ENG 104 Prelims Reviewer Stephen Krashen

- Emeritus Professor of
Module 1: INTRODUCTION TO
Linguistics and Education at
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
the University of Southern
Language acquisition California
- Through a subconscious - Believes that there is no
process during which they are fundamental difference
unaware of grammatical rules between the way we acquire
- Is very similar to the process our first language and our
children use in acquiring first subsequent languages
language - He claims that humans have an
- It requires meaningful innate ability that guides the
interaction in the target language learning process
language-natural - Infants learn their mother
communication-in which tongue simply by listening
speakers are concerned not with attentively to spoken language
the form of their utterances but that is (made) meaningful to
with the messages they are them. Foreign languages are
conveying and understanding acquired in the same way
Language learning - The claim that humans possess
- Is not communicative an innate language learning
- It is the result of direct ability stems from Chomsky
instruction in the rules of (1965), who rejected Skinner's
language (1957) behaviourist theory that
- It certainly is not an language learning is habit
age-appropriate activity for formation through stimulus
your young learners and response
- Students have conscious Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
knowledge of the new language
and can talk about that - Chomsky called it the special
knowledge In other words, inborn language capability
language acquisition - From this he developed the
theory that all languages share
an underlying system named
Universal Grammar
The Monitor Model
- Krashen synthesizes his
theories of second/foreign
language learning in what is
usually referred to as the Monitor
Model
The Monitor Model has 5
components:
1. The Acquisition-Learning
Hypothesis
- Acquisition is a sub-conscious
process
- Learning is the conscious
process of developing a foreign
language through language
lessons and a focus on the
grammatical features of that
language
- According to Krashen learned
language cannot be turned into
acquisition
2. The Natural Order Hypothesis
- Language is acquired in a
predictable order by all learners
- This order does not depend on
the apparent simplicity or
complexity of the grammatical
features involved
- Cannot be influenced by direct
teaching of features that the
learner is not yet ready to acquire
- It is claimed that the natural order
of acquisition is very similar for
a native English child learning
its own language and for an
adult learning English as a
foreign language
3. The Monitor Hypothesis
- We are able to use what we
have learned (in Krashen's
sense) about the rules of a
language in monitoring (or
self-correcting) our language
output
- Clearly, this is possible in the
correction of written work.
- It is much more difficult when
engaging in regular talk
- Krashen states that it is often
difficult to use the monitor
correctly since the rules of a
language can be extremely
complex.
- The monitoring function is the
practical result of the learned
grammar
- According to Krashen, the
acquisition system is the
utterance initiator, while the
learning system performs the
role of the 'monitor' or the
'editor'.
- The 'monitor' acts in a
planning, editing and
correcting function when three
specific conditions are met:
that is, the second language
learner has sufficient time at
his/her disposal, he/she
focuses on form or thinks
about correctness, and he/she
knows the rule
Individual variation among language
learners with regard to 'monitor' use
Over-users
- He distinguishes those learners
that use the 'monitor' all the
time
- Introvert
- Lack of self-confidence is
frequently related to the over-use
of the 'monitor'
Under-users
- Those learners who have not
learned or who prefer not to
use their conscious knowledge
- Extrovert
Optimal users
- Those learners that use the
'monitor' appropriately
4. The Input Hypothesis
- We acquire language in one
way only: when we are
exposed to input (written or
spoken language) that is
comprehensible to us.
- Comprehensible input is
necessary but also sufficient
condition for language
acquisition to take place
- It requires no effort on the part
of the learner.
- Krashen now refers to this as the
Comprehension Hypothesis
- It states that learners acquire
language when they are
exposed to input at i+1
- i is the current state or stage of
language proficiency
- +1 is that learners use their
existing acquired linguistic
competence together with their
general world knowledge to
make sense of the messages
they receive in language just
beyond where they currently are
- This theory has clear
implications for language
teachers
5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis
- The filtering may occur
because of anxiety, poor
self-esteem or low motivation
Low affective filter
- Will not only be efficient
language acquirers of the
comprehensible input they
receive
- They are also more likely to
interact with others,
unembarrassed by making
mistakes for example, and thus
increase the amount of that
input.
- Comprehended input may be
analyzed and has the potential
of being assimilated through
the process of intake
- Psycholinguistic processing
occurs at this stage where new
information may be matched
against existing stored
knowledge
 - The next stage, integration,
involves storage of new
information for later use,
hypothesis formulation, and
confirmation or reformulation
of existing hypotheses
- The final stage, output, is an
"overt manifestation" of the
acquisition process.
- The different stages may be
influenced by a number of
factors, such as saliency and
frequency, prior knowledge,
and attention, as well as by
affective factors
Module 2: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
IN CHILDREN
Child language acquisition (CLA)
- Refers to how children develop
the ability to understand and
use language
Four main stages of first language
acquisition in children:
The Babbling Stage
- The first significant stage of
language acquisition in
children
- Occurring from around 4-6
months until about 12 months
of age.
- During this stage, the child
hears speech syllables
(sounds that make up spoken
language) from its environment
and caregivers and attempts to
imitate by repeating them
Different Types of Babbling
● Marginal Babbling
- Initially, the baby will begin
marginal babbling or
pre-canonical babbling
- This means your infant will start
adding constants to vowels.
Examples include “Ma,” “Ba,” “Da,” or
“Um.”
● Canonical Babbling
- Around 6-10 months, your
baby may start a more
repetitive babbling
- The canonical babbling stage
includes:
➢ Reduplicated Babbling
- The baby repeats the same
syllable, such as “dadadada.”
➢ Non-Reduplicated Babbling or
Variegated Babbling
- The baby uses varied babbles
such as “magaga” or
“googoomee.”
● Conversational Babbling
- Near 10 months, babies begin
conversational babbling
- This type of babbling appears
more like a conversation where
the child pauses for a
response and takes turns in
communication
- There seems to be more of a
rhythm in the communication
The Holophrastic Stage (The
One-Word Stage)
- Also known as the ‘one-word
stage’
- Typically occurs around the age
of 12 to 18 month
- At this stage, children have
identified which words and
combinations of syllables are
the most effective for
communicating and may
attempt to communicate a full
sentence's worth of
information
For example, a child may say 'dada'
which could mean anything from ‘I want
dad’ to ‘where is dad?’. This is known as
holophrasis.
- A child's first word will often
resemble a babble and, while
they may hear and understand
a wide range of sounds, they
can still only produce a limited
range themselves. These
words are known as proto
words
For example, they may call every animal
a 'cat' if they grew up with one.
The Two-word Stage
- Occurs at around 18 months of
age
- At this stage, children are able
to use two words in the right
grammatical order
For example, a child might see a dog
jump over the fence and simply say ‘dog
jump’ instead of ‘A dog jumped over the
fence.’ The order is correct and they say
the most important word, but the lack of
function words, as well as a lack of
tense use, makes the information very
context-dependent, much like in the
holophrastic stage
- At this stage, the child’s
vocabulary starts at around 50
words and consists mostly of
common nouns and verbs
- These often come from things
their caregivers have said or
things in their immediate
environment
- Typically, as the child
progresses through the
two-word stage, the ‘word
spurt’ occurs, which is a
relatively short period during
which the child's vocabulary
grows much larger
- Most children know 50 words
by around 17 months of age,
but by 24 months they may
know up to over 600
The Multi-word Stage
- The multi-word stage of language
acquisition in children can be
broken up into two distinct
sub-stages: the early
multi-word stage and the later
multi-word stage
- Children move on from
two-word phrases and begin to
form short sentences of
around three, four, and five
words, and eventually even
more
- They also begin to use more
and more function words and
are able to form more complex
sentences
- Children typically progress
rapidly through this stage as
they understand many of the
 basics of their language
already
● The early multi-word stage
- The early part of this stage is
sometimes called the ‘ concrete
telegraphic stage’ as the
children's sentences seem to
resemble telegram messages
due to their simplicity
- The telegraphic stage takes
place from around 24 to 30
months of age
- Children mostly ignore
function words in favour of
using the most important
content words and usually
start using negatives (no, not,
can't, etc.)
- They also tend to ask more
questions about their
surroundings
For example, a child might say ‘no want
veggies’ instead of ‘I don't want
vegetables with my food.’ While children
at this substage still don't use function
words in their own sentences, many do
understand when others use them
● The later multi-word stage
- The later multi-word stage, also
known as the complex stage, is
the final part of language
acquisition
- It starts at around 30 months of
age and has no fixed endpoint
- At this stage, children start to
use a variety of function words
and there is a great increase in
the amount of words children
can use.
- Their sentence structures also
become a lot more complex
and varied
- Children in this stage have a
sense of time,
quantity, and the ability to
engage in simple reasoning
- As children reach the age of
five and above, their ability to
use and understand language
becomes more or less fluent
Methodology in child language
acquisition
Types of studies include:
Cross-sectional studies
- Comparing different groups of
children of different ages
- This method helps to get
results faster
Longitudinal studies
- Observing several children
over a period of time, from
several months to decades
Case studies
- In-depth studies of one or a
small number of children
- This helps get a more detailed
understanding of the child’s
development
There are several methods to
measure a child’s development
Observations
- e.g. recording spontaneous
speech or repetition of words
Comprehension
- e.g. pointing at an image
Act-out
- e.g. children are asked to act
something out or make toys
act out a scenario
Preferential-looking
- e.g. measuring the time spent
looking at an image
Neuroimaging
- e.g. measuring brain
responses to certain linguistic
stimuli
Language acquisition example
- An example of the study of
child language acquisition is
the Genie Case Study
- Genie had minimal interaction
with others as a child due to
her abusive upbringing and
isolation. Due to this, her case
drew many psychologists and
linguists who wanted to study
her and study the idea of a
'critical period' for language
acquisition
- This is the idea that the first
few years of a child’s life are a
crucial time to learn a language
- Researchers provided Genie
with stimulus-rich
environments to help her
develop her language skills
- She began to copy words and
could eventually put together
utterances of two to four
words, leaving researchers
optimistic that Genie might be
able to fully develop language
- Unfortunately, Genie did not
progress past this stage and
was not able to apply
grammatical rules to her
utterances
- It appeared that Genie had
passed the critical period for
language acquisition; however,
it is also important to
remember the impact of abuse
and neglect on her childhood
- Case studies like Genie’s are
key components of research
into language acquisition
The role of the environment in
language acquisition in children
- The role of the environment in
CLA is a key area of study for
many linguists
- It all comes back to the 'nature
vs nurture' debate; some
linguists argue that
environment and upbringing
are key in language acquisition
(nurture) whilst others argue
that genetics and other
biological factors are most
important (nature)
Behavioural Theory Module 3: BILINGUALISM AND
- Is the main theory that argues MULTILINGUALISM
for the importance of the
Bilingualism
environment in language
acquisition - A bilingual person is someone
- It proposes that children do not who speaks two languages.
have any internal mechanisms
Multilingual
for learning a language;
instead, they learn language as - A person who speaks more than
a result of imitating their two languages.
caregivers and those around Multilingualism
them. - Isn't unusual.
Interactionist Theory - In fact, it's the norm for most of
- Also argues for the importance the world's societies.
of the environment and - It's possible for a person to
propose that, whilst children know and use three, four, or
do have the innate ability to even more languages fluently.
learn language, they require How do people become bilingual?
regular interaction with - People may become bilingual
caregivers to achieve full either by acquiring two
fluency languages at the same time in
- Opposing theories to these are childhood or by learning a
the Nativist Theory and the second language sometime
Cognitive Theory after acquiring their first
Nativist Theory language.
- Argues that children are born - Many bilingual people grow up
with an innate Language speaking two languages.
Acquisition Device that - Often in America such people
provides children with a are the children of immigrants;
baseline understanding of these children grow up
language speaking their parents' native
Cognitive Theory language in their childhood
- Argues that children learn home while speaking English
language as their cognitive at school.
ability and understanding of - Many bilinguals, however, are
the world develops not immigrants; it is not
uncommon for people born in
the U.S. to speak English at
school or work and another
language at home.
 - Children can also become There are a lot of advantages to
bilingual if their parents speak knowing more than one language.
more than one language to
- First, many linguists feel that
them, or if some other
knowing a second language
significant person in their life
actually benefits a child's
speaks to them consistently in
cognitive development.
another language.
- Second, if the child comes
- In short, a young child who is
from a family that has recently
regularly exposed to two
immigrated to the U.S., the
languages from an early age
family may speak a language
will most likely become a fluent
other than English at home and
native speaker of both
may still have strong ties to
languages.
their ethnic roots. In this case,
- The exposure must involve
being able to speak the
interaction.
language of the family's ethnic
- It is also possible to learn a
heritage may be important for
second language sometime
the child's sense of cultural
after early childhood, but the
identity.
older you get, the harder it is to
- Third, in an increasingly global
learn to speak a new language
marketplace, it's an advantage
as well as a native speaker.
for anyone to know more than
- Many linguists believe there is
one language - regardless of
a 'critical period'- lasting
whether one's family is new to
roughly from birth until
the U.S. And finally, for people
puberty, during which a child
of any age or profession,
can easily acquire any
knowing a second language
language that he or she is
encourages cross-cultural
regularly exposed to.
awareness and understanding.
Is it harder for a child to acquire two
languages at once?
- There is no evidence to
suggest that it's any harder for
a child to acquire two
languages than it is for the
child to acquire one language.
- As long as the child is exposed
to two languages throughout
early childhood, he or she will
acquire them both.