SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING

EXPLAINED? SLA ACROSS 10

CONTEMPORARY THEORIES
chapter 13
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR THEORY
The Universal Grammar Theory explains this by
stating that all children are born with an innate
ability to acquire, develop, and understand
language. If we consider grammar to be the laws of
language, we can say that all humans are born
knowing these laws. While different languages have
different types of grammar, humans have an innate
desire to learn and use them.

USAGE BASED APPROACH

Usage based approaches are input -driven,
emphasizing the associative learning of constructions
from input. As with other statistical estimations, a large
and representative sample of language is required for
the learner to abstract a rational model that is a good
fit to the language data. Usage is necessary, and it is
sufficient for successful L1 acquisition
though not for SLA.

SKILL ACQUISITION THEORY

The basic claim of Skill Acquisition Theory is that
the development of a wide range of skills shows a
remarkable similarity in development from initial
representation of knowledge to eventual fluent,
spontaneous, largely effortless, and highly skilled
behavior, and that this set of phenomena can be
accounted for by a set of basic principles
common to the acquisition of all skills.

DECLARATIVE/PROCEDURAL MODEL
Existing structures and mechanisms are frequently
repurposed for new uses in biology and evolution. For
instance, scales changed into feathers while fins turned into
limbs and then wings. Not only does reuse of structures
occur through evolution, but it also happens during
development as we become older. For instance, it appears
that reading relies on brain circuitry that already existed and
was appropriated for this function when we learn to read.

INPUT PROCESSING THEORY

Although it offers principles that are consistent with the
prediction that interlanguage development will not be
haphazard but systematic, in many cases predicted by
the initial parsing strategies learners use to
comprehend the input, Input Processing Theory does
not seem to make systematicity or variability central to
its explanations.
 SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
EXPLAINED? SLA ACROSS 10
CONTEMPORARY THEORIES
chapter 13
PROCESSABILITY THEORY
Processability Theory (PT) is a theory of second language
acquisition (see, for instance, Pienemann, 1998). The
reasoning underlying PT is as follows: At any level of
development, the learner can only generate and
comprehend those linguistic forms of the second language
(L2) that the language processor is capable of handling at
the time. Understanding the language processor's
architecture and how it handles an L2 is therefore essential.

CONCEPT-ORIENTED APPROACH
A function-to-form approach, typically called the
concept-oriented approach, identifies one function,
concept, or meaning and investigates how it is
expressed. In this way, the concept-oriented approach
focuses on one direction of the form and function
mapping, specifically the function-to-form mapping.
Within the concept-oriented approach, the main
construct is the concept that is being investigated.

INTERACTION FRAMEWORK

The Interaction Hypothesis is a second-language

acquisition theory that holds that communication
and face-to-face interaction encourage the
development of language skills. The roles of input,
engagement, and output in the acquisition of
second languages are emphasized most.

VYGOTSKIAN SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY

According to Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory, the L1
might play a special and advantageous role. When
employing the L2 for higher level mental activity would
be developmental premature, learners willfully utilize
the first language as a mediation tool to promote self-
regulation and to facilitate collaborative engagement
in L2 learning activities.

COMPLEXITY THEORY
In order to understand change and evolution in
dynamic systems, complexity theorists are mainly
interested in characterizing and identifying emerging
patterns in these systems. It is not surprising that
Complexity Theory (CT) has been gaining more traction
because it is a useful tool for scholars who focus on
second language acquisition (SLA).