Functionalism Functionalism proposes that Universal Grammar can ultimately be explained without recourse to a special language organ that takes up where cognition leaves off. It attempts to rectify a lack of emphasis on learning in the rationalist perspective. The source of knowledge is proposed to lie in the input, not in the mind. Discoveries are…
Language Making Capacity Language Making Capacity Slobin proposes a ‘language making capacity’ (LMC). Like Chomsky’s Language Faculty, the LMC contains universal principles. Unlike the principles of Chomsky’s Language Faculty, these are ‘Operating Principles’ (OP), i.e., principles specifically for working inductively on the physical acoustic stimulus for a specific language to which children are exposed. The…
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.…
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…
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?…
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…
Interaction Hypothesis Interaction Hypothesis Long’s Interaction Hypothesis, especially the updated version, claims that learners do need to pay conscious attention to form in order to benefit from negotiated interaction. The origins of Long’s Interaction Hypothesis lies partly in Hatch’s work on discourse analysis and L2 acquisition and partly in Krashen’s Input Hypothesis. Hatch claims that…
Form-Focused Instruction Form-Focused Instruction Traditionally, language pedagogy has emphasized form-focused instruction. The Grammar-Translation Method and the Audiolingual Method both involve attempts to teach learners grammar, differing only in how this is to be accomplished (Ellis, 1997). Form-focused Instruction is in contrast with ‘naturalistic learning’. It intends to examine whether instruction could change the natural order…
Universal Grammar Universal grammar may be thought of as some system of principles common to the species and available to each individual prior to experience. Universal Grammar might be defined as the study of the conditions that must be met by the grammars of all human languages. In a highly idealized picture of language acquisition,…
Language Faculty Language Faculty We may assume that the linguistic theory of the language faculty is a theory of the cognitive architecture for language knowledge and acquisition. Chomsky postulated that there is a language organ, which is part of a human’s biological endowment and which houses the universal principles and parameters without which a child…