ICC 623 FINAL

How does the Skill Acquisition Theory explain individual differences in SLA?

The Skill Acquisition Theory explains individual differences in SLA because different learners achieve different levels of proficiency based on their ability to obtain an understanding of the declarative knowledge, differing amounts of practice, sequencing of explicit information, implicit input, and practice with input and output. Therefore, there are individual differences based on aptitude, instruction, and practice.

What are the four conditions where Skill Acquisition Theory is most applicable. Why?

The four conditions where the Skill Acquisition Theory is most applicable are high aptitude adult learners, engaged in the learning of simple structures at fairly early stages of learning in instructional contexts. This is because if it is below-average explicit language aptitude it is harder to form declarative representations without a textbook or classroom teacher. It has to be an adult or adolescent because children won’t be able to conceptualize such abstract grammar rules. Learners at more advances stages where they are exposed to more input, the chance of implicit learning of frequent and relatively concrete patterns in input increases substantially.

Why is plural -s acquired earlier than third person singular -s according to the Processability Theory

According to the Processability Theory, plural -s is acquired earlier than third person singular-s because the plural -s only requires a phrasal procedure and an agreement in a single noun phrase. For example, “two kids” is more easily processed because the learner processes the word “kid” and by the word “two being in front, learners use local processing to indicated that plural -s is necessary.

On the other hand, third person singular -s is acquired later because it requires a subject-verb agreement such as “he sings” which requires a higher level of thinking since there is an exchange of grammatical information across phrases.

Use marked vs. unmarked alignment to explain why passive voice is acquired later than active voice in English.

Unmarked alignment refers to the default sentence structure in a language. In English, this sentence structure is subject+verb+object (SVO). In English, passive voice is acquired later than active voice because passive voice involves a marked alignment, which is non-linear mapping. Thus, the learner would have to “remap” the first noun as the receiver which requires a higher level of processing. Therefore, learners acquire active voice first because it follows unmarked alignment, the default sentence structure such as, “John threw the ball” which is SVO.

Explain the Processability Hierarchy according to the Processability Theory using examples.

According to the Processability Theory, the Processability Hierarchy is a developmental sequence where each level of development represents a set of grammatical rules that share certain processing procedures. According to this theory, learners process language in a step-by-step order where each “level” is necessary for the next.

For example, there are six levels within the hierarchy. The first level is one constituent question, “here”. The next level, is SVO question, “He live here”. These first two levels demonstrate how the levels build upon each other because the learner wouldn’t be able to create, “he live here” without accomplishing the first step of the hierarchy.

What is positive evidence? What is negative evidence? Why is positive evidence alone not enough for language development?

Positive evidence is the information that learners receive about what is possible in a language. Learners receive this information through input (reading, listening, and visual language) where learners are exposed to the correct versions of language. For example, if a learner is exposed to the sentence, “They sang.” they receive information or positive evidence about how the irregular verb is used.

On the other hand, negative information is information learners receive based on their incorrect utterances. For example, a learner may say, “Me no like tomatoes.” Then, a teacher may recast and say, “You don’t like tomatoes?”. From there, the learner receives negative evidence and can modify their output or correct their mistake.

What is the role of interaction according to the Interaction Approach. How does interaction connect input and output and enhance language learning?

According to the Interaction Approach, interaction is the conversations that learners participate in. In this context, learners receive information about their correctness and incorrectness. Interaction connects input and output because through input learners receive positive evidence about what is possible in language and add new information to their internal language system. Additionally, through output learners receive negative evidence about their language and can modify their output. Interaction connects both through back and forth conversation, enhancing language learning by moving the learners language from short-term knowledge to long-term proficient knowledge.

What is the comprehensible input hypothesis according to Krashen? What is the output hypothesis according to Swain? Do these 2 hypotheses contradict each other?

The comprehensible input hypothesis according to Krashen states that learners can only acquire language through receiving input that is slightly beyond their current level of internalized language. Yet, the output hypothesis according to Swain states that while input is important, it is not enough for learners to reach proficiency. Instead, Swain states that producing output stimulates learners to move from semantic open-ended, non-deterministic, strategic processing in comprehension to the grammatical processing necessary for accurate production.

These two hypotheses contradict one another because Krashen states that input is all a learner needs for proficiency and Swain states that output is more important for proficiency which are competing views.

What are the 3 stages of development in the Skill Acquisition Theory?

There are 3 stages of development in the Skill Acquisition Theory; The declarative stage, procedural stage and automatic stage. The first stage is the declarative stage. This is knowledge “about” a skill without acting upon the skill. This is acquired through observation where learners observe an expert in skill as the expert demonstrates while commenting on the important aspects. An example of this in SLA would be a learner observing how the -ed past tense ending is used without using it themselves.

The next stage is the procedural stage which is knowledge “how”. In this stage, leaners turn the declarative knowledge into a behavior. This stage doesn’t take as long as the others because the relevant knowledge is in ‘ready-made chunks’ where when the conditions are met for the behavior the skill is acted upon. For example, this would be a learner using the past tense -ed without actively thinking about it and making few mistakes.

The last stage is the automatic stage. To reach this stage it requires a lot of practice to be considered fluent or automatic. An example of this would be a learner fluently using the -ed ending, rarely making mistakes. It is important to note that in this stage mistakes are still possible because even those who their L1 is English make mistakes.