Noam Chomsky and language acquisition revisited

Some posts ago, we talked about Stephen Krashen and the Natural Approach, video of Krashen included. Today, our post involves Noam Chomsky, the researcher and thinker who confronted B. F. Skinner´s book Verbal Behaviour where Skinner explained his theory of how languages were learned by stimulus-response-reinforcement.

Chomsky has been extremely influential in the study of language acquisition. Among his contributions, he posited the theory that all humans are born with the innate capacity for languages (Nativism) and that this born-skill works thanks to a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that we all possess. READ. The LAD is not an organ –like the heart or the stomach– that we can point out and study physically, but some kind of “wiring” that the brain has and explains, according to Chomsky, why humans (together with the physical characteristics of people) can pick up language from the environment and develop it creatively.

Another theory, credited to Ch

omsky but actually much older, is Universal Grammar. UG states that all grammar rules are already hard-wired in the pers

on´s brain at the moment of birth. For more information, read this article.

The video below (from YouTube, where else?) is a funny interview that the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Bruno) had with Chomsky for his TV show Da Ali G Show. Do not be shocked by the horrible and "soft" English Ali G speaks, that´s the character´s personality; on the contrary, enjoy the silly things he says, and watch Chomsky´s reactions. (BONUS: Watch this interview with David and Victoria Beckham for comic Relief –this one has nothing to do with ELT, by the way; it´s just a pointer for a good laugh).

Thanks for the comments and for reading this blog.

Cesar Klauer

Click here for the video on YouTube

Something to say about: Stephen Krashen or the Natural Approach revisited

Back in the 1970´s, Stephen Krashen formulated his famous hypothesis that led, together with Tracy Terrel, to the Natural Approach. In this very short article Krashen´s five hypothesis are revisited with the intention of making teachers think a little bit about what he proposed and what we can do in class with his ideas. There is also a 15-minute video of Stephen Krashen explaining his theory of language acquisition, who better than the man himself.

The five hypothesis

The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis. There is a difference between acquiring a language and learning it. When we acquire it, we do it unconsciously, in natural settings; when we learn it, we do it consciously, in artificial settings.

The Monitor hypothesis. We can self-correct our language production provided we have the linguistic information in our mind.

The Natural Order hypothesis. We all acquire language in the same way; and in a specific order.

The Input hypothesis. In order to acquire a language, the language input has to be comprehensible, that is, we must understand what is being transmitted to us in order to acquire language.

The Affective Filter hypothesis. To acquire a language, anxiety must be zero; in other words, if we are stressed our mind will erect “walls” that will prevent us from taking in the input.

The video below (downloaded from YouTube) features Dr. Krashen explaining his theory in a very clear and convincing way. However, as an eclectic teacher myself, I must say to you: Keep an open mind, not everything about language acquisition (and teaching a language, of course) has been said yet.

So you want to know more about Krashen´s theory? Visit these links:

Stephen Krashen´s official web site: http://www.sdkrashen.com/

Other Krashe related sites:

http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/rw/krashenbk.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/Krashen.htm

As always, comments are welcome.

Cesar Klauer