1. Input hypothesis
The main factor in acquisition is not language use but language input in other words what
the learner hears and reads.
Input has to be understandable and just a little beyond the learner’s present capacity
Too far beyond the learner the learner will not pay attention to the input and the learner
will learn nothing
Learner improves and progresses along the ‘natural order’ when he receives 2nd language
input
If a learner is at a stage ‘i’, acquisition takes place when he is exposed to “comprehensible
input” that belongs to level ‘i+1’
o i refers to the current language level
o ‘i+1’ means a level higher than the level the students are at or the next level along
the natural order
Teacher should give rough-tuned input and a wide variety of materials, supported by visual
cues and realia.
Teacher must make input comprehensible by contextualizing it.
Affective filter hypothesis
External factors that can act as a filter that impedes acquisition
o Motivation
o Self-confident
o Anxiety
Student with low motivation, low self-confident and high anxiety- affective filter falls into
place and inhibits the learner from acquiring the new language
Learners who are motivated confident, and relaxed about learning the target language have
more success acquiring a 2nd language
Barriers (negative feelings) about the language, method used, institution or teacher – filter
which keeps the input out
Teacher has to make learning free of stress and enjoyable
Acquisition learning hypothesis
Acquisition Learning
Implicit, subconscious Explicit, conscious
Informal situations Formal situations
Uses grammatical ‘feel’ Uses grammatical rules
Depends on attitude Depends on aptitude
Stable order of acquisition Simple to complex order of learning

2. Monitor hypothesis
Explains how the learned system affects the acquired system
The formal rule system acts as the monitor in the acquired system
The monitor is best used when:
o We have to be very careful
o When language is necessarily formal
o Writing letters of application etc
Conditions required by the monitor:
o Time
 Using monitor requires the speaker to slow down and focus on the form of
language
o Focus on correctness of form
 Learner may find it difficult to focus on meaning and form at the same time
o Knowledge of rules
 Speaker must have had explicit instruction on the language form that he is
trying to produce
3 types of monitor users
o Over users
 Concerned with correctness
o Under users
 Not consciously learned or choose not to use their conscious knowledge of
the language
 Correct themselves based on a ‘feel’ for correctness
o Optimal monitor users
 Use the monitor when it is appropriate and when it does not interfere with
communication
Natural order hypothesis
There is a natural order in which learners pick up a language and this order is roughly the
same for all learners regardless of their linguistic background
Mistakes are a necessary part of language learning
These mistakes are not random, but are very similar to the errors that children make when
learning their first language
There is a natural order in which learners pick up a language
Teaching grammar will not help them change the order