Assignment - SLA

ASSIGNMENT:
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

GENERAL INFORMATION:

This assignment consists of reflecting in pairs on the question below and has to fulfil
the following conditions:

- Length: 5 pages (without including cover, index or appendices –if there are any-).
- Type of font: Arial or Times New Roman.
- Size: 11.
- Line height: 1.5.
- Alignment: Justified.

The assignment has to be done in this Word document and has to fulfil the rules of
presentation and edition, as for quotes and bibliographical references which are
detailed in the Study Guide.

Also, it has to be submitted following the procedure specified in the “Subject

Evaluation” document. Sending it to the tutor’s e-mail is not permitted.

In addition to this, it is very important to read the assessment criteria, which can be
found in the “Subject Evaluation” document.

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 Assignment - SLA

Assignment:

According to Swain,

...producing the target language may be the trigger that forces the learner to
pay attention to the means of expression needed in order to successfully convey
his or her own intended meaning.
(Swain 1985: 249)

In Swain's view, learners need not only input, but output: they need to use language in order to
learn it. Krashen, however, as recently as 2009, stated that:

Research done over the last three decades has shown that we acquire
language by understanding what we hear and read. The ability to
produce language is the result of language acquisition, not the cause.

Forcing students to speak English will not improve their ability to

speak English. (Korea Times, 2009).

“Is it possible to reconcile these two seemingly opposite views as to what constitutes second
language acquisition or ‘learning’, as Swain puts it? Or do the two views represent two
extremes of both theory and practice?”

Guidelines: To answer this question in essay form, you will need to refer to
alternative concepts of acquisition and learning proposed by other theorists, judge
them in relation to these two apparent extremes of input versus output, and then try
to draw some conclusions. You must ensure that both Krashen and Swain are
discussed within the broader framework of SLA theory, and thus demonstrate that
you understand the general field.

Important: you have to write your personal details and the subject name on the
cover (see the next page). The assignment that does not fulfil these conditions
will not be corrected. You have to include the assignment index below the cover.

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 Assignment - SLA

Assignment:

Students’ names: Silvia Maria Rivera Ayala, Victor Julio Medina Silva,
Washington Edgar Toro Silva.

Group: 2020-20

Date: June 30th

Title

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 Assignment - SLA

INTRODUCTION

Numerous Second Language Acquisition models or hypotheses were created to

explain the way learners are related to the acquisition or the learning of a second
language and the process they may go through; nevertheless, as described in the
chapter, none of the current hypotheses were able to provide a total and detailed
account of all the variables that interfered in the language cycle. This essay attempts to
examine two seemingly opposing perspectives about what defines the learning of a
second language: Swain's Output Theory and Krashen's Input Hypothesis. The former
is a linguistic paradigm that argues: "making the target language can activate the
learner´s attention to the means of speech required to communicate its expected
purpose effectively" (Swain 1985: 249). On the other hand, the latter is a cognitive
model, which states the understanding what we hear and read to acquire the language.
The capacity to generate language is the product of the learning of vocabulary, not the
source. (Korea Times, 2009) In this essay, we also search to determine how
consistent these two viewpoints are and attempt to resolve them.

GENERAL FRAMEWORK

Krashen (1981, 1982, 1985) proposed the Input Theory as part of his Monitor Model,
once considered to be the most detailed of Second Language Learning theories. This
principle notes that "acquisition" only happens when the learner's feedback is
comprehensible. Such input must be far beyond the learner's current level of
competence which he defined with the simple formula i + 1, where i = input. Therefore,
if the learner provides understandable feedback, they can naturally develop language
structures and this process may be unconscious, as a result of understandable
feedback, the capacity to communicate in a second language will emerge. Krashen,
proposed the feedback theory as part of his monitor model, often deemed the most
detailed of Second Language Learning theories. Krashen also stated that forcing
students to speak English would not improve their English-speaking skills. On the
contrary, it will create anxiety which would cause them to develop a high affective filter
which could prevent them from smoothly acquiring the target language.

Skehan talks about some of this while talking to factors that affect language
learning, and while SLA theories help us consider the various methodologies and forms

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in which people acquire a second language. In many aspects, we are all different, and
learning a second language can be quite complex and certainly very distinct than
learning a first language. The good outcome of language acquisition depends on many
factors that are not only natural in many cases but for environmental sceneries as well.

According to the interactionist, language learning is the product of the

interaction between the learner's thought cycle and the linguistic world. Concentrating
on constructing and resolving dialogue more than the learner's utterances, but we can
see the significance and consistency of the feedback provided, and the learner is able
to generate (input) and recognize him / herself. Training takes place because of the
experience. Throughout this respect Krashen states that the feedback will be adjusted
in a way so that the real learning takes place, adds also that in terms of difficulty, it is
somewhat above the standard of language of the students.
If the learner needs to communicate for this reason, learning is present, although many
errors can be identified during the interaction, the help of a professional grammar
guidance must be required to avoid remaining in the utterance errors.

The disparity between Second Language Learning and Foreign Language

Acquisition is another highly critical topic that is sometimes overlooked. The former
means that the learner is accompanied outside of the classroom by the target language
and in the latter the classroom becomes often or essentially the sole source of
feedback. Therefore, since feedback is so important EFL students naturally have even
less chances for both input and output instances.

The two ideas are very important, but they are not fully connected. We need to
understand the current variation between individuals, and their reasons and ways of
learning, some may choose to interact quickly while talk at the same time as studying
the language, while many others will have more feedback to practice and use the
language. In comparison, Chomsky takes language as a dynamic, abstract set of laws
and leaves it as a wonder, a regular person's capacity to create a speech that is
appropriate for a circumstance. Language should therefore be analyzed in the context
of the language users' task of realizing meaning.

One of the most important issues in SLA research and theory building is the
question of what kind of knowledge and abilities are involved in SLA, and the extent to
which they can be adequately described and explained. But in the opposite part

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Halliday says ¨language is a systematic resource for contextual expression of meaning,

not the set of all possible grammar sentences¨.

Halliday states that “vocabulary evolves according to people's evolving needs”.

The two main functions performed by language are the ideational function that allows
people to deal with the outside world and the interpersonal function that allows people
to deal with each other. Halliday says vocabulary can be used both as theoretical
intelligence and as individual behavior. Or if we consider Swains second language
learning theory is directly linked to communicating the expected purpose and executing
a function.

(Swains 1997) One of the main rationales offered in the literature for using
communicative tasks in language teaching is that the second language acquisition is
enhanced through negotiation of meaning language learning is assisted through a
social interaction of learners in their interlocutor, particularly when they negotiate
towards mutual comprehension of each other´s message meaning. In the meanwhile,
Swain philosophy has three theories, the first applies to knowledge or feedback as
students know just what they need to express significance while they cannot speak or
communicate. In other words, she refers to the gaps learners find at the moment to
produce output and notice about what they are able to say and what not using this
feature, learners understand that there are several linguistic issues they need to
address, so it drives students to search for the correct information they need to
complete the new gap they have found. Second monitoring function: proposes that the
learners use the error approach to evaluate output that requires a feedback. Third, the
feature which is metalinguistic or reflective. Language is viewed as a resource for
commenting on the vocabulary used by the author, their friends and the student
himself, this brings an insider reflection that make them connect output internalizing
linguistic knowledge.

Second language acquisition by Krashen defines (output) language processing

as a function of language acquisition rather than a learning process, but takes into
consideration the meaning of the data as well as its existence.

In fact, in Ellis's formal syllabus, this function consists of intake facilitation, a

collection of grammar objects, typically organized in order to be learned, but these
syllabus may need to be used in combination with a meaning-based syllabus, which is
intended to allow learners the ability to interact in the second language.

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What the learners achieve is as important as what the learner does, too. In order to
create a successful experience, training and implementation often go together. And
perform should not always be seen as the result of the learning, because the speech
can be corrected or confirmed while using the language we may be learning as well.

According to Krashen (1985), the acquisition of L2 is dependent upon

understandable input; however, many scholars like Swain 1981,1991; Harley and Hart,
1997; Harley and Swain,1984 later challenge his hypothesis by showing that
comprehensible input alone is not enough for L2 acquisition. These scholars argue that
the understanding process is different from the production process. The capacity to
interpret the message expressed by the documents or phrases is separate from the
ability to communicate message through linguistic skills. We further note that only
where feedback is exchanged can students generate performance in conversation, will
it be possible for the learners to internalize what is studied and observed.

While the second language researchers rely a bit more on one of them (input or
output) can't exist apart from the other, yet find each as an essential aspect of gaining
a language, the only partial distinction being the period with which they are to be
performed, but because input, intake and output take place in the learning process.
Much has been said and written about the important role that input plays in second
language acquisition, but mere exposure to an input-rich environment will not be
enough to ensure learning, and by learning it is meant acquiring communication skills
and the ability to use them in real-time processing.

The interactionist hypotheses suggest that language learning process is the

product of interaction between the intellectual activity of the learner and the linguistic
world. (Arzamendi, Palacios, & Ball, 2019) The interactionist consider interaction is the
key explanation for the learning of words, an interaction that integrates input and output
to work as one. Learners attempt their efforts to generate comprehensible performance
through these encounters, which would be sources of feedback for certain interlocutors
(Allwright, 1984).

Within behaviorist theories, output is seen as an imitation of something

previously assimilated (input). According to behaviorists; a language is acquired
through the production of a series of habits that are enhanced by imitation. They see
the output as the natural outcome of the input that makes us realize that despite the

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fact that both the input and the output appear to be extreme, they are actually
completing each other.

In view of what was discussed earlier about the essential function of output in
the acquisition of L2, Swain agrees that output is not solely responsible for the
acquisition of L2. On the other hand, Krashen considers input to be largely responsible
for language acquisition. Swain believes that language development is of the most
important while Krashen believes it is redundant because it would only occur after a
certain amount of understandable feedback. Both Krashen and Swain contribute to the
important function of feedback during the acquisition of L2. Both, however, differ in how
that factor affects the acquisition of L2. The input target for Swain is understanding.
Krashen though, finds the product of learning is vocabulary.

CONCLUSIONS

Swain and Krashen made a significant and fascinating approach to the learning
of second language. All examined and suggested possible theories which are
complementary. The method of learning a language entails a deep relation between
input and output and the learners are so varied that one explanation does not seem to
be adequate to understand the broad range of possibilities that a teacher might face in
a language classroom; therefore, while in some cases the way he / she acquires the
language seems to explain better for a particular student.

Due to some factors, humans are an unquestionable mixture of multiple

intelligences, some students will require a fun, inspiring place to learn while others
would still learn even under the worst possible circumstances. Such appear to be
serious cases but in reality, they are only indicators of future learners' continuum.

A wise teacher would therefore be conscious of the broad range of theories at

his / her fingertips to make successful decisions that would help to ease his / her
students' Second Language Acquisition cycle by understanding their personality
characteristics, context, learning style, personal preferences and internal interpretation
of the target language.

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Bibliography

Allwright, R. (1984). The Importance of Interaction In Classroom Language Learning.

Applied Linguistics.

Arzamendi, J., Palacios, I., & Ball, P. (2019). Second Language Acquisition Funiber
Online. Barcelona .

Ellis.(1985).Classroom Second Language Development. A Study of Classroom

Interaction and language Acquisition. Pergamon. Oxford

Harley, B., & Hart, D. (1997). Language Aptitude and Second Language Proficiency In
Classroom Learners of Different Starting Ages. Studies In Second Language
Acquisition.

Harley, B., & Swain, M. (1984). The Interlangage of Immersion Students and Its
Implications for The Second Language Teaching. In A. Davies, C. Criper & A. Howatt
(Eds.), Interlanguage . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Krashen,S.D.(1982).Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition.

Pergamon. Oxford.

Krashen,S.D.(1985). The Input Hypothesis. Issues and Implications. Longman. New

York.

Swain, M. (1985). Communicative Competence: Some Roles of Comprehensible Input

and Comprehensible Output in its Development. In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input
in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, MA.: Newbury House.