Applied linguistics

The difference between acquisition and learning

Acquiring language is said to be a subconscious process. It’s the act of internalizing

language to which you have been exposed without the deliberate memorization of a word
and its definition. a process that produces functional skill in the spoken language without
theoretical knowledge. It is the product of real interactions between people in environments
of the target language.

Learning is a conscious activity. It’s what happens when we learn rules about how language
works or purposefully study lists of vocabulary and grammar forms. In learning, attention is
focused on the language in its written form and the objective is for the student to understand
the structure and rules of the language, whose parts are dissected and analyzed. This task
requires intellectual effort and deductive reasoning.

The stages of language acquisition

Crying stage: in the first month or two of the child’s development, crying becomes more
differentiated and more symbolic. This means that it is not directly related to the child’s
sense of discomfort; rather, the cries are subtly, indirectly, and almost randomly associated
with its needs. The child moves from using crying as an iconic or direct reflection of an
internal state to using it as a symbolic, indirect manifestation of increasingly complex internal
feelings.

Cooing stage: this stage emerges at about two months of age. During this stage, the child
starts to make soft gurgling sounds and vowel-like sounds, seemingly to express
satisfaction.

Marginal babbling stage: this stage stars at the age of six months. During this stage,
infants produce a few, and somewhat random, consonants.

Canonical babbling stage: this stage usually emerges at around eight months, when the
child’s vocalizations narrow down to syllables. At this stage, children seem to play with all
sorts of segments, and frequently produce consonants that are found in other languages, not
just the language by which they are surrounded.

One word stage (holophrastic stage): it is when the child begins to produce one word
utterances or one word sentences. Those single words can be either words from the
vocabulary of the child’s mother tongue or idiomorphs which are words created by the child
himself.

Two words stage (telegraphic stage): after the holophrastic stage, children start to use
two words utterances to create sentences. During this stage, children demonstrate a
surprising amount of grammatical precocity. They do not randomly rotate words between first
and second position, but they follow the same order the adults follow in constructing their
long complex sentences.

Multi-words stage: it is when children begin to produce utterances that contain three words
or more.
First language acquisition theories

Behaviorism theory: behaviorists believe that children acquire their first language by
imitating sounds and practicing what they hear. Correct structures are positively reinforced.
Language acquisition is, thus, a process of habit formation.

Classical conditioning (Pavlov): it explains some learning of involuntary emotional and

physiological responses.

Example:

First step: show a child a bottle the child reaches to take the bottle

Second step: while showing the child the bottle pronounce the word bottle the child
reaches to take it

Repeat the second step for some time and then the third step will be

Third step: pronounce the word bottle the child will reach to take the bottle even if it is
not there

And this way the child learns that the thing he reaches to take is called bottle.

Operant conditioning (B.F.Skinner): it involves conditioning voluntarily, controllable

behaviors.

Example:

Do your homework (stimulus, not necessarily observable)

Do the homework/not do the homework (response)

Reinforcement

Get 5dh (positive reinforcement) give 5dh (negative reinforcement)

Escape: first you don’t do the HW active avoidance: you do your HW

And give 5dh but then you start from the first time to avoid giving
To do your homework so you don’t any 5dh at all
Have to pay the 5dh any more

Punishment

Positive (direct) negative (indirect)

Spanking the student for make the student writes
not doing his homework some sentence 100 times
Generativism school

Nativism theory: according to nativists, the children acquire their first language by
accessing to samples of a natural language. These samples serve as a trigger to activate
the LAD. Once the LAD is activated, they start to discover the structure of the language to be
learned by matching the innate knowledge of basic grammatical principles (UG) to the
structure of the particular language in the environment. Thus, language acquisition is a
process of rule formation.

LAD: is a language organ that is hardwired into our brains. Because of this, we are born with
the ability to understand and develop language. The LAD contains all and only the principles
which are universal to all human languages (UG).

UG: a set of plans for the grammatical machinery that powers all human languages. It is a
system of categories, operations, and principles shared by all human languages and
considered to be innate. UG consists of a core grammar of universal principles and
parameters that vary from one language to another.

Example:

Pronoun subject omission (PSO) is a principle in the UG, but according to the language the
child is exposed to, the parameter of the UG will be set into either +PSO or –PSO. It means
that in some languages we can omit the pronoun subject while in others we can not.

Deep structure: is the full linguistic representation

Surface structure: is the representation of the deep structure. It is the actual sentence that
the client says to communicate his full linguistic model or deep structure.

Example:

One deep structure and many surface structures

Charlie broke the window

The window was broken by Charlie surface structure

It was Charlie who broke the window

Charlie, the window and the action broke all make an idea that exists in the mind of the
speaker as a deep structure.

One surface structure and many deep structures

Small boys and girls are playing hide and seek surface structure

Small boys and small girls are playing hide and seek

Small boys and all girls are playing hide and seek deep structure
Nature: The coding of genes in each cell in us humans determines the different traits that
we have. Even our behavior is one of those attributes that are gene-coded in our DNA.

Nurture: The environmental factors are the real origins of our behavior. This includes the
use of conditioning in order to induce a new behavior to a child, or alter an unlikely behavior
being shown by the child.

Langue: it has a large number of elements whereby meaning is created by the

arrangements between the elements and their consequent relationship. While learning a
language, we master the system of grammar, spelling, syntax and punctuation (elements of
langue).

Parole: is the actual utterances. It is an external manifestation of langue. It is the usage of

the system, but not the system.

Competence: is a person’s underlying, subconscious linguistic ability to create and

understand sentences, including sentences he has never heard before. It is a person’s
acquaintance with a set of grammatical rules.

Performance: is the real world linguistic output. It may accurately reflect competence, but it
also may be flawed because of memory limitation, distraction, shifts of attention and interest,
and errors or other psychological factors.

The importance of the distinction between competence and performance

It allows those studying a language to differentiate between a speech error and not knowing
something about the language.

Distinction between the theories

The terms performance and parole can be used almost interchangeably, but competence
and langue can not. Langue is a static system of signs, whereas competence is a dynamic
concept. Competence is a mechanism that can generate language endlessly.

Second language learning theories

Behaviorism theory (Pavlov [classical conditioning] and B.F.Skinner [operant conditioning])

both mentioned on the first part.

Ausubel’s meaningful learning theory

Meaningful learning takes place when an idea to be learned is related to ideas that the
learner already possesses. This process by which new material is related to relevant ideas in
the existing cognitive structure is called subsumption. But, before the subsumption process
starts, the learner’s cognitive structure should be strengthened by the use of advance
organizers that allow learners to have a general view about the topic to be learned.
Meaningful learning can take place through four processes.
1-derivative subsumption: describes the situation in which the new information students
learn is an instance or example of a concept that students have already learned.

Example:

-previous knowledge: Ali has acquired a basic concept such as:

“Tree” has green leaves, branch, fruits

-Ali learns about a kind of tree that he has never seen before (apple tree). This kind of tree
conforms to his previous understanding of “tree”.

So, his new knowledge of the apple tree is attached to the concept of “tree”, without
substantially altering that concept in any way.

2-correlative subsumption: is more valuable learning than that of derivative subsumption

because it enriches the higher-level concept.

Example:

-previous knowledge: Ali has acquired a basic concept such as:

“Tree” has green leaves, branch, fruits

-Ali encounters a new kind of tree that has red leaves, rather than green. In order to
accommodate this new information, Ali has to alter or extend his concept of “tree” to
conclude the possibility of red leaves.

3-superordinate learning: in this case, the student already knew a lot of examples of the
concept, but he did not know the concept itself until it was taught to him.

Example:

Ali was well acquainted with maples, oaks, apple trees, but he did not know, until he was
taught that these were all examples of deciduous trees.

4-combinatorial learning: describes a process by which the new idea is derived from
another idea that is neither higher nor lower in the hierarchy, but at the same level (in a
different, but related branch). This type of learning can be taught of as learning by analogy.

Example:

To teach students about pollination in plants, teachers might relate it to previously acquired
knowledge of how fish eggs are fertilized.
Systematic forgetting

Systematic forgetting is the process of eliminating unnecessary clutter forms and allowing
more important aspects to fill in the gaps into the cognitive field of a learner (Brown, 1972).
Very interestingly, some of the small aspects learned already gradually lose their value and
identity in their own right and become subsumed into a single larger aspect or structure.
These small aspects are thus pruned out and the larger aspect assumes the role of all the
small aspects combined together. An important aspect of the purring stage of learning is that
subsumptive forgetting, or purring is not haphazard or chance. It is systematic.

Constructivism

Constructivism is a learning theory that equates learning with creating meaning from
experiences. Constructivism utilizes interactive teaching strategies to create meaningful
contexts that help students construct knowledge based on their own experiences. Learning
is more meaningful to students when they take a more active role in it.

Example:

The use of role playing or simulating a historical event or time period

Rogers’s humanistic psychology theory

This theory believes that learning should not be that process in which teachers think of their
task as one of filling students by making deposits of information which they consider to
constitute true knowledge, deposits which are detached from reality. Because, when
students are fed quantities of knowledge, they may foster a climate of defensive learning in
which learners try to protect themselves from failure, from criticism, from competition with
follow students, and from punishment. Therefore, teachers should be facilitators. They
should provide the nurturing context for learners to construct their meanings in interaction
with others. Students should be allowed to negotiate learning outcomes, to cooperate with
teachers and other learners in the process of discovery, to engage in critical thinking, and to
relate everything they do in school to their realities outside the classroom.

Contrastive analysis

The main idea of contrastive analysis was that it is possible to identify the areas of difficulty a
particular foreign language will present for native speakers of another language by
systematically comparing the two languages. Where the two languages are similar, learning
difficulties will not be expected, where they are different, then learning difficulties are to be
expected, and the greater the difference, the greater the degree of expected difficulty.
Cooperative learning

Cooperative Learning, sometimes called small-group learning, is an instructional strategy in

which small groups of students work together on a common task. The task can be as simple
as solving a multi-step math problem together, or as complex as developing a design for a
new kind of school. In some cases, each group member is individually accountable for part
of the task; in other cases, group members work together without formal role assignments.
There are five basic elements that allow successful small-group learning:

Positive interdependence: Students feel responsible for their own and the group's effort.

Face-to-face interaction: Students encourage and support one another; the environment
encourages discussion and eye contact.

Individual and group accountability: Each student is responsible for doing their part; the
group is accountable for meeting its goal.

Collaborative skills: Group members gain direct instruction in the interpersonal, social, and
collaborative skills needed to work with others occurs.

Group processing: Group members analyze their own and the group's ability to work
together.

Mistakes:

Mistakes refer to a performance error. They are failures to utilize a known system correctly.
Mistakes are made by native speakers. When attention is called to them, they can be self-
corrected.

Errors:

Errors are noticeable deviations from the adult grammar of a native speaker. They reflect the
competence of the learner.

Interlingual errors:

Interligual errors are those that result from language transfer and are caused by the learner’s
native language.

Intralingual errors:

Intralingual errors are those which result from faulty or partial learning of the second
language, rather than from language transfer.
Transfer: is a general term describing the carryover of previous performance or knowledge
to subsequent learning.

Positive transfer: occurs when the prior knowledge benefits the learning task. This happens
when previous item is correctly applied to present subject matter.

Negative transfer (interference): occurs when previous performance disrupts the

performance of a second task.

Overgeneralization: is a process of generalizing a particular rule or item in a language

beyond legitimate bounds.

Interference and overgeneralization are the negative counterparts of the facilitating

processes of transfer and generalization.

Inductive reasoning: one stores a number of specific instances and induce a general law or
rule or conclusion that governs or subsumes the specific instances.

Deductive reasoning: is a movement from a generalization to specific instances: specific

subsumed facts are inferred or deduced from a general principle.