Second Language Acquisition Processes & Theories

Second Language Acquisition Processes & Theories

1. Universal Grammar

   • Theorists
     • *Noam Chomsky
       • Richard Montague, Lydia White, Steven Pinker
   • Description
     • All languages share universal rules & principles
       • e.g. a distinction between nouns and verbs
     • Humans are hard-wired for language development
       • "Language Acquisition Device" (LAD) UG provides a "metaphor for the human linguistic potential" (Razfar)
     • Each language has unique rules & systems for rule application
       • There are a finite number of grammatical structures possible.
     • We can generate completely new language structures
       • "Poverty of Stimulus"

2. Monitor Model

   • Theorists
     • Henry Krashen
   • Description
     • 1. Natural Order Hypothesis
       • "Rules of language acquired in predictable order"
     • 2. Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis
       • "Acquisition is using language for real communication"
       • "Learning is knowing about language"
     • 3. Monitor Hypothesis
       • "conscious learning... is used as a monitor or editor"
     • 4. Input Hypothesis
       • "we acquire language by receiving comprehensible input"
     • 5. Affective Filter Hypothesis
       • "mental blocks/affective filters prevent input comprehensibility"
     • Summary of Monitor Model
       • Language instruction just slightly above the student's comprehensible input is useful.
       • Speaking cannot be taught directly; it is a result of internalizing comprehensible input.

3. Automaticity

   • Theorists
     • John R. Anderson
     • Robert DeKeyser
   • Description
     • Complex cognitive skills follow acquisition pattern
       • Graduated process of procedurization
     • Repeated practice leads to automaticity
       • Automaticity is performing skill without conscious control
     • Increasingly efficient process
       • Progression from "controlled" processes to "automatic" ones
     • Research continues to support
       • e.g. recent Degner, et al. study of affective connotations
     • Humans have limited capacity for complex skills
       • Processing sub-components involved in a skill requires more attention resources.

4. Sociocultural Theory

   • Theorists
     • Lev Vygotsky
       • James P. Lantolf
   • Description
     • Sociocultural
       • According to Vygotsky and later theorists, the idea that human minds function according to participation and accommodation of cultural and mediation integrated into social activities
     • Internalization
       • The process whereby language and other social artifacts become part of a person's mental and psychological processes
     • Regulation (self, other, or object regulation)
       • Stages of focus where words focus on certain aspects or areas of an individual's environment to shape biological realities into cultural concepts
     • Zone of Proximal Development
       • Difference between what someone can do alone and what someone can do with mediation
     • Mediation
       • A psychological theory that argues that humans use higher-level cultural tools such as language, literacy, and logic in a conscious effort to control the biologically-endowed mental processes of the brain
     • Imitation
       • Cognitive activity with the goal of forming conscious psychological development

5. Competition Model

   • Theorists
     • Elizabeth Bates
       • Brian MacWhinney
   • Description
     • Language acquisition
     • Sentence Processing
       • Individuals use linguistic cues to get meaning from language, rather than relying on linguistic universals.
     • Interpretation and communication
       • When aquiring an L2, learners sometimes receive competing cues and must decide with cue(s) is more relevant for determine meaning.
     • Universal Meaning

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