Model of second language learning

Krashen’s theory

            Is a theory developed by the linguist Stephen Krashen which tries to explain the acquisition of a second language through five hypotheses. By a second language it could be said that is a process by which people learn a language in addition to their native one.    

            Krashen also makes emphasis in the difference between acquisition and learning establishing that:   

            As it was mentioned before there are five hypotheses that are fundamental in terms of acquisition of a language.

                        - The acquisition-learning hypothesis: According to Krashen adults have two different processes in the second language, learning subconscious (acquisition), that is using the language in a particular context and consciously (learning) having knowledge about the rules of language.   

                        - The monitor hypothesis: The learner learns systems acts as a monitor to what they are producing.

                        - The natural order hypothesis:  The Learner acquires the rule of a particular language in a predictable order, is like the first language process.

                        - The input hypothesis: The learner acquires language by receiving and understanding comprehensible input.

                        - The affective filter hypothesis: Affective elements that can block the acquisition of a language such as anxiety, personal problems, lack of motivation, ect.

                        The lower affective filters the have the better acquisition they reach.

            It could be said that the main purpose of this theory, is to give people the ability to communicate with native speakers in a particular language.   

Connectionism & Information processing

                             Connectionism, also called the computer modeling approach, is a theory which tries to explain how the human brain (the neurons) are connceted to his/her behaviour, this theory establishes that the environment plays an important role for the development of the person's knowledge. Some experiements have demostrated that through this theory people have the ability to learn some skills such as, face recognition, reading, and the detection of simple grammatical structure.

                              Connectionism is based on some components, a) A set of processing units , b) A set of modifiable connections between units, c)A learning procedure (optional).

                               By these processing units, it could be said that are the basic building blocks from which connectionist systems are constructed. The responsables of the process within the nextwork, this process depends on basic subcomponents, these are - The net input function, - The activation function, and the output function.  

                               The net imput, determines the total signal that a particular unit recieve.

                               The activation function, is the internal activity of the units.

                               The output function, the sigels sent outside of the network.

                              Information processing: Deals in the way how poeple are able to acquire, keep and use the information provided by their social context and the interaction among themselves. All this process of keeping the information is not a conscious one, however when people really focus their attention of any particular information it could be considered as a storage of the information on their working memory.

                              There are two types: short term memory and long terme memory. The short one has been defined as the limited one, where it could attend only 7 things at a time and the only action this process could do is to send this information to the long term memory or just forget the information.

                               Regarding the long term memory, has the advantage of keeping th einformation for a longer time so there is not limit on the amount of information. 

                               It is remakable as teacher to be aware of the importance of all the theories related to the acquisition of knowledge and learning. From this teachers are able to work with students using the right tools and inputs for a better acquisiton of the imformation.

                               The diagram below shows how is the process of receiving messages and the storage of them.

 Order and sequence of acquisition

                      Language has become a main object for the study of many theories and authors, establishing its characteristics, how it works and how language is acquired by people. However, is it very difficult to know for sure how this  Phnemonom called language is being acquired.

                     From this reason, researchers have builed up a hypothesis denominated "identity hypothsis"which says that first and second language acquisition have the patters in terms of acquisition of a language. However, this hypothesis can not be accepted since second language acquisition requires a more advanced cognitives and affective states.

                           For the acquisiton of a second language, learners start from a basic period called "the silent period" in which the learner only produces few words receiving inputs of the target language without producing those imputs enagaging something called private speech that allows the learner to practice importanta phrases in their minds. These memorized phrases are part of the next period called " formulaic speech which is the produce of the previous inputs whether by choice or compulsion (use of routines very common).

                          It is obviuos that there is a natural order and sequence in the adquisition of a language for learners, but the most important part, is the quantity of inputs that a learner could receive for a better and more complete acquisition of a target language.

                                                                   Error analysis   

                        Error analisis is a theory that was an alternative to contrastive analisis, this theory had a great influenced by behaviorism through which applied linguists sought to use the formal distinctions between the learners' first and second languages to predict errors. This important theory emerged besause the necesity of finding and distinguishing between errors which are systematic, and mistakes, which are not and also emerged due to the fact that the constrative analisis was unable to predict the great majority of errors made by the learner.

                        One of the most important finding of this theory is the fact that most of the errors made by the speaker is beacuse the inferences about the rules of the new language, these errors can be classified according  to basic type: omissive, additive, substitutive or related to word order, other kind of errors can be classified as errors according to the level of language: phonological errors, vocabulary or lexical errors, syntactic errors, and so on, global errors make an utterance difficult to understand, while local errors do not.

                         For learners is it important to know whick kind of errors they are pruducing in the moment of speaking, that is why this theory becomes a great help to overcome all the posible problems in terms of speaking and writing that learners can face in the acquisition of a language, error analysis can deal effectively only with learner production (speaking and writing) and not with learner reception (listening and reading).

Fossilization

                         The term fossilization refers to the ceases of develpment of a language,  at some point short of full identity with the target language. (Tarone, 1994).

                         For instance, fossilization has become a serious problem for learners since refers to errors that seem to have become permanent is the learner's second language, making a timeless reptition in the use of incorrect linguistic forms in the moment of producing the taget language. A clear example of this would be  aperson producing the same mistake over and over again: She don't like pizza. (false use of rules in the language)

                          Whether fossilization is inevitable, very likely or avoidable has long been discussed in SLA. While some scholars have argued that nativelike fluency in an L2 is not possible beyond a certain age (the critical period hypothesis),others argue that fossilization is a result of a learning environment that is far from ideal.

                            Eventhough this process of fossilization is imposible to stop, teachers of l2 must be aware of the possible reasons in wich it could take place, providing a great language acquisition enviroment among the apropiate tools and motivation to learners in order to avoid these potential problems.

 Foreigner Talk

                    Regariding foreigner talk is the simplified version of a language that native speakers use in order to address other speakers for whom this language is not a native one, especially speakers who do not know the language at all. For these natives English speakers to produce this kind of talk they need to make some adjustment in their speech.

            Adjustment of the speech:

1-Regression: Native speakers unconsciously move back through the stages of development that characterized his own acquisition of the language until he reaches an appropriate level for the person he is addressing.

2-Matching:  The native speaker evaluates the learner’s language system and then imitates the language forms he identifies in it.

                  3-Negotiation:  The native speaker simplifies and clarifies according to the feedback he obtains from the learner.

                 The use of accommodation, imitation, telegraphic condensation and conventions plays a fundamental part in this process.

                  Foreigner talk could be a great help for learners of basic levels, however, this theory is too inconsistent and unpredictable to provide any model for language learning, another negative aspect in this theory is that foreigner talk, is often based on the imitation of the incorrect speech of the non-natives becoming pidgin. 

                          Contrastive Analysis was used extensively in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in the 1960s and early 1970s, as a method of explaining why some features of a Target Language were more difficult to acquire than others. According to the behaviourist theories prevailing at the time, language learning was a question of habit formation, and this could be reinforced or impeded by existing habits. Therefore, the difficulty in mastering certain structures in a second language depended on the difference between the learners' mother language (L1) and the language they were trying to learn.

                           This theory has two versions, the weak version and the strong one.

                           The strong version, which contrast the systems of the mother language and the target language of the speaker, in order to predict the possible difficulties that a learner might face in the second language acquisition, and also helps to construct reading materials to help the student learn the target language.

                           The weak version, which uses the best linguistic knowledge available in order to account for the observed difficulties in second-language learning However,this approach makes fewer demands of contrastive theory than the strong version. The starting point of this approach is provided by real evidence from such phenomena as faulty translation, learning difficulties and residual foreign accents.

                           Interlingual stands for a  system developed by a learner of a second language who has not become fully proficient yet but is only approximating the target language preserving some features of their first language in speaking or writing the target language and creating innovations. An interlanguage is idiosyncratically based on the learners' experiences with the L2. It can ossify in any of its developmental stages. The learner creates an interlanguage using different learning strategies such as language transfer, overgeneralisation and simplification.

                          Interlanguage is based on the theory that there is a "psychological structure latent in the brain" which is activated when one attempts to learn a second language. Larry Selinker proposed the theory of interlanguage in 1972, noting that in a given situation the utterances produced by the learner are different from those native speakers would produce had they attempted to convey the same meaning. This comparison reveals a separate linguistic system. This system can be observed when studying the utterances of the learners who attempt to produce a target language.

                          An interlangue could also be a language use by speakers of different languages in oder to comunicate each other.

Intralingual  interferece "reflects the general characteristics of rule and  learning such as a faulty generalisation, incomplete application of rules and failures to learn conditions under which rules aplly"

(Richards,1971).

                                                                         Affective Factors

                          For the acquisition of a language, there are many elements that should be taken into account, not only cognitives elements but affective elements as well, that if ther are left behind it could cause an obstruction in the acquisition of a second language.  THese affective factors are related to the learner's emotional state and acttitude toward the target language.

                         Researchers believe that language learners all possess an affective filter which affect language acquisition. If a student possesses a high filter they are less likely to engage in language learning because of shyness, concern for grammar or other factors. Students possessing a lower affective filter will be more likely to engage in learning because they are less likely to be impeded by other factors. The affective filter is an important component of second language learning.

                          Among these particular filters, it could mentioned the most important ones:  Anxiety, Personality Factors and Motivation.

                           Anxiety: stands for a physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components (Seligman, Walker & Rosenhan, 2001). These components combine to create the feelings that we typically recognize as fear, apprehension, or worry. Anxiety is often accompanied by physical sensations such as heart palpitation, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, stomach aches, or headache.

                           When there is preset of anxiety there is a big possibility of damaging  the student's learning process, this filter is almost present when the student fears being ridiculed for making mistakes, very common in teenagers and adulsts who are more aware in a particular situation where the learning process is taking place.

                            Personality factors: Is not an easy job to acquire a second language, however, the personality of a person can be a determiner factor in the learning process in terms of personality issues (introvert or extrovert),it's important to mention that the social context would be a great significant aspect for the developing of the target language.

                             According to some reasearchs,an extrovert or outgoing student has a great opportunity to acquire a second language since the process could turn easier due to the fact that they are willing to communicate no mather what it takes, no mather if they succeed, while introvert students who are always shy or afraid of talking or making mistakes have less possibilities of achieving the necessary skills to acquire a target language.

                            Motivation: Perhaps one of the most important aspects that teachers must take into account for the process of acquisition of a target language or any particular issue. It is quite noticeable that the acquisition of any second language could be a hard goal to achieve, however, if teachers offer a motivated enviroment, among appropraited acitvities and tools based on the student's necessities and likes, students would feel confortable and the laerning processqould be a more effective one.

                             There are many different kinds of motivation; these are often divided into types such as integrative or instrumental, intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation refers to the desire to do something for an internal reward. Most studies have shown it to be substantially more effective in long-term language learning than extrinsic motivation, for an external reward such as high grades or praise. Integrative and instrumental orientations refer to the degree that a language is learned "for its own sake" (integratively) or for instrumental purposes. Studies have not consistently shown either form of motivation to be more effective than the other, and the role of each is probably conditioned by various personality and cultural factors.

 PAPER SLA.doc