DELTA Module 1.1 (Red) - Theoretical Perspectives (FLA/SLA)

Cards 1-20 - Theoretical Perspectives (FLA/SLA)

1. SLA - Krashen's Input Hypothesis vs Swain's Output Hypothesis - what's the contrast?

Krashen claims comprehensible input (i+1) is sufficient for acquisition; output plays no causal role. Swain argues that pushed output is also necessary, because production forces learners to notice gaps, test hypotheses, and move from semantic to syntactic processing.

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Subsequent research has generally supported a role for both: input is necessary but output adds value. This input-output contrast remains a useful organising frame for evaluating classroom activities.

(Swain 1985, Communicative Competence: Some Roles of Comprehensible Input and Comprehensible Output, in Input in Second Language Acquisition)

2. SLA - L1, L2, FL, SL - what are the standard distinctions?

The four standard terms:

1. L1: mother tongue or first language

2. L2: any subsequently acquired language

3. FL (foreign language): an L2 with no community status in the country (e.g. English in Japan)

4. SL (second language): an L2 with widespread status as a medium of communication in the country (e.g. English in Nigeria)
   
   —
   
   The FL/SL distinction matters for syllabus design, exposure outside the classroom, motivation type, and learner expectations. American usage often conflates FL and SL, calling all non-L1 'second language'.
   

   (Crystal 2005, How Language Works; Ellis 1994, The Study of Second Language Acquisition)

3. SLA - Negotiation for meaning vs negotiation of form - what's the difference?

Negotiation for meaning: interaction in which participants clarify and confirm message content when comprehension breaks down (Long's Interaction Hypothesis). Negotiation of form: interaction focused on the formal accuracy of an utterance (e.g. through recasts, prompts).

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Both happen in classroom interaction. The distinction matters because meaning-focused negotiation may not produce attention to form; explicit focus-on-form moves are typically needed alongside.

(Lyster & Ranta 1997, Corrective Feedback and Learner Uptake, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 19/1)

4. SLA - What are 'imagined communities' in SLA?

Future-oriented or non-immediate groups that learners aspire to join, which shape their language learning investment in the present.

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Borrowed from Benedict Anderson and applied to SLA by Kanno and Norton (2003). A learner studying business English to join an imagined global professional community will invest differently from one whose imagined community is the local classroom.

(Kanno & Norton 2003, Imagined Communities and Educational Possibilities)

5. SLA - What are developmental sequences in SLA?

Fixed orders in which specific L2 structures are acquired, observed across learners regardless of L1 background or instructional sequence.

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Classic example: the four stages of English negation acquisition: 1) no V ('no like'), 2) don't V ('I don't can'), 3) auxiliary + neg ('She can't sing'), 4) analysed don't ('She doesn't like'). Teaching cannot easily skip a stage - Pienemann's Teachability Hypothesis builds on this.

(Lightbown & Spada 2013, How Languages Are Learned)

6. SLA - What are the five hypotheses in Krashen's Monitor Model?

The five hypotheses of the Monitor Model:

1. Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

2. Monitor Hypothesis

3. Natural Order Hypothesis

4. Input Hypothesis (i+1)

5. Affective Filter Hypothesis
   

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Proposed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Influential but widely critiqued for being untestable and for the non-interface position.

(Krashen 1982, Principles and Practice in SLA)

7. SLA - What are the morpheme acquisition order studies?

Studies (Brown 1973 for L1; Dulay & Burt 1974 for L2) finding that English grammatical morphemes are acquired in a broadly similar order across learners with different L1s.

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A typical order: -ing → plural -s → copula 'be' → articles → past -ed → third-person -s → possessive 's. Used to argue against the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (since L1 didn't predict the order) and in favour of a 'natural order' driven by features of the L2 itself.

(Dulay & Burt 1974, Natural Sequences in Child Second Language Acquisition)

8. SLA - What does 'i+1' mean in Krashen's Input Hypothesis?

Input that is one step beyond a learner's current interlanguage level: understandable but slightly challenging.

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'i' is the learner's current level; '+1' is the next structure. Often criticised as undefinable in practice.

(Krashen 1985, The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications)

9. SLA - What is 'investment' in SLA (Norton)?

A learner's commitment to learning the target language, made in expectation of a return in symbolic or material resources, including identity and access to communities.

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Distinct from motivation: a learner may be highly motivated but uninvested in a particular classroom or task because it does not promise the social returns they seek. Foregrounds power and access alongside individual desire.

(Norton Peirce 1995, Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning)

10. SLA - What is Chomsky's Universal Grammar (UG)?

An innate, biologically endowed set of linguistic principles common to all human languages.

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UG explains how children acquire grammar rapidly from limited and degraded input ('poverty of the stimulus').

(White 2003, Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar)

11. SLA - What is error analysis (Corder)?

A systematic study of L2 learner errors with the aim of inferring the underlying interlanguage system and the learner's hypothesis-testing strategies.

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Introduced by Corder (1967), 'The significance of learners' errors'. Replaced contrastive analysis as the dominant approach in the 1970s. Treats errors as positive evidence of the developing system, not just deficiencies to be corrected. Distinguishes errors (systematic, reflect competence) from mistakes (one-off performance slips).

(Corder 1967, The significance of learners' errors)

12. SLA - What is fossilisation in SLA?

The permanent stabilisation of non-target-like interlanguage forms despite continued exposure or instruction.

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Term introduced by Selinker. Common with pronunciation features and certain grammatical structures at higher levels.

(Selinker 1972, Interlanguage)

13. SLA - What is interlanguage, and who coined the term?

A learner's developing, systematic language system, distinct from both their L1 and the target L2. Coined by Larry Selinker.

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Interlanguage has its own internal rules and changes over time. Errors are evidence of its current state.

(Selinker 1972, Interlanguage)

14. SLA - What is Krashen's Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis?

Acquisition is a subconscious process similar to L1 development; learning is conscious knowledge of rules. The two are separate.

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Krashen claimed learning cannot become acquisition (the 'non-interface' position). This claim is widely contested.

(Krashen 1982, Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition)

15. SLA - What is Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis?

A psychological 'filter' of anxiety, low motivation, or low self-confidence blocks input from being acquired.

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A low affective filter (relaxed, motivated learners) facilitates acquisition; a high one inhibits it.

(Krashen 1982, Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition)

16. SLA - What is Krashen's Input Hypothesis?

Learners acquire language by understanding input that is slightly beyond their current level ('i+1').

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Comprehension precedes production. Krashen claimed comprehensible input is the only causal variable in acquisition.

(Krashen 1985, The Input Hypothesis)

17. SLA - What is Krashen's Monitor Hypothesis?

Conscious knowledge of rules (learning) can only edit output produced by the acquired system, acting as a 'monitor'.

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Three conditions must be met for the monitor to work: enough time, focus on form, and knowing the rule.

(Krashen 1982, Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition)

18. SLA - What is Krashen's Natural Order Hypothesis?

Grammatical structures are acquired in a predictable order, regardless of L1 or instruction.

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Based on morpheme studies from the 1970s. Suggests teaching-syllabus order may not match acquisition order.

(Krashen 1982, Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition)

19. SLA - What is Long's Interaction Hypothesis?

SLA is facilitated when learners negotiate meaning during interaction, often through clarification requests, confirmation checks, and recasts.

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Updates Krashen: not just comprehensible input, but modified interaction makes input acquirable.

(Long 1996, The Role of the Linguistic Environment in Second Language Acquisition)

20. SLA - What is multi-competence (Cook)?

The view that an L2 user's knowledge of L1 and L2 form a single integrated cognitive system, not two separate competences.

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Proposed by Cook (1991). Implication: L2 users should not be judged against monolingual native-speaker norms, since their L1 itself is altered by knowing the L2. Aligns with later translanguaging theory in rejecting the 'two monolinguals in one head' model.

(Cook 1991, The poverty-of-the-stimulus argument and multi-competence)