SLA - 2 Historical perspectives

1950s – early 1960s

Empiricism: structuralism + behaviourism

How language was viewed at the time:

• language = a set of forms and habits

• learning = stimulus–response + reinforcement

• no “mind”, no internal grammar

Linguistics: American structuralism

• description of language based on observable data

• no speculation about mental processes

• Bloomfield (1933)

Psychology: Behaviourism

A psychological theory viewing learning as habit formation through stimulus–response associations reinforced by feedback.

Importance for SLA:

• jazyk = naučené návyky

• vysvětlení chyb pomocí interference

• Skinner (1957) – Verbal Behavior

Habit formation

The idea that language learning consists of forming correct habits through repetition, imitation, and reinforcement.

Associated with:

• Behaviourism

• Audiolingual Method

Consequence for SLA: Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH)

• The hypothesis that L2 learning difficulties can be predicted by systematically comparing L1 and L2 structures.

• comparison of L1 × L2

• differences = difficulties

• similarities = ease of learning

• Lado (1957)

Why did this approach fail? (CAH)

• learners’ actual errors did not match CAH predictions

• similarity between languages often caused more errors

this led to the need to study the learner’s language itself

1960s–1970s

• Mentalism / rationalism

• A major turning point

  • Chomsky (1957, 1959, 1965)
    – critique of Skinner

Main ideas:

• children do not acquire language through imitation

• they produce novel sentences

• there must be an innate language capacity

Universal Grammar (UG)

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

1960s–1970s Impact on SLA:

• focus on:

  • competence rather than performance

  • the learner’s internal linguistic system

• inspiration from L1 acquisition research:

  • Berko (wug test)

  • Brown (natural order of acquisition)

Late 1960s – early 1970s

The emergence of modern SLA

1. Error Analysis

2. Interlanguage

3. Fossilization

Error Analysis

• Corder (1967)

• errors are not failures

• errors = evidence of system development

Distinction:

• error = systematic, competence-based

• mistake = performance slip

Crucial shift:
from teaching → to learning

Transfer

The influence of previously learned linguistic habits (L1) on the learning of a new language (L2).

Key figure:

• Robert Lado

Historical note:

• původně považován za hlavní zdroj chyb

Creative construction

The view that learners actively construct grammatical rules rather than imitating input or transferring L1 structures.

• Roger Brown

• Dulay & Burt

Interlanguage

• Selinker (1972)

• the learner’s language:

  • is not L1

  • is not L2

  • is an independent system

Characteristics:

• systematic

• dynamic

• variable

Fossilization

• some parts of interlanguage:

  • become stabilised

  • never reach target-language norms

Typically affects:

• pronunciation

• morphology

Creative Construction theories (1970s)

What did they show?

• children learning an L2:

  • do not build it based on L1

  • but according to an internal programme

• Brown

• Dulay & Burt

• Bailey, Madden & Krashen

Krashen and the 1980s

The Monitor Model

Krashen argues that:

• acquisition ≠ learning

• grammar instruction does not lead to fluency

• the key factor is comprehensible input

Krashen and the 1980s: The five hypotheses

1. Acquisition–Learning Hypothesis

2. Monitor Hypothesis

3. Natural Order Hypothesis

4. Input Hypothesis (i+1)

5. Affective Filter Hypothesis

Strong influence, but:

• criticised for vagueness

• difficult to test empirically

Mentalism × Empiricism

Mentalism / rationalism

• Chomsky

• UG, LAD

• language = a specific innate faculty

Empiricism (return in the 1990s)

• emergentism

• connectionism

• language emerges from:

  • input

  • statistical learning

  • general cognitive abilities

• Michael Tomasello

• Jenny Saffran

• Diane Larsen-Freeman

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

An innate mental mechanism proposed to account for humans’ ability to acquire language.

• Noam Chomsky

Ferdinand de Saussure

• founder of structural linguistics

• introduced the distinction langue vs. parole

• did not study SLA, but laid the theoretical foundations of structural linguistics

• influenced later approaches focusing on language as a system

• precursor of the competence–performance distinction

Leonard Bloomfield

• main representative of structuralist empiricism

• promoted empiricism in linguistics

• insisted that linguistics should study observable data only

• rejected mental explanations of language

Ivan Pavlov

• behaviourism (psychology)

• classical conditioning

• learning through stimulus–response associations

• provided theoretical background for behaviourist language learning

B. F. Skinner

• main representative of behaviourism in language learning

• Verbal Behavior (1957)

• language learning as:

  • imitation

  • reinforcement

  • habit formation

• later criticised by Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

• founder of mentalism / nativism

• introduced:

  • Universal Grammar (UG)

  • Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

• founded generative linguistics

• shifted linguistics towards mental representations

• focus on competence, not performance

Jeffrey Elman

• developed connectionist models of language learning

• used neural networks to simulate learning from input

• argued against innate grammar

• showed how structure can emerge from experience

Virginia Marchman

• empirical supporter of connectionism

• conducted empirical studies within the connectionist framework

• showed that language development depends on:

  • frequency

  • usage

  • distribution

• supported emergentist explanations

• did not propose a new theory, but provided evidence

Michael Tomasello

• leading representative of emergentism / usage-based theories

• developed and systematised usage-based theories of language

• argued against:

  • LAD

  • strong versions of UG

• emphasised:

  • social interaction

  • intention reading

  • joint attention

• viewed grammar as emergent from use