Learning theory and SLA

●Interlanguage, input, interaction●Learner errors, learner varieties

InterlanguageSelinker, 1972

Learner language is not just● Incorrect, L1-influenced language● Random errors in language output

Learner language is systematic● Learner errors have an internal logic● Different learners go through the same stages

1. Input hypothesis

● Krashen's Monitor Model

– Acquisition versus learning– Natural order hypothesis– Comprehensible input at i + 1 is

the necessary and sufficient condition for learning

– Monitoring is limited– Affective filter prevents

learning under stress

2. Interaction

● Interaction hypothesis

– Susan Gass● Output hypothesis

– Merrill Swain

SLA researchSLA researchSLA researchSLA researchDevelopmental sequencesDevelopmental sequences

DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCES

The acquisition of morphemes or syntactic constructions appears in stages

● which are not taught● which occur in all learners.

● Bardovi-Harlig compared

• untutored and tutored learners

● and found that all the learners passed through the same stages.

Cross-linguistic study: acquisition of the past

UNTUTORED (natural, ‘street’ learners of French, English, German)

1. no explicit reference • no tense/aspect

morphology• scaffolding,

chronological order2. adverbials 3. emergence of verbal

morphology 4. increasingly systematic

use

TUTORED (classroom learners of English)

1. no reference

2, 3 adverbials, verbal morphology

4. systematic 5. very systematic

(80%)6. reverse order

reports 7. pluperfect

2 conclusions:

a) instruction can alter the rate but not the route of acquisition

b) instructed learners may progress further than untutored learners

Developmental sequences

● a series of versions of the language

● gradual progress towards targetlike production● formally correct ● used appropriately

Before reaching the target, learners pass through incorrect stages which still indicate progress

1a Yesterday I tell John something1b Yesterday I telled John something

1b is better, because the past is marked.

Error-free production is not necessarily the best measure of progress

2a John is talking to the man. The man is his brother.

2b The man who John is talking to him is his brother.

2b indicates more complex language