PSYCHOLINGUISTIC THEORIES

PSYCHOLINGUISTIC THEORIES

1. Cognitivism

   • Theorists
     • Piaget
     • Meisel
     • Lakoff & Langacker
     • McLaughlin
     • Bialystok
     • Schmidt
   • Language acquisition
     • Stages in Learning (Ellis)
       • Cognitive
       • Associative
       • Autonomous
     • Builds through practice, conscious control and eventual automation
     • Requires input, active processing and output practice
   • Fundamental principles
     • Part of general cognitive processes
     • Knowledge is constructed through assimilation and accommodation
     • Developmental stages (Piaget)
       • Sensorimotor (0-2 years)
       • Pre-Operational (2-7 years)
       • Concrete Operations (7-11 years)
       • Formal Operations (12-16 years)
   • Schemata
     • Schemas
       • Develop through assimilation and accommodation
       • Gradually grow more generalized and differentiated with maturity
     • Equilibrium
       • Cognitive Balance: Achieved when new information fits existing schemas or leads to new schema construction
   • L2 learning
     • Focus on form helps incorporate input into long-term memory.
     • Begin with controlled learning, transition to automation.
     • Requires exposure to language input, focus on form, and feedback loops.

2. Interactionism

   • Benefits
     • Enhances comprehension
     • Fosters language development
     • Connects cognitive growth with social and cultural contexts
   • L2 acquisition
     • Classroom vs Natural Contexts
       • Classroom interaction
         • Controlled, with pedagogical aims
         • Teachers adapt discourse based on learner proficiency
       • Natural interaction
         • Unstructured, social interaction-driven
         • Often resembles "foreigner talk"
     • Feedback and negotiation
       • Opportunities for
         • Understanding input
         • Producing input
         • Receiving feedback
     • Input modifications
       • Native/fluent speakers naturally modify speech for learners
         • Simplifications
         • Similar to "motherese" in L1 acquisition
       • The goal is to ensure comprehension and communication
   • Vigotsky
     • Language acquisition tied to social interaction and transmission
     • Cognitive development is related to the environment
     • Language as a tool for higher cognitive functions
   • Long
     • Interaction aids acquisition through
       • Modified input
       • Feedback and negotiation of meaning
       • Production of output
   • ZPD
     • Gap between current and potential knowledge
     • Scaffolding is provided by teachers, peers and tools
     • Adult guidance
   • Fundamental principles
     • Combines innate readiness with language input
     • Emphasizes social interaction
     • Language develops through commmunication need

3. Behaviourism

   • Historical context
     • Only data obtained through experiments were valid
     • Language studies influenced by empiricism
     • Growth of the experimental approach at the beginning of the 20th century
   • Key concepts
     • Tabula rasa
       • Human mind as blank slate
     • Conditioning
       • Environmental stimuli and individual responses are associated
     • Reinforcement
       • Learning is shaped by positive or negative feedback
   • Fundamental principles
     • Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement
       • A stimulus provokes a response
       • Complex behaviours are built by conditioned responses
       • Responses are reinforced
     • Appropriate for animals and humans
   • Language Acquisition
     • L1
       • Repetition of external stimuli
       • Children imitate what they listen
       • Repeated and reinforced responses become automatic
     • L2
       • New linguistic habits
       • Interference with the L1 habits
       • Correction to eliminate bad habits
   • Audiolingual method (Army Method)
     • Structural repetition drills
     • Positive or negative reinforcement
     • Emphasis on pronunciation through repetition
   • Skinner
   • Operant conditioning
     • Responses are reinforced based on consequences
       • They become frequent and habitual

4. Innatism

   • Historical context
     • Reaction to behaviorist models
     • Chomsky introduced it in opposition to the blank slate concept
   • Key concepts
     • LAD (Language Acquisition Device)
       • Innate readiness
       • Triggered by exposure to linguistic input
     • UG (Universal Grammar)
       • Shared by all natural languages
       • Specific language rules
     • Critical Period Hypothesis
       • Feral children
       • Suggests the optimal age for language acquisition
   • Fundamental principles
     • Creative construction process
       • Forming hypothesis about linguistic rules
       • Creation of new utterances
     • Modular brain organization
       • Separation of language ability from other cognitive functions
     • Peripheral grammar
       • Language-specific features
     • Nuclear grammar
       • Common principles across languages
   • Language acquisition
     • L1
       • Input helps activate UG principles
       • Brain organizes chaotic input into grammatical structures
       • Transformation rules distinguish deep vs. surface structure
     • L2
       • Universal principles are easier to acquire than language-specific parameters
       • Challenges arise when peripheral grammar differs greatly from L1

5. Environmentalism

   • Historical context
     • Focus on contextual and affective factors in L2 acqusition
     • Based on natural language acquisition in real-world settings
     • Emphasizes social and cultural adaptation
   • Key concepts
     • Acculturation Hypothesis (Schumann)
       • Degree of cultural adaptation affects L2 acquisition
       • Social, psychological and affective factors influence learning progress
     • Pidginization
       • Simplified, unstructured language for communication between groups
     • Creole
       • Structured, complex language emerging from pidgins over generations
   • Applications
     • Insights into teaching strategies for L2
     • Gives importance to affective and cultural inclusion in curriculum planning
     • Encourages immersion programs and social interaction
   • Factors influencing acquisition
     • Facilitators
       • Feeling of belonging
       • Long-term immersion
       • Mutual integration goals between cultures
     • Hindrances
       • Perceiving the target culture as superior or unfamiliar
       • Over-reliance on perfectionism
       • Temporary stays
       • Lack of integration or socialization opportunities
   • Learning contexts
     • Natural contexts
     • Formal contexts
     • Teaching Staff and resources