L2 ACQUISITION THEORIES

L2 ACQUISITION THEORIES

1. BEHAVIOURISM

   • is
     • Learning is explained in terms of imitation, practice, reinforcement, and habit formation It had a powerful influence on second and foreign language teaching between the 1940s and the 1970s. The Audiolingual method. Students memorized dialogues and sentence patterns by heart. Learning a language is a process of habit formation: habits of L1 will surely interfere with the new habits of L2 that the learner wants to form=} Contrastive Analysis hypothesis

2. THE INNATIST PERSPECTIVE

   • is
     • Chomsky, 1959 Humans are born with innate knowledge of the principles of Universal Grammar: UG The existence of an innate ability containing principles that are universal to all languages. UG allows all children to acquire the language of their environment during a critical period of their development Critical Period Hypothesis.

3. THE COGNITIVIST/DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

   • is
     • No need for a separate model of the language in the mind. Language learning is explained within theories of learning. Information processing: Paying attention and practicing. Declarative knowledge becomes Procedural knowledge. Language becomes automatic. The interaction hypothesis: Modified input, opportunity to interact. Conversational modification Connectionism: The competition model: frequency of encountering certain language features in the input allow learners to make connections. The competition model.

4. CONNECTIONISM

   • posits
     • that learners form mental connections between items that co-occur, using exemplars found in language input. From this input, learners extract the rules of the language through cognitive processes common to other areas of cognitive skill acquisition. Since connectionism denies both innate rules and the existence of any innate language-learning module, L2 input is of greater importance than it is in processing models based on innate approaches, since, in connectionism, input is the source of both the units and the rules of language.

5. THE SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

   • is
     • Vygotsky’s theory proposes: Cognitive development, including language development, arises as a result of social interaction. Learning occurs how? When an individual interacts with an interlocutor within his ZPD ( a situation where the learner is capable of performing at a higher level because there is support from the interlocutor. Focus on input and output in the interaction. Cognitive development starts from the social context then become internalized.