TEMA 2 - Teorías generales sobre el aprendizaje y la adquisición de una lengua ex-

tranjera. El tratamiento del error.

Theory Unit 2- 1993 Listing

1. INTRODUCTION

From the first stages of human history the study of languages has been of great importance as language is
the distinctive feature to human beings; it is also the means of communication among the people of different
cultures and for that reason the study of the different languages has been remarkably significant. In the long
search for most suitable methodology in teaching a foreign language, a substantial number of different
approaches or methods have been devised, each one with a particular view of language learning and, thus
recommending a specific set of techniques and materials.
Ambitious claims are often made for a new teaching method, but none has yet been shown to be
intrinsically superior. The contemporary attitude is flexible and utilitarian: there are many ways of reaching
the goal of foreign language competence, and teachers need to have a wide range of methods, in order to find
the most appropriate according to the learner’s needs and circumstances, and to the objectives of the course.
We cannot but highlight at this point the emphasis laid both in LOMCE, the Spanish National Act for the
Improvement of Quality in Education, and in the National Decree 1105/ 2015, which regulates the contents
for Compulsory Secondary Education, on implementing a proper communicative and pragmatic approach to
the teaching and learning of foreign languages, in conjunction to the new classification of curricular elements.
This said, when dealing with this paper, we should first of all establish the distinction between first and
second language:
• First language or mother tongue (L1) is the first one we acquire when we are children,
distinguished from any further languages a person may acquire
• Second Language /Foreign language: Both expressions are normally used to refer to any
language that is not the native one in a certain country. However, although these two concepts may
seem identical, several scholars have established a distinction between them.
• A Second language (S.L) is a non-native language that is widely used for purposes of
communication, usually in education, government or business.
• A Foreign Language (F.L.) is a non-native language taught in school that has no
status as a routine medium of communication in that country.
Examples of this distinction:
• French: in Spain it's a foreign language but in Congo it's a second language.
• English: in Japan it's a foreign language but it's a 2nd language in Nigeria.
• Spanish: in Germany it's a foreign language but in Philippines it's a 2nd language.
Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is a relatively new field of study; it has existed for little more
than 30 years. In this time however, it has had considerable influence on the teaching of foreign languages, as
experts have devoted their research to the study and comparison of L1 and L2 models, in search of an answer
to their queries on this issue. We must highlight that this topic is of particular significance to us as future FL
teachers, since:
 • as stated in Decree 231 / 2006 which regulates Compulsory Secondary Education in
Andalucia, and in RD 1105/ 2015, which does likewise nationwide,
• “the acquisition/learning of a FL is a creative process which enables us to integrate the L2
system progressively,
• allowing students to use the data in communication contexts to build up new meanings,
• which from the very beginning, will be employed and checked simultaneously to approach the
models of usage of the L2”.
2. THEORIES OF CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Children normally learn most of the intricate system of their mother tongue before the age of six,
which leads to the conclusion that there exists an innate predisposition to learn a language in every human
being. Children don't only learn the grammar rules but they also learn the rules of appropriate social use, that
is, they acquire Communicative Competence. Several studies have been carried out regarding the way
children acquire their mother tongue, in order to apply the conclusions to foreign language teaching and
learning. The most relevant aspects from such researches are the following: there exists a pre-linguistic stage
(silent period) and a linguistic stage; and there are certain theories of child language acquisition, regarding the
means by which children acquire their mother tongue.
Imitation theory
According to this theory, children merely imitate what they hear. However, sentences produced by children
show that they are not imitating adult speech, because even when they are deliberately trying to imitate what
they hear, they are unable to produce sentences which cannot be generated by their grammar.
Positive Reinforcement
Children learn to produce "correct" sentences because they are:
o Positively reinforced when they say something right.
o Negatively reinforced when they say something wrong.
Likewise to the previous theory, this view does not tell us how children construct the correct rules. The
reinforcement theory fails along with the imitation theory. Neither of these views accounts for the fact that
children are constructing their own rules in order to construct new sentences.
Creative construction
The "imperfect" sentences children use are perfectly regular: they reflect his or her grammar at a certain stage
of development. The child chooses the simplest and most general rule he can from the language input he
receives, this leading to overgeneralization.
Language acquisition is then a creative construction process in which children have to construct all the rules
of grammar, them being innately equipped with a "language acquisition device"
3. GENERAL THEORIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
3.1. Behaviourism
• For behaviourists every product form the human mind could be described in purely
physiological terms, as the result of habits deriving from the sequence stimulus-response.
 • According to Skinner (1957), then, language and language acquisition are the result of verbal
habits.
• Skinner tried to analyse language behaviour by tracing the external factors influencing it.
• Frequency with which a certain utterance is used in the learner’s environment.
• Imitation. Children imitate the language of their environment to a considerable
degree, so imitation is a strong contributing factor in the language learning process.
• Reinforcement. This factor is needed to arrive at a higher level of language
proficiency.
• The frequency of an answer (habit formation) increases when we apply positive reinforcement
and it reduces when we apply a negative reinforcement.
• So, according to Skinner, verbal behaviour is produced in the same way as any other
behaviour. Its formation is, then, determined by the frequency of use of an utterance, the
reinforcement applied when associated with the stimulus and the imitation of that stimulus.
3.2.Chomsky’s Universal Grammar
All human beings have innate mechanisms (Language Acquisition Devices) that facilitate language
learning→ Universal Grammar adaptable to any specific language by means of L.A.D.
The potential of repetition is drastically reduced. Chomsky distinguishes between competence (limited
internal set of rules) and performance (unlimited external behaviour).
3.3. The Cognitive view.
In this view learners are thought to use their cognitive abilities in a creative way, to create hypotheses about
rules in L2. They try out their hypotheses and if they prove to be inadequate, they alter them. This view has
led to the Error Analysis perspective, regarding remedial teaching.
3.3.1 Krashen's Monitor Model Theory
This theory evolved in the late 1970' s in a series of articles, and was later elaborated and expanded in a
number of books. Krashen has argued that his account provides a general or overall theory of L2 acquisition
with important implications for language teaching. This theory has a number of metaphors, such as the
monitor or mental editor, which will be explained further on.
Five basic hypotheses constitute Krashen's theory:
A .The Acquisition- Learning Hypothesis
• This may be regarded as the most important hypothesis within Krashen's theory
• It maintains that adult learners have at their disposal two distinct and independent ways of
developing competence in an L2:
• Acquisition:
1. Subconscious process, identical in all-important ways to the process children utilize in
acquiring their first language. Acquisition comes about through meaningful interaction in a natural
communication setting.
 2. Nonetheless, for Krashen it is not the setting per se, but conscious attention to rules that
distinguishes language acquisition from language learning.
3. Thus, language can be acquired in the classroom when the focus is on communication and
other forms of meaningful interaction
• Learning:
1. Conscious process, which results in "knowing about" language.
2. Learning does not turn into acquisition; this assertion is based on 3 claims:
(a) Sometimes there is acquisition without learning, that is, some individuals have considerable
Competence in a L2 but do not know very many rules consciously.
(b) There are cases where learning never becomes acquisition'.
(c) No one knows anywhere near all the rules.
B. The Monitor Hypothesis
• The Monitor Hypothesis states that "learning has only one function, and that is as
Monitor or editor" and that learning comes into play only to make changes in the form of our utterance, after it
has been produced by the acquired system.
• Acquisition is responsible for the initiation of a speaker's utterances and for fluency.
• Krashen's position is that conscious knowledge of rules does not help acquisition, but only
enables the learner to polish up, what has been acquired through communication.
• There are three conditions for Monitor use:
(1) Time. In order to think about and use conscious rules effectively
(2) Focus on form: or thinking about correctness.
(3) Know the rule.
• Krashen distinguishes between:
1. Monitor over-users: people who attempt to monitor all the time (victims of grammar
instruction.
2. Monitor under-users: performers who have not learned, or if they have learnt, prefer to use
their conscious knowledge.
3. Optimal monitor users: our pedagogical goal is to produce optimal users.
C. The Natural Order Hypothesis
• It states "we acquire the rules of language in a predictable order, some rules tending to come
early and others late.
• The order does not appear to be determined solely by formal simplicity. and there is evidence
that it is independent of the order in which rules are "taught in language classes"
• The natural order of acquisition is presumed to be the result of the acquired system, operating
free of conscious grammar or the Monitor (morpheme studies).
Research indicates that different learning strategies can produce different acquisition patterns in
individual acquiring the same target language.
D. The Input Hypothesis. .
• We acquire language by understanding input that consists of I +1
• This postulates that: "humans acquire language in only one way: by understanding messages,
or by receiving comprehensible input. We move from our current level, to I + 1, the next level along
the natural order, by understanding input containing I + 1"
• There are two basic aspects to bear in mind regarding this hypothesis:
1. Speaking is a result of acquisition and not its cause.
2. If input is understood, and there is enough of it, the necessary grammar is automatically
provided
3. Thus for Krashen comprehensible input is the route to acquisition and information about
grammar in the target language is automatically available when the input is understood.
(Some evidence cited by Krashen is the silent period some learners seem to undergo).
E. The Affective Filter Hypothesis
• Affective factors are also seen to play an important role in acquiring a L2
• Comprehensible input may not be utilized by L2 acquirers if there is a "mental block" that
prevents them from fully profiting from it.
• The affective filter acts as a barrier to acquisition:
The filter is up when the acquirer is unmotivated, lacking in confidence, or concerned with failure.
The filter is down when the acquirer is not anxious and is trying to become a member of the group speaking.
All of Krashen's hypotheses may be regarded as questionable, but nowadays they are still considered as the
most important contribution to language learning studies.
They have been applied in order to establish the best age to learn a language, and although children have
always been supposed to be superior language learners because they do not use the monitor and are not as
inhibited as older learners, it is also true that older acquirers are faster at the early stages of language
acquisition, given their greater management of their L1 and their wider knowledge of the world. Nevertheless
younger acquirers tend to attain higher levels of proficiency in the long run.
Implications for 2nd Language teaching.
There are three main implications:
a. Input in L2 should be comprehensible & motivating for the students.
b. Not force students to speak before they feel ready and be tolerant with their mistakes.
c. Put grammar in its proper place.
3.4. The interactive process
• The theory which integrates both behaviorism and mentalism or cognitivism is the
interactionist view.
• One of its main ideas is that the origin of knowledge is found in the subject as much as in the
environment.
 • In fact, all learning is the result of interaction between the internal factors of the subject and
the external ones of the environment. The importance given to the former ones being represented by
Piaget, and to the latter by Vygotsky.
• The process of balancing between the subject and the environment is carried out through two
processes:
• In the process of assimilation we deal with incorporating new experiences to our
mental framework. In this sense we resist change because we try to fit the new things to what
is already known.
• In the process of accommodation, we try to modify our frameworks of mental
reference to the characteristics of new experiences. In this sense, we promote change because
we try to modify our mental theoretical framework to these new experiences.
• According to this relation between subjects and their environment, the pupil’s
learning takes place, when his previous knowledge faces a new problem which he needs to
resolve.
• In this way, to teach this pupil is necessary to take into account the needs this pupil
has as much as the difficulties he can overcome.
• Therefore, the integration of external and internal factors is not only shown in the
interaction of a subject with his environment but in the interaction of different subjects.
4. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE.
4.1. Definition.
• Term coined by Serlinker (1972) to account for the specific language of L2 learners. It makes
reference to the language of a given learner at a given time as a language in its own right, different
from L1 and L2.
• L2 learning = a creative process of constructing a system in which learners are consciously
testing hypotheses about the target language, from a number of possible resources of Knowledge.
• By a gradual process of trial and errors and hypotheses testing, learners slowly and tediously
succeed in establishing closer and closer approximations to the system used by native speakers of the
language.
• Therefore, interlanguage is a system that has a structurally intermediate status between the
native language and the target language.
4.2. Stages of interlanguage (according to Brown)
1. The first stage is a stage of random errors, in which the learner is only vaguely aware that
there is some systematic order to a particular class of items.
2. During the second, or emergent stage of interlanguage the learner is growing in consistency in linguistic
production. He has begun to discern a system and to internalize certain rules, maybe not correct.
3. A third stage is a truly systematic stage in which the learner shows more consistency in producing the L2.
Now the learners are able to correct their errors, when they're pointed out to them.
4. The fourth stage is one of stabilization in the development of interlanguage systems. Fluency and intended
meanings are not problematic anymore. The learner is able to self-correct and is able to stabilize to fast, thus
manifesting fossilization of the language
4.3. Its premises and applications
• Premises underlying interlanguage theory:
o Learner constructs a system of abstract linguistic rules that underlie comprehension &
production.
o His /Her grammar is permeable, incomplete & unstable.
o His /Her Competence is transitional (depending on the stage) and variable
o Interlanguage development reflect the operation of cognitive learning strategies, such
as:
o L1 transfer
o Simplification
o Overgeneralization
o Interlanguage use can also reflect the operation of communication strategies.
o Interlanguage systems may fossilize.
• Applications:
-Efficient language teaching must work with natural processes.
-Teachers and teaching materials must adapt to the student and not vice-versa.
-Efforts should be concentrated on the three main aspects of language teaching:
• Remedial procedures: detailed descriptions of students' interlingual levels at particular
developmental points, in order to have the information to correct their errors.
• Error treatment: we will be dealing with it in the following section.
• Syllabus organization: syllabuses should be less linguistically oriented and more similar to the
learner's developmental syllabus. It should be communication focused, and the learning of grammar is
to be left to the learner.

5. ERROR ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT

Errors analysis has two main functions:
1. Theoretical: it is part of the methodology investigating the language learning process.

2. Practical: its function is guiding the remedial action we must take to correct an unsatisfactory state of
affairs for learner to teacher.

REMEDIAL ACTION: It becomes necessary when we detect a mismatch or disparity between the
knowledge, skill or ability of someone and the demands that are made on him by the situation he finds
himself in. We reserve this term for those situations which occur contrary to our plans, where the demands
 of the situations could not have been foreseen or avoided.. The reasons for remedial action are to correct
errors and mismatch get specific communicative objectives.
In many situations of language use there is a degree of mismatch between the knowledge possessed by
someone and the demands of the situations themselves. We find three degrees:
o Acceptable degree of mismatch: Learners will ‘ get by’ in those situations with the knowledge
they posses.

o Remediable degree of mismatch: The learner does not possess the necessary degree of
knowledge to cope with adequately with the situation that has sufficient basis of knowledge to be
able to learn what it demanded by the situation.

o Irremediable degree of mismatch: The degree of mismatch between knowledge and the demands
is too great to be remedied economically. There is no solution but to remove the learner from the
situation.

5.1. Contrastive Analysis vs. Error Analysis

Before going on, and as a kind of introduction to this new theory, we must not forget the fact that the
contrastive analysis hypothesis (CA) holds the position that a learner’s first language “interferes” with his
or her acquisition, and it is therefore the major obstacle to successful mastery of the new language.
Where structures in the L1 differ from those in the L2, errors that reflect the structure of the L1 will be
produced. Such errors are said to be due to the influence of the learners’ L1 on L2 production, and this
process has been labelled negative transfer. On the contrary, positive transfer refers to the automatic use of
the L1 structure in L2 performance when the structures in both languages are the same, resulting in correct
utterances. Whereas CA was concerned with predicting and eliminating errors, IL attempted to find
explanation for these errors in the language learner’s speech. The processes involved in IL were
analysed through the theory of Error Analysis.
The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis has been the dominant paradigm on which acquisition theories
and methodologies have been based for years. At the end of the eighties within the last century, it became
clear to the mind of many of its followers that it had to be revised. There was a common concern and
agreement in the idea that learning a second language was not the mere product of positive and negative
transference, and in that CA could not succeed in explaining the learning process if persisted in the non
recognition of the L2 learners’ competence as a linguistic system. It was a natural consequence, then, that
another door opened: the interest in analysing learners’ realisations of the second language.

5.2. Main contribution of Error Analysis

The contribution of EA is based on the idea that people cannot learn languages without first
systematically committing errors. This suggests that learners’ errors do not have to be considered as failure,
on the contrary, errors are a way the learners have to testing hypotheses about the nature of the language they
are learning. Errors are, then, vital since they constitute the clearest evidence for the learner’s developing
system and can provide information about how learners process the language data. Errors possess now a
special status of curriculum guide and indicator of learning stage and development.
Studying learners’ errors serves two major purposes:
1) it provides data from which inferences about the nature of the language learning process can be
made;

2) it indicates to teachers and curriculum developers which part of the target language students have
most difficulty producing correctly and which error types detract most from a learner’s ability to
communicate effectively.

Among the most common errors we find:

a) Omitting grammatical morphemes, as in He hit the car.

b) Double marking as in She didn’t went back.

c) Regularising rules, as in womans for women.

d) Using archiforms (one form in place of several) such as the use of her for both her and
she, as in I see her yesterday, Her dance with my brother.

e) Using two or more forms in random alternation, as in the random use of he and she
regardless of the gender of the person of interest.

f) Misordering items as in What you are doing?, or misplacing items, as in They are all
the time late.

EA suggests a linear progression in the explanation and description of errors that can be summarised in the
following way: 1) identification of errors, 2) description of errors, 3) explanation of errors, 4) evaluation of
errors, and 5) prevention/correction of errors.

6. CURRICULAR IMPLICATIONS

Both the National Act on Education published in 2006 (LOE in Spanish) and the National Act for
the Improvement of Quality in Education, published in 2013 (LOMCE in Spanish) indicate that, among
the general objectives of Secondary Education is the acquisition of a basic communicative competence in a
foreign language, this entailing that students will thus have to be able to understand and convey messages in a
variety of daily-life communicative situations (both written and spoken).
This said, one of the innovative aspects of the National Act for the Improvement of Quality in
Education is that it defines the curriculum as the regulation of the elements determining the teaching and
learning process for each educational stage, being integrated by:
 (a) Aims: References relating to outcomes that students should achieve at the end of the educational
process, as a result of planned teaching/learning experiences to this end.
(b) Key Competences: Capacities to apply, in an integrated manner, the contents of each teaching process
and educational stage, in order to implement activities properly and resolve complex problems efficiently.
(c) Contents: All knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes that contribute to the achievement of the aims
of the teaching process, educational stage and the development of competences.
(d) Teaching methodology: comprising the description of teaching practices strategies and the
organization of teachers' work .
(e) Measurable learning standards and outcomes: Specifications of evaluation criteria that allow
defining learning outcomes and establishing what students should know, understand, and know how in
each subject; they must be observable, measurable and assessable and allow grading performance or
achievement reached. Course plans should contribute and facilitate the design of standardized and
comparable evidence.
(f) Evaluation criteria: They are the specific reference to assess the learning of students and describe
what students must achieve, both in knowledge and skills.

In addition, National Decree 1105/ 2014 establishes the following blocks of contents for the area of
foreign language in Secondary Education:
- block 1: comprehension of oral texts
- block 2: production of oral texts: expression and interaction
- block 3: comprehension of written texts
- block 4: production of written texts: expression and interaction

Therefore, all the previous sections of this theory unit point in the direction that we should pursue a holistic
approach to the teaching and learning of foreign languages, since all curricular elements and blocks of
contents will be directly affected by the approach implemented.

7. CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, it can be stated that there has been a curious tendency in ELT to want to dispense
with the old to make way for the new. This should not be our stand on this issue. The modern integrated
language teachers are able to use any approach from the past as long as it is appropriate and useful. We use
translation when it is quick and efficient to get across meaning; we still teach grammar, even though we no
longer assume it to be a starting point, but more a reference point; we use drilling (e.g. listen-repeat) when it is
an efficient way for students to get their mouths round the sounds and rhythm of a useful expression; practice
exercises (e.g. gap-fills) to raise students' awareness of common lexical expressions; focus on functional
expressions when students listen to a tape model of a telephone call; information gaps almost all the time, in
accuracy as well as fluency work; personalisation when the students are practising language, preparing for a
role-play, or reading the newspaper; we make use of a task-based approach when students are set a project,
asking for language help from the teacher as they go along.
Therefore, having a good understanding of learning theories is essential for the foreign
language teacher, since all methods, every didactic planning, all language learning approaches have theories
supporting them. On the other hand, EFL teachers should do their best to achieve the highest level of
fluency and accuracy in their students´ skills; however, errors in comprehension and production will be
considered a logical and, thus, expected part of the learning process as it is crucial to see the students
development.
The treatment of error is an important aspect to be considered when using a methodological approach.
Errors, as well as everyday work, can be dealt with from various bases: teacher-centred, or student-centred,
thus promoting peer, group and individual work, and peer, group and self-evaluation together with the one
carried out by the teacher.
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
COUNCIL OF EUROPE. 2001. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
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Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: C.U.P.
ELLIS, R. 1997. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press
HARRIS, M. and McCANN, P. 1994. Assessment. Oxford: Heinemann.
HOWATT, A.P.R. 1984. A History of English Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
KRASHEN, S. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.
NUNAN, D. 1988. Syllabus Design. Oxford University Press.
PIAGET, J. 1986. Psicología y pedagogía. Planeta Agostini. Barcelona.
WILLIS, J. 1986. A Framework for Task-based Learning. London: Longman.
WILLIS, J. 1988. Teaching English through English. Longman Group Limited.