Krashens-theory-of-SLA

2.1IntroductionStephenKrashen(UniversityofSouthernCalifornia)isanexpertinthefieldoflinguistics,specializingintheoriesoflanguageacquisitionanddevelopment.Muchofhisrecentresearchhasinvolvedthestudyofnon-Englishandbilinguallanguageacquisition.Duringthepast20years,hehaspublishedwellover100booksandarticlesandhasbeeninvitedtodeliverover300lecturesatuniversitiesthroughouttheUnitedStatesandCanada.ThisisabriefdescriptionofKrashen'swidelyknownandwellacceptedtheoryofsecondlanguageacquisition,whichhashadalargeimpactinallareasofsecondlanguageresearchandteachingsincethe1980s.Krashen'stheoryofsecondlanguageacquisitionconsistsoffivemainhypotheses:ltheAcquisition-Learninghypothesis,ltheMonitorhypothesis,ltheNaturalOrderhypothesis,ltheInputhypothesis,landtheAffectiveFilterhypothesis.1).TheAcquisition-LearningHypothesisKrashen(1982)hasarguedthat“Learningcannotbecomeacquisitionandthatfluencyinasecondorforeignlanguageisduetowhatlearnershaveacquired,notwhattheyhavelearned(Brown,2000:278).Acquisition,accordingtoKrashen,isasubconsciousprocesswhereaslearningisanactiveandconsciousprocessinvolvingthememorizationofmanyformallinguisticrules.KrashenbelievedthatsecondlanguagelearnersshouldattempttoacquirelinguisticrulessubconsciouslyandinanaturalwaymuchlikeachildacquireshisorherL1.AcquisitionLearningimplicit,subconsciousexplicit,consciousinformalsituationsformalsituationsusesgrammatical'feel'usesgrammaticalrulesdependsonattitudedependsonaptitudestableorderofacquisitionsimpletocomplexorderoflearningTheAcquisition-LearningdistinctionisthemostfundamentalofallthehypothesesinKrashen'stheoryandthemostwidelyknownamonglinguistsandlanguagepractitioners.AccordingtoKrashentherearetwoindependentsystemsofsecondlanguageperformance:'theacquiredsystem'and'thelearnedsystem'.The'acquiredsystem'or'acquisition'istheproductofasubconsciousprocessverysimilartotheprocesschildrenundergowhentheyacquiretheirfirstlanguage.Itrequiresmeaningfulinteractioninthetargetlanguage-naturalcommunication-inwhichspeakersareconcentratednotintheformoftheirutterances,butinthecommunicativeact.The'learnedsystem'or'learning'istheproductofformalinstructionanditcomprisesaconsciousprocesswhichresultsinconsciousknowledge'about'thelanguage,forexampleknowledgeofgrammarrules.AccordingtoKrashen'learning'islessimportantthan'acquisition'.2).theMonitorHypothesisTheMonitorhypothesisexplainstherelationshipbetweenacquisitionandlearninganddefinestheinfluenceofthelatterontheformer.Themonitoringfunctionisthepracticalresultofthelearnedgrammar.AccordingtoKrashen,theacquisitionsystemistheutteranceinitiator,whilethelearningsystemperformstheroleofthe'monitor'orthe'editor'.The'monitor'actsinaplanning,editingandcorrectingfunctionwhenthreespecificconditionsaremet:thatis,thesecondlanguagelearnerhassufficienttimeathis/herdisposal,he/shefocusesonformorthinksaboutcorrectness,andhe/sheknowstherule.Itappearsthattheroleofconsciouslearningissomewhatlimitedinsecondlanguageperformance.AccordingtoKrashen,theroleofthemonitoris-orshouldbe-minor,beingusedonlytocorrectdeviationsfrom'normal'speechandtogivespeechamore'polished'appearance.Krashenalsosuggeststhatthereisindividualvariationamonglanguagelearnerswithregardto'monitor'use.Hedistinguishesthoselearnersthatusethe'monitor'allthetime(over-users);thoselearnerswhohavenotlearnedorwhoprefernottousetheirconsciousknowledge(under-users);andthoselearnersthatusethe'monitor'appropriately(optimalusers).Anevaluationoftheperson'spsychologicalprofilecanhelptodeterminetowhatgrouptheybelong.Usuallyextrovertsareunder-users,whileintrovertsandperfectionistsareover-users.Lackofself-confidenceisfrequentlyrelatedtotheover-useofthe'monitor'.3).TheNaturalOrderHypothesis:Krashen’sNaturalOrderHypothesisstatesthatsecondlanguagelearners“acquiretherulesofalanguageinapredictablesequence”(LightbownandSpada,1993:27-28).TheNaturalOrderHypothesisalsostatesthateventhoughsomeoftherulesinalanguageareeasyforthelearnertomemorize,theserulesoroftenmostdifficultforthelearnertoacquire.Krashen’sviewregardingthenaturalacquisitionofcertainstructureshasbeensupportedinmorphemestudiesanditisfromthesestudiesthatKrashenattemptstobolstersupportforhisNaturalOrderHypothesis.TheNaturalOrderhypothesisisbasedonresearchfindings(Dulay&Burt,1974;Fathman,1975;Makino,1980citedinKrashen,1987)whichsuggestedthattheacquisitionofgrammaticalstructuresfollowsa'naturalorder'whichispredictable.Foragivenlanguage,somegrammaticalstructurestendtobeacquiredearlywhileotherslate.Thisorderseemedtobeindependentofthelearners'age,L1background,conditionsofexposure,andalthoughtheagreementbetweenindividualacquirerswasnotalways100%inthestudies,therewerestatisticallysignificantsimilaritiesthatreinforcedtheexistenceofaNaturalOrderoflanguageacquisition.Krashenhoweverpointsoutthattheimplicationofthenaturalorderhypothesisisnotthatalanguageprogramsyllabusshouldbebasedontheorderfoundinthestudies.Infact,herejectsgrammaticalsequencingwhenthegoalislanguageacquisition.4).TheInputHypothesisThisisperhapsthemostimportantofKrashen’sfivehypotheses.Thethrustoftheinputhypo