Principles and Theories for Language Acquisition and Learning

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards detailing core concepts, theoretical models, historical paradigms, and instructional methods in Second Language Acquisition.

Transnationalism

A phenomenon impacting SLA characterized by the flow of people, ideas, and languages across borders, creating environments where multilingualism is the norm rather than the exception.

Super-diversity

A concept introduced by Vertovec (2007) that extends beyond demographic changes to encompass the complex and varied identities individuals navigate daily.

Global Citizenship Education

An educational approach that encourages learners to understand global issues, appreciate cultural diversity, and participate actively in creating a more inclusive and sustainable world.

Intercultural Competence

The ability to interact effectively and appropriately with people from other cultures through engaging with diverse perspectives and adapting communication styles.

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST)

A theory positing that language learning and development are nonlinear, emergent processes characterized by constant change and interaction among multiple variables.

Multicompetence

A concept introduced by Vivian Cook referring to the knowledge of two or more languages in one mind and the interrelatedness of these languages within a single cognitive system.

Translanguaging

The practice of using multiple languages in a fluid and dynamic manner, allowing multilingual individuals to draw seamlessly from their full linguistic repertoire.

Investment

The notion proposed by Norton (2013) that learners commit to language learning when they believe it will increase the value of their cultural capital and enhance their identities.

Agency

The capacity of learners to act as active agents who construct meaning, exercise autonomy, and make choices in their language use and practice.

Information Processing Theory

A cognitive framework examining how learners handle linguistic input, process information, and produce language using cognitive resources such as working memory and attention.

Skill Acquisition Theory

A theory suggesting that language learning mirrors the acquisition of other complex skills through practice and automatization, moving from declarative to procedural knowledge.

Declarative Knowledge

Explicit knowledge categorized as "knowing that," such as understanding the grammar rules and forms of a language.

Procedural Knowledge

Practical knowledge categorized as "knowing how," enabling the automatic and fluent use of language in communication.

Sociocultural Theory

A theoretical framework rooted in the work of Vygotsky emphasizing that learning and knowledge construction occur through social interaction, mediation, and collaboration.

Mediation

A core concept in Sociocultural Theory wherein learning takes place through cultural tools and symbols, primarily language, to co-construct meaning and solve problems.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The gap between what a learner can accomplish independently and what they can achieve with guidance or collaboration from a more knowledgeable other.

Scaffolding

Temporary support provided by teachers or peers to enable learners to accomplish tasks within their ZPD that they cannot perform independently.

Ecological Approaches

Perspectives in SLA that view language learning as an emergent process originating from interactions between learners and their complex social, cultural, and environmental surroundings.

Affordances

Opportunities for action provided to the learner by their environment, such as rich linguistic environments offering chances for authentic interaction.

Focus on Form (FonF)

An instructional method in which teachers strategically direct learners' attention to specific linguistic forms within communicative contexts rather than teaching grammar in isolation.

Embodied Cognition

A perspective proposing that language learning is deeply rooted in bodily experiences and physical interactions with the environment, rather than being a purely internal mental process.

Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

The scientific study of how individuals learn additional languages after having already acquired their first language(s).

Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA)

The process by which infants and children simultaneously acquire and develop competence in two or more languages from birth.

First Language Acquisition (FLA)

The process of child language development focusing on acquiring a single native language within a monolingual environment.

Behaviorist Model

A mid-twentieth-century framework led by B.F. Skinner viewing language learning as mechanical habit formation driven by stimulus-response mechanisms, imitation, and reinforcement.

Contrastive Analysis (CA)

A method developed by Fries and Lado that compares the structural features of a learner's L1 and L2 to predict and explain potential learning difficulties and errors.

Universal Grammar (UG)

The innate language faculty built into the human mind, consisting of underlying principles and parameters shared across all human languages.

Poverty of the Stimulus

An argument within UG-based research questioning how L2 learners acquire complex grammatical structures that are underdetermined by the available input.

Error Analysis (EA)

A methodology introduced by Corder that studies L2 learner errors as evidence of their developing interlanguage system and internal learning strategies.

Interlanguage

The dynamic, rule-governed linguistic system constructed by an L2 learner (Selinker, 1972) that is distinct from both their native language and the target language.

Input Hypothesis

Krashen's proposal that language acquisition occurs when a learner is exposed to comprehensible input that is slightly beyond their current level of competence, represented as $i + 1$.

Affective Filter Hypothesis

A hypothesis by Krashen stating that emotional variables such as anxiety, motivation, and self-confidence can block or facilitate the passage of input to the language acquisition device.

Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

Krashen's claim distinguishing between subconscious, implicit acquisition and conscious, explicit learning, asserting that only acquired knowledge generates fluent utterances.

Interaction Hypothesis

Long's theory emphasizing that interactional modifications and the negotiation of meaning are vital for making input comprehensible and advancing L2 development.

Output Hypothesis

Swain's proposal that producing language (output) is essential for language acquisition because it forces learners to process language syntactically and test hypotheses.

Noticing Function

A function of language output that leads learners to realize what they do not know or cannot express, drawing attention to gaps in their interlanguage.

Controlled Processing

Cognitive processing in early learning stages that requires conscious attention and is constrained by the limitations of working memory.

Automatic Processing

Fast, effortless cognitive processing developed through practice that operates without conscious effort and frees mental capacity for higher-level tasks.

Noticing Hypothesis

Schmidt's claim that conscious awareness or noticing of specific linguistic forms in input is a necessary requirement for language acquisition.

Usage-Based Theory

Tomasello's framework asserting that language structure is not innate but emerges through frequent language use in meaningful social context.

L2 Motivational Self System

Dörnyei's motivation framework consisting of three components: the Ideal L2 Self, the Ought-to L2 Self, and the L2 Learning Experience.

Willingness to Communicate (WTC)

A learner's readiness to enter into discourse using the L2 at a specific time with a particular person or group.

Audiolingual Teaching

A teaching method based on behaviorism and structural linguistics that relies on repetitive pattern drills, memorization, and sentence repetition.

Communicative Teaching

An approach that prioritizes student communication and functional language use through activities such as role-plays and information-gap exercises.

Grammar-Translation Method

A traditional teaching methodology focused on explicit grammar rules, translation drills, and reading literary texts.

Task-Based Learning (TBL)

An instructional framework that structures language learning around the completion of specific, meaningful classroom tasks.