THEORIES ON LEARNING AND ACQUISITION OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

UNIT 2 THEORIES ON LEARNING AND ACQUISITION OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. THE TREATMENT OF ERROR.

1. INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 2. THEORIES ON LEARNING AND ACQUISITION OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. 2.1. General theories of Second Language Acquisition. 2.1.1. Behaviourist learning theories. 2.1.2. Cognitivist (or mentalist) theories. 2.1.3. Interactionalis learning theories. 2.2. The Acculturation Model. 2.3. Accommodation Theory. 2.4. Discourse Theory. 2.5. The Variable Competence Model. 2.6. The Monitor Model: The Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis - The Monitor Hypothesis - The Natural Order Order Hypothesis - The Input Hypothesis - The Affective Filter Hypothesis. 2.7.The Universal Hypothesis. 3. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE 4. THE TREATMENT OF ERROR

1. INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION. The aim of this study is to provide a framework of the most relevant theories that have been proposed to account for how languages are learnt. So we will be looking at different approaches about the ways students achieve the ability to speak  and understand a foreign language. The information will be mainly taken from R. Ellis (1985), S.D. S.D. Krashen (1981), S. Corder(1981). 2. THEORIES ON LEARNING AND ACQUISITION OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. 2.1. General Theories of Second Language Acquisition. According to Ellis, second language acquisition is a complex process, involving many interrelated factors and it has always tended to follow the footsteps of first language acquisition. The term „Second language acquistion‟ (SLA) refers to the subconscious or conscious process by which a language other than the mother tongue is learnt in a natural or tutored setting. Initial studies were based on a variety of perspectives in the fields of linguistics, psychology, anthropology, and sociology. More recently, second language research has developed into an independent nonapplied disciplined focused on learner‟s hypotheses, stages in language acquisition, characterization of  language proficiency, etc. So regarding the learning of languages, three main tendencies have approached the question of how language is learnt: behaviourist learning theories, cognitivist (or mentalist) theories and interactionalist learning theories.

5. CONCLUSION Thus, Behaviourism emphasizes the essential role of the environment in the process process of language learning. learning. This view simply claims that language development is the result of a set of  habits. The association of a particular response with a particular stimulus constituted a habit, and it was this habit that researchers

such as Pavlov in Russia and Skinner in the United States set out to investigate. This theory claims that both L1 and L2 acquirers receive linguistic input from speakers in their environment, and positive reinforcement for their correct repetitions and imitations. When language learners‟ responses are reinforced positively, they acquire the language relatively easily. Mentalist theories give priority to the learners‟ innate characteristics from a cognitive and psychological approach. This came about as a result of Skinner‟s work being attacked by Chomsky. For Chomsky, language is innate and not formed from habits. The sentences are generated by the student‟s competence and not by imitation and reinforcement. He claimed that a child built up his knowledge of his mother tongue b y means of  hypothesis testing. Learners do not acquire an endless list of rules but limited set of transformations which can be used over and over again. So mentalist theory focuses on communicative proficiency rather than on mere mastery of structures. Similar to these ideas of FLA is the proposals on the Interlanguage Theory which will be analyzed later in some detail. A third approach, Interactional Analysis was proposed in the 1960‟s by Flanders. He developed a system for observing and coding verbal interchanges between the teacher and the students, at all instructional levels. This approach tries to integrate learner characteristics and environmental factors in their explanation. It refers to the way native speakers interact in conversation with learners and modify their speech in order to be comprehensible After these general approaches, we will now look at some of the theories that have been specifically focused on the acquisition of language, beginning with the Acculturation Model.

2.2. The Acculturation Model. The Acculturation Model. As cited in Ellis, the term “acculturation” is defined as „the process of becoming adapted to a new culture‟. It is determined by the degree of  social/psychological distance between the learner and the target language community. The social distance is determined b y the factors that may be connected with wealth, poverty, power, etc. that the learner, as the member of a particular social group, has come to expect. The psychological factors (such as natural or preconceived ideas against the target language culture) affect the learner as an individual, not as part of a social group. A central premise on this model is that a learner will control the degree to which he acquires the second language. 2.3. Accommodation Theory. The Speech Accommodation Theory derives from the research of Giles & Smith (1979) and focuses on the uses of  language in multilingual communities. It refers to communicators‟ efforts to make themselves more similar to the target; native speakers adjust their speech when they are talking to non-native speakers to improve communication. The result is that the students can sometimes learn false English. 2.4. Discourse Theory. The Discourse Theory tries to maintain language naturally and not continuously graded down for students. It is proposed by Halliday (1975) but it derives from Hyme‟s description of  communicative competence. According to discourse theorists, language acquisition will successfully take place when language learners “know” how and when to use the language in various settings. A language learner needs to “know” conversational strategies to acquire the language. The learner is placed in situations where he discovers the meaning of language by participating in conversations.

2.5. The Variable Competence Model. The Variable Competence Model focuses on the learner‟s ability to use linguistic knowledge in different situations with different purposes. This model is proposed by Ellis and extends on the work of Tarone and Bialystok. It claims that the way a language is learnt is a reflection of the way it is used. Therefore, two distinctions can be made in this model; one refers to the process of language use, understood in terms of linguistic knowledge and the ability to make use of this knowledge, and the other to the product.

without certain linguistic universals. This view emphasizes the role of mental processes rather than the contribution of the environment in the language acquisition process. As we have seen, Noam Chomsky claimed that the child‟s knowledge of his mother tongue was derived from a Universal Grammar which consisted of a set of innate linguistic principles to control sentence formation. This hypothesis uses the knowledge that a student has of his mother tongue and the rules that he brings to his learning of the L2. This is the form for interlanguage , which we will now discuss in more detail.

2.6. The Monitor Model The Monitor Model. Terrel and Krashen‟s Monitor Model (1977) is one of the most well-known of existing theories in second language acquisition, focusing on teaching communicative abilities, Krashen and Terrel‟s theory of the Natural Approach is based on five central hypothesis and related to them, a number of factors which influence second language acquisition. So first, the acquisition-learning hypothesis where the terms „acquired‟ and „learnt‟ are defined as subconscious and conscious study of language; secondly, the natural order hypothesis which affirms that grammatical structures are „acquired‟ in a predictable order; thirdly, the monitor hypothesis, where the monitor is the device that learners use to edit their language performance; fourth, the input hypothesis, here the theory is that learners acquire knowledge if the input is a little above their current level of his competence; and finally, the affective filter hypothesis, where Krashen gives a framework to the learner‟s emotional state or attitudes that may pass, impede, or  block the necessary input to acquisition.

3. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE The term interlanguage was first coined by Selinker (1972) and refers to the systematic knowledge of a second language which is independent of both the learner‟s first language and the target language. He introduced the term interlanguage to describe the set of rules that a particular leaner has acquired at a particular stage of learning. The term is related to a theory of  learning that stresses the learner-internal factors which contribute to language acquisition. An important mentalist feature that needs mentioning is that the child builds up his knowledge of his mother tongue by means of hypothesis-testing. Corder suggested that learners form hypotheses about the target language depending on the input data they are exposed to. In this way, they build a hypothetical grammar which is then tested receptively and productively. One point on which there is a broad agreement is that L2 learners generally do not reach the same competence as native speakers, their final stage grammar in not the target language grammar. Thus, certain rules and items “fossilize”. The term “fossilization” is used to describe the set of linguistic structures that are deviant from the target language and remain so no matter the length or type of exposure or explicit correction. It‟s a process by which language acquisition ceases at a point long before a true mastery of TL. Corder (1981) suggests that both L1

2.7. The Universal Hypothesis The Universal Hypothesis. In the word of Ellis, this hypothesis states that language learning would be impossible

and L2 learners make errors in order to test out certain hypotheses about the nature of the language they are learning. He saw the making of errors as a strategy. 4. THE TREATMENT OF ERROR Error analysis has been approached from different perspectives. As we have seen, according to Behaviourist theories, language learning was a process of habit formation and incorrect forms of the language should be avoided or corrected as soon and efficiently as possible. It was not until the late 1960s that there was a real interest in Error Analysis. It involved collecting samples of learner language, identifying the errors in th e sample, describing and classifying then according to their hypothesized causes, and evaluating their seriousness. According to the Natural Order Hypothesis, proposed by Krashen (1983), the acquisition of  grammatical structures takes place in a predictable order in which errors are a signal of progression. Errors are no longer seen as unwanted forms but and an inevitable part of the acquisition of a language. This is the idea that appears in the modern curriculum where errors, or mistakes, are seen as an important part of the student‟s learning process. In the Communicative Approach the learning emphasis is placed on fluency, not accuracy. As a learner-centred methodology is proposed, learners must be involved in self-correction. Students can learn more effectively if  they can correct themselves rather than if the y are given the correct version straight away. Much of the literature dealing with error treatment is taken up with addressing whether, when and how errors should be corrected and who should correct them, but very few studies have examined the effect of error treatment on acquisition. Of  considerable interest is the extent to which teachers should correct learner‟s errors. The main conclusions are that certain types of errors are much more likely to be treated than others.

Probably the main finding of studies of error treatment is that it is and enormously complex process. 5. CONCLUSION. In the preceding sections we have examined the main features of language learning proposals in terms of approaches and theories, and we have also referred to the concept of  interlanguage and the treatment of error as important parts in the process of language learning. The main implication of language acquisition theories nowadays is obviously the fact that applied linguists, methodologist and language teachers should view the acquisition of a language not only as a matter of environmental factors but also as a matter of innate qualities. These language models have to be applied and adapted in the classroom practice creatively. It is ultimately up to the teacher to make a judgement as to the needs of the students under his control, and to teach them accordingly.