Krashen's Hypothses on Second Language Acquisition

1. Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi

2. What is Second Language Acquisition
Krashen’s Monitor Model
The Input Hypothesis
The Affective Filter Hypothesis
Conclusion
References

3. Stephen Krashen (1941) is a Professor
Emeritus at the University of Southern
California. He is a linguist, educational
researcher, and activist. His book
Principles and Practice in Second
Language Acquisition (1982) contains the
five hypothesis on second language
acquisition.

4.  The study of the way in which people learn a
language other than their mother tongue.
(Ellis 1997)
 Language acquisition does not require
extensive use of conscious grammatical
rules, and does not require tedious drill.
(Krashen 1982)
 SLA research mainly focused on the study of
teaching and learning of second and foreign
languages in educational settings. (Ellis, 1990
in Kramsch, 2000)

5. Second Language Acquisition
Cognitive
Variations
Second
Culture
Learning
New
Linguistic
Systems
Commun-
icative
Functions

6. Krashen developed the Monitor Theory in
1970s and presented it in terms of five
hypothesis in 1982.
 Acquisition Learning Hypothesis
 Monitor Hypothesis
 Natural Order Hypothesis
 Input Hypothesis
 Affective Filter Hypothesis

7.  It states that we acquire language in one way
only: when we are exposed to input that is
comprehensible to us.
 The acquisition of a second language requires
structure that is “a little beyond” of the
learner’s understanding.
 The input hypothesis states that speaking
fluency cannot be taught directly. It emerges
overtime on its own.
 The best way to teach speaking, according to
this view, is simply to provide
comprehensible input.

8.  The hypothesis states that accuracy develops
over time as the learner hears and
understands more input.
 Example: If the learner is at stage of level i,
the input he or she understands should
contain i+1.
 If the input is given at i+1, acquisition will
take place effortlessly and involuntarily.

9.  The Affective Filter hypothesis states that a
number of “affective variables” play a
facilitative, but non- causal role in second
language acquisition.
 These variables include: motivation, self-
confidence, and anxiety.
 Learners with low affective filter will be
efficient language acquirers.
 If the affective filter is high, the input will
not pass through and subsequently there will
be no acquisition.

10.  Krashen claims that the learners who are
highly motivated, self-confident, and less
anxious are better equipped for success in
SLA.
 The hypothesis claims that low motivation,
low self-esteem, and high anxiety contribute
to raise the affective filter which prevents
comprehensible input from being used for
acquisition.

11. Krashen’s Monitor Model is a compatible
mechanism in the SLA context. It comes into
the mind that the best methods are those
that supply comprehensible input in low
anxiety situations. If applied in our context,
these hypothesis can serve better ends.

12.  Ellis, R. 1990. Instructed Second Language Acquisition,
Oxford: Blackwell.
 Ellis, R. 1997. Second Language Acquisition in the series ‘Oxford
Introductions to Language Study’. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
 Kramsch, C. 2000. “Second Language Acquisition,
Applied Linguistics, and the Teaching of Foreign
Languages”, The Modern Language Journal,
Vol.84, No.3, pp. 311-326.
 Krashen, S. D. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second Language
Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.