1、Chapter OneLecture 23.Theories of second language acquisition4.The cognitive theoryTheories of second language acquisition 1. The habit-formation theory 2. The hypotheses of linguistic universals 3. The acculturation theory 4. The discourse theory 5. The monitor theory1. The habit-formation theory(习
2、惯形成理论习惯形成理论) The habit-formation theory comes from the behaviorist psychology and was very popular in the 1950s and 60s. It was put forward by a group of behaviorists with B. E. Skinner as their representative. According to behaviorists, language is regarded as a set of linguistic habits and the lin
3、guistic habits are formed through identifying and strengthening the associations between stimuli and responses. Based on it, learning a second language means the formation of a new set of linguistic habits. Therefore, imitation and practice play an important role in the process of habit-formation, b
4、ecause the behaviorists maintained that imitation will help learners identify the associations between stimuli and responses while practice will reinforce associations and help learners to form the new linguistic habits. Notice: Since the process of second language acquisition is regarded as a proce
5、ss of habit formation, then the old habits -the mother tongue of the learner will either facilitate or get in the way of the second language learning. That is to say, if the mother tongue and the target language have the same linguistic habits, then positive transfers will occur and the target langu
6、age learning process will be facilitated. However, when the mother tongue and the target language share a meaning but express it in different ways, the learner will transfer the ways of expression in the mother tongue to the target language. This is called negative transfer, and the results of such
7、transfers are realized by errors made by the learner. Therefore, according to the theory, errors should be avoided and should be corrected, because they will have the danger of becoming bad linguistic habits. Since errors will interfere with the new habit-formation process and are the results of neg
8、ative transfers, the best way to avoid the errors is to predict when they will occur and find ways to avoid the errors and prevent the occurrence of them. Contrastive analysis is proposed as a valid means to predict potential errors. Some scholars believe that if a careful and detailed comparison be
9、tween the mother tongue and the target language is done, then all the errors in second language learning process can be predicted and avoided. 2. The hypotheses of linguistic universals (语言的普遍性假设) The hypothesis of linguistic universals originates from the study of linguistic universals in natural l
10、anguages. It is acknowledged that there exist certain linguistic properties, which are true to all the natural languages in the world. Two most influential approaches to the study of linguistic universals: one by Chomsky, the other by Joseph. H. Greenberg. By Chomsky, for him, human beings are born
11、with a language acquisition device, which consists of a set of general principles. The core grammar of a natural language agrees with the inborn set of general principles while the peripheral grammar cannot be governed by the language acquisition device. In researches into the second language acquis
12、ition process, people have found that second language learners usually acquire the core grammar of the TL and then the peripheral grammar. This is simply because the core grammar agrees with the inborn general principles and is much easier to learn. They also believe that the core grammar of the lea
13、rners MT will facilitate the development of the learners interlanguage and will exert a positive influence on the acquisition of the TL. 3. The acculturation theory（文化移入理论） The acculturation theory originated in the late 1970s and was put forward by J. Schumann and R. Anderson. By acculturation they
14、 meant that individuals of one culture have to go through the process of modification (=change) in attitude, knowledge, and behavior in order to function well in another culture. It involves not only the social adaptation, but also psychological adaptation (=to change so as to meet the new needs). S
15、chumann thinks that second language acquisition is just one aspect of acculturation and the reaction between acculturation and second language acquisition is that the degree of the former will control the degree of the latter. That is to say, successful acculturation will bring about successful seco
16、nd language acquisition while poor acculturation will produce poor second language acquisition. When discussing the factors, which determine the degree of acculturation success, Schumann maintains that the social and psychological distances play a decisive role. Social distance is created by the rel
17、ations between the learner and members of the target social group, and psychological distance is the result of various affective factors of learner. It is assumed that the shorter the distance, the better the learning environment, hence the better the language learning result. Schumann thinks that g
18、ood language learning environment will be created by the following social factors: (1)There is social equality between first language and target language group. (2)Both groups desire assimilation. (3)First language group is small and not cohesive.(4)First language groups culture is congruent with ta
19、rget language group.(5)Both groups have positive attitude toward each other.(6)Both groups expect L1 group to share facilities.(7)The L1 group expects to stay in the TL area for an extended period. He describes language shock, culture shock, low motivation and high ego (=self) boundaries a negative
20、psychological factor that will increase the psychological distance.4. The discourse theory（语篇理论） (1)Established by E. Hatch in the late 1970s, this theory of L2 language acquisition developed by M. A. K. Hallidays theory of L1 language acquisition. (2)Halliday thinks that the process of first langua
21、ge acquisition is actually the process of learning how to communicate in that language. Hatch agrees with Halliday on first language acquisition process and perceives little difference between the first language acquisition process and the process of second language acquisition. He thinks that only
22、through communication discourses can the learner acquire the second language. (3)Main points of the discourse theory 1)In second language acquisition, the rules of grammar are acquired in a natural order. 2)When communicating with a non-native speaker, the native speaker will adjust his discourse .
23、3)The strategies and means used in discourses and the adjusted language input will influence the speed and order of second language acquisition in the following aspects: (a)The order in which the learner acquire the L2 grammar is consistent with the frequency of the grammatical structures appearing
24、in the language input. (b)The learner acquires the usual structure patterns in the language input before he is able to analyze them into component parts. (c)The learner acquires the formation of cohesive discourse before he acquires the formation of single sentence. 4) Therefore, the natural order o
25、f second language acquisition is the result of the learners learning to make discourse interactions (=activity of working together). (4) Conclusion From the above points, we could see that Hatch focuses his research on the process of second language acquisition and he tries to describe the process b
26、y analyzing the face-to-face communications. 5. He monitor theory(监控理论) Put forward by Stephen Krashen in the late 1970s, popular among foreign language teachers in America, consisting of the following five hypotheses: (A)The acquisition-learning hypothesis （习得（习得-学习假说）学习假说） (a) Krashen claims that
27、adult learners of second language have two ways of developing their competence in a second/foreign language. (b)One is acquisition which refers to the subconscious process in which they develop their language proficiency through natural communications in the target language and it is very similar to
28、 the process children acquire their first language. The other is learning which refers to the conscious process in which they acquire the explicit knowledge of rules of the target language. (c)The basic distinction between language acquisition and language learning is whether the learner pays a cons
29、cious attention to the rules of the target language. Generally speaking, language can be acquired in natural communication settings when learners pay attention to meaning instead of form, or can be acquired in the classroom when the focus is on communication. Focusing on the form of the target langu
30、age will only result in an explicit knowledge of the rules of the target language. In Krashens view, conscious learning usually does not lead to acquisition. (B)The monitor hypothesis （监控假说）（监控假说） (d)According to Krashen, acquisition and learning have different functions in the communication activit
31、ies. Acquisition is responsible for the fluency of the utterances produced by the speakers while learning is responsible for the accuracy of the speeches or passages. That is to say, in natural communication settings, acquisition has a far more important role to play than learning, the only function
32、 of which is to monitor or edit what has been or what is going to be produced according to the norms of the target language. (e)In order to perform this monitor function, language learners have to satisfy at least three conditions. () The first condition is that the speaker must have sufficient time
33、 to monitor his productions. In normal conversations, the speaker will have not enough time to monitor his speeches. However, if the learner is writing something in his spare time, he may have sufficient time to edit his production. () The second condition is that the language performer must have hi
34、s focus on form. Accuracy becomes an important factor if the learner has enough time, and he will try his best to monitor what he is going to produce. () The third condition is that the language performer must have an explicit knowledge of the rules of the target language, otherwise, the language pe
35、rformer wont be able to monitor his production. (C)The natural order hypothesis （自然顺序假说）（自然顺序假说） This hypothesis claims that foreign language learners acquire the rules of the target language in the same order no matter where, when and how they are learning the language. For example, one group of le
36、arners may learn a language in a natural communication setting and another group may be taught in the classroom. However, their order of acquisition of language system will be the same. Krashen believes that this natural order of acquisition is independent of the order of rules taught in the classro
37、om. In his point of view, language teaching cannot change the natural order of language acquisition. The only thing it can do is to facilitate the speed of acquisition. Note that Krashen cannot explain with evidence what this order is although he put forward the natural order of language acquisition
38、. (D)The input hypothesis （输入假说）（输入假说） Krashen uses the input hypothesis to explain the relationship between language input and language acquisition to answer the question of how people acquire languages. According to Krashen, the only way for people to acquire a language is by understanding message
39、s or receiving comprehensible input. They move from, their current level, to +1, the next level along the natural order, by understanding input containing +1. That is to say, language is acquired by peoples comprehension of input that is slightly beyond their current level. People understand input c
40、ontaining +1 because the situation, context, facial expressions, gestures, etc. will provide clues for their comprehension. (E)The affective filter hypothesis （情感过滤假说）（情感过滤假说） Research in second language acquisition shows that motivation, self-confidence and anxiety are the three affective factors,
41、which determine the degree of success in second language acquisition. Generally speaking, learners with high motivation, self-confidence, and low anxiety will do much better than those are unmotivated, lacking in self-confidence and concerned too much with failure. Based on this research, the hypoth
42、esis claims that language acquires with a low affective filter will get more input containing +1 and they are able to make a better use of the input in their acquisition process, while learners with a high affective filter which will block the input will get less input and they wont be able to make
43、the full use of the input in their language acquisition process.The cognitive theory The cognitive theory of second language acquisition originated from cognitive psychologist, put forward by scholars Barry McLaughlin in the 1980s. Cognitive psychologists regard learning as a cognitive process becau
44、se it involves internal representations, which offer regulation and guidance for the performance. The cognitive theory of second language acquisition claims that second language learning should be regarded as the acquisition of a complex cognitive skill, and its internal representations are based on
45、 the target language system and include procedures for selecting appropriate vocabulary, grammatical rules, and pragmatic conventions governing language use. Learners language performance improves along with the restructuring of their internal representations. The task of language acquisition is ver
46、y complex because it involves constant practice and integration of different aspects of the task until automaticity is reached. Therefore, in the cognitive theory, automaticity and restructuring are the most important notions. According to McLaughlin, the process of language communication is a kind
47、of information processing. When processing information, people usually use two different ways, which are automatic and controlled modes of information processing. We have the automatic modes of information processing by teaching and asking Ss to practice. We have the controlled modes of information
48、processing by changing the structure of the knowledge framework, i.e. by restructuring the internal representation, because the existing internal representation cannot be used to account for the new information. As a complex cognitive skill, second language acquisition involves the process of automa
49、ticity and restructuring. However, the two processes have different functions at different stages of learning. The cognitive theory holds that language learning at the beginning stage involves more of the process of automaticity while language learning at the advanced stage usually involves more of the process of restructuring. p 经常不断地学习,你就什么都知道。你知道得越多,你就越有力量p Study Constantly, And You Will Know Everything. The More You Know, The More Powerful You Will Be写在最后Thank You在别人的演说中思考，在自己的故事里成长Thinking In Other PeopleS Speeches，Growing Up In Your Own Story讲师：XXXXXX XX年XX月XX日
