FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES

1. Behaviorism (Skinner's Behaviorist Theory)

2. Innatism (Chomsky's Innatist Theory)

3. Krashen's Monitor Model/Monitor Theory

1. Behaviorism (1940s-1950s)
 Tabula Rasa (a blank slate) means there is nothing when a baby is born. Skinner said, "give me a child,
and I will shape him into anything"
 Behaviorism is a precursor to cognitive learning.
 Language: -is behavior defined as a set of habits. -can be taught/learned as any other behavior
 Teaching: -should be done through conditioning. -consequences determine behavior (e.g. reward or
successful communication)
 According to the Behaviorist Theory, learning is the result of:
 Imitation (word-for-word repetition of someone else’s utterances).
 Practice (repetitive manipulation of form).
 Feedback on success (positive reinforcement).
 Habit formation

Audio-Lingual Method (the teaching of listening and speaking before reading and writing) and
Behaviorism

 It was a method for teaching foreign languages popular in 1950s and 1960s.
 It is supported by the behaviorist theory of Skinner
 It does not use mother tongue to explain vocabulary or grammar.
 Students drilled in the use of grammar in the target language.
 English is taught through discussion, conversation, and reading in the second language.
 Students learned language through a series of drills involving imitation, repetition and practice
 Behaviorists view the process of child' language acquisition in the following steps:
Immitation – Repetition – Memorization – Controlled Drilling – Reinforcement
•Reinforcement can either be negative or positive.
•Reinforcement will trigger general stimulus.

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 Noam Chomsky and Audio-Lingual Method

 Chomsky rejected the audio - lingual method that is based on the behaviorist theory of language
learning for the following reasons:
 It could not function as a model of how humans learn languages.
 Learning is not imitated behavior.
 Sentences are not learned by imitation and repetition, but "generated" from the learners'
underlying "competence."
 Language is creative and generative, not a habit

2. Noam Chomsky's Theory of Innatism (1959)

 Language is an innate (inborn, natural) capacity. Language is a basic instinct.

 A child's brain contains special language learning mechanism at birth.
 Every child has a" language acquisition devise" - LAD
 Children need only minimum language exposure to prime the LAD.
 Human brain is ready innately for language in the sense when children are exposed to speech,
certain principles for discovering and formulating language automatically starts to operate.

The LAD (Language Acquisition Device) Theory

 Chomsky asserted that children were born with a hard-wired language acquisition device.
 Chomsky asserted that children were born with the instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language.
 The LAD is a postulated organ in the brain supposed to function as a congenital device for language
acquisition.
 LAD encodes the major principles of a language and its grammatical structure into the child's brain.
 This theory contradicted B.F. Skinner' theory of behaviorism and operant conditioning.

3. Stephen Krashen' Theory of Second Language Acquisition

 "Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not
require tedious drill."
 "Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in
which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are
conveying and understanding."

 Krashen's theory of second language acquisition consists of 5 main hypotheses:

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 1. The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis
2. The Monitor hypothesis
3. The Natural Order hypothesis
4. The Input hypothesis
5. The Affective Filter hypothesis

1. Learning vs. Acquiring

 According to Krashen, there are two independent systems:
 The acquired system is the product of a subconscious process. It requires meaningful interaction
in the target language.
 The learned system is the product of formal instruction and learning. It involves a conscious
process which results in conscious knowledge about the target language

2. The Monitor Hypothesis

 Conscious learning is limited in second language acquisition.
 Acquisition has the central role.
 Learning functions as a Monitor.
 The Monitor acts in planning, editing, and correcting function.
 Three specific conditions needed to use Monitor: Sufficient time, Focus on form and Know the rule
 When Monitor is not used, errors are natural

3. The Natural Order Hypothesis

 The acquisition of language rules and grammatical structures follow a predictable order
 Some grammatical rules are acquired early while others late
 The order of the rules is not determined by its simplicity
 It is independent of the learner’s age, L1 background and conditions of exposure
 L2 learning adults and children show similar order

4. The Input Hypothesis

 The input hypothesis is only concerned with acquisition, not learning.
 The L2 learners improve when they receive L2 'input'
 "Human acquires language in only way-by understanding messages or by receiving comprehensible
input"
 Comprehensible input: understanding of input language, that contains 'a bit beyond' the current
level of competence. (i+1)
 Speech will 'emerge' once the acquirer has built up enough comprehensible input

5. The Filter Hypothesis

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 A number of attitudinal variables affect SLA (Second Language Acquisition): Motivation, Self
Confidence and Anxiety