Dr.

Amin AL-Mekhlafi
 The Cognitive/Developmental Perspective

The Computer Analogy

Storing
Integrating
Retrieving

They see no need to believe that:

humans have language specific device.
acquisition and learning are different.
They believe in:
The general theory of learning (the gradual
development of knowledge).
The Cognitive/Developmental Perspective
Information Processing Model
In IPM, SLA is seen as building
up of knowledge

This knowledge becomes automatic during

speaking and understanding

Paying
Attention Practice
Automaticity
 Paying attention uses some cognitive resources.
Beginners vs. Proficient language users.

There is a limit to the amount of information a

human can pay attention to and learn at one time.
Gradually, through experience and practice, learners
become able to use certain parts of the language
automatically.
Practice includes:
Language production
Being exposed to language
Language comprehension

Practice makes language

processing easier and automatic.
Other cognitive psychologists say that SLA is like learning any
other skill starting as declarative knowledge and then
changing into procedural knowledge.

Declarative Knowledge Procedural Knowledge

Information that we have
and know we have. All
learning begins with
declarative knowledge. It is
sometimes referred to as
'knowledge that'.
Knowledge that underlies
fluent or automatic
performance. Also referred to
as 'knowledge how.
The Cognitive/Developmental Perspective
Information Processing

IPM SLA is like skill learning

Information that we have
and know we have. All
learning begins with
declarative knowledge. It
is sometimes referred to as
'knowledge that'.
Procedural
Knowledge
Knowledge that underlies
fluent or automatic
performance. Also
referred to as 'knowledge
how.
 Restructuring Model:
Refers to the interaction of knowledge we already have,
or on the acquisition of new knowledge (without
extensive practice) which fits into an existing system and
causes it to be restructured
Sudden bursts of progress and backsliding may not be
explainable in terms of a gradual build-up of
automaticity through practice.
They seem rather to be based on.
 Connectionists argue that innate is simply the
ability to learn, not any specifically linguistic
structure.
They attribute greater importance to the role
of the environment in language learning.
They see the frequency of the input as the
principal source of linguistic knowledge.
Learners develops stronger mental
connections between language elements s/he
has learned, and the situational or linguistic
contexts in which they occur.
 He says
I say
The learner will produce the
She says correct form not because
he/she knows the rule, but
because he/she has heard such
uses very often and the
presence of the subject he or
she activates the mind to call
on the correct verb form.
 The Interaction Hypothesis
The Noticing Hypothesis
Input Processing
1. Researchers within this perspective
argue that conversational interaction is
an essential condition for second
language acquisition.
2. Comprehensible input is important.
3. How to make input comprehensible?
Interactional
modification
makes input Comprehensible
comprehensible. input promotes
acquisition.

Therefore
Interactional modification
promotes acquisition.
Modified interaction does not always involve
linguistic simplification. It may also include:

Elaboration
Slower speech rate
Gesture
The provision of additional contextual cues

Examples of Comprehension checks

Clarification requests
modifications Self-repetition or paraphrase
Nothing is learned unless it has been
noticed.
Learners realize certain language
features.
These features will enter the learners
own second language system.
L2 learners could not begin to acquire a
language feature until they had become
aware of it in the input.
Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory
Language development takes place in the social
interactions between individuals.
L2 learners advance to higher levels of linguistic
knowledge when they interact with
knowledgeable speakers.
Learning occurs when the interaction takes
place at the learners zone of proximal
development (ZPD).
The ZPD is the
difference between
what a learner can do
without help and
what he or she can
do with help.
Learning is thought to occur when an individual
interacts with an interlocutor within his or her zone
of proximal development (ZPD)-that is, in a situation
in which the learner is capable of performing at a
higher level because there is support from an
interlocutor.
 The ZPD
The Z P D is a metaphorical
location in which learners co-
construct knowledge in
collaboration with an
interlocutor.
The emphasis in ZPD is on
development and how
learners co-construct
knowledge based on their
interaction with their
interlocutor.
Krashen's i+ 1
In Krashen's i+ 1, the input
comes from outside the learner
and the emphasis is on the
comprehensibility of input that
includes language structures
that are just beyond the
learner's current
developmental level.
 There is no agreement on a complete
theory of second language acquisition yet.
Each theoretical framework has a different
focus and it has its limitations.
1. Behaviorism: emphasizing the role of the
environment, but ignoring the mental
processes that are involved in learning.
2. Innatism: emphasizes the role of innate abilities.
But it is based on intuitions and not solid
evidence.
3. Information processing and connectionism:
involving controlled laboratory experiments
where human learning is similar to computer
processing.
4. Interactionist position: modification of
interaction promotes language acquisition and
development.