LESSON V:

THE PRINCIPLES OF
LANGUAGE LEARNING
Nina Sarah A. Obligado
■According to the H. Douglas Browns
Language learning principles are
generally sorted into three sub-
groupings: Cognitive Principles,
Linguistic Principles and Socio-affective
Domain.
BROWN’S PRINCIPLES OF
LEARNING
COGNITIVE PRINCIPLES
 Anticipation of Rewards
Cognitive Principles

■learners are motivated to perform by

the thought of a reward, tangible or
intangible, short or long-term.
How to imply these in the classroom:
■ Providing genuine praise, encouragement,
and compliments.
■ Remind students of the long-term rewards in
learning the target language.
■ Infect them with your enthusiasm for
language learning.
■ For poorly motivated students issuing
certain privileges may spark some interest.
 Meaningful Learning
Cognitive Principles

■ providing a realistic context to use language is

thought to lead to better long retention, as to
opposed rote learning.
■ Rote Learning - Rote learning is defined as the
memorization of information based on
repetition.
 How to imply these in classroom:
Avoid pitfalls of rote learning such as:
■ Too much grammar explanation.
■ Too much drilling and memorization – thus the term “drill-
to-kill”
■ Activities whose purpose are not clear.
■ Activities that do not contribute to accomplishing the goals
of the lesson, unit or course.
■ Techniques that are so mechanical or tricky that students
get centered in the mechanics instead of the language and
meaning.
 Automaticity
Cognitive Principles

■ this is subconscious processing of

language fluency. It can only achieve
without overanalyzing or without giving
much attention to language forms.
 How to imply these in the classroom:

■ Automaticity isn’t gained overnight. You have

to be patient with your students as you slowly
help them achieve fluency. Speaking the target
language is like playing a guitar, if you don’t
practice you will forget.
■ Don’t overwhelm your students with
grammar. It can block pathways to fluency.
 Strategic Investment
Cognitive Principles

■ success in learning is dependent in on the time and effort

learners spend time in mastering the language.
■ Success mastery of the 2nd language will be due to a large
extent to the learners own personal “investment” of time,
effort and attention to the second language.
■ Language teachers can help students by employing a
variety of strategies that can help students learn the target
language.
 Intrinsic Motivation
Cognitive Principles

■ The most potent learning “rewards” to

enhance performance are that come from the
needs, wants and desires within the learner.
Learning a new language itself is rewarding,
therefore, extrinsic reward should not be
necessary at all.
LINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES
 Native Language Effect
Linguistic Principles

■ a learner’s native language can be facilitating

and interfering effects in learning.
Example:
L1: 1st language or native language
L2: 2nd Language

(L1: In English language sentence pattern rule.)

I will drink water.

• subject • verb • object

(L2: In Korean language sentence pattern rule.)

저는 (I) 물을 (water) 마실거예요. (will drink)

(mul-eun) (ma-shil-geo-ye-yo)
(jeo-neun)

• subject • object • verb

 How to counteract the interfering language
effects:

■ Help the students understand that not everything

about their native language can cause the error.
■ Support the students in thinking directly in the
target language and not to resort to translation as
they comprehend and produce the language.
 Communicative Competence
Linguistic Principles

■ the ability to understand and use language

effectively to communicate in social and school
environment.
■ For language teachers must use language that
students that they will actually encounter in the real
world.
 Interlanguage
Linguistic Principles

■ in second language learning, learners manifest a

systematic progression of acquisition of sounds and
words and structures and discourse features. In the
process of acquisition, learners need feedback
(teacher, peer and self) to eliminate errors and
achieve competence.
SOCIO-AFFECTIVE
DOMAIN
 Language-Culture Connection
Socio-Affective Domain

■learning a language also involves

learning a complex system cultural
customs, values, and ways of thinking,
feeling or acting.
 What are the implications of this to
language teachers?
■ Discuss cultural differences emphasizing that no culture is
better than the other. (ex. Filipino time and others strict in
time)
■ Consciously connect culture and language.
■ Include among your techniques certain activities or materials
that illustrate connection between language and culture.
■ Don’t be culturally offensive in class.
Use appropriate language. Language appropriateness
depends on:
■ Setting of the communication.
■ Topic
■ Relationship among the people communicating
■ Knowing what the taboos are
■ What politeness indices are used
■ How a specific attitude (authority, friendliness, courtesy) is
expressed
 Self-Confidence
Socio-Affective Domain

■this is a self-esteem or “I can do it”

principle. Success in learning a language
requires that the learners believe that
they can learn it.
 What should language teachers do?

■ Give ample verbal and non-verbal assurances

to students.
■ Sequence techniques from easier to difficult
to build confidence.
 Risk-Taking
Socio-Affective Domain

■ students who are self-confident take risks and

accomplishment more. Experimenting with
language slightly ‘beyond’ what is certain or
known promotes language development and
growth.
 What can language teachers do to
encourage both accuracy and risk taking?
■ Carefully sequence techniques to ensure learners
success.
■ Create an atmosphere in the classroom that
encourages students to tryout language, venture a
response.
■ Provide reasonable challenges.
■ Return students risky attempts with positive
affirmation.
 Language Ego
Socio-Affective Domain

■ is a sense of inferiority as one try to learn a

new language. People are excellent at
communicating in their own language and
communicate boldly in it. This confidence in
one’s native language makes one highly
resilient in one’s mother tongue.
 What should the language teacher should
do? Brown (1994) suggest as follows:

■ Display supportive attitude to students.

■ Considering learners’ language ego states,
know who to call on; who to ask volunteer
information; when to correct a student speech
error and how tough you can be to a student.