Terminology used...

SLA (second language acquisition research)

• SLA
LA2 (second language acquisition)
• LA2
NS (Native Speaker)
• NS
NNS (Non Native Speaker)
• NNS
TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other
• TESOL languages)
• TEFL TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language)
• ESL ESL (English as a second language)
• L1/SL First language (L1) / source language (SL)
• L2 Second language (L2) / target language (TL)
• TL
A brief Intro to Second Language
Acquisition Research...

• Research on how languages are learned from the 1940s

onwards.
• Recognised as a discipline in its own right in the 1970s
• Heavily influenced by research on first language acquisition
• Relatively new discipline, therefore much conflict to be
found in the literature
• We are in effect talking about the brain...solution to LA is a
long way off!
 The Big Three
Theories:
• Behaviourist position
• Innatist/mentalist position
• Interactionist position
 “What do you mean?”
 “Say what I say”
 “Read this”
 “It’s all in your mind”

 EXTERNAL PROCESS
 INTERNAL PROCESS
 TWO WAY PROCESS
 ONE WAY PROCESS
The behaviourist : “Say
what I say“
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1957) Verbal Behaviour
• Speech as observable behaviour
• LA1 = acquisition of a set of behaviours in a process
of imitation and habit formation
• Stimulus response reinforcement
The behaviourist : “Say
what I say“
• LA2 = process of overcoming habits of the NL in
order to acquire new habits of the TL.
• Pedagogical implications: imitation, dialogue
A bit like Bart hanging
memorisation and pattern drill out with the wrong crowd!
• Errors = first language habits interfering with the
acquisition of second language habits

 Contrastive analysis (CA)

Can you think of examples of Behaviourism from our teaching practice?

 Contrastive
Analysis (CA)
Robert Lado
• Hypothesis: Where there are similarities between the two languages, the
learner will acquire the target language structures with ease; where there are
differences, the learner will have difficulty.
 positive and negative transfer
• Explains Spanish-Italian speakers’ ability to comprehend each other without
having studied the L2
• Learning about the learner through their slips/errors & mistakes
• But: over- / under prediction of errors!

Can you think of examples of CA from our teaching practice?

 Challenging the
behaviourists
Behaviourist view accounts for some of the regular and routine aspects of
language learning, transfers both + and -, however, it cannot explain more
complex grammatical structures and creative word-formation processes:

Child: “ I want some poppy seed bread”.

Mother: “ Wait until it’s defrosted”
Child: “But I like it frossed.”

Other examples from your experience???

adapted quotes from Lightbrown and Spada,1999:13

The innatist/mentalist : “It‘s all
in your mind.”
• 1959: Noam Chomsky’s review of Skinner’s Verbal Behaviour.
• Innate abilities; all human beings are biologically programmed
for language
• Chomsky and Universal Grammar (UG)
• UG = mental trip switches activated by minimal input: ‘the
little black box’
• Talking is like any other skill…
• ...agree?
 Universal
Grammar/LAD
• Language Acquisition Device / Universal Grammar contains all and only the
principles universal to all human languages…just as the leg has evolved to
enable us to stand upright and walk!
• Just a few samples of the language serve as a trigger to activate the LAD / UG
• Child then matches innate knowledge to the structures of the particular
language in the environment , thus, acquisition occurs

Can you think of examples of LAD/UG from our teaching practice?

CPH in Mentalist
Theory
Eric Lenneberg: Critical Period Hypothesis

LAD works successfully only if it is stimulated at the right

time.

adolescence

Any bearing on our teaching practice?

The Input
Hypothesis
• Stephen Krashen 1980‘s, slightly dated view of
the NS role.
• Learners need to have access to
comprehensible input, that is input slightly
beyond their current level (i+1)
• Conscious learning acts only as an editor
(monitor) of subconscious acquisition
• Acquisition occurs when the affective filter is
down
 I+1 pedagogical
implications
• Supply interesting comprehensible input in low anxiety situations, do not force
early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when
they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying
communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting
production. (Krashen)

• Formal grammar instruction of limited utility as it fuels conscious learning

rather than subconscious acquisition although it may lower the affective filter
for some learners

Can you think of examples of I+1 from our teaching practice?

Challenging mentalist
theories
• They do not explain how children and LA2 learners figure
out how to interact with other speakers and how to use
language appropriately in certain situations.
• Chomsky and Krashen claim that all you need is input to
start the LAD or creative construction, but not just any
input works. What is needed is interaction with speakers
of the language which is being acquired.
• Swain’s question:Can one’s own output be considered
useful input for processing and LA?
Interactionist:“What do you
mean?”
Michael Long
• Language develops as a result of the complex interplay between the uniquely
human characteristics of the child and the environment in which the child
develops. (Nature/Nurture)
• Crucial element is the conversational give-and-take between children and adults.
• Motherese / Caretaker talk
Interactionist : “What do
you mean?”
In LA2 the crucial element is the modification
of the native speaker’s utterances, which is
negotiated in the interaction.

Examples: comprehension checks,

clarification requests, self-repetition or
paraphrase
Interactionist :“What do
you mean?”
Collaborative discourse

The formation of linguistic hypotheses springs

from conversational interaction, insofar as
learners build their utterances on those of
proficient speakers.

= scaffolding -Vygotsky
Can you think of examples of Interactionism from our teaching practice?
Interactionist : “What
do you mean?”
Pedagogical implications:
• Give learners opportunities to negotiate meaning
with each other and you, the teacher!
• There is such thing as meaningful teacher talk!
• Provide variety of input & output!
 Lessons shaped by theory…?
● Principled Eclecticism ● Total Physical Response
● The Listening Approach ● Direct Method
● Task-Based Learning ● The Natural Approach
● The Silent Way ● Computer Assisted Language Learning
● Grammar-Translation ● Humanistic Approaches
● The Lexical Approach ● Suggestopaedia
● Community Language Learning ● The Communicative Approach
● Test Teach Test ● ARC/CRA/RAC
● CLIL ● PPP
● Dogme ● Demand High

Which principles guide your teaching and why?

Further
Reading