Lightbown and Spada (2001) noted boldly that there are 12 popular ideas

about language learning where raised between facts and opinions. All of them
are briefly summarized one by one in this following post.
1. Language are learned mainly through imitation
Imitation is not the main way the learners learn language, as sometimes
children are able to make beautiful sentence that they could not have heard
before. It does not mean that imitation has no role in the language acquisition
process, children have great amount of imitation when they learn their first
language. Imitation is also important in developing proficiency of
pronunciation and intonation. For some advance learners who are determined
to improve their pronunciation, careful listening and imitation in language
laboratory can be very valuable.
2. Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical
errors.
The correction made by parent to their children is varying. The variation is
based partly on the childrens age. When the children is at very young
preschooler, parents rarely comment on grammatical errors although they
make correction on lapses in politeness or the choice of words that does not
make sense. When the children reach school age, parents often give
correction on non-standard speech that they hope their children will outgrow.
Parents tend to focus on meaning rather than form when they correct
childrens speech.
3. People with high IQs are good language learners
IQ test is a good predictor for success in classroom where the emphasis is on
learning about the language such as grammar rules and vocabulary items.
People who do well in IQ test may also do well in other kinds of test.
However, in natural language learning setting and in classroom where
language acquisition through interactive language is emphasized, research has
shown that learners with a wide variety of intellectual abilities can be
successful language learners especially if the skill accessed are oral
communication skill rather than metalinguistic knowledge.

4. The most important factor in second language acquisition success is

motivation.
Everyone will agree that those who want to learn tend to do better than those
who dont. But motivation is not the most importance factor which define
someone successfulness in learning a language. Even those who are highly
motivated in learning still encounter difficulties in improving their language
mastery. In a group of highly motivated people, there are always those who
are more successful than the others. This is sometimes due to differences in
language learning aptitude and in how the instruction interacts with individual
learners style and preference to learning.
5. The earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the
greater the likelihood of success.
It is a good thing to introduce/give input of second/foreign language at earlier
age of the children, moreover if the objective of the language program is to
prepare the students to have the native like performance. It is because at
earlier age, children have a good brain plasticity to absorb any language
input. We do not need to worry that the students will lose their first
language. If the environment and the exposure the students get is good, the
earlier the students learn a second/foreign language will possibly have the
native like performance. The same thing if the objective of the language
program is to prepare the learners to have a good communication skill.
Learners who learn language at earlier age will have a better communication
skill as their filter are (widely) open.
6. Most of the mistakes which second language learners make are due to
interference from their first language.
Errors frequently happen to second/foreign language learners. Interference
from their first language is one of the causes. However it is not the only major
problem/the most mistake of error happen in second/foreign language
learners. There are other causes related to the second/foreign language
learners such as overgeneralization of the language rules, overextension of
some partial similarity of the first and second language, the ignorance of the
instructor keeping that error on the learners, etc. And when the learners get

along with learners with the same error, then it will be a particularly
problematic since they keep producing the error.
7. Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time.
Presenting grammatical rules one at a time will not make learners enjoy
learning second/foreign language learning. Instead they will feel that learning
second/foreign language is a torture since what they are learning is always
about structures (rules of the language). Beside, teaching the language
learners one structure at a time will not make them see the difference each
of the structure and how to use it in context. It will be better to teach the
learner the structure step by step regarding the morpheme acquisition order
or integrating new rules into existing system of rules.
8. Teachers should teach simple structures before complex ones
Related to the teaching of linguistics forms, the learners should be taught the
simple one before the complex one. The teacher should also consider the
psychological and cognitive aspects of the learners. The usability of the form
(grammar rules) in daily life also have to be considered by the teacher before
teaching. If the linguistics form given to the learners has no/little chance to
be used/ to be contextualized with their daily life, then it will be useless.
9. Learners errors should be corrected as soon as they are made in order
to prevent bad habits.
Errors are natural part of language learning. It may be produced by children
and adults in L2 learning. The errors reveal the patterns of learners
developing interlanguage systems which may be influenced by the L1. In the
classroom context, the teacher is responsible for giving a corrective feedback.
However, kinds of correction should differ from adult and children. Adult will
be more acceptable given a direct correction since they have the explanation
a great value. While indirect correction suits to children, signaling is a
teacher method to give the correction.
10. Teachers should use materials that expose students only to language
structures they have already been taught.

Giving the students real or authentic in learning may has several

consequences since it will make the students lose their motivation. Loss of
motivation is occurred because they do not challenge enough. Teachers
guidance here is needed to give the students step-by-step exposure to the
language extends their dependency.
11. When learners are allowed to interact freely, they learn each other
mistakes.
Make the students working in groups or pairs will give them more practice in
speaking and participating in conversations in group work than they have in a
teacher-centered class. Research shown that learners do not produce any
more errors in their speech when talking to learners at similar levels of
proficiency than they do when talking to learners at more advanced levels or
to native speaker. To create such situation, the teacher must be carefully
planned and the learners must have access to the correct language forms they
are trying to discover. Combining individual work and teacher-centered
activities play an important role in communicative language teaching.
12. Students learn what they are taught.
We cannot guarantee that students learn everything that they are taught or
that they eventually know only what they are taught. Some teaching learners
give learners chance to learn only a very restricted number of words and
sentence types. It is different if we want to teach them vocabulary, anytime,
as long as the learners are interested in the chance to learn and the teaching
methods are appropriate to the learners age, interest, and learning styles.
(Source : Lighbown & Spada. 2001. How languages are learned. New York:
Oxford University Press)