Learning Theories and Principles of Language
Learning
B.F SKINNER, STEPHEN KRASHEN, NOAM CHOMSKY, LEV VYGOTSKY,
JEAN PIAGET
Behaviourism
Proponent: B. F. Skinner
Popular in 1950’s and 60’s
Principle: Say what I say
“Language Learning is a kind of behavior similar to
other human behavior. Language is learnt in much
the same way as anything else is learnt.”
B. F. Skinner:
◦ Language behavior is the production of correct responses (imitation) to stimuli
(language input) through reinforcement.
◦ Language learning is the result of:
1) imitation (word-for-word repetition)
2) practice (repetitive manipulation of form)
3) feedback on success (positive reinforcement)
4) habit formation
◦ The quality and quantity of the language that the child hears, as well as the
consistency of the reinforcement offered by others in the environment, would shape
the child’s language behavior.
Children imitate language based on behavioral psychologist perspective
stimulus → organism → response
↓
input
↓
↓
the learner
imitation
e.g. ‘This is a pencil → ‘This is a pencil’.
Four steps for a child to acquire his/her L1:
imitation→ reinforcement
positive
negative
positive reinforcement: praise or reward
negative reinforcement: corrections
good habit: correct performance
bad habit: errors
→repetition
→habituation
good habit bad habit
Stephen Krashen
Stephen Krashen is a Second Language
Acquisition researcher and professor at
University of Southern California who
has been publishing and speaking since
the 1980’s.
Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Second
Language Acquisition
"Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules,
and does not require tedious drill." Stephen Krashen
"Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural
communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances
but with the messages they are conveying and understanding." Stephen Krashen
"The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety
situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not
force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they
are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and
comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production." Stephen Krashen
Innatism: Krashen’s “monitor model”
(1982)
The acquisition-learning hypothesis
The monitor hypothesis
The natural order hypothesis
The input hypothesis
The affective filter hypothesis
1. The acquisition-learning hypothesis
Acquisition: we acquire L2 knowledge as we are exposed to samples of the L2 which we
understand with no conscious attention to language form. It is a subconscious and intuitive
process.
Learning: we learn the L2 via a conscious process of study and attention to form and rule
learning.
Krashen argues that “acquisition” is a more important process of constructing the system of a
language than “learning” because fluency in L2 performance is due to what we have acquired,
not what we have learned.
2. The monitor hypothesis
The acquired system acts to initiate the speaker’s utterances and is responsible for spontaneous
language use, whereas the learned system acts as a “monitor”, making minor changes and
polishing what the acquired system has produced.
Such monitoring takes place only when the speaker/writer has plenty of time, is concerned
about producing correct language, and has learned the relevant rules.
3. The natural order hypothesis
L2 learners acquire the features of the TL in
predictable sequences.
The language features that are easiest to state
(and thus to ‘learn’) are not necessarily the first to
be acquired.
e.g. the rule for adding an –s to third person singular
verbs in the present tense
4. The input hypothesis
Acquisition occurs when one is exposed to language that is comprehensible and that contains “i
+1”.
If the input contains forms and structures just beyond the learner’s current level of competence
in the language (“i +1”), then both comprehension and acquisition will occur.
5. The affective filter hypothesis
“Affect” refers to feelings, motives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states.
The “affective filter” is an imaginary/metaphorical barrier that prevents learners from acquiring
language from the available input.
Depending on the learner’s state of mind, the filter limits what is noticed and what is acquired.
A learner who is tense, anxious, or bored may “filter out” input, making it unavailable for
acquisition.
Krashen’s “monitor model”
Krashen’s “monitor model” (i.e., acquisition vs. learning, monitor, natural order, comprehensible
input, and affective filter) has been very influential in supporting communicative language
teaching (CLT), which focuses on using language for meaningful interaction and for
accomplishing tasks, rather than on learning rules.
Krashen’s hypotheses are intuitively appealing, but those hypotheses are hard to be tested by
empirical evidence.
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky was in 1928. He
is an American linguist, philosopher,
cognitive scientist, historian, social critic,
and political activist. Sometimes
described as "the father of modern
linguistics," Chomsky is also a major
figure in analytic philosophy and one of
the founders of the field of cognitive
science. He is the author of over 100
books on topics such as linguistics, war,
politics, and mass media.
The Nativist Position (Noam Chomsky)
How people produce sentences which they have never heard before?
•Language Acquisition Devise (LAD)
•Universal Grammar (UG) –how children acquire their Mother tongue (MT)
•Language is innate
* This theory claims that humans inherits a mental language faculty.
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was born on August 9, 1896 in Switzerland and died
September 17, 1980. He was an influential experimenter and
theorist in the field of developmental psychology and in the
study of human intelligence. His father was devoted to his
writings of medieval literature and the history of Neuchatel.
Piaget learned from his father the value of systematic work,
even in small matters. His mother was very intelligent,
energetic, and kind, but had a rather neurotic temperament
that made family life troublesome. Her mental health
influenced his studies of psychology and he became interested
in psychoanalysis and pathological psychology.
Cognitive Approach
Proponent: Jean Piaget
1952
Principle: Language Learning is part of a
child’s cognitive development
“Children’s language development relies
on their understanding of the world or
cognition.”
Piaget:
Language is dependent upon and springs from cognitive development. That is, children’s cognitive
development determines their language development.
(e.g., the use of words as “bigger” or “more” depends on children’s understanding of the concepts they
represent.)
He argued that the developing cognitive understanding is built on the interaction between the child and
the things which can be observed, touched, and manipulated.
For him, language was one of a number of symbol systems developed in childhood, rather than a
separate module of the mind. Language can be used to represent knowledge that children have acquired
through physical interaction with the environment.
Piaget Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensory Motor Stage (0-2)
During the early stages, infants are only aware of what is immediately in front of
them.
Because they don't yet know how things react, they're constantly experimenting
with activities such as shaking or throwing things, putting things in their
mouths, and learning about the world through trial and error.
At about age 7 to 9 months, infants begin to realize that an object exists even if
it can no longer be seen. This important milestone -- known as object
permanence -- is a sign that memory is developing.
After infants start crawling, standing, and walking, their increased physical
mobility leads to increased cognitive development. Near the end of the
sensorimotor stage, infants reach another important milestone -- early language
development, a sign that they are developing some symbolic abilities.
Preoperational Stage (2-7)
During this stage, young children are able to think about things symbolically. Their language use
becomes more mature. They also develop memory and imagination, which allows them to
understand the difference between past and future, and engage in make-believe.
But their thinking is based on intuition and still not completely logical. They cannot yet grasp
more complex concepts such as cause and effect, time, and comparison.
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11)
At this time, elementary-age and preadolescent children demonstrate logical, concrete
reasoning.
Children's thinking becomes less egocentric and they are increasingly aware of external events.
They begin to realize that one's own thoughts and feelings are unique and may not be shared by
others or may not even be part of reality. Children also develop operational thinking -- the
ability to perform reversible mental actions.
During this stage, however, most children still can't tackle a problem with several variables in a
systematic way.
Formal Operational Stage (11 years onward)
Adolescents who reach this fourth stage of intellectual development are able to logically use
symbols related to abstract concepts, such as algebra and science. They can think about
multiple variables in systematic ways, formulate hypotheses, and consider possibilities. They
also can ponder abstract relationships and concepts such as justice.
Cognitive Approach
View language acquisition as a learning process
Try to explain to explain the language acquisition processes by understanding the brain processes and
learns new information.
Compare language acquisition to the capacities of computers for storing, integrating, and retrieving
information.
Do not assume that acquisition and learning are distinct mental process.
See language acquisition as the building up of knowledge that can be called automatically for speaking
and understanding.
Interactionist Approach
Focus on interaction
Proponents: Bruner, Vygotsky
“Interactionist theories are concerned with the
interplay between environmental & biological
factors in the process of acquiring language.”
Bruner: Interactionist
Bruner (1983) argues parents provide their children a language acquisition support system or
LASS.
The LASS is a collection of strategies that parents employ to facilitate their children’s acquisition
of language.
One of these strategies is scaffolding, the deliberate use of language at a level that is slightly
beyond what children can comprehend.
Lev Vygotsky
Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was born in
Western Russia in 1896. He graduated with law
degree at Moscow University. After graduation,
he started teaching at various institutions.
Vygotsky's first big research project was in
1925 with his Psychology of Art. A few years
later, he pursued a career as a psychologist
working with Alexander Luria and Alexei
Leontiev. Together, they began the Vygotskian
approach to psychology. Vygotsky had no
formal training in psychology but it showed
that he was fascinated by it. After his death of
tuberculosis in 1934, his ideas were repudiated
by the government; however, his ideas were
kept alive by his students.
Vygotsky:
◦ Known for his sociocultural theory of human mental processing.
◦ He argued that language develops primarily from social interaction.
◦ Zone of proximal development (ZPD): a level that a child is able to do when there
is support from interaction with a more advanced interlocutor. That is, a
supportive interactive environment enables children to advance to a higher level
of knowledge and performance than s/he would be able to do independently.
◦ He observed the importance of conversations which children have with adults and
with other children and saw in these conversations the origins of both language
and thought.
Social Development Theory (Vygotsky)
•More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)
•Social interaction
•Zone of Proximal Development
*All learning was essentially social.
*Construction between experts and novices.
From theory to practice….
Principles of classroom language learning
1. Learners develop both a rich repertoire of formulaic expressions and a rule-based competence.
2. Learners focus predominantly on meaning.
3. Learners also focus on form.
4. Directed at developing implicit knowledge of the L2 and not neglecting explicit knowledge.
5. Take into account the learner’s ‘built-in syllabus’.
6. Extensive L2 input.
7. Opportunities for output.
8. Opportunities to interact in the L2 to develop L2 proficiency.
9. Take into account individual differences in learners.
10. Examine free and controlled production in assessing L2 proficiency.
What’s the difference between Approach, Method &
Technique?
Approach
• Theories about the nature of language and language learning that
serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching
(Richards and Rodgers 1986: 16).
• An approach describes how language is used and how its constituent
parts interlock ( it offers a model of language competence).
• An approach describes how people acquire their knowledge of the
language and makes statements about the conditions which will
promote successful language learning.
Method
• A method is a practical realisation of an approach.
• The originators of a method have arrived at decisions about types of
activities, roles of teachers and learners, the kinds of materials which
will be helpful, and some model of syllabus organisation.
Technique
• Specific activities manifested in the classroom that are consistent
with a method and therefore in harmony with an approach.
• Technique is the level at which classroom procedures are described.
TESL Methodologies
1.
The Grammar-Translation Method
2.
The Direct Method
3.
The Audio-Lingual Method
4.
The Silent Way
5.
Desuggestopedia
6.
Community Language Learning
7.
Total Physical Response
8.
Communicative Language Teaching
9.
Content-based, Task-based, and Participatory Approaches
10. Learning Strategy Training, Cooperative Learning, and Multiple Intelligences