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SECOND LANGUAGE ADQUISITION: RECONCILING THEORIES

SLA THEORIES

BEHAVIORISM

ACCULTURATION

UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR HYPOTHESIS

COMPREHENSION HYPOTHESIS

INTERACTION HYPOTHESIS

OUTPUT HYPOTHESIS

(LINGUALIZATION)

SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY (SCT)

CONNECTIONISM

SLA AS A CHAOTIC/COMPLEX SYSTEM

Stimulus - response

Learning is an observable behavior

As a response in the form of mechanic repetition

it undermines the role of mental processes

However, it gave birth to contrastive analysis, error analysis & interlanguage studies

SLA is the result of the social & psychological integration of the learner with the target language

Every human being is biologically endowed with a language faculty

The Language Acquisition Device by Chomsky

Responsable for the initial state of language development

Learning does not occur in sequenced stages, but rather in parallel, i.e. in different parts of the brain simultaneously

Krashen's monitor model

Also known as both input hypothesis or comprehension hypothesis

Emphasizing the mental process as responsible for acquisition

Linear perspective: a cause and effect relation between input and acquisition

Also, grammatical structured is acquired in a predictable order

Hatch & Long points out that first one interacts verbally an out of it syntactic structures are developed

Modifications in interactions are consistently found in sucessful SLA

Interactions invoke innate and environmental factors to explain SLA

Practicing the language helps Ss observe their own production

Ss may notice a gap between what they want to say and what they can say, leading them to recognize what they do not know, or know partially.

It also triggers reflection, a metalinguistic function

Individual emerges from social interaction

Language is a cultural artifact that mediates social and psychological activities

Ss observe others using language and imitate them.

Scaffolding: the assistance one learner gets from other person and which enables him to perform a learning task

Some mental processes can occur in a parallel or simultaneous way and that knowledge is distributed among the various interconnections

A set of connections within a dynamic system that moves in the direction of the "edge of chaos" considered as a zone of creativity with the maximum potential for learning.

Learning is the result of complex interactions between individual and environment.

Teachers' role is to "disturb" a zone of stability and provoke the chaos that results in a zone of creativity (edge of chaos) where small changes can occur, creating significant effects on learning processes.

To encourage constant contact of the student with as many forms of input as possible and to promote interactions among various speakers (learners, competent speakers and narite speakers).

1. The rate of exposure to the target language

2. The diversity of authentic input

3. The richness of interactions

4. The low level of anxiety

5. The rate of autonomy or control of one's own learning