Innateness Hypothesis | TESL Issues

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Innateness Hypothesis Innateness Hypothesis It must be that the mind/brain provides a way to identify and extract the relevant information by means of mechanism of some sort that are part of its biologically determined resources. In contrast to the behaviorist hypothesis, a second theory, called the ‘innateness hypothesis’ has developed out of generative transformational grammar.…

Empiricism and Experiential Learning | TESL Issues

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Empiricism Empiricism Locke, Berkeley and Hume were the founders of empiricism in the 17th century. Knowledge is derived from experience of the outside world. Information is copied by sensations and images, remembered, associated with other stored information. Complex ideas result from associating simple ideas. Infant is born as a ‘tabula rasa’, i.e. a blank or…

Second Language Acquisition | TESL Issues

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Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Second Language Acquisition (SLA). An abbreviation for Second Language Acquisition. Second Language Acquisition is the common term used for the name of the discipline. In general, SLA refers to the process of learning another language after the native language has been learnt (Gass & Selinker, 2008). Sometimes the term refers to…

Generative Grammar | TESL Issues

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Generative Grammar Generative Grammar According to ‘generative grammar’ proposed by Chomsky, a language is not a system of rules, but a set of specifications for parameters in an invariant system of principles of Universal Grammar (UG). It is believed that humans are able to produce sequences which they have never encountered before. A generative grammar…

Connectionism and Parallel Processing | TESL Issues

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Connectionism Connectionism originated in the relativity well-established notion in psychology of ‘parallel processing. This was advanced by the work of the ‘parallel distributed processing’ (PDP) group held by Rumelhart and McClelland. The term “connectionism” refers in general to a form of cognitive modeling wherein cognitive processing is represented in terms that can be implemented by…

Content-Based Instruction | TESL Issues

Content-based instruction in language learning

Content-based Instruction (CBI) Content-based Instruction (CBI), according to Brinton (2003), is the integration of content learning with language teaching aims. More specifically, it refers to the concurrent study of language and subject matter, with the form and sequence of language presentation dictated by content material. Such an approach contrasts sharply with many practices in which…

Recast and Feedback in Language Learning | TESL Issues

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Recast Recast is another form of feedback, though they are less direct and more subtle than other forms of feedback. A recast is a reformulation of an incorrect utterance that maintains the original meaning of the utterance where the NS reformulates the NNS’s incorrect utterances. Recasts are complex, for instance, is it a partial recast?…

Behaviorism in Language Learning | TESL Issues

English presentation on habits to practice speaking

Behaviorism Behaviorism Empirical studies were primarily descriptive and totally objective in nature. In the late 1960s and 1970s, a growing consensus was reached that behaviourist theories of L2 learning were inadequate. L2 learners, like L1 learners, were credited with a ‘built-in-syllabus’, which guided their progress. According to the behaviourist hypothesis, the mind of the newborn…

Sensitive Period Hypothesis | TESL Issues

Sensitive Period Hypothesis Sensitive Period Hypothesis in comparison to Critical Period Hypothesis The review can show that variation in studies and findings with regard to the age groups considered, nature of the pronunciation tests, and length and type of exposure to the second language. One conclusion drawn is that cerebral lateralization is likely to be…

Declarative Knowledge | TESL Issues

Declarative vs procedural knowledge in second language acquisition

Declarative Knowledge Declarative knowledge is the same as explicit or controlled knowledge, whereas procedural knowledge is the same is implicit or uncontrolled knowledge. Internalised rules and memorised chunks of the language constitute the ‘what’ of the learner’s system or declarative knowledge (McLaughlin, 1987). Ellis believes that declarative rules can have top-down influences on perception, in…