VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 18:14:05 10/12/05 Wed
Author: Christiana Lauar Sarmento
Subject: Final Paper: Language learning and language acquisition: what is important to know

Acquisition and learning are the two major components that must be considered in a second language teaching program. Moreover, they must be considered by teachers to be used in combination in a classroom to motivate and facilitate the process of learning a second language.

According to Krashen (1981), the Monitor Theory hypothesizes that adults have two independent systems for developing ability in second languages, subconscious language acquisition and conscious language learning.

Furthermore, the fundamental claim of Monitor Theory is that conscious learning is available to the performer only as a reference and that the language fluency is related to what we have "picked up" through active communication.

Language learning and language acquisition are considered as two separate processes. According to Krashen (1981), 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. In the acquisition process, acquirers need not have a conscious awareness of the "rules" they possess and may self-correct only on the basis of a "feel" for grammaticality.

By the other hand, language learning is thought to be helped a great deal by error correction and the presentation of explicit rules (KRASHEN AND SELIGER, 1975). Error correction helps the learner come to the correct mental representation of the linguistic generalization and to be aware of the language form and use. In general we can comprehend that learning is knowing about a language (formal knowledge) and acquisition is the unconscious process that occurs when language is used in real conversation.

The "formal" knowledge of the second language (conscious learning) may be used to alter the output of the acquired system, sometimes before and sometimes after the utterance is produced. These changes are done to improve accuracy can be achieved though the use of the Monitor. Figure 1 illustrates the interaction of acquisition and learning in adult second language production.


Fig.1. Model for adult second language performance (KRASHEN 1981, p.2)

Presently, the main challenge that teachers have is to be able to adopt in classrooms activities that combine theory and practice, as it is considered to be the "ideal" second language teaching program in general terms. Most language teaching programs are divided into four skills that are speaking, listening, reading and writing. The research on "Monitor Theory" is also consistent with the idea that the four skills are not the primary division: Oller (1976) has noted that error analysis "reveals a high degree of correspondence between the structures generated in widely different tasks, e.g. translation, oral imitation, and spontaneous speech" (p. 144).

Despite that, the theoretical model showed below determines that the language teaching program will have two major components, acquisition and learning, which occupy the "NP" and "VP" nodes in Fig. 2.



Fig. 2 - A second language teaching program
(KRASHEN 1981, p.101)

According to Krashen (1981), there are several ways in which a classroom can promote language acquisition. Intake is available via meaningful and communicative activities supplied by the teacher and it is indeed the most direct way in the classroom to promote language acquisition: for that reason the amount of intake the acquirer can get is decisive in the acquisition process.

In addition, we can come up with the analysis that the key purpose of second language classes is to provide the acquirer with appropriate intake, a conclusion that language teachers, through practice and experience, have come up with, and that is supported by the theory of language acquisition.

In the last few years, the acquisition-learning distinction has been shown to be useful in explaining a variety of phenomena in the field of second language acquisition (KRASHEN, 1981, pg.4). The communicative competence and not a recitable understanding of the rules of English is considered to be the goal and teachers should be focused in offering content-based learning and cultivate opportunities for cooperative learning through peer interaction. In brief, the process of learning must be meaningful (KRASHEN & TERREL, 1983) and teachers should be aware that in providing the learners activities that can be related to real life they could be closer to achieve this goal.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.