Second Language Acquisition

Krashen´s Second Language Acquisition Theory

"Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill." Stephen Krashen

According to Schütz (2007) "The Input hypothesis is Krashen's attempt to explain how the learner acquires a second language... The Input hypothesis is only concerned with 'acquisition', not 'learning'. According to this hypothesis, the learner improves and progresses along the 'natural order' when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a stage 'i', then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input' that belongs to level 'i + 1'. Since not all of the learners can be at the same level of linguistic competence at the same time, Krashen suggests that natural communicative input is the key to designing a syllabus, ensuring in this way that each learner will receive some 'i + 1' input that is appropriate for his/her current stage of linguistic competence."

Reference:

http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html

What is Psychology?

Theories of Learning

Psychology is the scientific study of mental functions and behavior including:

Perception, cognition, behavior, emotion, personality, and interpersonal relationships.

Kaplan (1990) describes educational psychology as the application of psychology to education by focusing on the development, evaluation and application of theories and principles of learning and instruction that can enhance lifelong learning.  This means that as teachers we should not only focus on knowledge, on transmitting or sharing it, but in how useful and meaningful it will be for students’ lives and we should be more concerned about educating the whole person. The theories to be mentioned proposed different ways on which we should teach and how students should learn. All of them take into account different characteristics of the learners and the learning processes, however I believe that mixing them together and, taking what is useful for our own students is the best way to create that whole person mentioned.

The major theories of learning have been classified into three groups:

1.Behaviorist theories:

•Focuses on stimulus response and reinforcers;

•Studies conditioning, modifying, or shaping behavior through reinforcement and rewards

2. Cognitive theories:

•Focuses information processing in relation to the total environment

•Studies developmental stages, understanding, multiple forms of intelligence, problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity.

3. Phenomenological and Humanistic theories:

•Focuses on the whole child, their social, psychological, and cognitive development.

•Studies focus on human needs, attitudes, feelings and self-awareness.