Other Cogitive Theories

 Other Cognitive Theories


An opposing view to Krashen’s theory was Swain’s (1985, in Mitchell et al., 2019), Output Hypothesis which proposed that input is comprehensible without the need for analysing grammar. Swain believed that L2 learners can guess meanings by using contextual clues. Swain further proposed the importance of production or output, during which L2 learners process grammar completely. This occurs because when learners are required to speak in the target language, they become aware of the gaps in their language, and they can then reflect on the errors and grammatical forms required. Swain observed that children in immersion programmes in Canada for several years, still were not achieving native-like language acquisition. She saw this as a lack of opportunity for language use and that “language production forces learners to move from comprehension (semantic use of language) to syntactic use of language” (Gass & Mackay, in VanPatten & Williams, 2015, p. 185).

Another cognitive theorist, Long (1981, 1983, in Mitchell et al., 2019), proposed the Interaction Hypothesis, which investigated whether meaningful conversations helped with the comprehension of input by L2 learners. Long revised his hypothesis in 1996, emphasising how the interaction process works. Long (1996, in Mitchell et al., 2019, p.212) stated, “it is proposed that environmental contributions to acquisition are mediated by selective attention and the learner’s L2 processing capacity, and that these resources are brought together most usefully,…during negation for meaning”. Thus, through interaction the learner notices the differences between his/her spoken language and the native speakers, “noticing the gap”, (Schmidt & Frota, 1986, in VanPatten & Williams, 2015, p. 186).

Gass and Mackay suggest that there are two types of feedback that can be given for errors, explicit, including corrections and explanations and implicit, such as confirmation and comprehension checks, clarification and recasts (Gass & Mackay in VanPatten & Williams, 2015). Furthermore, feedback can happen during negation of meaning (Long, 1996, in VanPatten & Williams, 2015, p. 187), where “in an effort to communicate, learners and competent speakers provide and interpret signals of their own and their interlocutor’s perceived comprehension, thus provoking adjustments to linguistic form, conversational structure, message content, or all three, until an acceptable level of understanding is achieved”.

VanPattern and Williams (2015) also advocated an Input Processing theory, which assumes that Universal Grammar knowledge constrains a learner’s hypotheses and implicit knowledge is therefore needed for language acquisition.


Mitchell, R, Myles, F., & Marsden, E. (2019) Second Language Learning Theories. 4 Routledge.

VanPatten, B., & Williams, J., (2015). Theories in Second Language Acquisition: An Introduction. London: Routledge.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Krashen's Monitory Theory

  Krashen's Monitor Theory, a Cognitive Perspective The research on input and interaction led to Krashen’s (1985) Monitor Theory, which was the first theory specifically for SLA. Krashen’s theory evolved in the 1970’s and was based around five hypotheses. The first hypothesis was the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis, the belief that acquisition, and learning are separate processes (Krashen, 1985, in Mitchell & Myles, 2004). Krashen proposed that acquisition is an informal, subconscious process which derives from natural and meaningful interactions. In contrast, learning is a formal, conscious process which occurs in classrooms where form and grammar is the focus. This theory has had a pivotal influence on current SLA theories. The second hypothesis was the Monitor hypothesis where Krashen stated, “that learning has only one function, and that is as a Monitor or editor…acquisition imitates the speaker’s utterances and is responsible for fluency” (McLaughlin, 1987, in Mitchell ...
Read more