CHAPTER 4:

Language Acquisition –
How Language is
Acquired
INTRODUCTION:
◉ A fundamental premise of MTBL-MLE is that pupils will
more readily learn to read, write and communicate in a
second or third language once they have mastered those
skills in their first language, their mother tongue. For many
children today, learning a second or a third language at
school can be considered to be a normal part of the
educational experience.
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First Language
Acquisition
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- Children come to possess- 'a rich system of
knowledge without significant instruction... The
main question is how children acquire so much
more than they experienced'.
- MaceMatluck observes that the circumstances
under which children acquire their first language
are very different than when a second or third
language is learned.
 MaceMatluck observes that the circumstances
under which children acquire their first language
are very different than when a second or third
language is learned.

Children acquire their first language in infancy,

simultaneously with many other skills.
Behaviorist Theory
(1940-1960)
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 Behaviorist theory states that through the processes of
stimulus, response, and reinforcement (SR-R), all human
behavior can be explained, including language acquisition.

”7
 Behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated;
behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out-or be
extinguished

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Reinforcement can be positive or negative.
Positive Reinforcement involves rewarding
desired behavior, such as giving a child praise for
completing assignments.
Negative Reinforcement involves strengthening
desired behavior by withdrawing an undesirable
or negative stimulus or situation that is already
present. 9
Punishment differs from reinforcement in that it
is intended to weaken undesirable behavior rather
than to strengthen desired behavior.

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Universal Grammar
and the ‘Language
Acquisition Device’
(1960-1980)
11
Noam Chomsky noted that 'children in every language and cultural
community' are able to learn to speak and understand at very young
age.

He believed that children are not just mimicking language patterns,

but actually producing meaningful utterances on their own.

He asserted, there is an innate ability or 'device' for acquiring

language in the human mind that allows all humans to learn and use
language almost instinctively.

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 SOCIAL
INTERACTIONIS
M (1990)
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-He asserted, there is an innate ability or 'device' for acquiring
language in the human mind that allows all humans to learn and use
language almost instinctively.
- This implies that language can be and is acquired in part because of
the human condition, the nature of being a human, regardless of the
difficulty of the language.
- This innate device is what Chomsky referred to as a 'Language
Acquisition Device' (LAD)
- Chomsky referred to a 'Universal Grammar' (UG) to describe those
features that he claimed are shared by all languages.
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- The socio-cultural theories of Lev Vygotsky provide the
basis for social interactionist theories.
- These theorist attempt to Account for the role of the social
interaction in fostering languages acquisition.
- Parents model and provide frequent instructed correction
and feedback, reinforcing and so advancing language.
- Social interactionism differs from behaviorism in that for
the interactionist, language itself becomes an integral part of
the process of acquisition.
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 SECOND
LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION
(SLA)
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First language acquisition research has served as a source of ideas and
techniques for developing second language acquisition (SLA) theory
(2010).
-SLA theory can be classified into three domain (Ellis 2008 a,xx,xxi):
(1) Theorist of the field of linguistics, motivated by Chomsky's ideas,
including Stephen Krashen's theory of the importance of meaningful
input.
(2) Cognitive theorist, which examine language in the terms of general
principles of learning and development.

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 (3) Sociocultural theorist, which draw on Vygotsky's theory of learning.
- In generalizing to a multilingual context, where learners transfer from
their first language or mother tongue to Filipino as a second language,
teachers should be prepared to contextualized or adapt the principles
from the theories to fit their own multilingual context.

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 Krashen's five hypotheses are as follows:

1. The acquisition learning distinction

2. The natural order hypothesis
3. The monitor hypothesis
4. The input hypothesis
5. The effective filter hypothesis

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Stephen Krashen likely would agree with which of the following
statements:

1. Studying to understand grammatical structure is an important part of

language acquisition.
2. In second language acquisition, simpler features of the second
language are generally mastered before more complex or less familiar
features.
3. Language learning means to gain understanding as to how a language
works ("meta - linguistic" knowledge), and is helpful in improving a
means of evaluating one's own verbal and written expression of the
language. 20
Stephen Krashen likely would agree with which of the following
statements:

4. As long as person receives comprehensible input, that alone will

ensure progress in language acquisition.

5. If an individual becomes more self- conscious and anxious when

language mistakes are corrected, language acquisition likely will be
slowed for that person rather than enhanced.

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 COGNITIVE
THEORIES OF
SLA
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Cognition psychologist John Robert Anderson opposed
Chomsky's theory, and instead conceived of language learning as
very concrete task that could be accomplished through
knowledge and practice.

Anderson proposed a model of how skills are learned, called

Adaptive Control of Though - Rational (ACT - R). This theory
'proposes that complex complex cognition is composed of
relative simple knowledge unit which are acquired according
with relatively simple principles.

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Anderson designates the simpler units as declarative knowledge
and cognitively complex as procedural knowledge:

1. Declarative Knowledge - is essentially factual knowledge that

one gains typically by verbal or other communication.
2. Procedural Knowledge - in contrast to declarative knowledge,
seems only to be partially possessed. It is acquired gradually by
performing a skill. It can be communicated verbally.

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Learning begins with:
Declarative Stage - where information is stored in memory as
fact.
Associative Stage - where learners begin to make association, to
understand relationship between things they have learned as
factual.
Autonomous Stage - where the procedure become automated.

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1. Learning vocabulary and grammatical features of the
language.
2. Reviewing and practicing specific grammatical forms.
3. Exposing learners to examples before articulating the relevant
grammatical rule.
4. Teaching a rule, and then having students practice using it
before they use it in meaningful communication.
5. All of the above.

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SOCIOCULTURAL
THEORIES OF SLA
27
Noam Chomsky noted that 'children in every language and cultural
community' are able to learn to speak and understand at very young
age.

He believed that children are not just mimicking language patterns,

but actually producing meaningful utterances on their own.

He asserted, there is an innate ability or 'device' for acquiring

language in the human mind that allows all humans to learn and use
language almost instinctively.

28
- Sociocultural theories of SLA focus on the role of social interaction
in language acquisition.
- Sociocultural theories in language acquisition were motivated
primarily by Vygotsky's idea of the Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD).

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 LANGUAGES
PROFICIENCY
(Cummins)
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Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) - states that the proficiency
in a learner's L1, such a literacy skills, are universal in the sense that
such skill can be applied, or transferred to an L2.

Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skill (BICS) - might include

skills such as basic grammar and sociolinguistic rules for
communication in familiar social context, which refers to as
"context embedded" communicative acts.

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Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
- refers to more cognitively demanding "context reduced" task such
as understanding lectures; or recognizing, understanding and
communicating in different genres of writing (informative reporting,
persuasive writing, etc.)

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 ELLIS’ TEN
PRINCIPLE FOR
THE SLA
CLASSROOM
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PRINCIPLE 1: Instruction needs to ensure
that learners develop both a rich repertoire
of formulaic expressions and a rule-based
competence.

”
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PRINCIPLE 2: Instruction needs to ensure
that learners focus predominantly on
meaning

”
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PRINCIPLE 3: Instruction needs to ensure
that learners also focus on form.

”
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PRINCIPLE 4: Instruction needs to focus
on developing implicit knowledge of the
second language while not neglecting
explicit knowledge.

”
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PRINCIPLE 5: Instruction needs to take
into account the learner’s built in syllabus

”
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 PRINCIPLE 6: Successful instructed
language learning requires extensive second
language input

”
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PRINCIPLE 7: Successful instructed
language learning also requires
opportunities for output.

”
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PRINCIPLE 8: The opportunity to interact
in the second language is central to
developing second language proficiency.

”
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PRINCIPLE 9: Instruction needs to take
account of individual differences in
learners.

”
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 PRINCIPLE 10: In assessing learners
second language proficiency, it is important
to examine free as well as controlled
production.

”
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THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING!