2. Children and Language
● All children have the capacity to learn a
language under normal circumstances.
● Adults have the same capacity but other
factors may interfere.
● Children and adults who learn a language
outside a classroom successfully share
certain similarities (motivation and
opportunities to use the language).
3. Acquisition and Learning
Acquisition: natural exposure to the language.
Subconscious process. (Fluency)
Learning: formal instruction in a classroom.
Conscious knowledge about the language.
(Accuracy).
To recreate some of the natural conditions of
acquisition, teachers need to plan their lessons,
considering “ESA” elements.
4. Acquisition and Learning
Krashen on Language Acquisition
Watch the first 7 min of the video and answer the following
questions:
1. What does the acquisition-learning hypothesis say?
2. What happens when you hear someone making a mistake in your own
language?
3. What is learning?
4. What is the role of the language rules learned at school?
5. From the pedagogical point of view, why is an equal programme
(acquisition/learning) not effective?
6. According to your ideas, what is the importance of grammar and learning?
5. ESA Elements
Engage: activities and materials to grab students’ attention. These should
amuse, move, stimulate and challenge the learners. For example: games,
music, discussions, pictures, dramatic stories, anecdotes, etc.
Study: activities and materials designed to focus on language construction or
information. For example: research, examination or practice of grammar points
or the study of a speech.
Activate: activities and materials aimed at getting the students to practice the
language freely and communicatively. For example: role plays, advertisement
design, debates and discussions, writing in groups, etc.
7. Study the following lesson plan
Leadership
1. Work in groups of 3.
2. Analyze the lesson plan.
3. Propose your version of this plan considering
the 3 elements of learning: Engage, Study,
Activate.
Alter or adapt the activities, according to the ESA
elements.
Editor's Notes
Acquisition: For example, when someone makes a mistake in a language, someone can spot the mistake but not necessarily explain the rule that was broken. According to Krashen acquisition can give us both: fluency and accuracy. Language acquisiton does not happen by learning grammar rules. To acquire a language we need comprehensible input (understandable messages).
