REFLECTION -7) THEORIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE

ACQUISITION

In this lesson, we talked about the theories of second language acquisition.

There are personality,culture,contrasts and communicative competence. I think
the most important of them is culture. Because knowing a language’s culture can
increase the possibility of learning it. There is a parallelism between target
language and target culture. To be able to communicate effectively, we also use
communicative competence.

On second language acquisition Lightbown set 10 hypotheses which are

supported by research. These are about how people become proficient in a
second language. There are systematic interlanguage,predictable
sequences,practice,fossilization and topics like that. There are also some popular
ideas about SLA but these are not supported by research like
interference,imitation and IQs. Larsen Freeman’s chaos theory helps us to
understand SLA in a different aspect. There are dichotomies ,butterfly
effect,overgeneralization,reductionist thinking. Michael Long also make 8
suggestions about SLA. They are universals,environmental factors,variability in
age,acquisition rate,cognitive,affective factors and like that. Krashen’s Input
Hypothesis includes the acquisition-learning hypothesis, the monitor
hypothesis,the natural order hypothesis,the input hypothesis and the affective
filter hypothesis. But there are criticisms on Krashen’s theories. One of them is
there is no interface between acquisition and learning. And they should be
supported through research.

By knowing these theories,as a teacher I can approach to different students in a

different way. I should take into consideration the student’s acquisition process
and input should be taken actively. I should help my students to take the input
correctly and orderly. I should know all these theories but I can just use the most
important ones. If I know how much I know then I can find my shortcomings
and fill them. If the course books are not enough I should find extra examples
for my students. With Michael Long’s criteria’s I can think of environmental
factors,age,acquisition rate,and use them for myself. I focus on how I can deal
with problems in the light of these factors. While teaching something as a
teacher I should erase all the fossilizations and never make mistakes. So the
student does not learn anything wrong. To be able to communicate affectively
with my students, I should make comparisons between their first and second
language.