Principles and practice in second Language Acquisition. Stephen Krashen

The Acquisition - Learning distinction.

There are two independent ways of developing the second language acquisition process.

                    a) Acquisition: Is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive,  produce and use words to understand and communicate.

                b) Learning: Is a conscious process; is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. 

The Natural Order Hypothesis.

Claims that the acquisition of grammar takes place in a predictable order. This order seemed to be independent of the learners' age, L1 background, conditions of exposure. The child second language order was different from the first language order, but different groups of second language acquires showed striking similarities.

The Monitor Hypothesis. 

This hypothesis shows how acquisition and learning are two different processes. The ability to produce utterances in a second language comes from the acquired competence. On the other hand, learning serves only as an editor, or monitor. The learned knowledge helps us to make corrections or change the output of the acquired system. 

Krashen has stated three conditions to be met to access the learned system. The three conditions for Monitor are:  

    1. Time. Second language learners need enough time to think consciously about the rules they learned. 
    2. Focus on form. Besides time, the learner needs to focus not only on what to say but also how to say it, the form. 
    3. Know the rule. Second language learners should know the rules of the language in order to use them.  

Krashen has divided second language learners when using the Monitor process into three types due to their individual differences. These three types are: 
      a) Monitor overusers.
      b) Monitor underusers.
      c) Optimal users.

The Input Hypothesis. 
Krashen's attempt to explain how the learner acquires a second language. So, the Input hypothesis is only concerned with 'acquisition', not 'learning'.
Conditions:
     1) The acquire must understand input that contains i+1. The teacher must provide comprehensible input.
     2) According to our traditional assumption we first learn structures, but the input hypothesis claims the opposite, we acquire by "going for meaning" first, and as a result we acquire strucute.
     3) According to this hypothesis is simply to provide comprensible input.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis. 

This hypothesis, embodies Krashen's view that a number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative role in second language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. When the filter is 'up' it impedes language acquisition. On the other hand, positive affect is necessary, but not sufficient on its own, for acquisition to take place. 

Age and Acquisition

     1. In your opinion which 3 of the 7 myths are of importance to dispel? Why?

          Speech Development: it tells that a child first develops listening, then speaking, then    reading, and finally writing. I think that develop of those skills depends on the learners' skills, because for he/she could be more easy first reading and then listening.

          Imitation: It tells that we must be a mimic like a small child, but if we imitates everything we will speak in a simply way.

          Translation: This myth tells that children shouldn’t translate words when we acquire our mother tongue, but it is totally different when we want to learn a L2, because we need to know the meanings of what we are saying or learn.   

     2. Refer and explain 3 out of the 5 topics from the cognitive psychologist Ausubel.

·               Adults learning a foreign language could, with their full cognitive capacities, benefit from deductive presentations of grammar; It means that adults has the mental capacity to related their L1 grammar with the L2 grammar to compared and made their own conclusions.

•       The native language of the learner is not just an interfering factor - it can facilitate learning a second language; It means that if L1 and L2 are similar, it will be more easy for the learner to learn a L2.
•       Students could be overwhelmed by language spoken at its "natural speed", and they, like children, could benefit from more deliberative speech from teacher; It means that students could feel overwhelmed when they try to understand when a native speaker, because of the fluency (fast), that is why teachers uses simply forms to provides the students comprehensible input.  

       3. Explain the possible comparisons and contrasts between children and adult acquisition.

           There are three types of comparison and contrasts:

               a) First and second language acquisition in children, holding age constant. However, it is important to remember that a 2-year-old and an 11-year-old exhibit vast cognitive, affective, and physical differences.

               b) Second language acquisition in children and adults, holding second language constant. In this comparison, one holding language constant and manipulating the differences between children and adults. Some comparisons are the most fruitful in yielding analogies for adult second language classroom instructions.

               c) First language acquisition in children and second language acquisition in adults. This comparison unfortunately manipulates both variables. Many of the traditional comparisons were of this type; however, such comparisons must be made only with extreme caution because of the enormous cognitive, affective, and physical differences between children and adults.

      4. Refer to the CPH according to: Lenneberg (1967) and Bickerton (1981) “The over the hill possibility” 

          The researchers like Lenneberg (1967) and Bickerton (1981) made strong statements in favor of a critical period before which and after which certain abilities do not develop. They hold that there is such a biological timetable. Regarding to incapacity of acquiring a second language, by the age of 12 or 13 years are "over the hill" when it comes to the possibility of successful second language learning.

  

      5. Discuss three points about the hemispheric lateralization.

           There evidence in neurological research that as the human brain matures, certain functions are assigned, or "lateralized", to the left hemisphere of the brain, and certain other functions to the right hemisphere. Intellectual, logical, and analytic functions appear to be largely located in the left hemisphere, while the right hemisphere controls functions related to emotional and social needs.

           Tomas Scovel (1969) suggested that the plasticity of the brain prior to puberty enables children to acquire not only their first language but also a second language.

  

     6. What do we mean by biological accent-related?

          The sociobiological evidence that Soviet cited persuades us to conclude that native accents, and therefore "foreign" accents after puberty, may be a genetic leftover that, in our widespread human practice of mating across dialectual, linguistic, and racial barriers, is no longer necessary for the preservation of the human species. Following another line of research, Walsh and Diler proposed that different aspects of a second language are learned optimally at different ages: Lower-order processes such as pronunciation are dependent on early maturing and less adaptive macroneural circuits, while Higher-order language are more dependent on late maturing natural circuits. 

      7. What is the role of the right hemisphere in learning a L2?

           Obler noted that in L2 learning, there is significant right hemisphere participation and that "this participation is particularly active during the early stages of learning the L2. Genesee concluded that "there may be greater right hemisphere involvement in language processing in bilinguals who acquire their second language late relative to their first language and in bilingual who learn it in informal contexts.

Input Interaction and Second Language Acquisition

    

1.      How exactly does acquisition take place? 

Acquisition takes place through exposure. Krashen also proposes that comprehensible input helps acquisition to take place.

2.      Which conversational tactics are used in a Native Speaker - Non Native Speaker talks?

The Native Speaker – Non Native Speaker was much more likely to make use conversational tactics such as repetitions, confirmation checks, comprehension checks or clarification request.

3.      Why is output important in second language acquisition?

Swain proposes three further functions for learner output:

           1.- The “noticity/triggering’ function, or what might be referred to as the

                 Consciousness-raising role.

           2.- The Hypothesis- testing function.

           3.- The Mentalinguistic function, or what might be referred to as it’s

                 “ reflective role”

4.      Why is the reflective role of output important?

It is important because the speaker realizes about the mistakes and corrects himself.

5.      Match the teacher's behaviour with the proper correction technique:

     
                 1. You are working a class of ten-years-old who are doing a fluency activity. One of
                     the learners is talking to the class about her pet. She says: "My rabbit eat lettuce". 
                     You let her continue talking.
                                  A:Ignore the mistake.

                 2. You are doing a controlled practise activity. One of the learners says: "I have been
                     working last week". You show her a diagram.
                                  C:Draw a time line on the board.

                3. You are focusing on spoken language and the use of contractions. A learner says:                     "I'm going swimming tomorrow". You want to show him where the mistake is. You
                    use your hand. 
                                  B:Use finger correction.
         

Second Language Acquisition.

1.- What is the difference between the terms ACQUISITION and LEARNING?

       Acquisition is the act or process of achieving mastery of a language or a linguistic rule or element, to develop an ability in any language. It naturally develops in communicative situations. 

        Learning is a concious process where we can accumulate knowledge of a language. 

2.- Why is motivation important for L2 students?

Motivation is important because it is related to the affective filter hypothesis; that helps students to be interested in the L2. It also activates the LAD.

 3.- Why might foreing talk be beneficial?.

It's important because is a variety of speech which is simpler in vocabulary and structure. It might be useful to recieve comprehensible input.

4.- What is comunicative competence?

Comunicative Competence is the level of proficiency in L2 acquisition. There are 3 types:

• Grammatical Competence: It envolves the accurate use of words ans structures in the L2.

• Sociolinguistic Competence: It enables the learner to discriminate the social context.

• Strategic Competence: The ability to organize a message affectively and to compensate by strategies, for any difficulties.

5.- What is positive and negative transfer?

 The positive transfer occurs if L1 and L2 have similar characteristics and the learner may be able to benefit from the positive transfer of L1 knowledge.

The negative transfer occurs when L1 and L2 are too different and it is not affective for L2 communication.

Grammar Translation Method.	Audio-lingual Method	Communicative  Competence
Grammatical rules	Spoken language	Creation of communicative experience

Interlanguage and Latent Structures.

1. Explain the five central processes with your own words.

• Language transfer, this process occur in our IL performance. It is refers to speakers or writers applying knowledge from their native language to a second language, can occur in any situation when someone does not have a native-level command of a language.
• Transfer of training, when language teaching creates interlanguage rules that are not of the L2 and which result in the way the learners were taught.
• Strategies of second language learning, e.g. simplification
• Strategies of second language communication, when learner omits grammatically redundant items in an utterance, producing ill-formed sentences.

• Overgeneralization of TL linguistic material, where the learner tries to use TL rules and semantic features in the way there would not be used by a native speaker. 

          2.   Which of these processes can be apply to you in terms of your L2 acquisition?.

I think that the processes that can be applied to me are Language transfer and Transfer of training.

     3.  Which aspects have you fossilized?.

 

Is kind of difficult to say what kind of mistakes or errors I´ve fossilized, but some aspects that I think I´ve fossilized are grammatical and phonological mistakes for example at the time of speaking, sometimes I say CHILDRENS instead of CHILDREN and the pronunciation of the words, because I mix the northamerican accent with the british.

True of false (justify the false)

     a) ___F__ Unsuccessful second language learning refers to the generalization problem; the generalization problem refers to the use of different units of language, and these units are used for all languages the Native Language, Iinterlanguage, Target Language.
     b) ___F__ Storage refers to the process of recalling information that is stored in memory; retrieval In psychology, retrieval refers to the process of recalling information that is stored in memory, and storage refers to the process of storing information in the brain, those are mental processes.
     c) ____T_ Some conditions that affect in the process of learning a new language are anxiety,  shifting attention and second language performance.
     d) ___T__ Fossilization can not be reversible.

How language is shaped.

Indicate IF TRUTH OR FALSE, provide the correct info.

Chomsky claimed that:

1. We have a predisposition to speak.___T__
2. We have not been genetically programmed with mental structures.____F___; we have been genetically programmed with mental structures.
3. Nouns, adjective and adverb are not used in our universal grammar.___F___ ; nouns, adjectives, adverbs are used in all language but their differences are situated in the grammar structures.
4. We are able to learn an Alien´s language_F__;  the Alien's language could have different codes.
5. Skinner believes that a language organ can develop regarding the environment ___T_____

 Match the following pictures to the corresponding theory, and therefore author. 

¡ PIAGET__C__

¡ CHOMSKY__A__

¡ SKINNER__B__

The Innateness Hypothesis.

I)       Complete the following comparative table.

Mains Researchers	Lenneberg	Yule	Chomsky.
Point of view.	“species-specific” behavior	Physically capable of sending and receiving sound signals in a language.	It is a biological schedule Maturation of the brain as any other organ
Others.	Language acquisition Device ·    Ability to distinguish speech sounds ·    Ability to organize linguistic data ·    Knowledge that only a certain kind of ·    linguistic system is possible. ·    Ability to engage in constant evaluation.

II)       Vocabulary.

Complete with the correct meaning the following words.

Isolation: To be in a place or situation separate form others.

Innateness: Belonging to the essential nature of something.

Sleep spindle: Represent periods where the brain is inhibiting processing to keep the sleeper in a tranquil state.

III)       Complete the sentences.

1.-  Genie explored her new environment.

2.-  Genie could not speak because she had all ready pasted her

Critical Period.

3.-   With Genie case what Chomsky holds is refuse.