Second Language Acquisition and Second ... - Stephen Krashen

go to class. The least of my goals would be to learn grammar. There is valuable
teacher-talk to listen to (on a topic I happen to be interested in, grammar: I realize
that I am a member of perhaps a small minority), other students to meet for
interlanguage talk, and through the teacher and the other students, possible contacts
with native speakers who might provide me with useful foreigner-talk.
The efficacy of simple codes in providing input for language acquisition is an
empirical issue, one which I have undoubtedly oversimplified. But, paraphrasing
John Oller, it will not be resolved by taking a vote, and is not a matter of opinion or
taste. It can be tested using a variety of approaches, and there is enough suggestive
evidence already to hypothesize that simple codes are of tremendous help to
acquirers at early and intermediate stages, child and adult, first and second
languages.
Notes
1 The second language acquisition literature does contain some hints, although no one, to my
knowledge, has explicitly addressed the question of whether simple codes help. Palmer (1979)
compared control and experimental EFL classes in Thailand, where the control class received
"traditional" instruction, including teacher-talk in English, and the experimental class used
"language games", a peer communication activity designed by Palmer and Kimball (1978). The
experimental group showed higher correlations between communicative and grammar-type tests,
which might be considered a sign of language acquisition (Palmer, 1978). Nevertheless, despite the
greater emphasis on communication in the experimental class, Palmer found no significant
differences between the groups on communicative measures. This may be due, he suggests, to the
fact that the control group received more teacher-talk in English. The experimental group had the
games explained in the first language (Thai). Palmer notes that in the experimental classes, "in order
to complete two games... per period, almost all informal communication in English was eliminated
from the classroom" (p. 17). Another hint is found in the "Good Language Learner" study of
Naimon, Fröhlich, Stern, and Todesco (1978). Their thirty-four "good language learners" reported a
preference for second language classes in the immersion situation, rather than foreign language
study at home. One essential difference between second language and foreign language classes is
the presence of obligatory teacher-talk in the target language in the former. Another is the possibility
of interlanguage talk. Finally, Fathman (1976) studied young ESL students in Washington, D.C. and
reported that "the students in schools where there were more than 40 non-native English speakers
seemed to make more progress than those in schools where there were fewer foreign students" (p.
437). We cannot, of course, simply conclude that this was due to the interlanguage talk they
received, but this is a testable hypothesis for future studies.
2 The caretaker speech literature also reports that less mature children hear significantly
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