CHILDREN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (CLA)
FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (FLA)
Language is a social aspect of human life, because language is the most important means of social communication among the members of society. Without language, it seems impossible for people to communicate smoothly. The development of human civilization is to be resulted from the regular society contact that of course involves the use of language.
First language acquisition is a process that takes place in children’s brain when acquiring their first language. First language stars from the very short and simple utterances crying, gurgling, cooking, babbling and other.
Learning language mechanism is habit formation in environment. The child will be conditioned by stimuli in order to produce some kind of response. To make the association or bond strong, learning needs practice (over – learning) and reinforcement. In this session, the role of environment is very important as source of stimuli and reinforcement. From environment will imitate, memorize, practice and over- learning.
According to J.D.O.Connor (1967; 01) in Better English Pronunciation said that:
“Language starts with the ear. When a baby stars to talk, he does it by hearing the sound his mother makes and imitating them “.
So, it can be concluded that Language is habit:
a. Speaking is mouth-action: so, you must use your mouth.
b. Reading is mouth and eye-action: so, you must use your mouth.
c. Listening is ear-action: so, you must use your ear.
d. Writing is hand-action: so, must use your action.
Someone can speak depend on hearing, but just hearing, it is not enough, she or he must listen to it, and it is not for the meaning but for the sound of it. It means that language is habit. Make it habit, she or he will get it. If she or he wants to speak fluently, she or he must have habit in speaking. Speaking is mouth-action, being fussy will make better in speaking.
Theories In First Language Acquisition
1. Behavioristic Approach
It is also called empiricist / behaviorism / environmentalist that strongly believes that knowledge that a child gets comes from experience.
It is said that environment plays an important role in the process, as a source of stimuli and reinforcement. The environment shapes/forms/ determines the condition and development of the language. So, a language will be learned from imitation, memorization, practice and over-learning.
2. Nativist Approach
This approach believes that humans are given an innately determined language acquisition since they were born. They have innate capacity that given by God. Human beings possess an innate mental capacity for language. It is different cognitive ability for the other kind of learning that is special language mechanism in which induviduals are hard-wired wit syntactic principles, or grammatical rules. As the nature of language is universal, anybody can learn any language. They are exposed to be comparable easily.
The learning process: child is born with language acquisition device (LAD) which is preprogrammed with principles of language that enable children to generate and understand utterences. In this process, the innate capacity plays important role and the environment serves as medium of exposure needed to active the process. The success of producing acceptable form will motivate him/ her to learn further and use the forms more extensively.
3. Interactionist
Focused on the role of cognition and environment.
a. Cognition
The fluency and accurately and contextually spoken language depends on how fast their brains process to construct all input they go. It began to see the language as one manifestation of cognitive ability and affection ability.
b Social Interaction / environment.
Environment has important role to be success in learning language, because a good environment is not a luxury, but a necessity. It means that learning language needs a habit in environment. So, to be successful in learning language, we must live in area in which the language is used.
Both innate capacities, in this case cognition, and quality of the environment, in this case the quality of language input plays inportant role in the process of language development. Actualization of innate knowledge is in the form of engaging the child in interaction with environment to develop their communicative competence.
The role of environment is to enchance the development beyond the level that the child can afford to do by him / her own effort.
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (SLA)
SLA: The language plays an institutional and social in community.
SLA is any language / s a child learns (learning process) after the L1
(Usually after the age of 5). Second language (SL) becomes umberella terms for second and foreign languages (FL). Both differ in terms of on frequency of use and political affiliation of corresponding country.
§ Frequency of use refers to the extent to which the language is used to fulfill the wide range of communicative needs of the speakers. The frequently used indicators are needed of communication at home, smaller and larger community, public services, education, work place, and religious services.
§ Political affilition refers to the status that the language acquires in certain region/country. In the case of English in Indonesia, the status was awarded through the political decision of ministry of education on behalf the indonesian government in 1967.
The theories:
a. Behaviorism
The theory claims that language learning undergoes the same process of learning of other fields, that habit formation (S R R). Briefly, the process involves providing linguistic. Stimuli in order to that the learner produces Response, which is appropriate, or correct to the S. If the learner can do so the teacher should give Reinforcement. But when the learner can not do so, or makes inappropriate or incorrect response, the teacher should nor give R. she / he should corect the mistake to avoid the formation of bad habit (habit of making incorect forms). To help learner produces the expected or correcr R, the provision of S should be repeated over and over, called over learning. So as the case with production of R by the SL/FL learner. By means of this the bond between S and R becomes authomatic, when this is established the new habit formation is completed.
To facilitate the habit formation process, behaviorism applies principles of contrastive analysis (CA). They believe that as the learner has established L1, thie cognitive capacity is filled with system of L1. When the learner wants to learn another habit, that is habit of L2, the L1 system dominates the process. This means that all forms, or rules, simliar to the L1 will be easily learned or established. But, when the forms are different, they become potential problems (inference) in learning.
Therefore, CA belives that the learning process will be facilitated when there is an analysis of the system of both of languages (L1 &L2). Based on comparison, some same rules or forms will facilitate the learning, while differences will become constraints. Teacher should be aware that establishing different form would take more thought and energy.
In classroom, the form of behaviorism can be seen from some methods of language teaching, especially Audio Lingual Method (ALM) or Aural- Oral Method (AOM). The teaching procedure in these methods consists of teacher providing S, learner makes R, teacher gives R.
b. Innatism
The theory claims that every child was born with some innate capacities, one of which is specially used to process languages. It means the nature of language learning is different from learning other fields. This specific capacity consists of underlying abstract representation, rules, or grammar, which is also called univesal rules of language or more popularly called universal grammar (UG). This consists of a set of potential rules that becomes materialized (mastery of language rules) after they get (largely subconcious) exposure of language input.
Two important isssues concerning this theory deals with access to the UG, and age:
§ There is split argument on the first issue. Some innatists believe that learners cannot access UG to process L2 the same way as they do for L1. This is because the facility of UG has been used in the FLA. (This is called no access) some other innatists contend that learners still get the same access to UG to process L2 the same way as they do in L1,( this is called full access). Some others still believe that to some extent learners still can access UG to process L2 but not as much as when they process L1,( this is called limited access). Therefore, the SLA process is said to undergo from their acquired modalisties. i.e. L1.
§ The second issue concerns with age. Briefly stated, problem revolves around biological condition, especially the brain capacity of the power to process the language. In ordinary word, in can be formulated whether languge learning process differ as a function of age. Or adults learn the language the same or different way from children? Answer to this problem should be referred to the basic claim that the children were born with some innate capacity, especially LAD consisting of UG. UG is biological factor and it can change with age. The answer to this problem relates to access and age. E. Lenneberg (1967) proposed a critical period hypothesis (CPH) for language learning in that biological condition changes at puberty. The biological condition after puberty makes adult-learners hard to learn any language to develop complete mastery of second language in the same way as children do for their L1. Lamandela, although claims that such access is different between children and adult, believes with efforts complete mastery is still possible.
However, some research results reveal that:
§ Adults may learn more quickly than children may in short term.
§ Adults who are good classroom learners may learn more efficiently than young children language classrooms.
§ Those who begin learning when they are younger and continue learning may ultimately reach a higher level of proficiency than those who begin adults, especially in learning pholonological components. Evidence of this can be observed from quality of pronounciation of learners learning the language from early ago and those learning after puberty.
SOME FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCES SLA
There are some factors which influences Second Language Acquistic (SLA), they are:
1. Second Language Aptitude (Written test)
Some individual believed that they have a special aptitude for second Language study. To know how high our level aptitude, we can do on Language aptitude test. The kind of linguistic competence tapped by aptitude test is language learning and not language acquisition. The test use theory of inductive language learning.
2. The Role of the First Language
It is often refeired to as interference. Plus monitor mode involves no acquired Competence and has advantages and disadvantages:
a) Advantages - Short terms’
Ø Out perform the competence (help to meet practice needs)
Ø Help to invite output (more Conversation, Comprehensible input and more L2 acquisition.
b) Disadvantages:
Ø Long run appear to be serious
Ø Different role between L1 and L2 (not all error can be repaired by conscious monitor, the use of L1 roles need constant Vigilance on the part of monitor)
Ø It is awkward and firing way to produce formally correct sentences in L2
3. Routines and Pattern
Routires and patterns are acquisition and learning occasionally ferve as comprehensible input:
Ø Routine has spoken by performers who have not acquired or learned the roles involved.
Ø Pattern are partially memorized sentences with an empthy “slot” for a noun or noun phrase.
4. Individual Variation
In SLA we use Natural Order hypothesis and monitor hypothesis. There are 3 types of adult second language acquire:
a) Monitor over user
The learner always sheck their language up to make sure that they don’t make any mistakes (they affaid to make mistake)
b) Monitor under user
The learner is not really focus to the structure
c) The optimal monitor user
The grammar can apply in this monitor users, but sometimes it is ok if they make any mistake as long as the listener know what they meant.
5. Age Differences
Younger is better’ it means that children are better than adults in all respects in second language acquisition. However, adult are faster in attaining second language proficiency then younges children.
SLA HYPOTHESIS
The application of innate theory in real classroom can be seen in kreshen and Terrel’s theory of natural approach and expressed in terms of saveral hypothesies.
The hypotheses are accomodated in terms of natural approach that was first proposed by Terrell in 1977 and later reformulated by Kreshen and Terrell in 1983. Then the reformulated theory called “hypotheses” was formulated by Kreshen in 1985.
The five and later become Six hypotheses are:
1. The Acquisition Vs Learning Hypothesis
This says that there are two possible broad model of learning: learning and acquisition. Learning is a process which undergoes ‘concious learning’ that is ‘rule-based’ explicit teaching-the process typically taking place in regular language classroom.
The other model is called acquisition in which learners ‘subconciously learn’ the language focusing on meaningful interaction. The natural hypothesis is favour of the acquisition process because it enables learners use language in meaningful communication. To Forster the acquisition should be exposed to an input-rich environment with plentiful opportunities to do meaning-based communication.
It is concluded that there are two distinct ways of developing competence:
Acquisition: real communication
Learning: knowing about language.
*Acquisition*
Similar to child FLA
“Picking up” a language
Subconcious
Implicit language.
Formal language doesn’t help
*Learning*
Formal knowledge of language
“Knowing about” a language
concious
Explicit language
Formal teaching helps
2. The Monitor Hypotesis (Checking grammar)
Result of learning process serves as monitor to check the language production if conditions are permitted. Use of monitor requires enough time, knowledge of the rules and a focus on the necessary forms. However, monitor does not lead to acqusition.
3. The Natural Order Hypothesis
SLA, like FLA, follows a natural order (natural route). Differences from adult, first language grammars are not errors but indication of natural development.
4. The Input Hypothesis
Acquisition is forstered by plentiful input that is at a level beyond the learner’s level of comprehension. This can be expressed in the form of i + 1, in which i = current level of language development / comprehension. 1 = a level slightly higher than / beyond the current level.
To provide comprehensible input, the teacher should provide in put at the approprite level which is input with plenty opportunities for meaningful interaction. If this is provided, acqusition will take place.
We acquire (not learn) language by understanding input that is a little beyond our current level of (acquired) competence.
5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis
This hypothesis claims that three is an affective filter component in the acquisition process. This component affects language indirectly acting as a barrier, if the affective filter is high or becomes facilitator if it is low. The affective filter can be raised when learners are overly anxious, lack self-confidence in their ability and poorly motivation, low anxiety, or non-threatening athmosphere can be created, the affective factor will not in habit the process, and acquisition will be facilitated.
6. Reading Hypothesis
Reading acts as a kind of input that extends acquisition especially for reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling and advances grammar competence
THE IMPLICATION OF SLA THEORIES
1. Comprehension
Ø It implies whatever helps comprehension is important (help children to understand)
Ø Inplies that vocabulary is important (children get more vocabulary)
Ø Implication in giving input (depend on the teacher)
2. Speaking
Speaking is not absolutely essentral for language acquisition (input hypothesis) it also claims that the best way to teach speaking is to focus on listening, reading and spoken fluency will emerge on its own.
Children acquire from what they hear and what they read (via routines and patterns)
3. Grammar
The input hot only from messages, but also can from listening and reading.
Eg: The teacher gives chunks of language The message hot really emphazited...
NATURAL APPROACH (NA)
In natural approach, learning is focused on everyday communication skills such as shopping, listening to radio, or visiting the zoo, etc.
The learning progress according to NA consists of three stages as follows:
1. Preproduction stage is designed to develop students’ listening comprehension skills.
2. The early production stages should be focused on enhancing students meaning making. This means as long as the meaning matches, teachers should not worry much about forms. Thus, error correction when students are making production should be avoided. Error correction can be used of the errors will affect the comprehension seriously.
3. the last stage concerns with extending production into longer stretch of sentences involving more complex games, role play, open-ended dialogue, discussions, and extended small group work. Since the objective is to ptomote fluency, teachers are supposed to be very careful and selective in making error correction.
Natural approach guidelines (Characters)
1. The goal of natural approach is Communication Skills
The general goal’ is the ability to communicate with native speaker.
2. Comprehension precedes productiona
The goal is to make students comprehen
Children comprehen production
3. Production emerges
Eg: make short sentences
4. Acquisition activities are central
Activities provides input for acquisition
Eg: A child say good bye to her mom when she will go to school
5. lower the affctive filter
the students will be self confidence, give them motivation and encourage from anxiety.
The principles of natural approach are consistent with the hypothesis of SLA:
1. Acquisition learning hypothesis
2. The natural order hypothesis
3. The monitor hypothesis
4. The input hypothesis
5. The effective filter hypothesis
Children: Adult:
1. Acquires
2. Have smaller ability to consciously learning grammar rules
3. Have lower affective filter
4. Skills are acquired directly from experience 1. Acquires and learns
2. Have greater ability to consciously learning grammar rules
3. Have higher affective filter
4. Skills are from learning exercise and acquisition activities
In natural approach language is viewed a vehicle or media for communicating the meanings and messages. Acquisition can take place when the learners understand messages in the target language.
The role of teacher and learners are :
1. facilitator to the communication process between all participants in the classroom through the activities.
2. independent participant within the learning – teaching process.
3. the researcher and learner of the classroom interaction.
4. negotiator between the self, the learning process and the object of learning. it means that learners should contribute as much as and thereby learn in an interdependent way.
TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)
TPR is a language teaching method build around the coordination of speech and action; it attempts to teach language through physical (motor) activity.The first time, children listen to adult sentences. Adult’s sentences are usually accompanied by the action or concrete objecta to help children understand the sentences. This action and presence of concrete object help the right brain process the language
The learning mechanism is as follows:
1. The teacher speaks the language, usually in the form of command. While speaking, the teacher uses body movement to help students understand the command. The commad stars from simple one and move to more and more difficult ones.
2. Students asked to do or perform the activities as stated in the teacher’s utterences. The responds starts from more physical activity, therefore called physical response, and develop into more linguistic related forms.
For examples, Teacher’s utterences (while producing the command teacher can also mention the names of student, either before or after, so the intended student has to respond appropriately, and students learn to communicate directly from simple to more complex concept. As this action:
Open / close the door, please!
Clean the board, please!
Ask Agus to close the door, Rafi!
Ask to Agus to move the red book on the table to his table, Please Dani!
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES (ID5)
The major types of individual defferences are:
1. Aptitude
Aptitude, is language learning and not language acquisition. Aptitude test used measured two main aspects:
a. An underlying language learning capacity.
b. An ability to handle decontextualized material as that found in formal language test.
There are 3 major component of abtitude according to Caral and Sapon:
a. Phonetic coding ability
b. Grammatical sensitivity
c. Inductive ability
2. Personality
The dimensions of personality are:
Ø Extroversion (sociable, active) and Introversion (Acquire)
Ø Risk talking
Ø Tolerante of ambiguity
Ø Emphaty
Ø Self-esteem
Ø Inhibition
3. Age
Different age have different need, competence and cognitive skills.
Character of young learner:
Ø They response the meaning if they do not understand word.
Ø They aften learn indirectly.
Ø They understanding come not just from explanation but also from what they see and hear, and have a chance to touch and interact with.
Ø They have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher.
Character of adult learners:
Ø They can engage with abstract thought.
Ø They have a whole range of life experience to draw on.
Ø They aften have a clear understanding why.
4. Motivation (from teachers, parents, and environment)
It is essential succes
Ø Extrinsic motivation (caused by any numbers outside)
Ø Intrinsic motivation (contras item within individual)
5. Learning Style
Ø Converges
Ø Conformists
Ø Concrete learners
Ø Communication learners
6. Learning anxiety
7. Home support
Parents should give support in L2 learning
Eg: Parents let the children to watch the TV programme which is used L2.
There are three differences types of learners strategy:
1. Cognitive Strategy
Stepson direct analysis, transformation/synthesis of learning material.
2. Metta Cognitive Strategy
Action beyond, beside/with cognitive to provide own learning process.
3. Affective Strategy
Learners make the interaction with the other and native speaker.
No. Language Children Adult/Older
1.
2.
3. On proficiency
On achievemend
On rate of acquisition Ø Children learn lnguage faster than adults
Ø Good language learner
Ø Children more motivated to communicate L2 Ø Learners perform better than young children
Ø Good language learner
Ø They often can get by with routine phrases and expresion with friends
Critical period hypothesis in the 1950s era is children 1 to 10 years. It is the best acquisition of the learners (younger is better)
ORAL COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ACQUISITION ACTIVITIES
Oral communication development in school does not mean teaching children to speak so much as providing them with the skills and opportunities to communicate more effectively. Speech involves thinking, knowledge and skills. Effective communication is developed through practice and training.
While oral communication acquisition is a natural process this does not mean that all children will automatically acquire effective communication skills. Attention and constant practice are necessary for optimum development in communication. The responsibility of the teacher lies in helping students to develop these levels of development.
Through listening and speaking students learn about themselves and about their world. Learning to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings, and being able to respond to the communications of others, enables students to participate in society successfully
As students develop their oral communication through these language functions (listening and speaking), students will be using the processes of exploring language, thinking critically and processing information.
Schools are excellent environments in which to develop knowledge of the courtesies and conventions of communication in a wide variety of situations, so the students should do which can bring them to be communicative students, such as –
1. Be able to talk clearly about experiences and ideas;
2. Be able to engage with and enjoy oral language in all its varieties;
3. Be able to understand, respond to, and use oral language effectively in a range of contexts;
4. Develop skills that enable them to develop their thoughts, ideas and feelings clearly and appropriately and respond to the thoughts, ideas and feelings of others with purpose.
To be effective communicators students need to be able to adapt and adopt their oral language techniques and content to whatever social context they find themselves in. To ensure students develop these strategies, the skills and processes of listening and speaking must be understood, modeled, taught and practised within the classroom.
To act as facilitators of student learning, teachers need to use a process in which students are given the opportunity and encouragement to speak and explore their own thinking. Teachers should:
Encourage students to bring their ideas and background knowledge into class learning activities.
Be a responsive listener to students' talk
Nurture an accepting environment where students will feel free to express themselves without fear of censure - by adult or by fellow students.
Raise questions concerning the activities or conversations held with students
Promote robust discussion and exposition among class members.
Provide opportunities for speaking, discussion, and expression of ideas, experiences and opinions across the whole curriculum. This will involve a range of experiences in which the size and type of audience, the situation and purpose will all vary.
Present themselves as good models of oral language.
Establish strategies to manage all forms of communication to ensure all students have fair and equitable opportunities to develop their interpersonal speaking and listening skills, eg. large and small group discussions.
According to Kreshen (1985) in Natural Approach was said:
There are some acquisition activities:
1. Affective humanistic activities to involve students feeling, opinions, desires reaction, ideas, and experiences.
a) Dialogues give the students the means to produce somewhat beyond their acquired capacity in early production stages.
b) Interview interaction (question and answers).
c) Preference ranking conducted orally but the material must printed and distributed to the students.
d) Personal charts and tables discussion of personal information/giving opinion about some issues.
e) Revealing about yourself students cooperate in a small group to create a chart.
f) Activities using the imagination imagine some situation, person, or interaction that might take place.
2. Problem solving finding a corret answer to a question, problem or situation
a) Task and series
b) Charts, graphs, and maps
c) Developing speech for particular situations
d) advertisement
3. Games
It is qualify as an acquisition activity since they can used to give comprehensible input.
4. Content activities
Activity in which the purpose is to learn something new other than language, (maintaining students interest and ensuring comprehensible input).
There are some stratrgies to divide the class for group activities:
1. Restructuring
2. Unified group
3. Dyads
4. Small groups
5. Large groups
TESTING for SLA
Test: a method, measuring or ability
1. A method is a set of technique, procedures and item that constitute an instrument of some sort that requires performance or activity on the part of the test taker.
2. Measuring is measures a person ability or knowledge.
3. ability or competence also being measured,
A test sample performance but infers certain competence
The criteria or judging the merit of particular test (natural approach):
1. Relevance
2. Acceptability
3. Comparability and economy
Listening Comprehension
It needs a great investment of time and effort
There are some stages/levels in listening comprehension:
Ø Skill 1 Listening on Conversation
Ø Skill 2 Participating on Conversation
Ø Skill 3-5 Listening to messages of various sort
Ø Skill 6-11 Listening to the radio or TV
Speaking
Speaking test doing in oral exam
There are several readily identifiable skills of specific production:
Ø Speech in a conventional interchange
Ø Narrating
Ø Formal talks or speech
Ø Debate
Reading and Writing
Reading is more than translation text. There are some examples of text:
Ø Advertisement
Ø Newspaper and general interest non fiction
Ø Reading of fiction
Ø Academic reading and study
In many language course, students more are doing essay written-writing test depends on the writing task which are considered to goals in the course
For children, it will be more in assessment not testing. There are some ways to teach reading for young learners:
1. Attract the student’s attention
2. Give the students some vocabulary (keywords of the point)
3. Give some questions in order the students will understand what the aims/purposes while they are reading (give different question with the pattern of the text).
FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (FLA)
Language is a social aspect of human life, because language is the most important means of social communication among the members of society. Without language, it seems impossible for people to communicate smoothly. The development of human civilization is to be resulted from the regular society contact that of course involves the use of language.
First language acquisition is a process that takes place in children’s brain when acquiring their first language. First language stars from the very short and simple utterances crying, gurgling, cooking, babbling and other.
Learning language mechanism is habit formation in environment. The child will be conditioned by stimuli in order to produce some kind of response. To make the association or bond strong, learning needs practice (over – learning) and reinforcement. In this session, the role of environment is very important as source of stimuli and reinforcement. From environment will imitate, memorize, practice and over- learning.
According to J.D.O.Connor (1967; 01) in Better English Pronunciation said that:
“Language starts with the ear. When a baby stars to talk, he does it by hearing the sound his mother makes and imitating them “.
So, it can be concluded that Language is habit:
a. Speaking is mouth-action: so, you must use your mouth.
b. Reading is mouth and eye-action: so, you must use your mouth.
c. Listening is ear-action: so, you must use your ear.
d. Writing is hand-action: so, must use your action.
Someone can speak depend on hearing, but just hearing, it is not enough, she or he must listen to it, and it is not for the meaning but for the sound of it. It means that language is habit. Make it habit, she or he will get it. If she or he wants to speak fluently, she or he must have habit in speaking. Speaking is mouth-action, being fussy will make better in speaking.
Theories In First Language Acquisition
1. Behavioristic Approach
It is also called empiricist / behaviorism / environmentalist that strongly believes that knowledge that a child gets comes from experience.
It is said that environment plays an important role in the process, as a source of stimuli and reinforcement. The environment shapes/forms/ determines the condition and development of the language. So, a language will be learned from imitation, memorization, practice and over-learning.
2. Nativist Approach
This approach believes that humans are given an innately determined language acquisition since they were born. They have innate capacity that given by God. Human beings possess an innate mental capacity for language. It is different cognitive ability for the other kind of learning that is special language mechanism in which induviduals are hard-wired wit syntactic principles, or grammatical rules. As the nature of language is universal, anybody can learn any language. They are exposed to be comparable easily.
The learning process: child is born with language acquisition device (LAD) which is preprogrammed with principles of language that enable children to generate and understand utterences. In this process, the innate capacity plays important role and the environment serves as medium of exposure needed to active the process. The success of producing acceptable form will motivate him/ her to learn further and use the forms more extensively.
3. Interactionist
Focused on the role of cognition and environment.
a. Cognition
The fluency and accurately and contextually spoken language depends on how fast their brains process to construct all input they go. It began to see the language as one manifestation of cognitive ability and affection ability.
b Social Interaction / environment.
Environment has important role to be success in learning language, because a good environment is not a luxury, but a necessity. It means that learning language needs a habit in environment. So, to be successful in learning language, we must live in area in which the language is used.
Both innate capacities, in this case cognition, and quality of the environment, in this case the quality of language input plays inportant role in the process of language development. Actualization of innate knowledge is in the form of engaging the child in interaction with environment to develop their communicative competence.
The role of environment is to enchance the development beyond the level that the child can afford to do by him / her own effort.
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (SLA)
SLA: The language plays an institutional and social in community.
SLA is any language / s a child learns (learning process) after the L1
(Usually after the age of 5). Second language (SL) becomes umberella terms for second and foreign languages (FL). Both differ in terms of on frequency of use and political affiliation of corresponding country.
§ Frequency of use refers to the extent to which the language is used to fulfill the wide range of communicative needs of the speakers. The frequently used indicators are needed of communication at home, smaller and larger community, public services, education, work place, and religious services.
§ Political affilition refers to the status that the language acquires in certain region/country. In the case of English in Indonesia, the status was awarded through the political decision of ministry of education on behalf the indonesian government in 1967.
The theories:
a. Behaviorism
The theory claims that language learning undergoes the same process of learning of other fields, that habit formation (S R R). Briefly, the process involves providing linguistic. Stimuli in order to that the learner produces Response, which is appropriate, or correct to the S. If the learner can do so the teacher should give Reinforcement. But when the learner can not do so, or makes inappropriate or incorrect response, the teacher should nor give R. she / he should corect the mistake to avoid the formation of bad habit (habit of making incorect forms). To help learner produces the expected or correcr R, the provision of S should be repeated over and over, called over learning. So as the case with production of R by the SL/FL learner. By means of this the bond between S and R becomes authomatic, when this is established the new habit formation is completed.
To facilitate the habit formation process, behaviorism applies principles of contrastive analysis (CA). They believe that as the learner has established L1, thie cognitive capacity is filled with system of L1. When the learner wants to learn another habit, that is habit of L2, the L1 system dominates the process. This means that all forms, or rules, simliar to the L1 will be easily learned or established. But, when the forms are different, they become potential problems (inference) in learning.
Therefore, CA belives that the learning process will be facilitated when there is an analysis of the system of both of languages (L1 &L2). Based on comparison, some same rules or forms will facilitate the learning, while differences will become constraints. Teacher should be aware that establishing different form would take more thought and energy.
In classroom, the form of behaviorism can be seen from some methods of language teaching, especially Audio Lingual Method (ALM) or Aural- Oral Method (AOM). The teaching procedure in these methods consists of teacher providing S, learner makes R, teacher gives R.
b. Innatism
The theory claims that every child was born with some innate capacities, one of which is specially used to process languages. It means the nature of language learning is different from learning other fields. This specific capacity consists of underlying abstract representation, rules, or grammar, which is also called univesal rules of language or more popularly called universal grammar (UG). This consists of a set of potential rules that becomes materialized (mastery of language rules) after they get (largely subconcious) exposure of language input.
Two important isssues concerning this theory deals with access to the UG, and age:
§ There is split argument on the first issue. Some innatists believe that learners cannot access UG to process L2 the same way as they do for L1. This is because the facility of UG has been used in the FLA. (This is called no access) some other innatists contend that learners still get the same access to UG to process L2 the same way as they do in L1,( this is called full access). Some others still believe that to some extent learners still can access UG to process L2 but not as much as when they process L1,( this is called limited access). Therefore, the SLA process is said to undergo from their acquired modalisties. i.e. L1.
§ The second issue concerns with age. Briefly stated, problem revolves around biological condition, especially the brain capacity of the power to process the language. In ordinary word, in can be formulated whether languge learning process differ as a function of age. Or adults learn the language the same or different way from children? Answer to this problem should be referred to the basic claim that the children were born with some innate capacity, especially LAD consisting of UG. UG is biological factor and it can change with age. The answer to this problem relates to access and age. E. Lenneberg (1967) proposed a critical period hypothesis (CPH) for language learning in that biological condition changes at puberty. The biological condition after puberty makes adult-learners hard to learn any language to develop complete mastery of second language in the same way as children do for their L1. Lamandela, although claims that such access is different between children and adult, believes with efforts complete mastery is still possible.
However, some research results reveal that:
§ Adults may learn more quickly than children may in short term.
§ Adults who are good classroom learners may learn more efficiently than young children language classrooms.
§ Those who begin learning when they are younger and continue learning may ultimately reach a higher level of proficiency than those who begin adults, especially in learning pholonological components. Evidence of this can be observed from quality of pronounciation of learners learning the language from early ago and those learning after puberty.
SOME FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCES SLA
There are some factors which influences Second Language Acquistic (SLA), they are:
1. Second Language Aptitude (Written test)
Some individual believed that they have a special aptitude for second Language study. To know how high our level aptitude, we can do on Language aptitude test. The kind of linguistic competence tapped by aptitude test is language learning and not language acquisition. The test use theory of inductive language learning.
2. The Role of the First Language
It is often refeired to as interference. Plus monitor mode involves no acquired Competence and has advantages and disadvantages:
a) Advantages - Short terms’
Ø Out perform the competence (help to meet practice needs)
Ø Help to invite output (more Conversation, Comprehensible input and more L2 acquisition.
b) Disadvantages:
Ø Long run appear to be serious
Ø Different role between L1 and L2 (not all error can be repaired by conscious monitor, the use of L1 roles need constant Vigilance on the part of monitor)
Ø It is awkward and firing way to produce formally correct sentences in L2
3. Routines and Pattern
Routires and patterns are acquisition and learning occasionally ferve as comprehensible input:
Ø Routine has spoken by performers who have not acquired or learned the roles involved.
Ø Pattern are partially memorized sentences with an empthy “slot” for a noun or noun phrase.
4. Individual Variation
In SLA we use Natural Order hypothesis and monitor hypothesis. There are 3 types of adult second language acquire:
a) Monitor over user
The learner always sheck their language up to make sure that they don’t make any mistakes (they affaid to make mistake)
b) Monitor under user
The learner is not really focus to the structure
c) The optimal monitor user
The grammar can apply in this monitor users, but sometimes it is ok if they make any mistake as long as the listener know what they meant.
5. Age Differences
Younger is better’ it means that children are better than adults in all respects in second language acquisition. However, adult are faster in attaining second language proficiency then younges children.
SLA HYPOTHESIS
The application of innate theory in real classroom can be seen in kreshen and Terrel’s theory of natural approach and expressed in terms of saveral hypothesies.
The hypotheses are accomodated in terms of natural approach that was first proposed by Terrell in 1977 and later reformulated by Kreshen and Terrell in 1983. Then the reformulated theory called “hypotheses” was formulated by Kreshen in 1985.
The five and later become Six hypotheses are:
1. The Acquisition Vs Learning Hypothesis
This says that there are two possible broad model of learning: learning and acquisition. Learning is a process which undergoes ‘concious learning’ that is ‘rule-based’ explicit teaching-the process typically taking place in regular language classroom.
The other model is called acquisition in which learners ‘subconciously learn’ the language focusing on meaningful interaction. The natural hypothesis is favour of the acquisition process because it enables learners use language in meaningful communication. To Forster the acquisition should be exposed to an input-rich environment with plentiful opportunities to do meaning-based communication.
It is concluded that there are two distinct ways of developing competence:
Acquisition: real communication
Learning: knowing about language.
*Acquisition*
Similar to child FLA
“Picking up” a language
Subconcious
Implicit language.
Formal language doesn’t help
*Learning*
Formal knowledge of language
“Knowing about” a language
concious
Explicit language
Formal teaching helps
2. The Monitor Hypotesis (Checking grammar)
Result of learning process serves as monitor to check the language production if conditions are permitted. Use of monitor requires enough time, knowledge of the rules and a focus on the necessary forms. However, monitor does not lead to acqusition.
3. The Natural Order Hypothesis
SLA, like FLA, follows a natural order (natural route). Differences from adult, first language grammars are not errors but indication of natural development.
4. The Input Hypothesis
Acquisition is forstered by plentiful input that is at a level beyond the learner’s level of comprehension. This can be expressed in the form of i + 1, in which i = current level of language development / comprehension. 1 = a level slightly higher than / beyond the current level.
To provide comprehensible input, the teacher should provide in put at the approprite level which is input with plenty opportunities for meaningful interaction. If this is provided, acqusition will take place.
We acquire (not learn) language by understanding input that is a little beyond our current level of (acquired) competence.
5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis
This hypothesis claims that three is an affective filter component in the acquisition process. This component affects language indirectly acting as a barrier, if the affective filter is high or becomes facilitator if it is low. The affective filter can be raised when learners are overly anxious, lack self-confidence in their ability and poorly motivation, low anxiety, or non-threatening athmosphere can be created, the affective factor will not in habit the process, and acquisition will be facilitated.
6. Reading Hypothesis
Reading acts as a kind of input that extends acquisition especially for reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling and advances grammar competence
THE IMPLICATION OF SLA THEORIES
1. Comprehension
Ø It implies whatever helps comprehension is important (help children to understand)
Ø Inplies that vocabulary is important (children get more vocabulary)
Ø Implication in giving input (depend on the teacher)
2. Speaking
Speaking is not absolutely essentral for language acquisition (input hypothesis) it also claims that the best way to teach speaking is to focus on listening, reading and spoken fluency will emerge on its own.
Children acquire from what they hear and what they read (via routines and patterns)
3. Grammar
The input hot only from messages, but also can from listening and reading.
Eg: The teacher gives chunks of language The message hot really emphazited...
NATURAL APPROACH (NA)
In natural approach, learning is focused on everyday communication skills such as shopping, listening to radio, or visiting the zoo, etc.
The learning progress according to NA consists of three stages as follows:
1. Preproduction stage is designed to develop students’ listening comprehension skills.
2. The early production stages should be focused on enhancing students meaning making. This means as long as the meaning matches, teachers should not worry much about forms. Thus, error correction when students are making production should be avoided. Error correction can be used of the errors will affect the comprehension seriously.
3. the last stage concerns with extending production into longer stretch of sentences involving more complex games, role play, open-ended dialogue, discussions, and extended small group work. Since the objective is to ptomote fluency, teachers are supposed to be very careful and selective in making error correction.
Natural approach guidelines (Characters)
1. The goal of natural approach is Communication Skills
The general goal’ is the ability to communicate with native speaker.
2. Comprehension precedes productiona
The goal is to make students comprehen
Children comprehen production
3. Production emerges
Eg: make short sentences
4. Acquisition activities are central
Activities provides input for acquisition
Eg: A child say good bye to her mom when she will go to school
5. lower the affctive filter
the students will be self confidence, give them motivation and encourage from anxiety.
The principles of natural approach are consistent with the hypothesis of SLA:
1. Acquisition learning hypothesis
2. The natural order hypothesis
3. The monitor hypothesis
4. The input hypothesis
5. The effective filter hypothesis
Children: Adult:
1. Acquires
2. Have smaller ability to consciously learning grammar rules
3. Have lower affective filter
4. Skills are acquired directly from experience 1. Acquires and learns
2. Have greater ability to consciously learning grammar rules
3. Have higher affective filter
4. Skills are from learning exercise and acquisition activities
In natural approach language is viewed a vehicle or media for communicating the meanings and messages. Acquisition can take place when the learners understand messages in the target language.
The role of teacher and learners are :
1. facilitator to the communication process between all participants in the classroom through the activities.
2. independent participant within the learning – teaching process.
3. the researcher and learner of the classroom interaction.
4. negotiator between the self, the learning process and the object of learning. it means that learners should contribute as much as and thereby learn in an interdependent way.
TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)
TPR is a language teaching method build around the coordination of speech and action; it attempts to teach language through physical (motor) activity.The first time, children listen to adult sentences. Adult’s sentences are usually accompanied by the action or concrete objecta to help children understand the sentences. This action and presence of concrete object help the right brain process the language
The learning mechanism is as follows:
1. The teacher speaks the language, usually in the form of command. While speaking, the teacher uses body movement to help students understand the command. The commad stars from simple one and move to more and more difficult ones.
2. Students asked to do or perform the activities as stated in the teacher’s utterences. The responds starts from more physical activity, therefore called physical response, and develop into more linguistic related forms.
For examples, Teacher’s utterences (while producing the command teacher can also mention the names of student, either before or after, so the intended student has to respond appropriately, and students learn to communicate directly from simple to more complex concept. As this action:
Open / close the door, please!
Clean the board, please!
Ask Agus to close the door, Rafi!
Ask to Agus to move the red book on the table to his table, Please Dani!
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES (ID5)
The major types of individual defferences are:
1. Aptitude
Aptitude, is language learning and not language acquisition. Aptitude test used measured two main aspects:
a. An underlying language learning capacity.
b. An ability to handle decontextualized material as that found in formal language test.
There are 3 major component of abtitude according to Caral and Sapon:
a. Phonetic coding ability
b. Grammatical sensitivity
c. Inductive ability
2. Personality
The dimensions of personality are:
Ø Extroversion (sociable, active) and Introversion (Acquire)
Ø Risk talking
Ø Tolerante of ambiguity
Ø Emphaty
Ø Self-esteem
Ø Inhibition
3. Age
Different age have different need, competence and cognitive skills.
Character of young learner:
Ø They response the meaning if they do not understand word.
Ø They aften learn indirectly.
Ø They understanding come not just from explanation but also from what they see and hear, and have a chance to touch and interact with.
Ø They have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher.
Character of adult learners:
Ø They can engage with abstract thought.
Ø They have a whole range of life experience to draw on.
Ø They aften have a clear understanding why.
4. Motivation (from teachers, parents, and environment)
It is essential succes
Ø Extrinsic motivation (caused by any numbers outside)
Ø Intrinsic motivation (contras item within individual)
5. Learning Style
Ø Converges
Ø Conformists
Ø Concrete learners
Ø Communication learners
6. Learning anxiety
7. Home support
Parents should give support in L2 learning
Eg: Parents let the children to watch the TV programme which is used L2.
There are three differences types of learners strategy:
1. Cognitive Strategy
Stepson direct analysis, transformation/synthesis of learning material.
2. Metta Cognitive Strategy
Action beyond, beside/with cognitive to provide own learning process.
3. Affective Strategy
Learners make the interaction with the other and native speaker.
No. Language Children Adult/Older
1.
2.
3. On proficiency
On achievemend
On rate of acquisition Ø Children learn lnguage faster than adults
Ø Good language learner
Ø Children more motivated to communicate L2 Ø Learners perform better than young children
Ø Good language learner
Ø They often can get by with routine phrases and expresion with friends
Critical period hypothesis in the 1950s era is children 1 to 10 years. It is the best acquisition of the learners (younger is better)
ORAL COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ACQUISITION ACTIVITIES
Oral communication development in school does not mean teaching children to speak so much as providing them with the skills and opportunities to communicate more effectively. Speech involves thinking, knowledge and skills. Effective communication is developed through practice and training.
While oral communication acquisition is a natural process this does not mean that all children will automatically acquire effective communication skills. Attention and constant practice are necessary for optimum development in communication. The responsibility of the teacher lies in helping students to develop these levels of development.
Through listening and speaking students learn about themselves and about their world. Learning to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings, and being able to respond to the communications of others, enables students to participate in society successfully
As students develop their oral communication through these language functions (listening and speaking), students will be using the processes of exploring language, thinking critically and processing information.
Schools are excellent environments in which to develop knowledge of the courtesies and conventions of communication in a wide variety of situations, so the students should do which can bring them to be communicative students, such as –
1. Be able to talk clearly about experiences and ideas;
2. Be able to engage with and enjoy oral language in all its varieties;
3. Be able to understand, respond to, and use oral language effectively in a range of contexts;
4. Develop skills that enable them to develop their thoughts, ideas and feelings clearly and appropriately and respond to the thoughts, ideas and feelings of others with purpose.
To be effective communicators students need to be able to adapt and adopt their oral language techniques and content to whatever social context they find themselves in. To ensure students develop these strategies, the skills and processes of listening and speaking must be understood, modeled, taught and practised within the classroom.
To act as facilitators of student learning, teachers need to use a process in which students are given the opportunity and encouragement to speak and explore their own thinking. Teachers should:
Encourage students to bring their ideas and background knowledge into class learning activities.
Be a responsive listener to students' talk
Nurture an accepting environment where students will feel free to express themselves without fear of censure - by adult or by fellow students.
Raise questions concerning the activities or conversations held with students
Promote robust discussion and exposition among class members.
Provide opportunities for speaking, discussion, and expression of ideas, experiences and opinions across the whole curriculum. This will involve a range of experiences in which the size and type of audience, the situation and purpose will all vary.
Present themselves as good models of oral language.
Establish strategies to manage all forms of communication to ensure all students have fair and equitable opportunities to develop their interpersonal speaking and listening skills, eg. large and small group discussions.
According to Kreshen (1985) in Natural Approach was said:
There are some acquisition activities:
1. Affective humanistic activities to involve students feeling, opinions, desires reaction, ideas, and experiences.
a) Dialogues give the students the means to produce somewhat beyond their acquired capacity in early production stages.
b) Interview interaction (question and answers).
c) Preference ranking conducted orally but the material must printed and distributed to the students.
d) Personal charts and tables discussion of personal information/giving opinion about some issues.
e) Revealing about yourself students cooperate in a small group to create a chart.
f) Activities using the imagination imagine some situation, person, or interaction that might take place.
2. Problem solving finding a corret answer to a question, problem or situation
a) Task and series
b) Charts, graphs, and maps
c) Developing speech for particular situations
d) advertisement
3. Games
It is qualify as an acquisition activity since they can used to give comprehensible input.
4. Content activities
Activity in which the purpose is to learn something new other than language, (maintaining students interest and ensuring comprehensible input).
There are some stratrgies to divide the class for group activities:
1. Restructuring
2. Unified group
3. Dyads
4. Small groups
5. Large groups
TESTING for SLA
Test: a method, measuring or ability
1. A method is a set of technique, procedures and item that constitute an instrument of some sort that requires performance or activity on the part of the test taker.
2. Measuring is measures a person ability or knowledge.
3. ability or competence also being measured,
A test sample performance but infers certain competence
The criteria or judging the merit of particular test (natural approach):
1. Relevance
2. Acceptability
3. Comparability and economy
Listening Comprehension
It needs a great investment of time and effort
There are some stages/levels in listening comprehension:
Ø Skill 1 Listening on Conversation
Ø Skill 2 Participating on Conversation
Ø Skill 3-5 Listening to messages of various sort
Ø Skill 6-11 Listening to the radio or TV
Speaking
Speaking test doing in oral exam
There are several readily identifiable skills of specific production:
Ø Speech in a conventional interchange
Ø Narrating
Ø Formal talks or speech
Ø Debate
Reading and Writing
Reading is more than translation text. There are some examples of text:
Ø Advertisement
Ø Newspaper and general interest non fiction
Ø Reading of fiction
Ø Academic reading and study
In many language course, students more are doing essay written-writing test depends on the writing task which are considered to goals in the course
For children, it will be more in assessment not testing. There are some ways to teach reading for young learners:
1. Attract the student’s attention
2. Give the students some vocabulary (keywords of the point)
3. Give some questions in order the students will understand what the aims/purposes while they are reading (give different question with the pattern of the text).
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