Competition Model Competition Model is based on inductive approach to learning (empiricism). MacWhinney outlined a development of the Competition Model, which he called the Unified Model because it sought to provide an account of both L1 and L2 learning. According to this model, forms are stored in associative maps for syllables, lexical items, constructions, and…
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…
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…
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…
Emergentism Emergentism is the name that has recently been given to a general approach to cognition that stresses the interaction between organism and environment and that denies the existence of pre-determined, domain specific faculties or capacities. Emergentism thus offers itself as an alternative to modular, ‘special nativist’ theories of the mind, such as theories of…
Chaos Theory Chaos theory was developed from the 1960s work of the meteorologist, Edward Lorenz. Lorenz discovered that a very small difference (less than one part in one thousand) in the initial conditions led to large changes in the weather predicted by his model over time. A chaos is included in a larger phenomenon, that…
Complexity Theory Complexity theory is closely linked to chaos theory. Complex systems are random, nonlinear, unpredictable, self-organising, and subject to ‘strange attractor’, (i.e. they home in on a pattern that determines the boundaries of the phenomenon). Language and L2 acquisition are best viewed as complex systems. Larsen-Freeman identified a number of features of L2 acquisition…