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Second Language Acquisition Processes and Theories

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Comprehensible Input Hypothesis
- by Stephen Krashen
  - Language is acquired in one way only, when we understand messages. Language is acquired when we understand what is being said or what we read
    - Teachers can contribute to comprehensible input when they use pictures, images, or graphics to illustrate concepts while teaching.
Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS)
- by Jim Cummins
  - Children acquire these skills during early years of life. This is the basic language they use everyday. (Native language)
    - Conversational fluency. A conversation between two or more people in the native language.
  - Complex language acquisition that is not used in everyday conversations and can take any where from 5 to 10 years to master. Learned in school - decoding language.
    - Teachers add onto the basic language acquisition by introducing phonics, phonological awareness between the sounds of language and written language, and grammar and spelling.
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
Universal Grammar
- by Noan Chamsky
  - All language share the same basic things. Those things are nouns, verbs, and adjectives. How a language utilizes these is what makes a language different.
    - Language has unique features. The placement of nouns, verbs, and adjectives in a sentence makes the language different.
Stages of Second Language Acquisition
- by Kristina Robertson and Karen Ford
  - Second language acquisition is a gradual process. There are six stages to language acquisition. (1. Pre-production, 2. Early Production, 3. Speech Emergent 4. Beginning Fluency 5. Intermediate Fluency 6. Advanced Fluency)
    - Teachers need to be aware that ELLs may be fluent socially in their second language but not academically. Lessons should reflect this understanding and be structured the help the student reach Advanced Fluency stage.