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I. Introduction
There is an important distinction made by linguists between language acquisition
and language learning. Children acquire language through a subconscious process
during which they are unaware of grammatical rules. This is similar to the way
they acquire their first language. They get a feel for what is and what isn’t correct.
In order to acquire language, the learner needs a source of natural communication.
The emphasis is on the text of the communication and not on the form. Young
students who are in the process of acquiring English get plenty of “on the job”
practice. They readily acquire the language to communicate with classmates.
Language learning, on the other hand, is not communicative. It is the result of
direct instruction in the rules of language. And it certainly is not an age-
appropriate activity for your young learners. In language learning, students have
conscious knowledge of the new language and can talk about that knowledge.
They can fill in the blanks on a grammar page. Research has shown, however, that
knowing grammar rules does not necessarily result in good speaking or writing. A
student who has memorized the rules of the language may be able to succeed on a
standardized test of English language but may not be able to speak or write
correctly.
Learning is a conscious activity. It’s what we do when we look a word up in the
dictionary. It’s also what happens when we learn rules about how language works
or purposefully study lists of vocabulary and grammar forms. There are certain
intervals which make learning new material more efficient and first meeting a
word in context can provide higher retention rates for learned material over time.
II. Discussion
1. Theories of Language Learning
1.1 Behaviorist Theories (include The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis)
Basic Tenets
o Based on Skinner
o The idea that animal and human learning are similar based on
Darwin’s theory.
o All behavior is a response to stimuli.
o No innate pre-programming for language learning at birth (Hadley
2001, pg. 57)
o Learning can also occur through imitation.
o Corrective feedback to correct bad habits
o Language is learned just as another behavior
Critique
o Chomsky criticized this theory.
o Does not explain the creativity of children in generating language. i.e how
can kids overcome grammatical errors without their parents’ correction?
Of these, behaviorist theory and mentalist theory are mainly applicable to the
acquisition of native languages while the rest can account for foreign language
acquisition. Yet, these four fundamental theories of language acquisition cannot
be totally divorced from each other, for "the objectives of second language
learning are not necessarily entirely determined by native language competence
inevitably serves as a foil against which to set second language learning." (H.H.
Stem, .1983; 30).
These five basic theories are, furthermore, very much complementary to each
other, serving different types of learners or representing various cases of language
learning. They must not automatically make us presume that first and second
language learning are identical or alike processes, though second language
learning is strongly tied up with first language acquisition. Obviously, native
language growth must pave the way for foreign language growth. Then these five
basic language learning theories are fundamental pillars of language learning
whose relevance to education is undeniable.
The major principle of the behaviorist theory rests on the analyses of human
behavior in observable stimulus-response interaction and the association between
them. E.L.T. Thorndike was the first behaviorist to explore the area that learning
is the establishment of associations on particular process of behavior and
consequences of that behavior. Basically, "the behaviorist theory of stimulus-
response learning, particularly as developed in the operant conditioning model of
Skinner, considers all learning to be the establishment of habits as a result of
reinforcement and reward" (Wilga Rivers, 1968, 73). This is very reminiscent of
Pavlov's experiment which indicates that stimulus and response work together.
According to this category, the babies obtain native language habits via varied
babblings which resemble the appropriate words repeated by a person or object
near him. Since for his babblings and mutterings he is rewarded, this very reward
reinforces further articulations of the same sort into grouping of syllables and
words in a similar situation. In this way, he goes on emitting sounds, groups of
sounds, and as he grows up he combines the sentences via generalizations and
analogy (as in *goed for went, *doed, for did, so on), which in some complicated
cases, condition him to commit errors by articulating in permissible structures in
speech. By the age of five or six, or babblings and mutterings grow into socialized
speech but little by little they are internalized as implicit speech, and thus many of
their utterances become indistinguishable from the adults. This, then, obviously,
means that behaviorist theory is a theory of stimulus-response psychology.
5) It is highly unlikely for learning to be the same for each individual; that is, each
person cannot learn equally well in the same conditions in which learning takes
place, for the background and the experience of the learners make everybody learn
differently. In addition, according to Chomsky, there must be some innate
capacities which human beings possess that predispose them to look for basic
patters in language.
6) The main strategies of the behaviorist theory can only be true for the early
stages of learning which takes place when the kids are in infancy and in early
childhood periods. Moreover, this theory is fruitful for the most part on animal
experimentation and learning.
7) Many of the learning processes are mostly too complex, and for this reason
there are intervening variable s, which cannot be observed between stimulus and
response. "That's why, language acquisition cannot take place through habit
formation, since language learners are thrown between stimulus and response
chain, for language is too far complicated to be learned in such a matter,
especially given the brief time available.
Stephen Krashen is an educator and linguist who proposed the Monitor Model as
his theory of second language acquisition in his influential text Principles and
practice in second language acquisition in 1982. The Monitor Model posits five
hypotheses about second language acquisition and learning:
1. Acquisition-learning hypothesis
2. Natural order hypothesis
3. Monitor hypothesis
4. Input hypothesis
5. Affective filter hypothesis
However, despite the popularity and influence of the Monitor Model, the five
hypotheses are not without criticism. The following sections offer a description of
the third hypothesis of the theory, the monitor hypothesis, as well as the major
criticism by other linguistics and educators surrounding the hypothesis.
Definition of the Monitor Hypothesis
The third hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, complements the acquisition-
learning hypothesis by claiming that the only function of learning within second
language acquisition is as an editor, or Monitor, for language use produced by the
acquired system as well as to produce grammatical forms not yet acquired. The
Monitor allows a language user to alter the form of an utterance either prior to
production by consciously applying learned rules or after production via self-
correction. In other words, the learned system monitors the output of the acquired
system.
However, according to the monitor hypothesis, explicit knowledge of a language
rule is not sufficient for the utilization of the Monitor; a language user must also
have an adequate amount of time to consciously think about and apply learned
rules. Additionally, the three conditions required by the Monitor—time, focus,
and knowledge—are, as Krashen asserts, “necessary and not sufficient,” meaning
that, despite the convenement of all three conditions, a language user may not
utilize the Monitor.
Criticism of the Monitor Hypothesis
The major critique of the monitor hypothesis expands on the critique of the
acquisition-learning hypothesis. According to the monitor hypothesis, the main
purpose of language learning is to function as a Monitor for output produced by
acquired system. However, as critics reveal through deeper investigation of the
acquisition-learning distinction, to separate language learning clearly and
adequately from language acquisition is impossible. Consequently, determining
that the function of the learned system is as a Monitor only remains likewise
impossible to prove.
Additionally, that the claim of learning-as-Monitor applies only to output after
production invites further criticism of the hypothesis; second language learners
can and do use the learned system to produce output as well as to facilitate
comprehension. Such questions and evidence, therefore, invalidate the central
claim of the monitor hypothesis.
Therefore, in spite of the influence of the Monitor Model in the field of second
language acquisition, the third hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, has not been
without criticism as evidenced by the critiques offered by other linguists and
educators in the field.
1.4 Cognitive Theory
(Ausubel, McLaughlin, Bialystok, Ellis, Anderson, and others)
Basic tenets
o Based on internal and mental processes.
o Focuses on transferring, simplification, generalization, and restructuring
that involve second language acquisition.
o Language learning is the result from internal mental activity.
o Emphasizes that knowledge and new learning is organized in a mental
structure.
o Learner acts, constructs, and plans its own learning
o Analyzes own learning
o Positive and negative feedback is important for restructuring.
o Proficiency develops trough practice and then it becomes automatic.
o Once new information it’s acquired, existed knowledge is reorganized.
o Ausubel emphasizes that learning language needs to be meaningful in
order to be effective and permanent (Hadley 2001, pg 69).
Critique
o Needs more clarification when referring to complex cognitive skill.
o Does not explain when and how some features of the first language are
transfer to the second language and why some don’t transfer.
Sometimes, when someone calls us, we immediately hear it. Then, we give the
response from his or her calling. From the phenomenon, unconsciously there is a
process happens in our brain or thought. The process is called cognitive theories
or cognitivism. According to Mergel (1998) cognitivism is a process based on the
thought process behind the behavior. Changes in behavior are observed, and used
as to what is happening inside the learner’s mind. Cognitive theories emphasize
the children conscious thought (Hebb, 2003:3). From the two definitions, it can be
inferred that a process can be called cognitivism if a process happens in conscious
thought(inside the learner’s mind).
Principles of Cognitivism
Cognitivism involves the study of mental processes such as sensation,
perception, attention, encoding, and memory that behaviorists were reluctant to
study because cognition occurs inside the” black box” of the brain (Jordan,
Carlite & Stack, 2008:36). In this case, sensation perception, attention, encoding,
and memory are the principle of cognitivism. The followings are the explanation
of them.
The first principle is sensation. It shows how the stimuli derived from external
stimuli is registered in sensory before it being sent to the following process. The
second principle is perception which shows as the process to interpret and make
sense something which can be seen through our sense. It consists of pattern
recognition, object recognition, bottom up or top down processing, and conscious
perception. The third principle is attention which stresses in the concentrating to
one thing, that the most importance than the others. It is important to determine
the conscious awareness. The fourth principle is encoding as the principle of
cognitive theory focuses on the importance of encoding information, after
something being perceived and attended to stimuli. The way to encode the
information can be done through organizing and then form it in the form of
schema. In this case, to encode the information in the form of experience can be
conducted through two ways. They are bottom up and top down (Jordan, Carlite,
& Stack 2008:43). Bottom up is the way to encode experience by transferring the
information that is gained through the external world. It is mediated through
attention and perception. While top down is another way to encode experience. It
is in the form of action prior knowledge in order to help in interpreting the bottom
up. The fifth principle is memory. Memory is the ability to keep and remind the
information in our mind. It consists of short term memory, long term memory, and
sensory.
Short term memory consists of limited amount of data and short duration. It is
also known as the working memory because it consists of some functions. They
are rehearsal (repetition), coding, decision making, and retrieval. The information
that can be maintained approximately 5-9 bits. According to Vinci (2000: 18) long
term memory can hold a huge amount of information-facts , data, and rules for
how to use and process them and the information can be maintained for long
period. It means that long term memory consists of very large amount of data and
very long duration. The way to keep the information can be maintained in this
type of memory is by using cues.
Discovery Learning
Discovery learning is one of the applications of cognitivism . According to
O’Donnell(1997) “Discovery Learning is an instructional method in which the
students are free to work in learning environment with little or no guidance”. This
assumption from O’Donnell is also supported by Ryan & Muray (2009) who
assume that discovery learning is problem based learning with minimal guidance”.
It means that through discovery learning the teacher gives opportunity to students
to explore their selves by learning through the environment with little guidance
from the teacher. There are some structures that must be paid attention in applying
discovery learning. They are readiness to learn, intuitive and analytical thinking,
motivates for learning. These structures must be moved from basic to advanced
step.
1.5 Conversation Theories
Basic Tenets
o The idea of learning a second language by participating in conversations
o Importance use of scaffolding
o Gives feedback and suggest ways of improvement
o Does not require production of full sentences but encourages speaking
o Errors should be corrected
Critique
o Does not focus on teaching grammar