Second Language Acquisition Theories Flashcards

An English Language Learner in a bilingual classroom is highly motivated, has strong self-confidence, and displays low anxiety when trying to communicate in English. According to Stephen Krashen's hypotheses of second language acquisition, this student's situation is most conducive to language acquisition because of which of the following?

Answer: A low affective filter

Krashen's Affective Filter hypothesis posits that affective variables such as motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety play a crucial role in second language acquisition. When these variables are positive (high motivation, high self-confidence, low anxiety), the 'affective filter' is low, allowing more comprehensible input to be processed by the learner, thus facilitating acquisition.

A high school student, who recently arrived from another country, is able to converse fluently with peers in the hallway and during lunch about social topics. However, the student struggles to understand academic texts and participate in classroom discussions about abstract concepts. This discrepancy is best explained by which of Jim Cummins's concepts?

Answer: Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)

Jim Cummins distinguishes between Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). BICS refers to the conversational fluency used in everyday social situations, which students often acquire within two years. CALP refers to the more complex, abstract language required for academic success, which can take five to seven years or more to develop. The student in the scenario has developed BICS but not yet CALP.

Which of the following classroom activities best aligns with Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of language acquisition?

Answer: Students working in small, mixed-proficiency groups to co-construct a story.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory emphasizes that learning, including language acquisition, is a social process that occurs through interaction and collaboration with others. The activity of students working together to create a story facilitates this social interaction, allowing less proficient learners to be supported by more capable peers within their 'Zone of Proximal Development.'

According to Krashen's Input Hypothesis (i+1), how does a second language learner acquire new language structures?

Answer: By understanding messages containing language slightly beyond their current level of competence.

The Input Hypothesis, a central part of Krashen's Monitor Model, argues that acquisition occurs when learners are exposed to and understand 'comprehensible input' that is one step beyond their current linguistic competence (represented as 'i+1'). This means the focus is on understanding messages in the target language, not on conscious learning of rules or forced production.

A teacher notices that her Spanish-speaking students are learning English grammatical morphemes in a predictable sequence, such as acquiring the '-ing' progressive and plural '-s' before the third-person singular '-s'. This phenomenon is best described by which of Krashen's hypotheses?

Answer: The Natural Order Hypothesis

The Natural Order Hypothesis suggests that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a predictable, 'natural' order, irrespective of the order in which rules are taught. Research has shown that learners of English as a second language tend to acquire certain grammatical features before others, as described in the scenario.

The concept of the 'Zone of Proximal Development' (ZPD) is central to sociocultural theories of language acquisition. How does the ZPD apply to a bilingual education classroom?

Answer: It is the difference between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a teacher or more capable peer.

Lev Vygotsky defined the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as the metaphorical space between a learner's actual developmental level (what they can do alone) and their potential developmental level (what they can do with assistance). In a language classroom, this means learning is maximized when teachers or peers provide scaffolding and support for tasks that a student cannot yet complete independently.