Acang, Ma. Ronalyn D.

BSED 2-A ENGLISH

PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND

LEARNING
UNIT III: SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Test Yourself:
1. Summarize the different viewpoint of each school of thought.

Structural Linguistic and Behavioural Psychology

In the 1940s and 1950s, Leonard Bloomfield, Edward Sapir, Charles
Hockett, Charles Fries, and others advocates the school of structural
linguistics where they focuses on a drastic application of the scientific
principle of human languages and examined openly observable data. While
on behavioural psychology, the scientific method was drastically followed
however the unreality of state of thinking, concept formation, consciousness,
or knowledge acquisition made such topics impossible to examine in a
behavioural setting. The linguist in this school of thought believes that we
should give emphasis on learning the structure of language and human
behaviour through various behavioural approaches.
Generative Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology
Noam Chomsky who influence generative-transformational linguistics
in the year 1969 was attempting to demonstrate that human language cannot
be analysed solely in terms of visible stimuli and reactions. The linguist in
generative linguistics was concerned not just with describing language but
also with reaching an explanatory degree of frequency. Additionally, meaning,
comprehension, and knowledge according to a cognitive psychologist are
significant data for psychological research. Rather than focusing on a
stimulus-response relationship in a mechanistic way, cognitivist sought to
uncover the psychological principle of organisation and functioning.
Constructivism
It has been said that Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky was the person
associated with constructivism. Constructivists like some cognitive
psychologists believe that everyone creates their own version of reality and
that several different ways of knowing and describing reality are equally valid.
In addition, there are two branches of constructivism, cognitive constructivism
that highlights the significance of learners constructing their own
representation of reality, and social constructivism that highlights the
importance of social interaction and cooperative learning.
2. How are these schools of thought manifested in the classroom?

A school of thought is a set of ideas or opinions that a group of

people share about a matter. For all the knowledge and contribution towards
our understanding of language the three schools of thought of language
acquisition namely: Structural Linguistics and Behavioral Psychology,
Generative Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology, and Constructivism are
created to better understand the horizon of language, especially in a
classroom setting. Each school of thought have a specific role in learning
and teaching a language. Like for example the Structural and Behavioral
Linguistics school of thought, the process of learning a language is more
focused on the human language and its characteristics. Generative
Linguistics and Behavioral Psychology assert that the meaning,
understanding, and knowledge were important data for psychological study
more especially it sought to discover underlying navigation and deeper
structure of human behavior. And Constructivism is manifested in the
classroom by constructing the learning and teaching through the version
reality or they let students engage in social practices. In encapsulation, each
school of thought have a specific emphasis on demonstrating language
learning in the classroom.