Republic of the Philippines

CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY

ROXAS CITY MAIN CAMPUS
Fuentes Drive, Roxas City, Capiz
Website: www.capsu.edu.ph email address:roxas@capsu.edu.ph
ENG 101 Principles and Theories of Language Acquisition

Elvie Joy Dordas Danica Ann Vista Dr. MIRALUNA SABID

Course Facilitator

Reporters

Cognitive Models

Objectives:
• to discuss the cognitive models
• to obtain new knowledge about cognitive models

Cognitive model- describes how people’s thoughts and perceptions influence their
lives. Often, distress can distort people’s perceptions, and that, in turn, can lead to unhealthy
emotions and behaviors. CBT helps individuals learn to identify and evaluate their “automatic
thoughts” and shift their thinking to be healthier. The cognitive model is at the core of CBT, and
it plays a critical role in helping therapists use gentle Socratic questioning to develop treatments.

McLaughlin's Attention-Processing Model

A more sound heuristic for conceptualizing the language acquisition process, one that did indeed
avoid any direct appeal to a consciousness continuum, was proposed by Barry McLaughlin and his
colleagues ( McLaughlin 1978; McLaughlin, Rossman & McLeod 1983; McLeod & McLaughlin 1986;
McLaughlin 1987, 1990b)

Processing mechanisms:
Controlled Processes
•capacity limited and temporary
•learning a brand new skill
Automatic processes
• refers to processing in a more accomplished skill, where "the hard drive " of your brain can
manage hundreds and thousands of bits of information simultaneously.
•The automatizing of the multiplicity data is accomplished by a process of restricting in which the
components of a task are coordinated, integrated or reorganized into new units and allows the old
component to be replaced by a more efficient procedure.

Both ends of this continuum of processing can occur either focal or peripheral .
Table 1. Practical applications of McLaughlin’s attention-processing model
Attention to formal properties CONTROLLED: new skill, AUTOMATIC: Well trained,
of language capacity limited practiced skill capacity is
relatively unlimited
FOCAL intentional attention
(Cell A) Performance based on (Cell B) Performance in a test
formal rule learning. situation.

PERIPHERAL (Cell C) performance based on (Cell D)performance in

implicit learning or analogic communication situation.
learning.

How does McLaughlin's model apply to practical aspects of learning a second language?
-It is important to note that these cells are described in terms of one's processing of and attention
to language forms (grammatical, phonological, discourse rules and categories, lexical choices, etc.).
 Republic of the Philippines
CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY
ROXAS CITY MAIN CAMPUS
Fuentes Drive, Roxas City, Capiz
Website: www.capsu.edu.ph email address:roxas@capsu.edu.ph
ENG 101 Principles and Theories of Language Acquisition

• Child second language learning may consist almost exclusively of peripheral attention to language
forms (Cell C and Cell D).
• Adult second language learning involves movement from Cell A through a combination of C and B to
D (Dekeyser, 1997).
• Peripheral, automatic attention processing of the bits and pieces is mainly communicative goal for
language learners.

Implicit and Explicit Models

Ellen Bialystok(1990a, 1982,1978) is one of those who have proposed models of second language
acquisition (SLA) using the implicit/ explicit distinction.
Explicit models
• Are the facts that a person knows about language and the ability to articulate those facts in
some way.
Explicit processing
•one's knowledge about language.
Implicit knowledge
• is the information that is automatically and spontaneously used in language tasks.

Bialystok later (1982: 183) equated implicit and explicit with the synonymous terms unanalyzed and
analyzed knowledge.
Unanalyzed knowledge
•is the general form in which we know most things without being aware of the structure of that
knowledge.
Analyzed knowledge
•learners are overtly aware of the structure.
These same models feature a distinction between automatic and non-automatic processing, building
on McLaughlin's conception of automaticity.

Automaticity refers to the learner's relative access to the knowledge.

Knowledge that can be retrieved easily and quickly is automatic.
Knowledge that takes time and effort to retrieve is non-automatic.

An important dimension of this distinction is time. Processing time is a significant factor in

second language performance, one that has pedagogical salience in the classroom. The length of time
that a learner takes before oral production performance, for example, can be indicative of the perceived
complexity of certain language forms in a task. Mehnert (1998) found that planning time had a
significant effect on the accuracy and fluency of second language learners' production.
Reference

https://www.scribd.com/document/338967327/Cognitive-
Models?fbclid=IwAR3sjklt2J2QXZYCWt0hLzpry6TCM2sJ3Z0wX2B62NLXph8Iy6MyxzkOxWk