Language Acquisition

Language
Acquisition vs.
Language Learning
Jason Fritze - Nashville,

TN
www.comprehensibleinput.c
A moment for
reflection
 How do you view your
role as a teacher?
 What do you consider
the role of the
student?
 What informs your
perspective?
What is the big picture?
How do we acquire
HOW and WHY have
languages been taught
in school?
How do we acquire
Dr. Stephen Krashen says
that we acquire language
in only one way…
by understanding
messages
 comprehensible
Input Hypothesis (CI)
 Humans acquire language in only one way by
understanding messages or by receiving
"comprehensible input”
 CI = i + 1
Language Acquisition
 Similarities&
differences between
first and second
language acquisition
 L1
 L2
 SLA
Krashen’s 5
Hypotheses: the
Monitor Model
 Acquisition - Learning
Distinction
 Natural Order Hypothesis
 Monitor Hypothesis
 Input Hypothesis
 Affective Filter
Krashen’s 5 Hypotheses
Distinction
Acquisition
leads to spontaneous,
unplanned communication.
Acquisition vs.
Learning
 Implicit  Explicit
 Subconscious  Conscious
 Informal  Formal
situations situations
 Uses grammatical  Uses grammatical
feel rules
 Depends on  Depends on
attitude aptitude
 Stable order of  Simple to
acquisition complex
PAIDEIA philosophy
The 3 columns of
instruction
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Distinction
Natural Order Hypothesis
 We acquire the rules of
language in a predictable order
 We do not yet know the exact
order of language acquisition
 Implications for grammar
syllabus instruction…
Distinction
Monitor Hypothesis
 Conscious learning ... can only
be used as a Monitor or an
editor (Krashen & Terrell 1983)
Distinction
Input Hypothesis (CI)
 Humans acquire language in only
one way - by understanding
messages or by receiving
"comprehensible input”
 CI = i + 1
Providing Input for
Acquisition
 In classrooms we can provide

input that is optimal for
language acquisition
 Focus on the message / not
the form
Evidence for the Input
Hypothesis
(chiefly Krashen 1985)
 We speak to children acquiring
their first language in special
ways
 We speak to L2 learners in special
ways
 L2 learners often go through an
initial Silent Period
 Comparative success of younger and
older learners reflects provision
Hypothesis
(chiefly Krashen 1985)
 More comprehensible input

greater L2
proficiency
 Lack of CI delays language
acquisition
 Immersion teaching is successful
because it provides CI
 Bilingual programs succeed to
Hypothesis
According to Stephen
Krashen:
“teaching methods work

according to the extent
that they
I would add “work” for
use comprehensible input”
acquisition
How can we
encourage
subconscious
acquisition?
We must devote our major

pedagogical efforts to
encouraging language
acquisition.
Acquisition or Learning?
1. repetition of sentences in a
dialogue
2. reading a story aloud followed
by questions
3. students exchanging views
about their favorite music
4. students listening to grammatical
explanation
5. studying a poem together
6. learning lists of vocabulary
with their translation
7. listening to how an activity
Optimal Input for
Acquisition
 Comprehensible
 Interesting and
Relevant
 Not grammatically
sequenced
 Sufficient quantity
Signal meaning visually
 Gesture or act out meaning of
words
 Use props
 Draw or show other visuals
Distinction
The Affective Filter
How do we lower the

affective filter?
 Interesting topic
(Comprehensible)
 Student should “forget” that
the message is encoded in
another language
 Not insisting on too-early
production
How do we raise the
affective filter?
 Pushing students to
speak before they are
ready
 INCOMPREHNSIBLE INPUT
 Uninteresting message
 Error correction
Errors in the target
language
 Errors are inevitable
 Errors are plentiful in the
early stages
 EC puts students immediately on
the defensive
 EC encourages a strategy in
which the student will …
 try to avoid mistakes & difficult
constructions
 and focus less on meaning and more on
form
INTERlanguage
Selinker (1974) coined the term
INTERLANGUAGE
“the language of the learner”

INTERlanguage
an individual language system created
by
second language learners
resulting from 5 cognitive processes:
Native language interference
Effects of instruction
INTERLANGUAGE Overgeneralization of rules
L2 learning strategies
L2 communication strategies
Error correction is NOT
the basic mechanism for
improving second
language performance.
 A safe procedure is simply

to eliminate error
correction entirely in
communicative-type
activities
“We can prepare them for the
certainty that they will not
be able to find the right
word, that they will not be
able to understand
everything, and we can help
insure that they will
continue to obtain
comprehensible input.”
-Krashen
Types of errors
 Strong errors - interfere
with meaning
 Weak errors - poor grammar
usage but doesn’t affect
meaning
Long’s Interaction
Hypothesis
1983
 Input can be made
comprehensible in three ways
 Simplifying the input (using
familiar structures and
vocabulary)
 Using linguistic and
extralinguistic features
(background knowledge, gestures…)
 Modifying the interactional
structure of the conversation -
Long’s Interaction
Hypothesis
 Students and teachers make
input more comprehensible by
negotiating meaning
 Students need to ask more
questions to negotiate meaning
and negotiate the type of input
they receive in order to
acquire language
 Students who acquire best
negotiate most
Negotiating Meaning
Both parties in the teacher-

student and student-student
interaction must seek
clarification, check
comprehension and request
confirmation that they have
understood or are being
understood by
the other.
After two years of
instruction the student
who is willing to
participate in a
conversation with a
speaker of the language
is rare!
Solution? -Make them
conversationally competen
By giving them the means
of managing
conversations, we can
help them participate in
conversations despite
their inadequacies.
Devices to control the
quantity and quality of
INPUT
 Asking the native speaker for
help
 Verbal and non verbal cues:
 Uh, yeah, I mean …
 Nodding appropriately, eye gaze,
behavior
 Changing the subject to
something easier to understand
Input Processing
Instruction
Input Processing
INPUT
(simplified and tailored to the
learner’s level)
INTAKE
(a filtered, processed version of
the input)
Professional
Literature
and Research
Standards for
Foreign Language
Learning
COMMUNICATION
S
 CULTURES
 CONNECTIONS
 COMPARISONS
 COMMUNITIES
From Standards for Foreign Language Learning:

Preparing for the 21st Century
COMMUNICATION
 Standard 1.1 (interpersonal):
Students engage in conversations,
provide and obtain information,
express feelings and emotions, and
exchange opinions.
 Standard 1.2 (interpretive): Students
understand and interpret written and
spoken language on a variety of
topics.
 Standard 1.3 (presentational):
Students present information,
concepts, and ideas to an audience of
listeners or readers on a wide
CULTURES
 Standard 2.1 - Students
demonstrate an understanding of
the relationship between the
practices and the perspectives
of the cultures studied.

demonstrate an understanding of
the relationship between the
products and perspectives of the
CONNECTIONS
reinforce and further their
knowledge of other disciplines
through the foreign language.
 Standard 3.2 - Students acquire

information and recognize
distinctive viewpoints that are
only available through the
foreign language and its culture.
COMPARISONS
 Standard 4.1 Linguistic
comparisons
 Standard 4.2 Cultural comparisons

COMMUNITIES
 Standard 5.1
 Students use the language
both within and beyond the
school setting
 Standard 5.2
 Students show evidence of
becoming life-long learners
by using the language for
personal enjoyment and
ACTFL K-12
Performance
Guidelines
Comprehension
Comprehensibilty
Language Control
Vocabulary Usage
Communication
Strategies
Cultural Awareness
K-12 Performance
Advanced
Guidelines
Int. High
Int. Mid
Int. Low
Novice
High
Novice
Mid
Novice
Low
K-4 K-8 K-12 5-8 5-12 7-12 9-10 11-12
ACTFL K-12
Performance
Guidelines
Perhaps the single most useful
document to inform our
teaching and assessment of
student language and culture
acquisition
Available at ACTFL.ORG
Professional
Literature
and Research
The Standards
In the past, foreign
language instruction
focused primarily on the
memorization of words
and grammar rules.
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages. Standards for Foreign Language
Learning: Preparing for the 21st century.
Lawrence, KS: Allen Press, 1996, p. 97
The standards require a
much broader definition
of the content of the
language classroom, one
in which students are
given ample opportunity
to explore, develop, and
use communication
strategies, learning
strategies, and critical
as well as the
appropriate elements
of the language system
and culture.
Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for
the 21st Century, p. 97
Unfortunately, as
generations of language
students have taught us,
grammar by itself does
not produce individuals
who can speak or
understand the language
they studied.
Foreign languages are not
“acquired” when students
learn
an ordered set of facts
about the language (e.g.,
grammar facts,
vocabulary).
Students need to be able to
use the target language for
real communication … to carry
out a complex interactive
process that involves
speaking and understanding
what others say in the target
language as well as reading
and interpreting written
materials
Incorporating
Comparisons Standard
4.1 into Foreign
Language Teaching
Serafima Gettys
Stanford University
Foreign Language Annals

Vol. 36, No. 2 p. 188
“…instruction might be more
effective and students might
benefit more if teachers and
textbook authors start
thinking about language in
terms of words, as
contemporary linguistics and
psycholinguistics suggest
(and not so much in terms of
grammar or structure).”
Gettys, Serafima. Incorporating Comparisons
Standard 4.1 into Foreign Language Teaching p
188 Foreign Language Annals Vol. 36, No. 2
“…In a word-oriented
approach, learning
outcomes are seen by the
teacher more in terms of
concrete lexical items.
Grammatical skills are
acquired through the
acquisition of the most
common words and their
grammatical properties.
Put differently, students
learn not so much
grammar, but rather engage
in exploring individual
words in the entirety of
their syntactic,
morphological, and
semantic features.
VYGOTSKY - “Scaffolding”
the expert takes control

of those portions of a
task that are beyond the
learner’s current level
of competence, thus
allowing the learner to
focus on the elements
within her/his range of
Teachers Handbook:
Contextualized
Language
Instruction
Shrum, Judith, and Eileen
Glisan, 2000 (Heinle)
Chapter 7: Using a Story-

Based Approach to Teach
Grammar
Contextualized Language
Instruction
Chapter 7: Using a Story-
Based Approach to Teach
Grammar
In the past, a traditional

classroom
with its emphasis on
grammatical competence and
explicit knowledge
for learners to
“communicate” in the ways
that communication is
currently being defined
and understood by
psycholinguists, applied
linguists, materials
developers, and the
language teaching
Teachers Handbook: Contextualized Language
profession.
Instruction - Chapter 7: Using a Story-Based
Approach to Teach Grammar
who spend years learning the
formal properties of the
language
(sound system, verb conjugations, rules of
could
syntax, vocabulary lists, etc.)
not, in the end, exchange

information, express ideas or
feelings, construct and
control problem solving, or
develop and nurture a social
relationship in a second-
…we need to remember that
understanding grammatical
structures apart from
their use and function is
pointless unless one
wants to be a linguist
and describe a language
scientifically without
necessarily becoming a
communicatively competent
Like road signs,
grammatical structures
take on meaning only if
they are situated in a
context, in people and in
connected discourse.
Furthermore, Krashen
(1982) reminds us that
grammatical structures
will become internalized
only if the learners are
placed in a situation in
which they need to use
(process) the structures
for communicative
purposes.
Consequently, an important
role of the teacher is to
create learning situations
in which the learners feel
a need to call upon and
make use of the grammar in
order to comprehend and
communicate in the target
language.”
…Many of us have probably
experienced this method of
grammar instruction, since
most textbooks present
grammar in this
fashion.
Unfortunately, many of
the textbooks
manipulative drills
are grounded in
shallow and artificial
contexts (Walz, 1989)
that have little
importance to the real
concerns of
Teachers Handbook: learners.
Contextualized Language
Thus the practice
opportunities are
meaningless to learners
and are not capable of
engaging their commitment
to learning, their
imaginations, or their
desire to communicate
using the forms they are
learning.
teachers to observe that
these mechanical,
repetitive drills often
result in unmotivated
and lethargic responses
in learners, no matter
how much context is
given in the directions
or how much
personalization is
time to begin a serious
reappraisal regarding the
teaching of grammar and a
new vision that goes
beyond dichotomies in
approaches. In this
chapter, we are
advocating a story-based
and guided participatory
approach . - Chapter 7: Using a Story-Based
Instruction
But what about
GRAMMAR?
Case against a
grammatical syllabus
 All students may not be at the
same stage
 The “structure of the day” may
not be i + 1 for some students
 Each structure often only
presented once
 Assumes that we know the order
of acquisition
 Places serious constraints on
In other words a
grammatical focus will
usually…
PREVENT COMMUNICATION USING THE
SECOND LANGUAGE !!!!!!
Grammar within context
 Content (a story, etc.)
provides a context for
detailed grammar study
 First the students acquire

language, then they hone
their communication skills
with a more specific grammar
focus
Shumann’s Acculturation
Hypothesis
 Acculturation is the major casual
variable in SLA
 The degree to which the learner
acculturates to the target culture
group will control the degree to
which he acquires the language
 Acculturation may be the most
affective way of lowering the
active filter and getting input for
Multiple Intelligences
 Mini-Documentary: The Key Learning

Community: Cultivating "Multiple
Intelligences”
 Interview: Howard Gardner on
Multiple Intelligences and New Forms
Clips
of from the George Lucas Educational
Assessment
Foundation http://glef.org/index.html#
Multiple
Intelligences
 PERSONAL  EXPRESSIVE
 Intrapersona  Bodily /
l / Kinesthetic
Introspectiv  Visual /
e Spatial
 Interpersona  Musical /
l / Social Rhythmic
 ACADEMIC  EMERGING
 Logical /  Naturalist
Mathematical
 Verbal /
Multiple
Intelligences
 INTRAPERSONAL / INTROSPECTIVE
 Journals, personal reflection,

problem-solving activities,
autobiographies and family
heritage study, open-ended
expression
Multiple
Intelligences
 INTERPERSONAL / SOCIAL
 Cooperative tasks such as

think-pair-share (interpersonal
communiative activities) and
jigsaws; creative group tasks
such as collages and
storybooks; interactive
technology such as email, CD-
ROM, and Internet
Multiple
Intelligences
 LOGICAL / MATHEMATICAL
 Graphic organizers that show

patterns
and relationships; problem-
solving and manipulatives,
puzzles and games; challenge
tasks
Multiple
Intelligences
 VERBAL / LINGUISTIC
 Graphic organizers to promote

brainstorming and generating
ideas; list making; mnemonics,
verbal games, speakers,
interviews, peer teaching,
personal expression (opinions
and reactions), logs or
journals
Multiple
Intelligences
 BODILY / KINESTHETIC
 TPR; creative dramatics and

mime; creating things; role
playing and interviews;
projects, field trips, active
learning
Multiple
Intelligences
 VISUAL / SPATIAL
 Learning experiences using

drawings, charts, props,
posters, photographs;
illustrations, demonstrations;
use of overhead projector,
chalkboard, video
Multiple
Intelligences
 MUSICAL / RHYTHMIC
 Songs, music, dance of the

target culture; music
mnemonics, jingles, raps,
cheers; using movement or dance
to illustrate ideas or concepts
Multiple
Intelligences
 NATURALIST
 Data collection;
demonstrations; research
projects; logs; reports
Content-Based
Instruction
 Foundation of immersion programs
since the 60s
 Research confirms that CB
approaches result in student
attainment of advanced levels of
proficiencies
 Researchers suggest implementing
CBI at the high-school level by
offering content-based electives
such as art, PE, and music
Content-Based
Instruction
 What is CBI?
 CBI uses the content, learning
objectives, and activities from
the school curriculum as the
vehicle for teaching language
skills
Content-Based Art Units
 Frida Kahlo
 Fernando Botero
 Pablo Picasso
 Francisco de
Goya
 The Huichol
 Henri Matisse people ¥ Las Meninas 1656
V
e
l
 Claude Monet  The Aztecs
Mir

z
 Cézanne ¥ Chiffres et
q
u
e
Georges Seurat
Constellations
 z
Content-Based Units
Based on Videotext (film
clips)
 Sequencing game  Timed writing in groups

-simplified, adapted with
text whiteboards
Videotext Content-Based
Units
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
• French musical directed by
Jacques Démy, Music by Michel
Legrand
• Highly comprehensible
• Authentic language and

culture
Reading
 An essential source of CI
Reading in the language
 Short Stories
 Free Voluntary
Reading
 Classroom
Libraries
 Reading Log
 Graded Readers
 Cultural
Readings
 Provides
research
supporting
reading in FL
programs
 Makes a
strongs case
for Free
Voluntary
Reading
Free Voluntary Reading
 The missing ingredient in FL

instruction
 Reading for pleasure
 Rich print environment
My classroom libraries
Spanish French
Children’s
Literature and
Classic Tales
An excellent source of repetitive, highly
predictable yet interesting CI
The Natural
Approach
Krashen & Terrell,
1983
Natural Approach
Techniques
a) Affective-Humanistic activities
* dialogues – short and useful - 'open'
dialogues
* interviews – pair work on personal
information
* personal charts and tables
* preference ranking – opinion
polls on favorite
activities
* revealing information about yourself –
e.g. what I
had for breakfast
* activating the imagination – e.g. give a
Natural Approach
Techniques
b) Problem-solving activities
* task and series – e.g. components of an
activity
such as washing the car
* charts, graphs, maps – e.g. busfares,
finding the way
* developing speech for particular
occasions – e.g. What do you say if
…
* advertisements
c) Games, e.g. What is strange about … a
bird swimming?'
d) Content activities, e.g. academic
subject matter such as math
The Natural Approach
 Limitations:
 Often incomprehensible
input
i + 32
 Lack of sufficient
quantity of input
Total Physical
Response
“Classical TPR”
Created by James
Asher
TPR steps
 Model
 Assess
 Delay modeling
 Remove modeling
 Vary the groups
 Novel commands
PACE model
 Presentation
 Attention
 Co-construction
 Extension
Developed by Donato and AdairHauk
Total Physical
Response
Storytelling
TPRS
created by Blaine Ray
TPRS =
Teaching
Total Physical
Proficiency
Response
through Reading
Storytelling
& Storytelling
TPRS
created by Blaine Ray
STORYTELLING
ASKING
Step 3
THE 7 STEPS Step 1
Literacy Vocabulary
 Vocabulary - Pre-teach it
 Personalize - Ask questions
 Mini-Situation - Ask a story
 Retell (Teacher)
 Reading
 Discuss the reading &

personalize
 Assess Step 2
(Student retell)
Story
ASK the STORY
Questioning is the key!
 State and question
 Attempt to ask four questions
for each statement
 Low to high level questions
 yes / no
 either / or
 Fill in the blank
 Who? Where? When? What?
 How? Why?
Popular Songs
EL BARQUITO
Había una vez un barco muy chiquito
… ( x 3 )
que no podía … ( x 3 ) navegar.
Pasaron una, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
semanas… (x 3)
pero el barquito todavía, no podía
navegar.
Y si esta historia no les parece
larga… (x 3)
Volveremos, volveremos, volveremos a
Methods I use to teach
language and culture
 Total Physical Response (TPR)
 TPR Storytelling (TPRS)
 Content-Based Instruction
(Immersion)
 Thematic Units
 Children’s Literature
 Culture: Art, Food & Music
 Reading
 Traditional and Popular Music
Assessment
 Accuracy - ACTFL proficiency
guidelines
 Informal vs. Formal
 Class participation
 Performance Based assessment
 Quizzes
 Timed writings
 Use informal assessments to
indicate when students are
ready to perform on more formal
I believe
that all
students can
successfully
acquire more
than one
language,
and that I
am
responsible
for making
My Philosophy
In order for all students to
acquire and language, I must
provide the motivation and the
language input in my classes.
I am only successful when each
student is successful to the
best of his/her ability.
“The purpose of language
instruction is to provide
students with what they need
so they can progress without
us.”
-Krashen
Recommended Reading
Languages (ACTFL), 1995. Standards for
Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the
21st Century. Yonkers, NY: American Council
on the
Teaching of Foreign Languages, Inc.
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, 1989. Yonkers, NY:

Languages, Inc.
Asher, James, 2000. Learning Another Language
Through Actions. Los Gatos, CA: Shy Oaks.
Curtain, Helena and Carol Ann Bjornstad Pesola,
1994. Languages and Children -
Making the Match. White Plains, NY:
Longman Publishing.
Recommended Reading Cont.
Krashen, Stephen, 1995. Foreign Language Education
the Easy Way.
Krashen, Stephen, 1993. The Power of Reading:
Insight from the research. Englewood, CA:
Libraries Unlimited.
Krashen, Stephen, & Tracy Terrell, 1983. The Natural Approach:
Language acquisition in the classroom. Hayward, CA: The Alemany
Press.
Pennac, Daniel, 1992. Comme un roman, Paris:
Gallimard.
Ray, Blaine and Contee Seely, 2000. Fluency Through
TPR Storytelling: Achieving Real Language
Acquisition in School. Berkeley, CA: Command
Performance Language Institute.
Shrum, Judith, and Eileen Glisan, 2000. Teacher’s
Handbook - Contextualized Language
Instruction, Boston: Heinle.
Williams, Marion and Robert Burden, 1997.

Language Acquisition

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Language

Jason Fritze - Nashville,

 In classrooms we can provide

 More comprehensible input

“teaching methods work

We must devote our major

How do we lower the

“the language of the learner”

 A safe procedure is simply

Both parties in the teacher-

From Standards for Foreign Language Learning:

 Standard 2.2 - Students

 Standard 3.2 - Students acquire

 Standard 4.2 Cultural comparisons

Foreign Language Annals

the expert takes control

Chapter 7: Using a Story-

In the past, a traditional

not, in the end, exchange

 First the students acquire

 Mini-Documentary: The Key Learning

 Journals, personal reflection,

 Cooperative tasks such as

 Graphic organizers that show

 Graphic organizers to promote

 TPR; creative dramatics and

 Learning experiences using

 Songs, music, dance of the

 Sequencing game  Timed writing in groups

• Authentic language and

 The missing ingredient in FL

 Vary the groups

 Personalize - Ask questions

 Mini-Situation - Ask a story

 Discuss the reading &

 Culture: Art, Food & Music

ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, 1989. Yonkers, NY:

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