MEMORY AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Krashen claims that improvement in language ability is only dependent upon acquisition

nt in language ability is only dependent upon acquisition and

never on learning.
Key Elements of Language Learning:

*Motivation to learn the language

Michael T. Ullman put forward his declarative, procedural model of language.
*Engagement to the language
The DP model highlights two memory systems:
*Lots of exposure
Declarative Memory is what we use to learn and use knowledge about facts and events
Memory is one of the other fundamental element of language learning.
such as the fact that the National Hero of the Philippines is Dr. Jose Rizal and you had onion
Nick Bilbrough- “There is no learning without remembering. And language learning- perhaps soup for lunch yesterday.
more than most other forms of learning-places huge demands on memory. And memory
Procedural Memory is what we use to learn those cognitive skills which become non
underpins every aspect of successful language learning.”
conscious or automatic such as typing, riding a bicycle, or video game playing.

Used to make sense of grammar more than can be provided in a classroom environment.
Caleb Gattegno (Silent Way) believed that teachers should talk as little as possible in order
to allow students more time to speak.
Learning in the procedural memory system is about sequences and rules, it requires
Gattegno identified two different types of remembering: RETENTION AND MEMORIZATION
extended practice but seems to result in more rapid and automatic processing of skills and
knowledge.
Retention Memorization
How memory works:
Effortless Uses lots of energy
Input In order to remember something information has to be transferred from the short term
Long lasting Unreliable memory where it will be forgotten to the long term memory where it will be remembered.
For this to happen engagement, motivation and exposure are essentials.
Hypothesis- we acquire language in one way and only one way- when we obtain
INTERLANGUAGE THEORY
comprehensible input, when we understand what we hear or read in another language.
Interlanguage a linguistic system used by second language learners.
Grammar vocabulary is the result of understanding language.
-entirely different from both the learner’s first language L1 and the targeted second
Stephen Krashen said that language acquisition is most effective when the input is not just
language L2.
comprehensible but really interesting.
Characteristics of Interlanguage:
Acquisition Learning
Systematic
Subconscious process Conscious process
Dynamic
Improves language ability Doesn’t improve language ability
Variable
Systematic- the learner forms an internal construct of grammatical rules and structures.
These grammatical rules may or may not mirror the proper rules of the L2 being learned. In
other words, the language learner does not use language haphazardly, but uses a system of
internal rules that can differ from the target language.
Dynamic- although the internal rules are systematic, the rules are static and have the ability
to be altered through various means.
Variable- There are numerous factors involved with language and rule acquisition that vary
from one person to person such as the nature of input, the environment, and exposure to
the L2 language.
The whole person interacting with their shifting environments also creates a dynamic
system.
Our students are their own dynamic system, functioning within shifting external dynamic
systems on a daily basis.
Dynamic Systems Theory is the various characteristics of an individual and their
environment interact in order to produce one’s behavior. Secondarily, observations of one’s
varying behavior and performance from one context to another informs us about their
development.
It is common for a student to act differently in different environments.

To sum up, by understanding dynamic systems theory as it applies to learning and behavior,
Fossilization- refers to the process in which incorrect language becomes a habit and cannot educators can foster better skills, performance, and cognitive growth in each of their
easily be corrected. students.

Example:

*Many advanced level learners who have Spanish as an L1 do not distinguish between he
and she. This could be fossilized error.

*In the classroom

Errors in general take time to correct by a fossilized error may never be corrected unless the
learner sees a reason to do so, e.g. if it is seriously hindering communication. Teachers can
help learners notice their fossilized errors by for example, recording them speaking.

DYNAMIC SYSTEMS THEORY

Dynamical systems theory (also known as dynamic systems theory or just systems theory) is
a series of principles and tools for studying change.

System is two or more objects or components in our universe and how they relate to each
other example is a family made up of children and the adult or adults who care for them.

A system is considered dynamic when its components affect or change each other over the
course of time.