SLA Goals and Theories
SLA Goals and Theories
Most frequently used are the terms learning and acquisition. Learning means a conscious
process of trying to acquire a second language. Acquisition means an unconscious process.
Second language acquisition means the unconscious or incidental acquisition of a foreign
language, additionally to the mother tongue.
‘Second’ refers to any language which is learnt subsequent to the mother tongue, inside and
outside classroom, naturally as a result of living in a country where it is spoken or learning it
in a classroom. It does not mean only the second language, but it can refer to the third or even
fourth language we have learnt. (Ellis, 1994)
‘L2 acquisition’ can be defined as the way in which people learn a language other than their
mother tongue, inside or outside a classroom, and SLA as the study of this.
How would a researcher find out how a language learner learns an L2?
These samples are greatly significant to the researcher and teacher. If collected at different
points in time, they may show how learners’ knowledge gradually develops.
• Describe: how learner language changes over time. SLA focuses on the formal
features of language that linguists have traditionally concentrated on. (Pronunciation of an L2,
the words learners use, how learner build up their vocabulary, and grammatical structure).
• Explain: identifying the internal and external factors that account for why learners
acquire an L2 in the way they do.
External factors: social milieu, input, instruction, setting, culture and status, context
where learning takes place
II/ The Innatist Theory: Chomsky (1959) states that language acquisition could only be
accounted for by an innate, biological language acquisition device (LAD) or system.
Infants must come into the world “prewired for linguistic analysis.” Specifically, Chomsky
claims that infants universally possess an innate universal grammar, which will allow them to
select out the many grammatical rules of the language they hear spoken around them, as they
gradually construct the grammar of their mother tongue.
However, Chomsky did not make specific claims about the implications of his theory for
second language learning.
1. Linguists working within the innatist theory have argued that UG offers the best
perspective to understand SLA. UG can explain why L2 learners eventually know more
about the language than they could reasonably have learned (i.e. UG can explain L2
learners’ creativity and generalization ability).
2. Other linguists argue that UG is not a good explanation for SLA, especially by learners
who have passed the critical period (i.e. CPH does not work in SLA).
3. Howard Gardner stated (Gardner, 1995, p. 27), the Chomskyan view is “too dismissive of
the ways that mothers and others who bring up children help infants to acquire
language.”Gardner argues that, “while the principles of grammar may indeed be acquired
with little help from parents or other caretakers, adults are needed to help children build a
rich vocabulary, master the rules of discourse, and distinguish between culturally
acceptable and unacceptable forms of expression”.
Innatist Competence Performance
SLA researchers from the UG perspective (innatism) are more interested in the language
competence (i.e., knowledge of complex syntax) of advanced learners rather than in the
simple language of early stage learners.
1. Acquisition/learning hypothesis
2. Monitor hypothesis
1. Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis
Krashen directly links Second Language Acquisition to the process which children undergo
when they learn their first language. Within the Acquisition-Learning Hypotheses, Krashen
right away explains the basic function of acquisition, namely the input and storage of
language and language knowledge. According to Krashen, acquisition happens unconsciously.
This means that the person who is acquiring language does not know that she or he is
acquiring language at this moment. For this reason, the typical acquisition situations do not
take place in school, because normally, the intentional aim of going to school is learning.
Examples for situations in which acquisition typically takes place are simple everyday life
situations like “conversing, reading a book, listening to the radio” (Krashen 1983:136) or
watching TV, while learning takes place consciously as an intended process with the
deliberate aim of gaining language knowledge. So, reading a book, mentioned by Krashen as
a typical acquisition process can also be a learning process if it happens with the intention of
learning the particular language.
2. Monitor Hypothesis
Stephen Krashen prefers Second Language Acquisition to learning. He does not deny the right
to exist for learning, but he locates it within the Monitor Hypotheses. This hypothesis claims
that the main system to gain fluency in L2 is the acquisition system. Learning knowledge is
merely a kind of auxiliary system for acquisition. The function of this Monitor is to check the
output which is produced via acquired language knowledge.
L2 learners acquire the features of the TL in predictable sequences. The language features that
are easiest to state (and thus to ‘learn’) are not necessarily the first to be acquired.
E.g. the rule for adding an –s to third person singular verbs in the present tense
4. Input Hypothesis
Acquisition occurs when one is exposed to language that is comprehensible and that contains
“i +1”. If the input contains forms and structures just beyond the learner’s current level of
competence in the language (“i+1”), then both comprehension and acquisition will occur.
Depending on the learner’s state of mind, the filter limits what is noticed and what is
acquired. A learner who is tense, anxious, or bored may “filter out” input, making it
unavailable for acquisition.