Linguistics SLA Key terms - cognitive learning theories

Skill acquisition theory

Suggests that learning a language is like any other complex skills. Processing happens through three distinct stages.

Distinct stages of skill acquisition theory

Stage 1: Cognitive, declarative, or presentation
Stage 2: Associative, procedural, or practice
Stage 3: Autonomous, automatic or production

Stage 1: Cognitive, declarative, or presentation

The initial stage that learner gains “knowledge that” (facts about language).

Stage 2: Associative, procedural, or practice

The transition stage where knowledge is turned into action through practice.

Stage 3: Autonomous, automatic, or production

The final stage where the skill becomes fluid, automatic, and requires little conscious thought.

Declarative knowledge

Knowledge that something is the case. For example: knowing the grammar rule.

Emergentism

The belief that learners use general learning mechanisms to extract structure from language input rather than relying on an innate “language organ” .

The fundamental difference hypothesis

The theory that L1 (first language) and L2 (second language) learning are fundamentally different because they tap into different mechanisms and knowledge bases.

Working memory

The mechanisms involved in the temporary storage and use of relevant information during language tasks.

A construction

A symbolic unit that associates morphological, syntatic, and lexical forms with particular semantic and pragmatic meanings (for example formulas like once upon a time or structures like give someone something).