxiety and low self-esteem can raise the affective filter and forms a “mental block” .This raise of affective filter prevents comprehensible input from being used as acquisition. There are affective variables as well that facilitates the acquisition process. These variables are self-confidence motivation and low level of anxiety .these variables facilitates the process of SLA.

 THE COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT HYPOTHESIS

The Comprehensible Input hypothesis reflects how the language can be acquired proficiently. This theory is not related to the learning of the language but only with acquisition of language.

According to the theory of Krashen, students should be given the input which is only one step beyond their level of competence. For example if the learner is at the stage of “i” then he should be given the input which is “i+1” so that acquisition of the language takes place.