Tema 6: “Aportaciones de la lingüística a la enseñanza de las lenguas extranjeras.

El
proceso de aprendizaje lingüístico: semejanzas y diferencias entre la adquisición de la
primera lengua escolar y de la lengua extranjera”.

Topic 6: Contribution of linguistics to the foreign language teaching. The language

learning process: similarities and differences between the first language and foreign
language acquisition

Index

0. Introduction and relevance of the topic

1. Contribution of linguistics to the foreign language teaching

1.1 Structural grammar (beginning of the 20th century)
1.2 Generative Grammar of the 1960s
1.3 Functional grammar of the 1980s

2. The language learning process: similarities and differences between the first
language and foreign language acquisition
2.1 Krashen’s theory on first and second language acquisition
2.2 Similarities and differences between L1 and L2 acquisition

3. Practical applications to motivate pupils towards the learning of a foreign

language

4. Conclusion

5. References
5.1 Bibliographic references
5.2 Legislative references

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 0. Introduction and relevance of the topic

The limits of my language are the limits of my world.

Ludwig Wittgenstein.

This quote is a great way to start this topic, since it expresses masterfully the
importance of learning a language. It tries to show that when we learn a language, we
will enjoy the possibility of expanding our limits, since a language allows us to
communicate and to get to know the world that surrounds us.

Regarding Cassany (2015), children acquire their mother tongue naturally.

However, learning a foreign language is not so easy. Linguists have investigated the way
in which the mother tongue is acquired, and they discovered that some aspects could be
incorporated to the foreign language teaching.

Currently, the ultimate aim of the English language Area is the development of
our students’ communicative competence as it is gathered in the art. 7 section f) of the
Royal Decree 126/2014, of February 28th. Thus, the relevance of this topic lies in the
need to know the mechanisms involved in the learning of a second language since it will
enable us to find the most efficient and effective way of teaching English.

Overall, along this topic, we will start by focusing on Linguistics and its
contribution to foreign language teaching. Afterwards we will concentrate on language
learning. Then, we will analyse the main similarities and differences between these two
processes, finishing with the teaching implications derived from the theories examined.

1. Contribution of linguistics to foreign language teaching

Regarding Jakobson (1960), Linguistics is the science which studies how human
beings acquire language as a system communication. For over 2,000 years language has
been an object of fascination. We will now concentrate on the most important linguists
and theories that have influenced language teaching.

1.1 Structural grammar (beginning of the 20th century)

Two main authors can be mentioned in this section:

ü Ferdinand de Saussure

The Swiss scholar Ferdinand de Saussure is labelled as “the father of modern

linguistics”. His students collected his lecture notes after his death and published them
under the tittle “Course in General Linguistics”, in 1915, which exerted a great influence
on linguistics.

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 Saussure’s crucial contribution was his explicit and often repeated statement that
all language items are essentially interlinked. He suggested that a language was like a
game of chess, a system in which each item is defined by its relationship to all others.
Saussure contributed to the renewal of foreign language teaching in these aspects:

§ The smallest unit when teaching a language is the sentence, because words outside
a context mean nothing.
§ The emphasis must be on speech over written language, because language is a
system of communication between two or more speakers.
§ Translation as a teaching method must be avoided.

ü Leonard Bloomfield

In America, there were no firm guidelines for linguistics until the publication of
Leonard Bloomfield’s work entitled “Language”, in 1933. He focused on the description
and classification of linguistic units (phoneme, morpheme, words) and the analysis of
structures. This linguistics designed a methodology for the description of any language.
According to him, the task of a linguist was to collect data from native speakers and then
analyse it by studying the phonological and syntactic patterns. This approach advocates
the following:

§ Language skills are taught in this order: listening, speaking, reading and writing
§ Language structures are learned through imitation and repetitions.
§ Teach the language, not about the language: grammar explanations and
translation should be avoided.

1.2 Generative Grammar of the 1960s

The structuralist view of Linguistics was challenged by the American linguistic

Noam Chomsky, who was the most influential linguistic of the 20th century. Chomsky
initiated a new era with his Theory of Generative Grammar. This author suggests that
human language comes from a common source, an innate set of grammatical rules inside
the human mind. This innate universal grammar remains in our genetic heritage and
explains the ability of children to learn a language despite their limited external
experience and basic grammatical understanding.

Chomsky’s contribution to foreign language teaching has been enormous:

§ Learners have cognitive abilities for learning languages. It means that language
is not a repetition of structures; learners can make utterances in creative ways.
§ Errors must be considered as normal in the process of learning. In fact, they
provide positive evidence about the nature of the learning process.

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 1.3 Functional grammar of the 1980s

Our current Educational System has incorporated communicative and functional

principles in its syllabus design since 1980. In this sense, the main finality of our area
now is not the absolute mastery of structures, but there is an emphasis on successful
communication, so the main concern of our area is the development of our students’
communicative competence, term which was first defined by Hymes (1972) as “the
knowledge which enables someone to use a language effectively, and the ability to
actually use this knowledge for communication”.

In order to understand the elements which made up the communicative

competence, we follow the orientations gathered in the Common European Framework
of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2020), which mentions three sub-
competences that must be worked:

§ Linguistic competence: it includes the ability to deal with the 4 linguistic skills
with sufficient accuracy and fluency.
§ Sociolinguistic competence: it includes the ability to use the language
appropriately, taking into consideration the setting and the socio-cultural
background.
§ Pragmatic competence: it includes the ability to understand and develop forms
of language with appropriate cohesion and coherence.

For the fulfilment of this competence, the Communicative approach is highly

recommended according to the methodological recommendations for the Foreign
language area, gathered in the Annex II of the Order of January 15th, 2021. According
to Dörnyei (2015), the main principles of this approach are:

ü The communication principle: pupils must have a reason for using the language..
ü The task principle: meaningful tasks that involve their close-reality
communication promote learning.
ü The meaningfulness principle: language that is meaningful to the learner
encourages learning.

This approach makes use of a variety of techniques and activities:

ü The information-gap activities

ü Open-ended discussions and debates
ü Meaningful techniques such as role-play, miming, story-telling, songs..
ü Pair and group work, which provide a rich climate for interaction.
ü Communication with other European Schools in English
ü The use of realia or authentic materials: leaflets, songs, maps, tickets

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 2. The language learning process: similarities and differences between the first
language and foreign language acquisition

When children start learning a foreign language at school, they are not a “blank
sheet”; rather, they have already acquired a linguistic system which can influence the
learning of the foreign language. Therefore, the present section tries to clarify the way in
which pupils acquire the first and second language, analyzing similarities and differences.

2.1 Krashen’s theory on first and second language acquisition

For over 200 years, scholars have shown an interest in the way children learn to
speak and understand their first and second language. There have been several proposals
to explain the process of learning of a L1 and L2.

In 1982, the American linguist Stephen Krashen offered an influential view on

second language learning. This author made a distinction between acquisition and
learning. Acquisition is a subconscious and natural process, which is behind L1 learning.
Learning is a conscious process that monitors the progress of acquisition and guides the
performance of the speaker.

The emphasis on acquisition lead Krashen to propose several Hypotheses about learning
a second language:

§ Acquisition/learning hypothesis: it claims that acquiring a language is more

successful and longer-lasting than learning.

§ The monitor hypothesis: it claims that learners can use their learnt knowledge to
correct themselves when they communicate.

§ The input hypothesis: it claims that acquisition takes place as a result of learners
having understood input that is a little beyond their level of competence
(comprehensible Input).

§ The natural order hypothesis: it claims that the L1 and the L2 must be acquired
in the same order: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In fact, oral skills
should be prioritized during the Primary Education Stage, as it is suggested by our
current law, art. 13.3 of the Royal Decree 126/2014, of February 28th.

§ The Affective Filter hypothesis: Krashen puts emphasis on the emotional state
of the learner. A low affective filter is desirable, since acquisition happens when
there is no anxiety, that is, when the affective filter is low.

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2.2 Similarities and differences between first language acquisition and foreign
language learning

The similarities and differences between the mother tongue acquisition and the
foreign language learning can be summarized as follows:

ü Similarities:

§ Both L1 and L2 learning are cognitive processes. Children and L2 learners use
their innate ability to learn language and can create new utterances.
§ Many errors in L1 and L2 learning are similar.
§ Both children and L2 learners need to be exposed to comprehensible input. The
receptive skill of listening is central to their learning.
§ There is a natural order both in L1 and L2 acquisition, that is, a natural and
universal sequence of acquisition. Some grammatical forms are acquired before
others.
§ In both L1 and L2 learning processes, repetition of the model takes place.
Children imitate the parental model they hear; L2 learners also repeat the teacher’s
model (or whichever model they may listen to).

ü Differences:

§ L2 learners are different from children learning their mother tongue, since there
is already a language in their minds that influences the foreign language learning.
Therefore, L1 interference errors may come up in the process of learning.
§ Foreign language learners have a set of cognitive skills and strategies that make
them conscious of the learning process. They can reflect on the language,
memorize words, use the dictionary...
§ The foreign language is taught in an artificial situation (the classroom) that lacks
the diversity of contexts and situations that the first language learning has.
§ Foreign language learners have less time and opportunities for language
exposure and practice than children acquiring their mother tongue.
§ Motivation is different. Foreign language learners already know a language, and
this might reduce their need to learn another one.

3. Practical applications to motivate pupils towards the learning of a foreign

language

A we have seen, many theories, methods and approaches have been devised in the
search for the best way of teaching a language. In the following section, we will pay
attention at one of the areas which determine students’ success in the field of foreign
language learning: motivation.

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 Regarding Bona (2018), a motivated student is able to learn whatever. The more
motivated students are, the easier they will learn a new language. In order to promote our
students’ motivation and increase their desire to keep on learning the foreign language,
we will propose some practical applications:

ü Raising awareness of the importance of English: we can plan activities which

enable the students to be aware of how much English is around them. Some
activities are: listing names of their favourite English singers, finding English-
speaking countries they want to visit, bringing examples of English words they
can find on daily life, and so on.

ü Creating an English environment: there are displays which can help in creating
a visually interesting and motivation environment, such as posters of Britain,
using posters, flags of speaking countries, posting students’ works, and so on.

ü Providing positive and motivational feedback. One of the bet feelings a learner
can experiment at the end of the learning process is feeling proud of his/her work
and the good commentaries received from it.

ü Making lessons enjoyable: it would be interesting to follow the methodological

orientations for the Foreign Language Area gathered in the Annex II of the Order
of January 15th, 2021. Some ideas recommended are:

§ To promote the inclusion of the New Technologies, since digital tools

increase students’ engagement and motivation. It is fun, exciting and
stimulating.
§ To implement communicative methodologies which highly increases
students’ intrinsic motivation: Gamification; Learning based on games/ on
challenges such as scape rooms or breaks out; Stations of learning; Learning
based on projects; Cooperative learning; and so on.

4. Conclusion

Teaching that impact is not head to head, but heart to heart.

Howards Henricks.
Having analysed this topic, it is undeniable that the contributions of the linguistic
fields have been very important in order to understand better how language is acquired.
As we have seen, the goal of learning a language is to communicate. However, fostering
communication at school is a complex task for many primary education students since
they are not exposed to a real context. In this line, teachers must provide students with
functional, purposeful and meaningful practice in order to develop a high degree of
communicative competence where our students feel happy and engaged in the English
classes, and so that, learn in the best way possible

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 Concluding and going back to Henricks’ quote, we cannot forget that this
education should be done heart by heart, in a low anxiety atmosphere where students feel
free to participate and express themselves, feel motivated, improve their skills and
achieve their maximum development to became a competent citizen, being it one of the
main general principles pf the Primary Education Stage according to the art. 16 of the
Organic Law 3/2020, of December 29th.

5. References

5.1 Bibliographic references

- Cassany, D., Luna, M. and Sanz, G. (2015). “Enseñar lengua”. Barcelona. Graó.
- Council of Europe (2020). Common European Framework of Reference for
languages: Learning, teaching and assessment”. Companion volume.
- Jakobson, R. (1960). Linguistics and Poetics. Style in language. MIT Press.
- Krashen, S. (1982). “Second language acquisition and Second language learning”.
University of California.
- Hymes, D. (1972). “On Communicative Competence” Ethnolinguistic essays.
- Dörnyei, Z. (2015). “The principled Communicative Approach: seven criteria to
success”. Resourceful Teacher Series. London.
- Bona, C. (2018). “La emoción de aprender: historias inspiradoras de vida, familia y
escuela”. Plaza y Janés.
Crystal, D. (2011). “A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics”. John Wiley and sons.

5.2 Legislative references

- Organic Law 3/2020, of December 29th, which modifies the Organic Law on
Education 2/2006, of May 3rd , of Education.
th.
- Royal Decree 125/2014, of February 28 which establishes the basic curriculum
for Primary Education nationwide in Spain.
- Order of January 15th, 2021, which develops the curriculum for the Primary
Education Stage, regulates attention to diversity, establishes the ordination of the
evaluation process and determines the transit process between the different
educative stages in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia.