Stephen Krashen on Language Acquisition Part 1 of 2

Summary

This script discusses the fundamental concepts of language acquisition, emphasizing the distinction between language acquisition and language learning. The acquisition-learning hypothesis suggests that subconscious language acquisition is the key to fluency and accuracy, rather than conscious learning of grammar rules. The speaker argues that comprehensible input is essential for language acquisition, and that speaking abilities naturally emerge from understanding, not from practice. The script challenges traditional language teaching methods, such as grammatical sequencing, and advocates for a rich input-based approach to achieve both fluency and accuracy in language learning.

Takeaways

• 📚 The script discusses the fundamental concepts of language acquisition, focusing on the difference between language acquisition and language learning.
• 🧠 The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis is introduced, suggesting two distinct processes: subconscious acquisition and conscious learning of language.
• 👶 Acquisition is described as a natural, subconscious process that occurs without awareness and is present throughout life, similar to how children learn languages.
• 📈 The importance of acquisition is emphasized, with research indicating that it contributes significantly more to fluency and accuracy than learning alone.
• 🤔 The role of the 'language acquisition device' is highlighted, suggesting an innate ability to acquire language that never shuts off.
• 🗣️ Speaking a language is a result of acquisition, not a practice or cause, challenging the idea that speaking to oneself can improve language skills.
• 📚 The concept of 'comprehensible input' is central to language acquisition; understanding messages in a language leads to acquisition.
• 🔄 The traditional 'grammatical sequencing' in language classes is critiqued as potentially harmful, suggesting that it may not aid in acquisition as effectively as comprehensible input.
• 🌐 The universality of language acquisition is asserted, with the claim that all people acquire languages in the same way, regardless of individual differences.
• 👧 The natural development of language acquisition in children is noted, with speech emerging after a period of silent comprehension.
• 😴 The limitations of a structured grammatical syllabus are discussed, including the inability to cater to individual readiness and the potential for boredom.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the speaker's presentation on language acquisition?

The speaker's presentation focuses on the fundamental concepts of language acquisition, dividing it into theoretical work, application, and discussing difficulties in applying the theory, with a primary focus on the elementary level of language learning.

What are the two different processes the speaker refers to in the context of language learning?

The speaker refers to two processes: language acquisition and language learning. Acquisition is a subconscious process where language is picked up naturally, while learning involves conscious knowledge of language structures and rules.

According to the speaker, what is the key to language acquisition?

The key to language acquisition, according to the speaker, is through 'comprehensible input'—when learners understand messages in the target language, their subconscious language acquisition device is activated.

How does the speaker describe the role of grammar in language acquisition?

The speaker describes grammar as a monitor or editor in language acquisition. It doesn't play a primary role in the actual acquisition process but helps in making corrections to the language that has been acquired subconsciously.

What does the speaker suggest about the importance of acquisition versus learning in language education?

The speaker suggests that acquisition is far more important than learning in language education, as it provides both fluency and accuracy in language use. Learning, while important, is secondary and should not be the primary focus of language instruction.

What is the 'acquisition-learning hypothesis' mentioned by the speaker?

The 'acquisition-learning hypothesis' is the cornerstone of the speaker's theory, stating that there are two distinct ways of improving in a language: acquiring it subconsciously and learning it consciously, with acquisition being the more significant process.

Why does the speaker believe that practicing speaking a language by oneself may not be helpful?

The speaker believes that practicing speaking a language by oneself is not helpful because the ability to speak a language is a result of acquisition, not its cause. Speaking skills emerge naturally after receiving enough comprehensible input.

What is the 'principle of grammatical sequencing' in language classes, and what is the speaker's view on it?

The 'principle of grammatical sequencing' is a teaching method where language structures are taught in a predetermined order, often based on complexity. The speaker argues that this method may not be necessary and could be harmful, as it does not align with the natural process of language acquisition.

How does the speaker explain the natural development of language acquisition in children?

The speaker explains that children's language acquisition follows a natural developmental sequence where certain language structures are acquired earlier, middle, or later. After a 'silent period,' children typically begin to speak the language they have been acquiring through comprehensible input.

What is the speaker's view on the role of individual variation in language acquisition?

While acknowledging the importance of individual variation in education, the speaker claims that language acquisition is a universal process that everyone undergoes in the same way, regardless of individual differences in cognitive or learning styles.

What difficulties does the speaker foresee in applying the theory of language acquisition to classroom teaching?

The speaker foresees difficulties arising from both the students and the educators. Students may have preconceived notions about language learning, while educators, especially those with a background in grammar, may find it challenging to shift their focus from learning to acquisition.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Language Acquisition and Learning Hypothesis

This paragraph introduces the fundamental concepts of language acquisition, dividing the presentation into theoretical work, application, and challenges in implementation. The cornerstone of the theory is the 'acquisition-learning hypothesis,' which differentiates between acquiring and learning a language. Acquisition is a subconscious process that occurs without conscious effort or awareness, as opposed to learning, which is a conscious understanding of language rules. The speaker emphasizes that language acquisition is a lifelong ability that does not diminish with age and that it plays a more significant role in language proficiency than learning.

05:01

🤔 The Myth of Balanced Language Learning

The speaker challenges the idea of a balanced language learning program, which would equally divide time between acquisition and learning activities. Research indicates that acquisition is far more critical for both fluency and accuracy in language learning, accounting for at least 95% of the process for adults and possibly 100% for children. The speaker admits disappointment in this finding, given their background in grammar, but emphasizes the importance of focusing on acquisition in language teaching.

10:01

🌟 The Universality of Language Acquisition

The paragraph discusses the universality of language acquisition, arguing that all individuals acquire language in the same way, regardless of individual differences in learning styles or cognitive abilities. The process of acquiring a language is simple and occurs when a person understands messages in a language they are learning. This understanding leads to subconscious and automatic language acquisition, which is inevitable and does not require conscious effort. The speaker also refutes the idea that speaking a language is a form of practice for language acquisition, instead asserting that the ability to speak emerges as a result of acquisition.

Keywords

💡Language Acquisition

Language acquisition refers to the process by which individuals gain the ability to understand and use a language. In the video, it is the central theme, with a focus on how people naturally acquire language as opposed to learning it consciously. The script discusses the subconscious nature of acquisition and how it differs from the conscious process of learning grammar rules.

💡Acquisition Learning Hypothesis

The Acquisition Learning Hypothesis is a fundamental concept in the video that suggests there are two distinct ways to improve in a language: acquiring and learning. Acquisition is described as a subconscious process that occurs naturally, while learning is a conscious effort to understand the rules of language. The hypothesis is foundational to the video's exploration of how language is best acquired.

💡Subconscious Process

A subconscious process is one that happens without conscious awareness. In the context of the video, language acquisition is a subconscious process where individuals improve their language skills without necessarily being aware that they are doing so. Examples from the script include reading a book or listening to a conversation where language acquisition occurs without deliberate effort.

💡Language Acquisition Device

The term 'Language Acquisition Device' (LAD) refers to the innate capacity in humans to acquire language. The video suggests that this ability never shuts off and is present throughout a person's life. It is the mechanism that allows for subconscious language learning, as discussed in the script when explaining how acquisition occurs naturally.

💡Learning

In the video, 'learning' is contrasted with 'acquisition' as a conscious process of gaining knowledge about language, such as memorizing grammar rules or vocabulary lists. Learning is important but is presented as less critical than acquisition for achieving fluency and accuracy in a language.

💡Fluency

Fluency in language refers to the ability to speak or write with ease and without hesitation. The video emphasizes that fluency is primarily a result of language acquisition rather than learning. It is illustrated in the script by the idea that speaking a language emerges naturally after a period of understanding input.

💡Accuracy

Accuracy in language use refers to the correct application of grammar and vocabulary. The video argues that accuracy, like fluency, is largely a product of acquisition rather than learning. It is supported by the idea that the subconscious mind can pick up on correct language use during the acquisition process.

💡Comprehensible Input

Comprehensible Input is a key concept in the video that describes the type of language exposure necessary for language acquisition to occur. It is input that learners can understand, which triggers the language acquisition process. The script explains that acquisition takes place when learners understand messages in the target language.

💡Pedagogy

Pedagogy refers to the method and practice of teaching. In the video, the presenter reflects on the pedagogical implications of the Acquisition Learning Hypothesis, suggesting that a balanced program of acquisition and learning may not be as effective as focusing primarily on providing comprehensible input for acquisition.

💡Grammatical Sequencing

Grammatical Sequencing is a teaching method where language structures are taught in a predetermined order based on their complexity. The video challenges this approach, arguing that it may not be necessary and could be harmful to language acquisition. Instead, the script suggests that providing a rich source of comprehensible input is more beneficial.

💡Silent Period

The Silent Period is a phase in second language acquisition where learners do not speak the new language for an extended period, despite being exposed to it. The video uses the concept to illustrate that speaking is a result of acquisition and not its cause, as speech emerges naturally after a period of understanding input.

Highlights

The presentation is divided into three parts: theoretical work, application, and difficulties in applying language acquisition theory.

The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis suggests two distinct ways of improving language skills: acquisition and learning.

Acquisition is a subconscious process that occurs without conscious awareness, unlike learning which is conscious.

Language acquisition is a universal experience that happens without realizing it, such as when reading or listening.

The ability to subconsciously acquire language does not diminish with age and is always present.

Learning is the conscious knowledge of language structures, such as grammar rules, which is different from acquisition.

Language acquisition is more important than learning for fluency and accuracy in language use.

The theory suggests that language is acquired through comprehensible input, not through learning grammar rules or memorizing vocabulary lists.

Speaking a language is a result of acquisition, not a method to practice or improve language skills.

Comprehensible input leads to the natural development of language abilities, including speaking.

The traditional grammatical sequencing in language classes may not be necessary and could be harmful to acquisition.

Language acquisition occurs when learners understand messages in the target language, leading to subconscious and automatic learning.

The presenter argues that all people acquire language in the same way, despite individual differences in learning styles.

The presenter admits disappointment in discovering the primacy of acquisition over learning, given their background in grammar.

The theory emphasizes the importance of providing a rich source of comprehensible input for language learning.

Grammatical sequencing may create problems for learners who miss classes or need different types of input.

The presenter concludes that comprehensible input is more effective than grammatical sequencing for language acquisition.

The traditional language class approach of focusing on specific grammar points may be less effective than providing varied and rich input.

The presenter suggests that the goal of language classes should be to maximize comprehensible input for both fluency and accuracy.

Transcripts

doing this a few minutes is to briefly

go over some of the fundamental concepts

in I work in language acquisition I'm

going to divide the presentation into

three unequal parts first our

theoretical work and I'll be going

through four basic hypotheses about

language acquisition then I'll be

talking about briefly about the

application and today I'll be focusing

mostly on the elementary level beginning

a level language class and finally I'll

take a few minutes and discuss why even

though I think the theory is correct

even though the theory is proved very

fruitful their difficulties in applying

it and I'll say that some of the

difficulties come from our students and

some of them come from us too the theory

the theory begins the cornerstone of the

theory is a hypothesis that we've called

the acquisition learning hypothesis it

says that we have two very different

ways of going about the job of getting

better in another language you can

acquire language you can learn language

and they're very different acquisition

are described as a subconscious process

and subconscious really means two things

means first of all while you're

acquiring you don't always know you're

acquiring it goes on below your level of

awareness for example you're reading a

book you're listening to a conversation

you're listening to presentation such as

this one you are of course listening to

the presentation you are reading the

book but without realizing it at the

same time you might be acquiring second

once you're finished acquiring you're

not always aware that anything has

happened a good demonstration of this is

the universal experience we've had of

hearing someone make a mistake in our

own language now when you hear someone

make a mistake in your own language very

rarely can you tell exactly what rule

was broken when I hear someone make a

mistake in English for example my first

language most of the time I can tell

what rule is broken I have a PhD in

linguistics which in grammar in fact

which some people find a strange thing

to have studied but even despite all

this training in grammar I can't always

tell exactly what rule was

instead I have a feeling that something

is wrong but I can't quite put my finger

on it that feeling for correctness that

feeling for language is what we call

language acquisition we think everyone

can acquire language everyone can pick

up language subconsciously children

acquire the first languages children

acquire second languages adults acquire

language the ability to subconsciously

pick up language does not disappear when

you enter school it does not disappear

when you become a teenager it doesn't

disappear when you get older it's with

us forever we think the language

acquisition device never shuts off very

different from acquisition is what we

call learning that's what most of us did

in school learning is knowing about

language conscious knowledge of language

in English public schools for example we

learned that a noun is the name of a

person place thing or idea we learn that

the subject and the verb is supposed to

agree this is conscious language

learning language acquisition and

language learning are very very

different in fact I think very different

psychological processes are involved of

the to acquisition and learning the

research has been telling me that

acquisition is far more important here's

how we think they interrelate when

you're about to say something in another

language and it's easy to see in a

language you don't speak very well if

you can put yourself in that position

when you come out with a sentence easily

it comes from what you've acquired not

from what you've learned all the rules

that you learned in school do only one

thing for you they act as a monitor or

an editor so let's say you've picked up

you've learned a little French in school

you speak French as a low intermediate

you're about to have a conversation in

French the sentence you're about to say

pops into your mind from your

subconscious somewhere then just before

you say it the theory says you scan it

you look at it you inspect it you think

of the rules you learned in school and

you make corrections this isn't I should

emphasize that simply an idea that

came from the ivory tower it's based on

research and the evidence for it is in

technical books and journals in the

professional literature but also happens

to correspond with the intuitions that

many people have about what happens to

them when they try to speak other

languages rather than go through all the

research now that I prefer to do is talk

immediately a little about the pedagogy

what went through my mind eleven years

ago when I first thought of this idea

that there are these two processes and

they're related in this certain way my

original idea was this and I thought it

was good common sense acquisition gives

us our fluency learning gives us our

accuracy it's an attractive idea we have

two components they make two very

different kinds of contributions clearly

we want both we want language students

to speak easily and fluently but we also

want the grammar to be there we don't

want a grammar list pidgin so what I

thought then is what we need is a

balanced program two days a week

acquisition two days a week learning two

days a week conversation two days a week

grammar now that sounds very fair the

truth must be somewhere in the middle it

has intuitive appeal unfortunately it's

wrong fact it's all wrong what the

research has been telling me for the

last ten plus years no matter where you

turn no matter where you look the

important role is with acquisition

acquisition gives us fluency and

accuracy for the adults for the analytic

thinking grammar loving adult it's at

least 95 percent acquisition possibly

more for the for the child it's a

hundred percent and I'd also like to

admit this to you no one was more

disappointed to discover this than me as

I mentioned briefly at the beginning of

this discussion my graduate look was in

grammar my PhD is in grammar like many

language teachers today

I love grammar my life used to revolve

around grammar my best friends

Marion's I love to discuss relative

clauses the problem is that that's not

how language acquisition happens

language acquisition does not happen by

learning grammar rules by memorizing

vocabulary lists this leads them to our

major point if acquisition is more

important than learning we must ask how

it happens how do we help people acquire

language this is of course the major

theoretical point for the universities

and it's also the major pedagogical

point if acquisition is more important

than learning that's what we want to

have happen in our classrooms let me

begin this discussion by making what may

appear to be an outrageous claim I think

we all acquire language in exactly the

same way the reason this is an

outrageous thing to say is that these

days in education as many of you have

been validly noticed we're living in an

age of individual variation we're very

concerned with how our students are

different not how our students are the

same we're concerned about individual

variation and cognitive style and

learning style which side of the brain

people are using etc there's a lot of

very good research and individual

variation nevertheless there are some

things we all do the same and language

is one of them it says fundamental as

universal as breathing as eating as

walking we all do it and we all acquire

it the same way the role we acquire

language is amazingly simple we acquire

language when we understand messages

when people speak to us in another

language and we understand what they say

where we read something in another

language and we understand the message

language acquisition will take place in

fact it's an amazing thing language

acquisition takes place necessarily it's

unavoidable

you can't help it given messages people

understand what we call comprehensible

input the language acquisition device

goes to work it happens subconsciously

automatically and inevitably some of you

will recognize some of these ideas from

he's philosophizing especially from his

book reflections on language my

contribution to the Chomsky way of

thinking is to claim that not only is

there language acquisition that works in

children but it works for second

languages as well and as I mentioned in

the beginning of the talk

it doesn't degenerate its function is

full to the end of our lives okay so we

acquire language when we understand it

this major idea of comprehensible input

has two corollaries one corollary has to

do with speaking speaking talking is not

practicing the ability to speak another

language is a result of acquiring it not

its cause for example if you want to

improve your English it will not help

you to speak English to yourself as you

drive to work in the morning in your car

if you want to improve your French it

will not help you to close the bathroom

door and speak French to the mirror I

used to think those things help now I'm

convinced they don't the ability to

speak a language is a result of getting

language acquisition not its cause if

you are if we in fact you can look at

your own experience to see that this is

so if you've ever been a student in a

language class you can see this if you

give adults comprehensible input if they

understand the messages in a good

language class after a week or two 10 15

hours on the average my experience has

been that talking simply comes it

emerges on its own you literally can't

hold it back unless there's some kind of

brach which we'll talk about later

again evidence for this is all over the

theoretical literature in my opinion

many of us have have practical

experiences which demonstrate that it so

as well children who come to countries

immigrant children for example limited

English Proficient students in the

United States for example typically when

they arrive they don't start speaking

right away there's usually a period of

several months until they start talking

well we typically see then when children

do start to speak is that their speech

follows a certain natural development

and language acquisition certain things

come earlier

things tend to come in the middle

certain things come later and after a

year or so they're typically if they're

in an input rich situation speaking

fairly well when they start to speak

it's not the beginning of their language

acquisition when they start to speak

it's the result of the comprehensible

input they've gotten over the few months

of what we call their silent period

another corollary of this important idea

of comprehensible input has to do with

the kind of input we present to people

we have in language classes the

principle of grammatical sequencing

we're all familiar with this for example

in our first week of language class

everything is in the present tense we

can only talk about objects in the room

what we're doing at this time at this

moment in class suddenly at the end of

the first month we become obsessed with

the past we can only talk about last

week and last year eventually we can

always in third month you can only talk

about the future what will you do when

you finish school etc we call this

grammatical sequencing and its goal is

to aid in the acquisition of grammar the

theory says it has exactly the opposite

impact the major sub hypothesis says

that if we give people comprehensible

input and we give them a lot of it

grammatical sequencing is not only not

necessary it's probably harmful let me

repeat that a major goal of language

class is not just to practice to bring

about grammatical fluency and students

it's also to get the maximum level of

grammatical accuracy my position is that

the way to do this is to give students a

great deal of comprehensible input

they'll produce both fluency and

accuracy the theory says that if enough

growth enough input is present if

there's a rich source of comprehensible

input all the rules that the students

are ready to acquire examples of all

these rules will be there in the input

if you compare I think the grammatical

sequencing has insurmountable problems

that

rinsable input handles with ease let me

just give you the feeling for a couple

of these problems let's say you're

taking a standard language class say

it's French and it's at the beginning

level and today is past tense day

today's the day we're going to review

the past tense in your absence you're

sick you can't come to class something's

wrong

well the way we currently teach language

it's too bad you've missed the past

tense you've gotta wait till next year

when we go through the whole language

syllabus again with comprehensible input

that's not a problem

if you miss class 1 they don't worry

come back tomorrow you'll hear more

comprehensible input you will hear more

of the rule that you happen to be ready

for no matter what that rule is you'll

see it in the readings it's the same

idea as the well-balanced diet as

compared to single doses of individual

vitamins with a much better chance of

supplying the student exactly what he or

she needs probably the worst problem

though with the grammatical syllabus is

that it's boring