Learning, acquisition and development.

Learning, acquisition and development.

1. First acquisition language theories

   • Behaviorist
     • “Infants learn oral language from other human role models through a process involving imitation, rewards, and practice. Human role models in an infant’s environment provide the stimuli and rewards,” (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004).
     • It has founded by J.B. Watson.
     • It is a theory of native language learning.
     • The major principle of the behaviorist theory rests on the analyses of human behavior in observable stimulus-response interaction and the association between them. E.L.T.
     • stimulus and response work together.
     • Child emitting sounds, groups of sounds.
     • Basic tenents of behaviorist theory:
       • Behaviorist theory dwell on spoken language.
       • Behaviorist theory is the habit formation theory of language teaching and learning, reminding us of the learning of structural grammar.
       • The stimulus-response chain.
       • All learning is the establishment of habits as the result of reinforcement and reward.
       • The learning due to its socially conditioned nature, can be the same for everyone.
       • It is a matter of conditioning by means of imitation, practice, reinforcement, and habituation, which constitute the paces of language acquisition.
   • Innatism
     • Noam Chomsky (2002) stated the innatism theory.
     • Children were born with the ability to acquire language (innate).
     • Innatism ability of biological language acquisition device (LAD).
     • Infants were prewired to analyze linguistics.
     • Infants had innate universal grammar.
     • Children tried to make hypothesis instead of imitating the language.
   • Interactionist
     • Interactionist believed the importance of nature and nurture in the children’s language acquisition process.
     • It helps the children to make the language function properly in the society.
     • The language ability that innately possessed by the children would complete by the process of adjusting the language for the correct purpose and context.
     • the meaning of the vocabulary within the right context and use.
     • Social interaction becomes one of the keys to build children’s language proficiency.
     • The social environment is the key to process their language acquisition.

2. Second language acquisition theories

   • Behaviorists perspective in SLA
     • Second language learners learn from repeated practice and being rewarded for correct answers.
     • Teacher must use reinforcement after the students has produce the second language.
     • Activities are base upon repeating to form habit.
   • Innatism perspective in SLA
     • Second language learner innate ability with so-called creative construction theory.
     • Students constructed the rules of the second language creatively that it did not depend on their first language construction.
   • Interaction perspective in SLA
     • It focuses on the interaction between the native and non-native speakers or first language and second language learner.
     • Interaction help second language learner to acquire the language.
     • Mutual interaction named negotiation of meaning.
     • It involves the process of give-and-take and trial-and-error.
     • Native speaker will modify their language production to be understood by a non-native.
     • Non-native speaker will try to produce language that is understood by the native speaker.
     • We help the communication succeed like gesture and picture
     • This theory provides the opportunity for native and non-native speakers to learn the ways to make the communication.
     • It involved the skills in asking for clarification, expressing ideas, expressing meaning, and understanding gestures.
   • Sociocultural theory
     • It was developed by Lev Vygotsky.
     • It is developed by an individual through engagement in social and cultural activities with other people, objects, and events.
     • Acknowledge the important role of social relationships and culturally constructed artifacts that organize human forms of thinking in a unique way.
     • Human cognition can be systematically investigated without isolating it from social context.
     • Social environment is not the context for, but rather the source of, mental development.
     • SCT considers the complex interaction between the individual acting with mediational means and the sociocultural context.