Language Acquisition and Learning: Theories and Processes

Acquisition

is the process of internalizing a language in a context where that language is used as the usual means of communication. It is a subconscious process of which the individual is not aware. A language is acquired when the process occurs naturally or when the process is not externally guided.

Learning

is the process of internalizing a language as a result of formal study, typically in a classroom situation. It is a conscious process, much like what one experiences in school.

SL:

refers to any language acquired after the mother tongue or native language (the one acquired in the family), regardless it is second, third, etc. Normally, it is officially spoken in one’s country.

FL:

refers to any language learned after the native language. Foreign languages are usually learned in a classroom in one’s home country and are not officially spoken.

SL Acquisition

is a branch of Applied Linguistics.

Applied Linguistics

is the study of theories about learning and teaching and how they influence teaching today.

Theories of Learning:

Behaviourism

: it emphasizes the essential role of the environment in the process of language learning- (Skinner)

Mentalism:

it gives priority to the learner’s innate characteristics.

Constructivism

: learners are responsible for the construction of their own learning.

Chomsky’s theory of FLA:

Human beings are natively equipped with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which enables the child to seek out linguistic processes and construct his own language from the linguistic data offered by the environment. Therefore, according to Chomsky, there is much emphasis on the role of mental processes rather than on the contribution of the environment in the language acquisition process.

Structural View

: Language is a series of unique structures. They emphasize the structural meaning rather than the lexical or the situational meaning. The development of pattern of structural drill. Pattern practice and drilling were essential to provide the student practice in certain structures; they compared L1 and L2 and saw what structures were similar and which caused interference.

Functional View:

language is more than a set of structures. Language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning. This view emphasizes the semantic and communicative dimension rather than the grammatical characteristics. The organization of contents is not done in structural terms but is based on meanings and functions.

Interactional view:

language is the result of: a. The relationship between language and cognition: language is influenced by our general knowledge of the world. b. The innate feature of some specific knowledge: innate abilities for language acquisition. c. The existence of interactive processes between adults and children: data provided by the environment are the base for the language construction.

TOLL

Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis; Error Analysis Theory; Interlanguage Theory; Creative Construction Theory; Monitor Model.

Fossilization

: internalization of errors. It is extremely rare for the learner of an L2 to achieve full native-like competence. Selinker coined the term ‘fossilization’ to refer to this phenomenon - non-target forms become fixed in the interlanguage. Krashen five main hypotheses that state the processes that determine the acquisition of a second language:

the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis;

the Monitor hypothesis;

the Natural Order hypothesis;

the Input hypothesis and the Affective Filter hypothesis

: It consists of the affective filter, a mental block that prevents the acquirer from fully utilizing the comprehensible input they receive for language acquisition due to negative emotional responses to one's environment.

Communicative Competence

can be defined as the language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately.