Unit 2: Second Language Acquisition Theories

Section 2.1: Introduction

Essential Knowledge and Skills

 Teachers will be able to describe some theories of learning, L1 acquisition, and SLA and explain
some relationships between them.
 Teachers will be able to give some examples of how the theories work in the real world (either
examples found in this unit or preferably their own examples).
 Teachers will be able to analyze some commonly held beliefs about SLA using the theories they
have learned.
 Teachers will be able to evaluate their own beliefs about SLA, telling how they may need to
change and why.

Introduction to “Introduction to Second Language Acquisition

Theories”
Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is a study of how second of foreign languages
are learned. This unit offers an overview of SLA, including a look at some theories
and models that will help you better understand the field of ELT and what goes on in
your classrooms. We'll start with some common beliefs about SLA. You'll have a
chance to form some initial opinions about those beliefs and how they might affect the
way you teach. Then, throughout the rest of the unit we'll examine those beliefs by
looking at theories of learning, first language acquisition, and second language
acquisition. We'll also analyze the common beliefs and how they may need to be
revised. By the end, you will be able to evaluate your own beliefs, how they fit with
theories in the field, and how your ideas might need to grow.
Key Terms

 L1–first language
 L2–second or foreign language
 SLA–Second Language Acquisition, a study of how second or foreign languages are learned
 input–language that we are exposed to either through listening or reading
 output–language that we produce either through speaking or writing
 In this unit, your understanding will build from three views of learning to three perspectives of
L1 acquisition, and then to four models of SLA. These are listed in the table below in order to
show the relationship between them. Later you will learn what each term means.
Journal Reflection

Section 2.2: Beliefs About Language Learning

Your Beliefs about SLA: Survey

Now that you’ve reflected on your beliefs about SLA, let’s put those beliefs into a
framework that we will use throughout this unit.

Take the Beliefs Survey using one of the options below and decide whether you agree
or disagree with some common beliefs about SLA.

• Click on the link to take the survey: Online Beliefs

Survey (Pre).When you finish, you will be able to see how
other participants have responded. Your responses will
 also be emailed to you. Please keep that email to refer
to throughout this unit.

• Click here to access a “paper” version of the survey

which you can either download and fill out on your device
or print and fill in manually: Paper Beliefs Survey.
You’ll need access to this document for reference
throughout this unit.

After taking the survey, you may have some questions:

• Where do these beliefs come from?

• Are they right? Which ones are right and which aren’t?

• How do beliefs like these affect the way we teach?

• Do I need to change any of my beliefs? How?

We’re going to answer these questions throughout this unit. In each section below,
we’ll look at some theories behind these beliefs. Then, we’ll talk about how to reword
the beliefs in order to fit with current thinking in our field, how our teaching should
be affected, and how your beliefs may need to change. Before moving on to the next
section, however, let’s take a few minutes to reflect on the last two questions in the
list above.
How Beliefs Affect the Way We Teach: Activity
 Evaluating Our Beliefs

Section 2.3: Learning Processes

Introduction to Three Views of Learning

This section examines the three views of learning listed below. What do you already
know about them? What do you see in each term that hints at what the view may say?

 Behaviorist
 Cognitive
 Constructivist
Behaviorist

You likely learned about behavioral psychology in a high school or college

introduction to psychology

course. Remember Pavlov's

dog? Originally, the bell (the stimulus) was accompanied by food which led to
salvation (the response). This process was repeated until the dogs were conditioned to
salivate at the sound of a bell without food.

Beginning in the 1930s, B. F. Skinner applied stimulus-response conditioning to

human learning. However, he differentiated it from animal learning and described
human learning as an operant-reinforcer process. The operant (the response) is
followed by the reinforcer (the stimulus) that reinforces the behavior and motivates it
to continue. The operant may also be followed by a negative consequence or the
absence of any reinforcer which teaches the person that a different response is needed
in order to receive the looked-for stimulus. The whole process of stimulus-response or
operant-reinforcer learning is called "conditioning."

In the examples below, consider how the child may be conditioned to cry, ask, or ask
politely. Assume that in each instance, repetition of the operant-reinforcer cycle is
occurring over time.

Example:
Behaviorism focuses on outward observed behavior and assumes that learning is a
process of repeatedly having your attempts at trying a new behavior reinforced (or
not). For example, you learned some new terms and acronyms like "ELT," "L1," and
"L2" in Unit 1, but did you remember them with the first exposure? If not, every time
you looked back at the terms listed at the beginning of the unit your knowledge of the
terms was either reinforced or not until with repeated conditioning you are able to
read the terms in this unit and know what they mean.

For many years (from the early 1900s to the 1960s), behaviorism was considered the
primary way humans learn. Today, we realize that learning is much more complex.
Cognitive

While behaviorism focused on outward, observable learning processes, cognitive

views look at what goes on inside the mind. In particular, David Ausubel (in the
1960s) distinguishes between rote and meaningful learning. Rote learning involves
memorizing random pieces of information that have no connection to each other. The
brain can usually remember no more than 5-9 random pieces of information like your
passport number or a postal code. A more efficient way to learn and retain larger
amounts of information is meaningful learning, a process of contextualizing
and connecting new information to what we already know.

One way to understand cognitive theory and meaningful learning is to view the brain
like a computer. Schema, the organized stores of knowledge in the brain, could be
compared to the documents folder on your desktop. Inside your brain are structured
folders of information. Learning something new is a process of finding the right folder
of similar, connected files in which

to save it. New

information is easier to understand when we learn it in the context of a “folder title”
 or topic—contextualized learning, and it is easier to retrieve when we’ve connected it
to our schema.

Alternatively, you could view schema like a computer network. When you completed
Unit 1, you were likely exposed to some new terms related to language learning. At
first you may have taken in those term by connecting them to previous knowledge and
experiences. Currently in your brain, each new term may have a network of
connections to what you already know and have experienced about language,
learning, or teaching. For example, in order to understand the terms, you may have
networked them to your experiences learning a second language, your niece’s first
language learning, or what you know about teaching math. As your knowledge about
our field grows, connections between all the new terms will strengthen until they form
their own ELT network, and other connections you’ve made will not be as important.
The good news for you is that as the ELT network strengthens adding more new
information will become easier and easier.
Constructivist

Constructivist views look outward though in a

different way than behaviorism, and they also look inward and build on cognitive
theory. Drawing on Carl Rogers’ humanistic psychology (1950s), they look inward
and see the learner as a whole person—physically, cognitively, and most importantly
emotionally. They also draw on Lev Vygotsky’s social constructivism (1970s) and his
view of learning as a process of constructing understandings by building inwardly on
what is already known (schema) and outwardly through social interaction. The focus
of the constructivist view, then, is both on individual learners and what they bring to
the learning process and also on how they learn in society through interactions with
fellow learners, teachers, parents, and others.

Some key constructivist ideas are explained below:

 Individual learners use what they already know about a subject and the world (schema) in order to
construct meaning or understandings of new information through social interaction with
classmates, teachers, and also possibly parents or others who are also building their own
understandings.
 Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the gap between learners’ current
development and their potential or between what they haven’t acquired and are capable of
 acquiring. Learning involves filling that gap by constructing meanings through social interactions
with others who can help them make progress. The teacher’s job is to support them as they
progress through their ZPD.
 Paolo Friere’s learner empowerment rejected the notion that students are vessels to be filled and
instead viewed them as full participants in the learning process who are given responsibility for
what is learned and how. In other words, it’s not the teacher’s job to direct learners through their
ZPDby constructing meaning for them but rather to empower them to build their own
understandings which begin in the classroom and carry over into life.
 In facilitative teaching or discovery learning, learners are empowered to figure out information

or knowledge

individually or more frequently in cooperation with classmates. Teachers also play a role by
setting up manageable contexts for discovery learning and through interaction with individuals or
groups in order to confirm or redirect their ideas. However, the learners do not passively wait for
the teacher’s direction. Instead, they actively take responsibility for their own learning.
 Constructivist ideas fall under learner-centered teaching. Often learner-centered is equated with
facilitative teaching or more broadly with group work or using activities to teach. However, it also
includes the idea that learners’ needs, ways of learning, interests, and motivations influence the
way we teach. In other words, we get to know and empathize with our students, and then, drawing
on what we learn about the “whole person,” we use activities and facilitative teaching to engage
them in the learning process while encouraging their autonomy.

Comparing the Views

Summary of the Three Views of Learning:

Applying the Views

Watch this video describing three examples of learning Chinese. While you’re
watching, consider the following:
Evaluating Our Beliefs

Let’s look again at the first two items on the Beliefs Survey.

Beliefs Revisited–Discussion
Analysis of Part 6 Matching
Section 2.4: First Language Acquisition
Introduction to Three Perspectives
In this section, we’re going to take a constructivist approach to learning. You’ll be
drawing on your new schema about the three views of learning from Section 3 in
order to construct new understandings of three perspectives of L1 acquisition.

Structural vs. Nativist Perspectives

Since structural and nativist perspectives are in many ways on opposite ends, they are
compared in the chart below. Nativist perspectives are often referred to as innatist.
You’ll see why as you read the information in the chart.

Comparison of Structural and Nativist Perspectives

Functional or Interactionist Perspective

In the same way that the constructivist view of learning built on the cognitive, the
functional/interactionist perspective builds on the nativist while also looking at the
outward environment in a different way than the structural (behaviorist). In fact, the
functional/interactionist perspective draws heavily on the constructivist view of
learning. In the paragraphs below, pay attention to how constructivist terms and also
the words “function” and “interaction” show up in our discussion.

Perhaps in your reflection at the end of Part 2, you noted another problem with the
nativist perspective in particular that language cannot be learned without social
interaction. In order to learn their L1, children need not only input that activates the
innate properties of language, but they also need to produce output. That mix of input
and output does not come through imitation and repetition but through
communication. L1 acquisition is much more than learning words, grammar points, or
patterns. It is learning how the pieces function together in the context of sentences and
more importantly appropriately and politely in societal contexts. Learning how
language functions in the world happens through interaction with others in society.
Scenario 1
Scenario 1 Analysis
The nativist perspective largely focuses on end results or competence—how much
children know of the underlying structures of language. The functional/interactionist
perspective, not surprisingly given its emphasis, values performance—how children
develop the ability to use the pieces of language in communication and the larger
context of society. How do we know when children have acquired their L1 (and
others their L2)? When they can pass a test or answer questions that show they’ve
mastered the forms of language (competence)? Or when they can successfully and
appropriately engage in communication (performance)? Researchers and also teachers
disagree. What do you think?

Applying the Perspectives

NOTE: For the first and last parts of this video there is no sound–you should read
the information presented on the slides. From 2:08-4:07 mins there is an embedded
audio video sharing how Nicaraguan sign language developed.
Evaluating Our Beliefs

Let’s look again at three items on the Beliefs Survey.

Beliefs Revisited–Discussion
 Section 2.5: Theories of Second Language Acquisition
Introduction to Four Models of SLA

So far, we’ve seen three views of learning and three matching perspectives on L1
acquisition. Now, we’re going to look at four models of second language acquisition
that fit into two of the views/perspectives. As noted in the paragraphs above although
we may see some elements of behaviorism (like imitation or repetition) in some of the
models below, it has largely been abandoned as a theory of learning and also of L2
learning.

 Krashen’s Input Hypothesis

 McLaughlin’s Attention-Processing Model
 Bialystok’s Implicit & Explicit Processing
 Long’s Interaction Hypothesis

In previous sections, you’ve first learned about some theories, compared them in
some way, and then seen how they are applied. In this section, you’ll take all three of
these steps at the same time. The next few paragraphs attempt to use the models as
you learn about them. Obviously, what you are learning here is not an L2, and some
of what you will be asked to do may seem odd. Please play along. If you will
participate as directed, you will “acquire” the models while also experiencing how
they work. One activity you will be asked to engage in is filling out the table below
that compares the four models. You can keep notes in your online journal or
download this chart by clicking HERE.

Models of SLA
Krashen’s Input Hypothesis

In the 1970s and 80s, Stephen Krashen proposed a well-known theory of SLA that has
been called by a couple of different names—monitor model, acquisition-learning
hypothesis, and input hypothesis. Since his ideas drew on nativist perspectives and in
particular the idea that input activates language learning, the name “input hypothesis”
is used here. His model is based on the idea that SLA is like L1 acquisition. He
suggested that learners subconsciously learn through exposure to input (whether
through hearing or reading) in the L2, and then, eventually with enough input, speech
naturally emerges.

Tracy Terrell combined efforts with Krashen (Krashen and Terrell, 1983) in order to
develop a teaching approach based on his theories—the natural approach which
included elements of total physical response. (You will learn about this teaching
method in the next unit.) Follow the steps below to experience Krashen’s input
hypothesis. The experience is designed to follow his and Terrell’s natural approach
which had three stages: Pre-Speech, Early Production, and Extending Production. The
amount of time spent at each stage depended on how long it took for speech to emerge
from input.

Pre-Speech/Early Production

For these two stages, please watch and participate in the video below. Pay attention to
how input or exposure comes first (pre-speech). You’ll be asked to respond to input
with some gestures rather than words at this stage. This is an imitation of total
physical response. Please play along. Then, pre-speech is followed by some
production but only simple words or phrases with a focus on meaning rather than
correctness (early production).

Extending Production

Below, you’ll read how some of Krashen’s ideas have been criticized and even
discounted. However, others have endured perhaps because they make good sense to
language teachers while also fitting with other theoretical perspectives. For example,
“i + 1” may simply be another way of talking about meaningful learning or the ZPD,
and “affective filter” fits well with Rogers’ humanistic psychology. You don’t have to
be in the field of ELT for long before terms like these will become part of your
teacher vernacular. Moreover, although a monitoring device no more exists than an
LAD, self-monitoring is important and at all stages of learning not only after fluency
is reached. As you’ll read below and in the “Error Correction and Feedback” unit,
awareness of output, noticing mistakes, and self-correction are good strategies for L2
learners to develop.
Processing Models

One of the criticisms of Krashen’s input hypothesis centered around his distinction
between subconscious acquisition and conscious learning and what it actually means.
In the cognitive framework, Barry McLaughlin was one of the first researchers (in the
1970s) to challenge this distinction. His research and that of others including Ellen
Bialystok viewed language learning as skill learning and examined what was going on
inside the brain as the skill was being acquired. They studied how our attention is
focused, consciously or not, as we learn and use the skill and how we perform it,
automatically or not.

The next few paragraphs will lead you to experience these two models through a
classroom application: “The 3 P’s” (Presentation, Practice, and Production). You will
learn about this application in the “Lesson Planning” unit.

Presentation

Click on the link below in order to watch a video about the two processing models.

Practice

There are three practice activities below. After you try them, you can go back to the
video to check your answers if necessary.
Production

There are two production activities. As you complete them, feel free to refer back to
the video.
Unlike Krashen’s model, information processing models leave room for conscious
attention to form in L2 classrooms and in fact suggest that a focused, controlled
environment may be necessary before forms can be used automatically in
communication. However, as you’ll see in the unit on “Teaching Writing and
Grammar,” the “presentation” of forms does not have to be done in a lecture format
like the video above. It can also be done inductively—following a more constructivist,
discovery learning pattern.

Processing models also allow for the importance of output. If language is a skill to be
learned, then obviously that skill involves both input and output. However, these two
models don’t explain the role output plays in acquisition. Long’s interaction
hypothesis comes in here.
Long’s Interaction Hypothesis–1
Two other criticisms of Krashen’s input hypothesis focus on input versus output.
Krashen believed that speech (output) would naturally emerge with exposure to
comprehensible input or i + 1. The natural approach advocated a “silent period” in the
classroom where output was not required until learners were ready, and in this way,
they were to acquire the L2 like children do their L1. Brown (2014, p. 290) points out,
however, that although speech may emerge for “learners who are good at initiating
and sustaining interaction,” it may never happen for those “who are more passive,
reticent, and less assertive.”

Another related but larger issue is that input alone is not enough to lead to intake—the
part of input that we actually take in, store in our brains, and can access for
communicative purposes. Input can only become intake when it is balanced by output
(speaking or writing). Output, then, plays a much larger role in SLA than simply
emerging from input. Even children, as the functional/interactionist perspective
pointed out, engage in output or social interaction as they acquire their L1.

Merrill Swain’s output hypothesis asserted that output is as important as input if not
more so. Later, the research of Michael Long and others suggested that acquisition
actually happens through output. These ideas built on the constructivist notion that
language acquisition occurs in the context of social interaction.

In the paragraphs below, you will “acquire” interaction hypothesis while experiencing
it through its classroom application—task-based language teaching (which you will
learn more about in the Task-based Language Teaching unit). Please note, however,
that in order to experience this model and its classroom application, you would need
to do the following tasks with a partner or group which this course is not designed for.
Long’s Interaction Hypothesis–2
Long’s Interaction Hypothesis–3
Evaluating Our Beliefs

Let’s look again at four items on the Beliefs Survey.

Beliefs Revisited–Discussion
Section 2.6: Learner and Contextual Factors
Learning Preferences Activity

After learning about different views, perspectives, and models in this unit, you may be
wondering what the “right” approach to SLA is. Sometimes the text raised questions
and then didn’t answer them. At other times, questions were answered but with a non-
committal “both/and.” Part of the reason for this is that everyone learns in different
ways, and so one theory may do a better job of explaining how SLA works for a
particular type of learner while a different theory fits better with others.

The purpose of the activity above was to start you thinking about individual
differences in language learning. Learning preferences can influence SLA and how
well particular theories work. Other factors also play a role. These factors are
 explained below. They are only briefly introduced here because you will learn about
many of them in later units.
Age and Acquisition

One of the most misunderstood ideas in SLA is the critical period hypothesis. It
suggests that there is a window of opportunity to learn an L2 (and also an L1) that
closes once an individual reaches puberty. This idea has fed the problematic
assumption that SLA is very similar to L1 learning. It has also been used to advance
the early learning of second languages without considering the potential negative
effects on L1 development. It may also be used as an excuse for not learning an L2
—“I’m too old to learn a new language.”

Research does support the existence of some advantages for learners who begin
acquiring an L2 at a younger age. They are more likely than older learners to have
native pronunciation. There is also some evidence that they may have native
grammatical proficiency as well as underlying competence. However, here are some
important points to remember:

 We need to be careful to make comparisons between adults and children learning an L2 in the
same environment (either both natural or both in a classroom). Otherwise, environmental factors
interfere with our understanding of age factors. Comparing child L1 and adult L2 learning is also
not helpful when considering age factors.
 The goal of SLA is not native proficiency including native pronunciation but successful
communication. Moreover, “native proficiency” and “native pronunciation” would be hard to
define given the varieties of English around the world that you learned about in Unit 1.
 Some adults are able to acquire an L2 with native-like proficiency; many are able to communicate
successfully. Harmer (2015, p.80) describes the belief that children are better at L2 learning as
“something of a myth.” Moreover, Brown adds, “…there is absolutely no evidence that an adult
cannot overcome all of these disadvantages save one, accent…” (2014, p.74). However,
proficiency is more variable among adult learners than among people who began acquiring the L2
in childhood, particularly those with access to a natural setting.

 Adults and children learn language differently. One difference is the rate at which they learn. In
many ways, the manner in which adults learn may be more efficient than children acquiring an L2
“naturally.” Moreover, in a classroom setting, adults have abilities that give them an advantage
over children.

The reason why children and adults learn an L2 differently is that they are different
physically, cognitively, and affectively. The table below summarizes a few of the
differences noted by Harmer (2015) and Brown (2014). While you read, consider
these questions: Who has the advantage? Children or adults? Why? The unit on
teaching young learners will deepen your understanding and help you answer these
questions.

Summary of Some Reasons Why Children and Adults Learn and L2 Differently
Other Learner and Contextual Factors
 In addition to age, there are a number of other factors that may influence SLA and
lead to variability between learners. Many of these other factors go much deeper than
simply our preferences and may be connected to a whole web of factors both inside
and outside of us.

Perhaps it would help to view L2 learners like the hiker in the photo. (You will learn
more about some of these topics in other units.)

 Environment: Each individual is learning in a particular environment, whether natural or in a

classroom, in the L2 context or their home country. For example, learning Chinese in China,
whether you take a class or try to “pick up” the language, is different from your students learning
English in a classroom context in their L1 environment.
 Target Goals and Needs: Each learner is headed down a particular path and toward a specific
destination, ranging from passing an exam to living in the L2 culture. These differing goals give
every learner different target needs for how and what they learn.
 Background Knowledge and Experiences: Learners also each have an origin, a whole set of
background knowledge and experiences, including learning and educational experiences, as well
as a personal and socio-cultural identity that influence not only how they learn but how they
believe they should learn. Their schema also includes their L1 knowledge. (You’ll learn more
about how the L1 can facilitate or interfere with L2 learning in the “Error Correction & Feedback”
unit.)
 Personality and Learning Styles: Inside, whether head or heart or both, is a whole set of factors
which make each individual unique and influence how they learn, including various types of
intelligence and related strengths and weaknesses, personality, learning styles and preferences, and
motivation (“Learning Styles and Strategies”).
 Affective Issues: They also each carry their own affective baggage which could potentially
interfere with the language learning process (“Learning Styles and Strategies”).
 Strategies: Learners may also each have something like a service dog or an emotional support
animal, their own set of strategies for overcoming obstacles when, for example, a teaching style
doesn’t match with their learning preferences or in order to cope with baggage and lower the
affective filter.

Application

A number of years ago, Earl Stevick wrote a book entitled, “Success with Foreign
Languages: Seven Who Achieved It and What Worked for Them” (1989). In the
book, he reported on interviews with seven successful adult L2 learners. At the outset,
he was hoping to

find commonalities,
the secret recipe for success. Here is how he summarized his findings: “It soon
became apparent, however, that learners are even more different from one another
than I had expected. Success with foreign languages, I found, does not come by one
simple formula” (p. xi). Elements of different theories of learning and SLA were
evident in the learners, but each approached the process with individual
characteristics. One, for example, could easily learn from spoken input; another
needed first to see the input. Some wanted to focus on form and then practice (perhaps
controlled to automatic processing); another, who was good at risk-taking, was ready
to jump right into practice and preferred learning through conversations with people
in the real world (perhaps interaction hypothesis). Some could survive in spite of rote
learning; others needed to learn in context (meaningful learning).
Evaluating our Beliefs

Let’s look at the last three items on the Beliefs Survey.

Beliefs Revisited–Discussion
 Section 2.7: Beliefs for Language Learning and Teaching Revisited
Introduction

Section 6 pointed out that individual characteristics and contextual factors influence
SLA and make it difficult to give “right” answers about what works and what doesn’t.
Another part of the reason for this seemingly non-committal, “both/and” attitude is
that there is no one theory that holds the secret to SLA. Language and human beings
are complex and cannot be explained by one idea. Moreover, research is ongoing, and
we are still learning how SLA works. However, we shouldn’t willy-nilly choose
whatever idea strikes our fancy. In the field of ELT, there are certain agreed-upon
principles of SLA that lean toward the cognitive-constructivist side. These points of
agreement are reflected in the beliefs we’ve revisited throughout this unit. Let’s turn
to those one more time.
Beliefs Survey Revisited

Have your beliefs changed? Take the Beliefs Survey again. Then, compare your
answers from the pre-unit survey with your answers here. What changes do you see?

 Click here to access the online survey: Online Beliefs Survey (Post).
 Click here to access the paper version: Paper Beliefs Survey.

How Beliefs Affect Teaching Revisited: Activity

The Goals and Purposes of SLA

Section 6 of this unit warned that the goal of SLA is not perfect pronunciation and
excellent grammar. That would be unrealistic for most of us; moreover, language
proficiency is a lot more than only learning the structures of a language. Rather, the
goal is communicative competence. Simply put, this means being able to
communicate successfully in the L2 whether speaking or listening, reading or writing.
Communicative competence includes not only a knowledge of the structures of
language but also being able to apply them in the context of paragraphs or
 conversations and doing so in a way that is socially and culturally appropriate. It also
means that we have an understanding of where our weaknesses are in the language
and the ability to compensate so that we can successfully get our meaning across.
(You’ll learn more about communicative competence in the next unit on “Language
Teaching Theories and Methodologies.”)

How this goal plays out for different learners may depend on their target goals and
needs, in other words, their purposes for SLA. For you, L2 learning may be survival
as you adjust to living in China. Your students may be working toward fulfilling an
education requirement or passing an exam. Others may be hoping to travel or study in
another country or find employment that requires English proficiency. Underlying
most of these purposes is a desire to communicate, and for all citizens of the world, a
need to cross boundaries and build bridges.

As you consider how to apply the belief system presented in this unit, a good starting
point is the individuals in your classrooms, what they bring to the learning process,
and why they are learning the L2. Then, you can make wise decisions about how to
enact the beliefs in a way that leads learners toward successful communication that
fulfills their purposes and builds harmony.

Section 2.8: Essential Knowledge and Skills

Essential Knowledge and Skills

 Teachers will be able to describe some theories of learning, L1 acquisition, and SLA and
explain some relationships between them.
 Teachers will be able to explain some details about the different views, perspectives, and models
listed in the table.

 Teachers will be able to give an overview of the models of SLA and explain how they build on the
views and perspectives.
 Teachers will be able to list some ideas that have endured from some of the different models.
 Teachers will be able to describe some problems with some of the models.

 Teachers will be able to give some examples of how the theories work in the real world
(either examples found in this unit or preferably their own examples).

 Teachers will be able to illustrate the three views of learning either by describing the three Chinese
language learning examples or by giving their own examples.
 Teachers will be able to describe how the story of Nicaraguan Sign Language supports both nature
and nurture and fits with different perspectives of L1 acquisition, or they will be able to give their
own examples.
 Teachers will be able to describe how the four models of SLA work based on their experiences
during Section 5 or using their personal learning/teaching experiences.

 Teachers will be able to analyze some commonly held beliefs about SLA using the theories
they have learned.

 Teachers will be able to explain some agreed-upon beliefs about SLA.

 Teachers will be able to give a rationale for some of the agreed-upon beliefs by drawing on
theories learned in this unit.
 Teachers will be able to give examples of how some of the beliefs work.
 Teachers will be able to describe some ways that the beliefs should influence teacher behavior.

 Teachers will be able to evaluate their own beliefs about SLA, telling how they may need to
change and why.

 Teachers will be able to explain how their beliefs have changed as a result of working through this
unit.
 Teachers will be able to note places where they still have room to grow and why.