Dr.

Amal Alahmady

The process by which people learn a second

language in addition to their native language.
SLA vs. FLA (Ellis, 1994)
Second language: the target language plays an
institutional and social role in the community.
Foreign language learning takes place in settings
where the language plays no major role in the
community and it primarily learnt only in the
classroom.

Learner Variables (Yorio, 1976)

Age: children, adolescents, or adult
Cognition: general intelligence, language
aptitude, learning
strategies, learning style
Native language: transfer (positive vs. negative)
Input: free learner vs. instructed learner
Affective domain: socio-cultural, egocentric
factor,
motivation (learning goals)
Educational background

Forms the many different domains of inquiry

that must be included in a theory of SLA

A theory of SLA includes an understanding, in

general, of what language is, what learning is,
and for classroom context, what teaching is.
Knowledge of childrens learning of their first
language provides essential insights to an
understanding of SLA
A number of important differences between
adult and child learning and between first and
second language acquisition must be carefully
accounted for.

Second language learning is a part and

adheres to general principles of human
learning and intelligence.
There is tremendous variation across learners
in cognitive style and within a learner in
strategy choice.
Personality, the way people view themselves
and reveal themselves in communication, will
affect both the quantity and quality of second
language learning.

Learning a second culture is often intricately intertwined

with learning a second language.

The linguistic contrasts between the native and target

language form one source of difficulty in learning a second
language.
But the creative process of forming in interlanguage system
involves the learner in utilizing many facilitative sources
and resources.
Inevitable aspects of this process are errors, form which
learners and teachers can gain further insight.

Communicative competence, with all of its subcategories, is

the ultimate goal of learners as they deal with function,
discourse, register, and nonverbal aspects of human
interaction and linguistic negotiation.

A theory of SLA is really an interrelated

set of hypotheses and/or claims about
how people become proficient in a
second language

Lightbown (1985) made the following claims:

1. Adults and adolescents can acquire a second
language.
2. The learner creates a systematic interlanguage
that is often characterized by the same
systematic errors as those of the child learning
the same language as the first language, as
well as others that appear to be based on the
learners own native language.

3. There are predictable sequences in

acquisition so that certain structures have
to be acquired before others can be
integrated.
4. Practice does not make perfect.
5. Knowing a language rule does not mean
one will be able to use it in
communicative interaction.

6. Isolated explicit error correction is usually

ineffective in changing language behavior.
7. For most adult learners, acquisition
stops fossilizes before the learner
has achieved native like mastery of the
target language.
8. One cannot achieve native like command of
a second language in one hour a day.

9. The learners task is enormous because

language is enormously complex.
10. A learners ability to understand language
in a meaningful context exceeds his or her
ability to comprehend decontextualized
language and to produce language of
comparable complexity and accuracy.

An Innatist Model
Cognitive Models
A Social Constructivist Model

the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis

the Monitor hypothesis
the Natural Order hypothesis
the Input hypothesis
the Affective Filter hypothesis

'adults have two distinctive ways of

developing competences in second
languagesacquisition, that is by using
language for real communication ...
Learning "knowing about" language'
(Krashen & Terrell 1983)

The acquired system

The product of a subconscious process very
similar to the process children undergo
when they acquire their first language

It requires meaningful interaction in the

target language - natural communication in which speakers are concentrated not in
the form of their utterances, but in the
communicative act.

The learned system

the product of formal instruction and it
comprises a conscious process which
results in conscious knowledge 'about' the
language

According to Krashen 'learning' is less

important than 'acquisition'.

How to apply this hypothesis in your

English class?

'conscious learning ... can only be used as a

Monitor or an editor' (Krashen & Terrell 1983)

The monitor is involved in learning, not in

acquisition.

It is a watchdogging ones output, for editing

and making alterations or corrections as they
are consciously perceived.
Only once fluency is established should an
optimal amount of monitoring, or editing, be
employed by the learner (Krashen, 1981).

 There

is individual variation among language

learners with regard to 'monitor' use.

Over-users
Those learners that use the 'monitor' all the time
Introverts and perfectionists are over-users
Lack of self-confidence is frequently related to the overuse
of the 'monitor'
Under-users
Those learners who have not learned or who prefer not to
use their conscious knowledge
Optimal users
Those learners that use the 'monitor' appropriately

'we acquire the rules of language in a predictable

order'

Some grammatical structures tend to be acquired

early while others late. This order seemed to be
independent of the learners' age, L1 background,
conditions of exposure, and although the agreement
between individual acquirers was not always 100% in
the studies, there were statistically significant
similarities that reinforced the existence of a Natural
Order of language acquisition.

 'humans

acquire language in only one way by understanding messages or by receiving

"comprehensible input"

The Input hypothesis is only concerned

with 'acquisition', not 'learning'.

 The

learner improves and progresses

along the 'natural order' when he/she
receives second language 'input' that is
one step beyond his/her current stage of
linguistic competence.
If a learner is at a stage 'i', then acquisition
takes place when he/she is exposed to
'Comprehensible Input' that belongs to level
i+1

Since not all of the learners can be at the

same level of linguistic competence at the
same time ,Krashen suggests that natural

communicative input is the key to designing

a syllabus, ensuring in this way that each
learner will receive some 'i +1' input that is
appropriate for his/her current stage of
linguistic competence.
How to diagnose learners current
stage of linguistic competence?

A number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative, but noncausal,

role in second language acquisition.
These variables include: motivation, self-confidence and
anxiety.
Learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good selfimage , and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for
success in second language acquisition.
Low motivation, low self-esteem, and debilitating anxiety
can combine to 'raise' the affective filter and form a 'mental
block' that prevents comprehensible input from being used
for acquisition.
Positive affect is necessary, but not sufficient on its
own, for acquisition to take place.

 consciousness

is a tricky term (McLaughlin,

1990;Schmidt, 1990)

Younger

(child language acquisition) is not

necessarily better (Scovel, 1999)

If we rule out a consciousness continuum in

constructing a viable theory of SLA, and we
do not hold child first language acquisition
up as the ideal model of language
acquisition, we must look elsewhere for the
foundation stones of a theory.

Cognitive Models

 Connects

processing mechanisms with

categories of attention to formal properties
of language.
Four cells:
Focal controlled processes (Cell A)
Focal automatic processes (Cell B)
Peripheral controlled processes (Cell C)
Peripheral automatic processes (Cell D)

Controlled

Attention to
Formal
Properties
of Languages

Focal

Peripheral

Automatic

Performance
based on formal
rule
learning
(Cell A)

Performance
in a test
situation
(Cell B)

Performance
based
on implicit
learning
or analogic
learning
(Cell C)

Performance
in
communicatio
n
situations
(Cell D)

Emphasize the dynamic nature of the

interplay between learners and their peers
and their teachers and others with whom they
interact.
The interpersonal context in which a learner
operates takes on great significance, and
therefore, the interaction between learners
and other is the focus of observation and
explanation.

Language acquisition is strongly facilitated by the use of the target

language in interaction (Long, 1990).
The generative use of words: the use of words in new contexts
which stimulate a deeper understanding of their meaning (Nation,
2000).
Interaction and input are two major players in the process of
acquisition.
The negotiation of meaning has been shown to contribute greatly
to the acquisition of vocabulary (Long, 1990).
The comprehensible input is the result of modified
interaction.
Learners construct the new language through socially
mediated interaction (van Lier, 1996)

 It

centers us on the language classroom not

just as a place where learners of varying
abilities and styles and backgrounds mingle ,
but as a place where the contexts for
interaction are carefully designed.
It focuses materials and curriculum
developers on creating the optimal
environments and tasks for input and
interaction such that the learner will be
stimulated to create his or her own learner
language in a socially constructed process.

Innatist
[Krashen]
Subconscious
acquisition superior to
learning and
monitoring
Comprehensible
input
(i+1)
Low affective filter
Natural order of
acquisition
zero option for
grammar instruction

Cognitive
[McLauglin]
Controlled/automatic
processing
Focal/peripheral
attention
Restructuring

Constructivism
[Long]
Interaction hypothesis
Intake through social
interaction
Authenticity
Task-based
instruction

 The

systematic modeling of SLA is

concerned with the question: What are the

most important overall factors in language

acquisition?

Different models of SLA have focused on

different aspects of SLA and general linguistic
research.
No single model of SLA has gained wide
acceptance.