Review of Related Literature

Book Title: Theories in Second Language Acquisition (2007)

Edited by: Bill VanPatten and Jessica Williams
Behavioralism Theory
Pages 18 - 20
Classical conditioning means that in a given context, two events naturally connected (eating and
salivating) and a third event (sound) is introduced. After a series of repetitions, the association of
a third event alone can trigger the response.

Operant or behavioral conditioning is feedback in which reinforcement and punishment can

induce an organism to a new behavior.

Within the behavioral theory, all learning, including language learning is seen as the acquisition
of new behavior. The environment is the most indeed important factor in learning

According to behavioralism, to learn a second language, one must imitate correct models
repeatedly. Learning of novel forms can also occur through analogy. Example, learners of
English can acquire plural marking on nouns by analogy to previously learned forms. Positive
reinforcement of accurate imitations and corrections of inaccurate imitations facilitates the
learning process. It is important to note the important role for output in this theory. Good habits
require repeated engagement in the target behavior in this case the production of L2.
L2 learners already have a set of habits – their first language which must be overcome in the
process of acquiring the second language which is seen as a new set of habit

Learning conditions are ideal when models are plentiful and accurate and when feedback is
immediate and consistent.

Learners should be exposed to many target examples of language; they should imitate these
models repeatedly and receive appropriate feedback – positive for accurate imitations and
correction to inaccurate ones. These processes should be repeated until these behaviors have
become a habit
Book Title: Understanding Second Language Acquisition (2009)
Author: Lourdes Ortega

Interaction and negotiation for meaning

(Interaction Hypothesis)
page 60
Much in linguistic environment particularly in naturalistic settings, but also in today’s
communicative classrooms, comes to learners in the midst of oral interaction with one or more
interlocutors, rather than as exposure to monologic spoken or written discourse.

Page 61
Interaction Hypothesis by Michael Long (1980s)
Long proposed that the best kind of comprehensible input learners can hope to obtain is input
that has been interactionally modified., in other words, adjusted after receiving some signal that
the interlocutor needs some help in order to fully understand the message.

Page 65
Canadian researcher Merrill Swain
Comprehension does not usually demand the fill processing of forms. During comprehension (eg
when children read textbooks and listen to teacher explanation in school) it is possible yo get the
gist of messages by relying on key content words aided by the knowledge of the world,
contextual clues and guessing. Sample. Yesterday I walked three miles. We may hear yesterday
and not even need to hear the morpheme -ed in order to know our interlocutor is telling us about
something that happened in the past. By the same token, reliance to this kind of lexical
processing is less possible during production (speaking/output) because psycholinguistic
demands of composing messages force speakers to use syntactic processing to a much greater
extent

Swain proposed that producing the target language may be the trigger that forces the learner to
pay attention to the means of expression needed in order to successfully his or her own intended
meaning.

Interaction and acquisition