THEORIES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Language acquisition: the learning and development of a person’s language. The

learning of a native first language is called first language acquisition, and of a
second or foreign language, second language acquisition. Some theorists use
“learning” and “acquisition” synonymously.

Others maintain a contrast between the two terms, using “learning” to mean a
conscious process involving the study of explicit rules of language and monitoring
one’s performance,as is often typical of classroom learning in a foreign language
context, and using “acquisition” to refer to a nonconscious process of rule
internalization resulting from exposure to comprehensible input when the learner’s
attention is on meaning rather than form, as is more common in a second
language context. Still others use “acquisition” only with reference to the learning
of one’s first language.

This theory argues that human knowledge develops from

structures, processes, and “ideas” which are in the mind at
birth (i.e. are innate), rather than from the environment, and
that these are responsible for the basic structure of language
and how it is learned. This hypothesis has been used to
explain how children are able to learn language. The innatist
hypothesis contrasts with the belief that all human
knowledge comes from experience.

Nativist are those which purport to explain acquisition by

positing an innate biological endowment that makes learning
possible.

Noam Chomsky and Universal grammar (UG)

Nativist
theory Chomsky posits innate knowledge of substantive universals
such as syntactic categories (subject, object, noun, verb) and
phonological features, and of formal universals (abstract
principles governing possible rules and parameters of human
languages).

Chomsky notes various factors which claim support the idea

that humans are innately or genetically endowed with a
universal language-specific knowledge. According the
Chomskyan view the input is deficient or poor in two ways:
first it is claim to be degenerate (false starts, slips,
fragments, and ungrammatically sentences in real-time oral
communication), and second the input is degenerate that
contains negative evidence in the children utterances in its
ungrammatical speech.
 The theory was proposed by Noam Chomsky and has been
stated more specifically in his model of government/binding
theory. According to UG theory, acquiring a language means
applying the principles of UG grammar to a particular
language, e.g. English or French and learning which value is
appropriate for each parameter.

A theory which claims to account for the grammatical

competence of every adult no matter what language he or
she speaks. It claims that every speaker knows a set of
principles which apply to all languages and also a set of
parameters that can vary from one language to
another, but only within certain limits.

For example, one of the principles of UG is structure

dependency. It means that a knowledge of language relies
on knowing structural relationships in a sentence rather than
looking at it as a sequence of words. Also, the parameters in
Universal Grammar which may vary, within certain
limits, from one language to another, is the head parameter.
It concerns the position of heads (principal elements) within
each phrase.

Krashen monitor theory

Krashen claimed that two separate knowledge systems

underlay second language performance:

● The acquired system: is the product of a

subconscious process very similar to the process
Stephen children undergo when they acquire their first
Krashen´s language. It requires meaningful interaction in the
hypotheses target language - natural communication - in which
speakers are concentrated not in the form of their
utterances, but in the communicative act.
● The learned system: is the product of formal
instruction and it comprises a conscious process
which results in conscious knowledge 'about' the
language.

The Monitor hypothesis explains the relationship between

acquisition and learning and defines the influence of the
latter on the former. Krashen's theory of second language
acquisition consists of five main hypotheses:

1. Acquisition-Learning hypothesis: the 'acquired

system' or 'acquisition' is the product of a
subconscious process very similar to the process
 children undergo when they acquire their first
language. It requires meaningful interaction in the
target language - natural communication - in which
speakers are concentrated not in the form of their
utterances, but in the communicative act.
2. Monitor hypothesis: the monitoring function is the
practical result of the learned grammar. 'monitor' acts
in a planning, editing and correcting function when
three specific conditions are met: that is, the second
language learner has sufficient time at his/her
disposal, he/she focuses on form or thinks about
correctness, and he/she knows the rule.It appears that
the role of conscious learning is somewhat limited in
second language performance.
3. Input hypothesis: the Input hypothesis is only
concerned with 'acquisition', not 'learning'. According
to this hypothesis, the learner improves and
progresses when he/she receives second language
'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of
linguistic competence
4. Natural Order hypothesis: the acquisition of
grammatical structures follows a 'natural order' which
is predictable. In fact, he rejects grammatical
sequencing when the goal is language acquisition.
5. Affective Filter hypothesis: embodies Krashen's
view that a number of 'affective variables' play a
facilitative, but non-causal, role in second language
acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-
confidence and anxiety. Krashen claims that learners
with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-
image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped
for success in second language acquisition.

Authors: John Schumann (acculturation model and

pidginization hypothesis)

Acculturation model: the theory that the rate and level of

ultimate success of second language acquisition in
naturalistic settings (without instruction) is a function of the
degree to which learners acculturate to the target language
community. Acculturation may involve a large number of
Environmental social and psychological variables, but is generally
theories considered to be the process through which an individual
takes on the beliefs, values and culture of a new group.

Pidginization hypothesis: a variety of a language in which

the sentence structure and the vocabulary of the original
language have been greatly reduced. Generally, elements
from another language have been absorbed, either in
 the form of vocabulary items or in the way sentences are
structured. In second language learning the development of
a grammatically reduced form of a target language.

This is usually a temporary stage in language learning. The

learner’s interlanguage may have a limited system of
auxiliary verbs, simplified question and negative forms, and
reduced rules for tense, number, and other grammatical
categories. If learners do not advance beyond this stage, the
result may be a pidginized form of the target language.

Authors: Thomas Givon (functional) , Siza´s group

(multidimensional model), Manfred Pienemann.

The hypothesis that language acquisition requires or greatly

benefits from interaction, communication and especially
negotiation of meaning, which happens when interlocutors
attempt to overcome problems in conveying their meaning,
resulting in both additional input and useful feedback on the
learner’s own production.

Interactionist position focus on the social context of language

Interactionist development and how the relationship between the language
theories learner and the persons with whom he or she interacts
influences language acquisition. This perspective is
sometimes contrasted with a linguistic approach, which holds
that language acquisition can be understood through
analysis of the learner’s utterances, independently of his or
her cognitive development or social life.

Also is a model of development or learning in which

development proceeds along two or more dimensions rather
than a single one. Manfred Pienemann has proposed a
multidimensional model of second language acquisition in
which some linguistic features are acquired according to a
natural order defined by psycholinguistic processing
constraints, while others depend more on whether a learner
orientates more towards correctness and prescriptive norms
or towards fluency.

Authors: Larry Selinker, Jack Richards, Paul Kiparsky

and Burt M.

The Interlanguage theory that assumes that an active and

independent learning mind makes its own generalizations
upon grappling with a new language, argues that the errors
 that a learner makes in the rules of the target language are
often in fact "correct" by the rules of an "interlanguage"
invented by the learner as a provisional and sufficiently
workable substitute. To insist on penalising ail such "errors"
has the effect of breaking down the learner's capacity to
organize his or her progress in this way.

Interactionism is a type of language produced by second-

and foreign-language learners who are in the process of
learning a language. In language learning, learner language
is influenced by several different processes. These include:

a borrowing patterns from the mother tongue

b extending patterns from the target language
e.g. by analogy
c expressing meanings using the words and grammar which
are already known

Since the language which the learner produces using these

Interlanguage processes differs from both the mother tongue and the target
theories language, it is sometimes called an interlanguage, or is said
to result from the learner’s interlanguage system or
approximative system.

Selinker believes that the evidence for interlanguage can be

found in what he calls "fossilizations", that is, phonological,
morphological and syntactic features in the speech of L2
speakers that are different from the target language rules
even after years of instruction in, and exposure to, the target
language. J. Richards stresses the importance of the social
and communicative functions of language in these different
language learning settings. With this in mind, one wonders if
the term interlanguage is at aIl appropriate in the kind of
learning context where the target language is never really
used for genuine interpersonal communication.

The Interlanguage hypothesis sees errors as evidence of L2

learners' strategies of learning, rather than as signs of
interference or as the persistence of "bad habits" which
should be eradicated as quickly as possible through practice,
drill and overlearning of the correct forms. Also the making of
errors helps the learner to test hypotheses about the target
language system. At last a study of errors should help to
uncover the learner's buiIt-in syllabus and his learning
strategies.

The authors point out that errors within a constituent or a

clause affect the comprehension of a sentence far less than
errors which are made in a major constituent or across
clause boundaries. In other words, errors in pluralization and
tense usage (that is, morphological simplifications) and the
omission of function words such as articles, prepositions and
auxiliaries, are less important to the comprehensibility of a
sentence than errors in word order or the choice and position
of appropriate connectors.