Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition

1. Behaviorist Theory S-R-R

   • B. F. Skinner
   • The behaviorist theory predicted that any human behavior could be learned through a process of stimulus, response, and positive and negative reinforcement (S-R-R).

2. Comprehensible Output

   • When learners talk in their second language they notice a gap in there knowledge of their second language and what they want to say. When they notice the gap they are predisposed to modify their second language speech to pay attention to their second language's structure or grammar.
   • Swain

3. Social Environment

   • Vygotsky
   • He emphasized the social environment (the other people who interact with the child) on children's learning. He argued that if everything is learned socially, then what is the role of social inaction in the language acquisition process?

4. Universal Grammar

   • Every language can have their own unique features, but they all share the same basic things. For example, they all share verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
   • Noam Chomsky

5. Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

   • Noam Chomsky
   • Children learn to understand and speak at a remarkably young age. They are able to produce proper and unique language even in infancy, but they are not merely mimicking language patterns they hear. They are creating language themselves.

6. Adaptive Control of Thought (ACT)

   • R.C. Anderson
   • Intelligence is just the gathering together and fine-tuning of many small units of knowledge that in total produce complex thinking.