Second Language Acquisition and Second ... - Stephen Krashen
Second Language Acquisition and Second ... - Stephen Krashen
Second Language Acquisition and Second ... - Stephen Krashen
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to speak the language they were learning, or if so, only haltingly..." (p. 34). This evidence is<br />
consistent with the generalization that the chief value of second language classes is their<br />
ability to provide the acquirer with appropriate intake, a conclusion that language teachers,<br />
through practice <strong>and</strong> experience, have come up with, <strong>and</strong> one which "theory", in this case<br />
"theory of language acquisition", also supports.<br />
Notes<br />
1 Especially important are routines that enable acquirers to "manage" conversations with speakers who are more<br />
competent than they are in the language, routines that allow acquirers to get speakers to slow down, interrupt<br />
when necessary, change the subject, get help with vocabulary, etc.<br />
2 It often "looks like" learning causes acquisition. This occurs when a second language acquirer has learned a rule<br />
before actually acquiring it, <strong>and</strong> then subsequently does succeed in acquiring the rule. It may appear as if the<br />
learning led to the acquisition. I am claiming that this is not the way the acquisition really occurred. A<br />
hypothetical example may make this clear.<br />
Consider the case of two ESL performers living in the United States, M <strong>and</strong> U, M is a Monitor users, while U is<br />
not. They have acquired equal amounts of English <strong>and</strong> are exposed to identical input/intake. Let us also assume<br />
that there does indeed exist an "average" order of acquisition for grammatical items, as claimed in Chapter 4.<br />
Figure 3 illustrates M's <strong>and</strong> U's progress along this natural order.<br />
M Items to be acquired U<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Time 1<br />
4<br />
5<br />
.<br />
.<br />
i<br />
.<br />
.<br />
28<br />
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Time 2<br />
Fig. 3. Hypothetical case of two ESL acquirers.<br />
At time 1, both M <strong>and</strong> U have acquired up to item 3. (This is, of course, a vast oversimplification; there is some<br />
individual variation in order of acquisition, <strong>and</strong> it is known that items are not acquired in a rigidly linear order.<br />
Also, acquisition is not "all or none" as Brown (1973), Hakuta (1974), <strong>and</strong> Rosansky (1976) show; acquisition is<br />
not sudden <strong>and</strong> "acquisition curves" are not even necessarily linear.) Item 28, far down the line, happens to be an<br />
item that is easily "learnable" (such as the third person singular morpheme on regular verbs in English), <strong>and</strong> is<br />
typically presented early in ESL classes. M, being a conscious learner, has no problem gaining<br />
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