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Applied Linguistics
Lecture 2: Schools of Thought in Second Language Acquisition
(SLA)
2.1 Review

Number of questions were raised regarding language learning and
teaching:
How language is taught.
What is language?
How does learning take place?
How to ensure the success in language learning.
How to acquire language


Over the years, schools of thought appeared attempting to answer these
questions.
Schools of Thought in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) are
Structuralism & Behavioral psychology, Generative Linguistics &
Cognitive Psychology, and Constructivism.
2.2 Structural Linguistics/Behavioral Psychology



Time Frame: 1940s & 1950s
Also known as structural or descriptive school of linguistics
Advocates: Leonard Bloomfield, Edward Sapir, Charles Hockett, Charles Fries,
and others
Characteristics of this school of thought:
 These linguists were interested in description; they wanted to describe human
languages and identify the structural characteristics of those languages.
 Only publicly observable responses could be subject to investigation (things that
can be objectively perceived, recorded, and measured).
 Everything adhered to scientific methods.
 Consciousness and intuition were regarded as “mentalistic”
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 Language could be dismantled into small pieces or units and that these units could
be described scientifically, contrasted, and added up again to form the whole
(writing about grammars of exotic languages).
 Behavioristic models: rote verbal learning, instrumental learning
 Language learning was considered like any other kind of learning, as the
formation of habits.
 Any kind of behavior was based on stimulus & response: Humans are exposed to
many things in their environment. So, the response they give to such stimuli will
be reinforced if successful and will become a habit or if unsuccessful be
abandoned.
 By imitating & repeating the same structures a person can learn a language.
 They believed teachers needed to focus on the structures that they thought would
be difficult for their students (different in the L1 and the L2).
 The best tool for any teacher would be to understand the differences between the
two languages being taught.
 That is the reason researchers were interested to compare languages in order to
pinpoint areas of difficulty (a term known as Contrastive Analysis)
2.3 Generative Linguistics & Cognitive Psychology
 Time frame: 1960s &1970s
 Also known as generative-transformational school of linguistics
 Advocate: Noam Chomsky
Characteristics of this school of thought:
 Human language cannot be scrutinized simply in terms of observable stimuli and
responses
 They not only described languages, but they also wanted to arrive at an
explanatory level of adequacy in the study of language.
 The rationalist linguist has a formalist view of language: the child is
preprogrammed for acquiring language (Language Acquisition Device = LAD)
because universal grammar is innate.
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 They too were interested in the ‘what’ question but they were more interested in
the ‘why’ question (what underlying reasons, genetic and environmental factors,
and circumstances caused a particular event).
 They believed that the SLA process can be understood better by first
understanding how the human brain processes and learns new information
 They were interested in both performance & competence (Chomsky) or what is
also known as Parole & Langue (Ferdinand de Saussure):
 Competence/Langue= The linguistic system underlying second language
grammars and its constructions.
 Performance/Parole= Using & learning a language.
2.4 Constructivism: a multidisciplinary approach


Time frame: 1980s,1990s & early 2000
Advocates: Jean Piaget & Lev Vygotsky
Characteristics of this school of thought:

It integrates all linguistic, psychological, and sociological paradigms.

It's emphasis is on social interaction, discovery, and construction of
meaning.

So, constructivism is of two branches: cognitive and social.

Cognitively, learners construct their own version of reality, so it is the
learner's role to discover and transform complex information.

Socially, constructivism is emphasizing the importance of social
interaction and cooperative learning and social interaction of how an
individual emerges in social practices, on a collaborative group.

“Children's thinking and meaning-making is socially constructed and
emerges out of social interactions with their environment”
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2.5 Summary
Structural
Linguistics/
Behavioral
Psychology
Generative
Linguistics/
Cognitive
psychology
Constructivism
Time Frame
Early 1900& 1940s
&1950s
1960s& 1970s
1980s,1990s &
early 2000
Advocates
Bloomfield,
Sapir,
Hockett,
Charles,
Fries, and others
Noam Chomsky
Piaget &Vygotsky
How language
is taught
scientific description
description
explanation
+discovery learning
What is
language?
surface structure (SS)
(behavior)
SS + DS
(generative
linguistics)
sociocultural variables
How does learning empiricism + rote
take place?
learning till become
habitual
innateness
cooperative
learning
(social
interation)
How to ensure the observable
success in
performance
language learning.
competence
performance
How to acquire
language
UG/LAD
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conditioning&
reinforcement
(Stimulus&Response)
+interlanguage
variability
(communicative
competence)
interactive
discourse
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2.6 Language teaching in the nineteenth century
There is a relationship between theoretical disciplines and teaching methodology
Late 19th C.: The Grammar Translation Method
Also known as the Classical Method then later (late 19th century) was known
as the Grammar Translation Method.
It is known for being “theoryless” and having no advocates.
Major characteristics:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Classes are taught in the mother tongue; little use of L2.
Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
Elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar
Reading of difficult classical texts begun early.
Texts treated as exercises of grammatical analysis.
Occasional drills and exercises in translating sentences from L1 to L2.
Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
(Brown, 2007:16)
2.7 Language teaching in the twentieth century
End of 19th C- 20 C: Direct Method
based on a “naturalistic” approach stimulating the natural way in which
children learn L1
Major principles:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language
Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught
Oral communication skills were built in a carefully graded progression
organized around question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and
students in small, intensive classes.
Grammar was taught inductively.
New teaching points were introduced orally.
Concrete vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.
Both speech and listening comprehension were taught
Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.
(Brown, 2007:50)
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Late 1940s & 1950s: The Audiolinguial Method (ALM)
▪ Direct Method descendant
▪ based on the structusalist/behaviorist school of thought
Major characteristics:
1.
2.
New material is presented in a dialogue form.
There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and overlearning.
3. Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one at
a time.
4. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.
5. There is little or no grammatical explanation: grammar is taught by
inductive analogy rather than deductive explanation.
6. Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context.
7. There is much use of tapes, language labs and visual aids.
8. Great importance is attached to pronunciation.
9. Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted.
10. Successful responses are immediately reinforced.
11. There is a great effort to get students to produce error-free utterances
12. There is a tendency to manipulate language and disregard content.
1970s – now: Communicative Language Teaching
1.
2.
3.
The teacher is a facilitator that provides an authentic uses of the second
language in the classroom.
The teaching moves beyond rules, patterns, definitions, and other
knowledge about language.
The greatest importance is to teach the students how to communicate
genuinely, spontaneously, and meaningfully in the second language.
Reading:
Brown (4th ed.): 8-19
Brown (5th ed.): 9-19; 50; 111
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