1. Language Acquisition
Instructor Marwan Alalimi

2. Revision
• First language acquisition vs.
second language acquisition.
• Acquisition vs. learning.
• Key principles of Behaviorism
• Main components of the habit
formation process.

3. Revision
• Behaviorism deficiencies.
• Cognitive theory.
• Stages of language development.
•

4. Activity 1
• In three groups, try to
order the stages that
children develop their
language’s grammatical
morphemes?

5. The development of
grammatical morphemes
• Roger brown (1973):
1. Present progressive
2. Plural – S
3. Irregular past forms
4. Possessive – ‘s
5. Articles
6. Regular past – ed
7. Regular third-person-singular- s
8. Irregular third-person-singular

6. The development of
transformations
• Negative form:
1. The negative element No is not part of the
sentence structure and place at the beginning.
E.g. No cookie – no singing song.
2. The negative element inserted into the
sentence. E.g. he no bite you – Daddy no comb
hair.
3. Producing appropriate part of do, be or the
model verbs. E.g. I can’t do it – I’m not a
doctor.

7. • Interrogative form
• 1- Wh-questions :
– What is the first word.. Whassat?
– Where and who learned soon. Where’s Mommy? Who’s that?
– Why ? Emerges by the end of 2nd. Year. Why that car is red?
– When and how? – better understanding of time and manner.
• Children’s understanding of difficult questions:
• Child : when can we go outside?
• Parent: In about ten minutes.
• Child: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. Can we go now?

8. The development of
transformations
The acquisition of word order in questions:
1. Simple two- or three-word sentences with rising
intonation. E.g. cookie? Mommy book?
2. Declarative sentence with rising intonation. You
have car? You like this?
3. Fronting- putting a verb or question word in
front of a sentence. E.g. Do I can have a cookie?
Is the toy is big? Why you don’t have one?
4. Either subject-verb inversion or wh-word but
not both. E.g. Is she a doctor? What she is
doing ?

9. Followed …
5. Both wh-questions and yes/no questions
are formed correctly. E.g. why did you do
that? Does daddy have money? But confused
when dealing with subordinate clauses or
imbedded questions. E.g. Ask him why can’t
he go out.
6. Correctly form all types of questions
including complex embedded questions.

10. Activity 2
Share with us your opinion
of the statements in the
handout?

11. Second language
acquisition
• Is second language learning different from first language
learning?
1. Behaviorists = Yes. L2 learning # L1. Mother tongue
learnt in natural manner but second language is learned in
an artificial manner.
2. Cognitivists = No.
 Both pass through step-by-step process.
 Both are not learned in an imitative memorizing
process.

12. According to cognitive psychologists L1
is different from L2 learning in four
elements…
1. Age : the case of Genie, Victor and Chelsea.
2. Motivation :
 External motivation. E.g. bilingual environment
 Internal motivation. E.g. desire for learning.
3. Monitor user:
o Under-monitor users: extroverted.
o Over-monitor users: introverted.
o Optimum-monitor users: in-between.
4. First language interference:

13. Mental Processes Involved
in Second Language
Acquisition
Language
environment
Filter ► organizer ►monitor
Learner’s
verbal
performance
► ►

14. Stephen Krashen’s Theory of
Second Language Acquisition
• Birth : 1941, Chicago.
• Occupation: linguist, educational
researcher.
• Work for : university of southern
California.

15. Stephen Krashen’s Theory
of Second Language
Acquisition
 “language acquisition does not require extensive use
of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require
tedious drill”
 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”.

16. • The best methods are therefore those that
supply comprehensible input in low anxiety
situations, containing messages that students
really want to hear. These methods do not force
early production in the second language, but allow
students to produce when they are ready,
recognizing that improvement comes from
supplying communicative and comprehensible
input, and not from forcing and correcting
production. Stephen Krashen.

17. Krashen’s five main
hypothesis
The Acquisition vs. Learning
Hypothesis.
The Monitor Hypothesis.
The Natural Order Hypothesis
The Input Hypothesis
The Affective Filter Hypothesis

18. 1- The Acquisition vs.
learning hypothesis.
Second language
performance
Acquired
system
The product of a subconscious
process
Learned
system
The product of formal
instruction- conscious
process

19. 2- The Monitor hypothesis
The relationship between
Acquisition and learning
Acquisition system
Speaker’s utterances initiator-
responsible for spontaneous language
use.
Learning system
Monitor - Editor
plan edit correct

20. 2- The Monitor hypothesis
• Everyone has a monitor that tells them
when something is true or false. But It
requires these conditions:
– Time: have time to reflect.
– Knowledge: know the rules and the correct
form.

21. 3-The Natural Order
Hypothesis
 We acquire grammatical structures in a
predictable natural order, some rules tending
to come early and others late.
 The order of rules is not determined by its
simplicity.
 It’s also independent of the learner’s age and
L1 background.
Are there any similarities between the way in which children
acquire their first language and the ways in which adults
acquire the same language as their second language?

22. 4- Input Hypothesis
 People learn by
understanding messages,
getting “comprehensible
input”
 If input is understood and
there is enough of it, the
necessary grammar is
automatically provided.

23. 5- Affective filter
hypothesis
• The affective filter is a
barrier that prevent learners
from acquiring language.
• Even if there’s enough input,
Affect feelings and emotional
states play an important role
in L2 acquisition.
• When the learner is having
high anxiety, low motivation
low self-confidence, the filter
turns on and causes the
learner to block out input.

24. The Input hypothesis
model

25. Language testing
• Test vs. exam
• Advantages and disadvantages essay
vs. objective tests.
Neither of them is better.
Their preference depends on :
Context of evaluation.
 the purpose.

26. Advantages and
disadvantages essay
Essay tests have poor reliability. But
objective tests have high reliability.
 objective tests scoring can be reliable,
rapid, and economical but essay test
scoring is tedious and time-consuming.
cannot determine how the student
actually will perform in that situation

27. Types of tests
1. Proficiency test.
2. Achievement test.
3. Diagnostic test.
4. Placement test.
5. Aptitude test.

28. Criteria of Designing a
Test.
1. Reliability:
 Teacher’s reliability.
 Student’s reliability.
2. Validity:
 Content validity.
 Predictive validity.
 Face validity.
3. Practicality.
4. Discrimination.

29. Thank you