This document discusses various concepts related to theories and models in linguistics, including second language acquisition. It defines theory, model, hypothesis, and construct. It then examines several theories of second language acquisition such as behaviorism, mentalism, the Monitor Theory, Universal Grammar, and sociocultural theories originating from Vygotsky. Key constructs from these theories are discussed such as the acquisition-learning hypothesis, natural order hypothesis, input hypothesis, affective filter hypothesis, principles and parameters of Universal Grammar, mediation, regulation, internalization, the zone of proximal development, and scaffolding.

1. SIDIKY DIARASSOUBA, Ph. D
Universite F. H. Boigny
Department d’Anglais,
LAA
2012-2013, L3, Semester 5

2. Theories & Models
 What is a theory?
 What is a model?
 What is a hypothesis
 What is construct?

3. What is a Theory?
 A theory does a couple of things:
- explains or account for natural phenomena
- ought to make predictions
- tend to unify a series of generalizations/observations
about the world
• Kuhn (1996) theories help solve “puzzles”
- germ theory of disease (Louis Pasteur)
- Theory of relativity (Einstein)
- Theory of individual differences in working memory
(Cognitive psychology)

4. What is a model?
 A model basically describes processes of phenomena
 It is thus concerned with the ‘how,” a theory accounts
for the “why.”
 Unlike a theory a model does not predict based on
generalizations
 However, there is huge confusion about them

5. What is a hypothesis?
 A hypothesis derives from a theory
 It is an idea of about a single phenomenon
 A valuable hypothesis can be tested
 Theory help generate hypotheses
- EX: give a couple of hypotheses from the theory of
“individual differences in working memory”
+Hypo 1:
+Hypo 2:
* caution: do not use them interchangeably

6. What is a construct?+
 They are features /characteristics of theories
 They are built-in definable identifying quality of
theories
 Theories rest on constructs
+ Give a construct from the “germ theory,” “theory of
relativity,” “working memory,” or “Second Language
Acquisition.”

7. Second Language Acquisition
 What is it?
 Central query that encompasses issues in SLA:
Who learns how much of what language under
what conditions?
* Answers to the above will capture the essence of
SLA
- Who learns?
- How much of what language?
- Under what conditions?

8. Central issues in SLA
 “who”
- characteristics of individual learner (differences)
 “How much” & “what”
- 1. what is learnt: what language skills/how success
is gauged
- 2. what type of language, i.e., dialect.
 “Under what conditions”
- Influence of learning situation/context

9. An overview of SLA Theories
 Two major classes of theories
(tentative)
- Mainstream SLA theories
- Sociocultural theories (Vygotskyan
school)

10. Mainstream SLA
 A wide range of theories to SLA
 Behaviorism (Skinner)
 Mentalist theory (Chomsky)
 Current theories: intervening in between, i.e.,
- Universal Grammar; Autonomous induction
theory; Associative Cognitive CREED Framework;
Skill Acquisition theory; input processing theory;
processibility Theory; concept-Oriented approach
and Interaction Framework

11. BEHAVIORISM
 Originate from behavioral psychology
 Heavily hinges on Pavlov’s experiment with dogs
- meat powder (stimulus)= salivate (response)
- then a tone is added as stimulus is presented
- tone alone = dog salivate
 Operant / behavioral conditioning

12. BEHAVIORISM (CONT’D)
 An organism may be conditioned to behave in a
certain way even when the stimulus is not there
 Central to behaviorism is that ASSOCIATION OF
EVENTS helps explain behaviors
 SRR (Stimulus, Response, & Reinforcement)
 Human much like animal behavior is regarded as a
set of responses to external stimuli

13. BEHAVIORISM (Cont’d)
 Learning consists in acquiring new
behaviors/habits – no mental processing
 Learning a language is habit formation:
active participation of Lners
 Feedback (positive reinforcement or
correction) is central to the theory
 Implications for L2 and classroom practice

14. Mentalism (Noam Chomsky)
 Casts doubt on behaviorist theory: learning cannot
solely be habit formation
 Human beings are pre-wired to learn languages
- Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
 Language is not only surface patterns & habits
 Language also consists of deep structure
 There is an innate knowledge of grammar
- Rules underlying individual lang. competence
are abstract

16. DOMINANT SLA THEORIES
1950s -1990s
Behaviorism
Structural linguistics
The monitor Theory (Stephen
Krashen)

17. BEHAVIORISM & STRUCTRUAL
LINGUISTICS
 Recall: behaviorist’s view on learning:
 Acquisition of a set of behaviors/habits
* modeled and highly controlled behaviors
* under operant conditioning
 Structural Linguistics that knew its hay days at the
same time posited similar view on learning
- lng consists acquisition of a set of discrete and
finite patterns

18. BEHAVIORISM & STRUCTURAL
LINGUISTICS (Cont’d)
 Together Behav. And Struc. L. provided major
approaches to language education
 Structural approach which has several methods
under its umbrella (e.g., grammar translation,
audiolingual)
* items are presented in chunks
* patterns are regarded as finite
* highly structured exercises
* high control from teacher

19. THE MONITOR THEORY (S. Krashen)
 Forerunner of theories developed to address SLA
 Broad in scope
 Supposedly suggests language specific models of
learning
 It has strong connections with Chomskian views on Lg
and Lng
- children are biologically endowed with language
- this innate knowledge just needs to be triggered by
appropriate data in the input

20. THE MONITOR THEORY (Cont’d)
 Core views in the theory
* comprehensible and meaningful messages
* interaction of linguistic information in the
messages with the innate language
acquisition faculty (ILAF)
 It proved to be very popular among teachers and
learners
 The MT rests on five (5) HYPOTHESES
 Hypotheses which consist of a number of
constructs

21. CORE HYPOTHESES OF THE MT
 The Acquisition –Learning Hypothesis
 The monitor Hypothesis
 The natural Order Hypothesis
 The input Hypothesis
 The Affective Filter Hypothesis

22. THE ACQUISITION-LEARNING
HYPOTHESIS
 ACQUISITION OCCURS NATURALLY
 LEARNING RESULTS FROM CONSCIOUS, DELIBERATE
AND EFFORTFUL PROCESS
 ACQUISITION & LEARNING ARE TWO SEPARATE
KNOWLEDGE BASES
 ONLY ACQUISITION IS USED IN SPONTANEOUS &
MEANINGFUL INTERACTIONS
 IT SEEMS VERY INTICING OM MANY COUNTS, i.e.,
* spontaneous & accurate use, yet rule may not be known
* Rules learned but may not be used in spontaneous
conversations

23. THE MONITOR HYPOTHESIS
Status bearing of Learned Lg
 Limited role in real spontaneous and
meaningful interactions
 May play an editing role when accuracy is
sought
 Unimportant in overall language use
 Learned language is negligible
 Implications for L2 classes!

24. THE NATURAL ORDER HYPOTHESIS
 Some specific forms follow a natural route
- some morphemes: ing; ed; s
- grammatical structures: questions, negation,
relative clauses
 There seems a predictable order of acquisition
 Instruction does not alter the order
 At the right time and order the ILAF will trigger
acquisition
Innate Lg Acquisition Faculty

25. THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS
 Only Comprehensible input will result in
acquisition
 It must be slightly above the learner’s current level
(i+1)
 Input which is i+1 is central data to SLA
 Meaning rather than form should be emphasized
 Copious and rich input in a tandem with ILAF
leads to acquisition

26. THE AFFECTIVE FILTER HYPOTHESIS
(STOP 21.06.2013)
 Rich and comfortable environment forwards
acquisition:
* low affective filter allows for optimal
processing of input
* higher affective is an impediment to input
processing
 Acquisition-rich environments are those
that are not stressful

28. OBSERVATIONS EXPLAINED OR
NEED EXPLAINING BY SLA
THEORIES (cf. VanPatten, 2008)
 1. Exposure to input is necessary for SLA to happen
 2. A good deal of SLA happens incidentally
 3. learners come to know more than what they have been

-
exposed to in the input
4. Learners output (speech) often follows predictable paths with
predictable stages in the acquisition of a given, i.e., structure
Stage 1: no + phrase: no want that
Stage 2: subject + no + phrase: he no want that
Stage 3: don’t, can’t, not may alternate with no: he don’t no
want that
Stage 4: negation is attached to modal verbs: she can’t do that
Stage 5: negation is attached to auxiliaries: he doesn’t want that

29. OBSERVATIONS EXPLAINED OR
NEED EXPLAINING BY SLA
THEORIES (cf. VanPatten, 2008)
 5. SLLearning is variable in its outcome
 6. SLLearning is variable across linguistic subsystems
 7. There are limits on the effects of frequency on SLA
 8. there are limits on the effects of L1 on SLA
 9. There are limits on the effect of instruction on SLA
 10. There are limits on the effects of output (learner’s
production) on language acquisition

30. THE 10 OBSERVATION COMBINED
INTO 5 MAJOR AREAS (Ortega,
2008)
 Any SLA theory seems to be concerned with these 5

areas:
The nature of SL knowledge
The nature of interlanguage development
The contribution of knowledge of a first language
The linguistic environment
The role of instruction
SLA theories, current ones included often have a
different take on the above areas. However, some
overlap is observed here and there.

31. OTHER OBSERVATIONS PREVALENT
IN SLA
 Interlanguage: the route travel by every learner toward

-


the target language
L1 influence: the role of L1 in SLA
Transfer: L1 buttresses L2 in a number of ways
Interference : Contrastive rhetoric (Kaplan): discourse
organization & thought patterns
Language universals: common to all languages
Languages are systems (organized and predictable in a
certain way)

32. CURRENT MSLA THEORIES
 Universal Grammar
 Autonomous induction theory (Reading assignment,






pp. 225-250, VanPatten, 2008)
Associative Cognitive CREED Framework
Skill Acquisition theory
input processing theory
processibility Theory
concept-Oriented approach, and
Interaction Framework

33. UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (UG)
 What is it?
 Its nature and content coincide with the realm
of linguistic theory
 It stems from generative linguistic
 It is dynamic theory: proposal alter over time
 But its CENTRAL assumptions run across all
versions
* government & Binding (GB) (Chomsky, 1981), or
* Minimalism (Chomsky, 1995
)

34. UG (cont’d)
 It is concerned with the logical problem of
language acquisition(the poverty of
stimulus)
 L1 acquirer production and comprehension
cannot be explained solely by input effect
 L1 and L2 learners understand or say things
they have never exposed to

35. UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (Cont’d)
 There is unconscious knowledge Lners derived
from UG
* native speaker grammars
* interlanguage grammars
 For L2 learners get stronger influence from L1
grammar (e.g., Bley-Vroman, 1989; Schachter,
1990)
 The debate is ongoing: the distance between L1 &
L2 may be brought to bear

36. UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (Cont’d)
 UG rests on PRINCIPLES & PARAMETERS
 Principles:
* guide form of grammar and rules operation
* Lners do not have to learn them
* they are built in UG
 Parameters:
* they are language specific linguistic characteristic
encoded in UG
* data in a given system will trigger particular parametric
choice available in UG
* learning a new language is about resetting parameters

38. S0CI0CULTURAL THEORIES
 Originates from Lev Vygotsky’s works; a
Russian (1896-1934)
 From the school of cognitive psychology
 Cognitive psychology, a term coined by Ulric
Neisser
 CP is about understanding mental processes
 CP here is concerned with mental process
allowing for learning

39. SCT (Cont’d): VYGOTSKY
 Vygotsky became prominent in the 1930
 Some of his theories are regarded as unfinished
 His theories are often referred to a Social Development
Theory
 His theories emphasize the role of social interaction in
the development of cognition
 “Making meaning,” central to the process of learning is
social

40. SCT (CONT’D): VYGOTSKY
 Learning comes before development (vs. J.
Piaget)
 Cultural and psychological function in
human societies are dependent on learning
 Cultural and historical contexts within
which people are situated help understand
their development
 Higher mental function originate from
social processes

41. SCT (CONT’D)
 MENTAL FUNCTIONS (ATTENTION, SENSATION,
PERCEPTION, AND MEMORY) ARE SOCIAL
 THROUGH SOCIAL INTERACTION THE ABOVE
DEVELOP INTO HIGHER FUNCTION
 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IS DEPENDENT ON
CULTURE
 LANGUAGE, A CULTURAL ARTIFACT, IS A SEMIOTIC
TOOL
 LANGUAGE PLAYS A CENTRAL ROLE IN COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT

42. CENTRAL CONSTRUCTS
 MEDIATION
- USE OF INTERFACE
 REGULATION
- HAVING CONTROL
 SYMBOLIC ARTIFACTS (e.g., LG)
- SOCIAL TOOLS WITH SPECIFIC ROLES

43. CENTRAL CONSTRUCTS OF SCT
(CONT’ED)
 INTERNALIZATION
- LEARNING OCCURS AT TWO LEVELS
+ AT THE INTERPSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL
+ AT THE INTRAPSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL
 IMITATION (LUDIC PLAYS)
- A RECAST OF SOCIAL DRAMA

44. SCT:TENETS OF VYGOTSKYAN
THEORY
• Central tenet of Vygotsky theory of learning
- The MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE OWM
(MKO)
+ expert
+ novice
- The ZONE OF PROXIMAL
DEVELOPMEMT (ZPD)

45. ZPD
 Primarily it is a metaphor for assistance in
learning
 The zone is located between what is known
and what is aimed at
 From what you know the MKO provides
assistance to get what you don’t know
 It is about what a learner (e.g., a child) can
do on their own and what they need help
with

46. ZPD
 It is the most sensitive SPACE for guidance and
instruction
 The ZPD is about interaction as it lead to
DEVELOPMENT
 The concept of the ZPD has major implications for
SLA
- scaffolding
- apprenticeship
- reciprocal teaching