Stephen Krashen on Language Acquisition

Summary

In this presentation, the speaker addresses the crucial question of how we acquire language, challenging the focus on individual variation. They argue that language acquisition is universal, drawing parallels to consistent processes like digestion. The speaker illustrates this through two German lessons, emphasizing that understanding comprehensible input, not repetitive or isolated practice, is key. They highlight the Input Hypothesis, suggesting that meaningful, anxiety-free interaction fosters language learning. The Affective Filter Hypothesis is also discussed, noting that low anxiety, high motivation, and self-esteem are essential for successful language acquisition.

Takeaways

• 📚 Language acquisition happens in the same way for everyone.
• 🤔 Emphasizing individual variation in education can overlook universal methods of learning.
• 🍽️ Just like digestion, some processes, like language acquisition, are universal.
• 🗣️ Speaking a language is not necessarily practicing; comprehension is key.
• 👂 The Input Hypothesis: we acquire language by understanding messages, or comprehensible input.
• 🖼️ Visual aids and context, like pictures and real-world knowledge, make language input comprehensible.
• 😌 Low anxiety environments are crucial for effective language acquisition.
• 👶 Silent periods in language learners are normal and expected.
• 💬 Conversation helps in language learning by providing comprehensible input.
• 🧠 The affective filter: high anxiety and low self-esteem can block language acquisition.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the presentation?

The main topic of the presentation is how we acquire language.

Why does the speaker consider the statement about acquiring language to be outrageous?

The speaker considers it outrageous because it contradicts the current emphasis on individual variation in education, asserting instead that we all acquire language the same way.

What examples of individual variation in education does the speaker mention?

The speaker mentions field dependent vs. field independent learners, left brain vs. right brain thinkers, and differences in cognitive styles between home and school cultures.

How does the speaker illustrate the concept of universal processes with examples?

The speaker uses the examples of digestion and the visual system, which function the same way for everyone regardless of individual differences.

What is the 'Input Hypothesis' as described by the speaker?

The Input Hypothesis states that we acquire language when we understand messages, known as comprehensible input.

Why does the speaker believe that lesson two is more effective than lesson one?

The speaker believes lesson two is more effective because it uses comprehensible input with visual aids and contextual clues to make the language understandable.

What does the speaker mean by 'talking is not practicing'?

The speaker means that speaking a language out loud without understanding input doesn't contribute to language acquisition; understanding comprehensible input does.

What role does the 'silent period' play in language acquisition?

The silent period is a phase where learners listen and understand comprehensible input before they start to speak, which is a normal and essential part of language acquisition.

What is the 'Affective Filter Hypothesis'?

The Affective Filter Hypothesis suggests that factors like motivation, self-esteem, and anxiety affect language acquisition. High anxiety and low self-esteem can block input from reaching the brain's language acquisition device.

How does the speaker summarize the key to language acquisition?

The speaker summarizes that we acquire language when we get comprehensible input in a low anxiety environment.

Outlines

00:00

🗣️ Language Acquisition: The Same for All

The speaker introduces the central issue of language education, questioning how language is acquired. They challenge the contemporary focus on individual differences by asserting that everyone acquires language in the same way, despite the current educational emphasis on individual variation. The speaker humorously dismisses past educational fads related to cognitive styles and brain hemisphere dominance, emphasizing commonalities in human functions like digestion and visual processing. They argue that the same uniformity applies to language acquisition, which they propose to demonstrate through sample language lessons in German. The first lesson is a monologue that doesn't facilitate learning, while the second involves interactive and visual aids, illustrating the ineffectiveness of mere repetition and the importance of comprehensible input for language learning.

05:03

📚 Comprehensible Input: The Key to Language Learning

Building on the idea that all people acquire language similarly, the speaker emphasizes 'comprehensible input' as the sole method of language acquisition. They argue that various teaching methods, including grammar instruction and computer-assisted learning, are less effective compared to understanding messages in the target language. The speaker uses the example of a Japanese child, Itomi, who despite not speaking for five months, eventually began to speak English fluently after absorbing comprehensible input from her surroundings. This illustrates that language acquisition is a process of internalizing understood messages rather than merely practicing speech. The speaker also refutes the notion that speaking a language is a form of practice that improves fluency, suggesting instead that speaking ability emerges naturally from acquired language competence.

10:06

🤯 The Affective Filter Hypothesis: Emotional Impact on Learning

The speaker delves into the Affective Filter Hypothesis, which posits that an individual's success in language acquisition is influenced by factors such as motivation, self-esteem, and anxiety. High motivation and self-esteem, along with low anxiety, are conducive to better language learning outcomes. The speaker suggests that for optimal language acquisition, anxiety should be eliminated, as it can act as a barrier, preventing comprehensible input from reaching the brain's Language Acquisition Device. They describe a scenario where a learner's defensive state due to low motivation or high anxiety can impede the language learning process. The speaker also acknowledges that while some level of anxiety can be beneficial for certain tasks, it is detrimental to language acquisition, where the focus should be on the message rather than on the learner's performance.

15:07

🌟 Summation: Comprehensible Input and Low Anxiety for Language Acquisition

In the concluding summary, the speaker encapsulates the essence of their presentation: language is acquired through comprehensible input in a low anxiety environment. They reiterate the importance of understanding the messages in the target language and the detrimental effect of high anxiety levels on the language learning process. The speaker's emphasis is on the conditions that facilitate natural language acquisition, highlighting the need for an environment that promotes understanding and minimizes stress, aligning with the principles of the Affective Filter Hypothesis.

Keywords

💡Language Acquisition

Language acquisition refers to the process by which humans gain the ability to perceive, produce, and use words to understand and communicate. In the script, it is highlighted as the central theme, emphasizing that all people acquire language in the same fundamental way through understanding messages, known as 'comprehensible input'.

💡Comprehensible Input

Comprehensible input is the idea that language is acquired when learners understand messages. This concept is crucial in the video as it is described as the only way we acquire language. The presenter demonstrates this through two German lessons, illustrating that meaningful and understandable input is key to learning a language.

💡Affective Filter Hypothesis

The Affective Filter Hypothesis suggests that emotional variables such as motivation, self-esteem, and anxiety can influence language acquisition. High anxiety or low self-esteem can act as a filter, blocking comprehensible input from being processed by the brain. This hypothesis underscores the importance of a low-anxiety environment for effective language learning.

💡Individual Variation

Individual variation refers to the differences among learners, such as cognitive styles and learning preferences. The script discusses how current educational trends emphasize these differences, but it argues that despite these variations, the fundamental process of language acquisition is the same for everyone.

💡Input Hypothesis

The Input Hypothesis, proposed by Stephen Krashen, asserts that language learners progress in their knowledge of the language when they understand language input that is slightly beyond their current level of competence. This concept is central to the video's argument that comprehensible input is the key to language acquisition.

💡Motivation

Motivation is the desire or willingness to do something. In the context of language acquisition, motivated learners are more likely to succeed. The video highlights motivation as a critical factor in the Affective Filter Hypothesis, where higher motivation leads to better language acquisition outcomes.

💡Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is one's sense of personal worth or value. In the video, higher self-esteem is linked to better language acquisition, as students with more confidence are more open to comprehensible input. The script emphasizes that self-esteem is a crucial component of the Affective Filter Hypothesis.

💡Anxiety

Anxiety in language learning can hinder the acquisition process. The video explains that lower anxiety levels are beneficial for language acquisition, as high anxiety can raise the affective filter, blocking the intake of comprehensible input. This concept is illustrated with examples of language learners in stressful situations.

💡Silent Period

The silent period is a phase during which language learners do not produce language but are actively processing and understanding input. The script describes a real-life example where a child named Itomi did not speak for five months but was acquiring language during this time, showing that speaking is not necessary for learning to occur initially.

💡Cognitive Style

Cognitive style refers to the preferred way an individual processes information. The script mentions how educational theories have shifted focus over the years, considering various cognitive styles. However, the main argument is that despite these differences, the process of language acquisition remains universally consistent through comprehensible input.

Highlights

The most important question in language education is how we acquire language.

An outrageous statement: we all acquire language the same way, despite individual variation in education.

Individual variation in learning styles has been a focus in education, but there are commonalities in language acquisition.

Digestion and the visual system are examples of universal human processes, suggesting commonalities in language acquisition.

Language acquisition is necessary for everyone, and the process may be more uniform than currently believed.

A demonstration of ineffective language teaching methods, such as repetition and writing, which do not aid in learning.

Effective language teaching involves comprehensible input and understanding messages, not just practicing speaking.

The importance of comprehensible input in language acquisition, which has been overlooked in traditional teaching methods.

The revelation that 'talking is not practicing' and its implications for language learning strategies.

The story of Itomi, illustrating the process of language acquisition through listening and comprehensible input over time.

The concept of a silent period in language learning, which is normal and beneficial for acquisition.

The role of speaking in language acquisition: it is not direct practice but a way to stimulate further input from others.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis, which posits that motivation, self-esteem, and anxiety levels affect language learning.

High anxiety can act as a barrier to language acquisition by preventing input from reaching the Language Acquisition Device.

Facilitative anxiety can be beneficial for certain tasks, but for language acquisition, it should be minimized.

The ultimate summary: language is acquired through comprehensible input in a low anxiety environment.

Transcripts

[I'd like] to begin my presentation this afternoon by talking about

what I think is the most important issue in language education

The most important question, and that is:

how do we acquire language?

And I'd like to begin this discussion,

this presentation, with an outrageous statement.

In my opinion we all acquire language the same way.

The reason this is an outrageous thing to say,

is that these days in education, we're living in an age of individual variation.

We're very concerned about how our students are different,

not how our students are the same.

Those who've been around in the field for a while, remember:

about 15-20 years ago, people were very concerned

about something called field dependent learners and field independent learners.

You give people a certain test and one group gets this treatment, one group gets the other.

Then, about 15 years ago,

it was left side of the brain, right side of the brain.

Some people are left hemisphere thinkers, some people are right hemisphere.

Then, about 10 years ago: cognitive style.

The cognitive style of the home culture differs from the cognitive style of the school culture.

We have a clash, etc.

Well, each of the examples I gave you is probably correct.

There is individual variation, and there is quite a bit of it.

Nevertheless, there are some things we all do the same.

Let me give you some examples.

Digestion: we all digest food the same.

No significant individual variation.

First you put it in your mouth, then you chew it up,

then it goes down your throat, then into your stomach.

That's how it's done everywhere.

That's how it's done in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa.

That's how it's done everywhere in the world.

The visual system is the same everywhere.

It's always the occipital lobe in the back of the brain.

It's never in the side of the brain. It's never in the front of the brain. It's never in the elbow.

It's done exactly the same everywhere you go.

By the way, I used to use sex as an example of things everyone does the same,

but some counter examples have been pointed out to me recently.

Actually, I saw this movie, if you really want to know the truth.

Anyway... We all require language the same.

And rather than just talk about it, I'd like to show you.

I'd like to take just a couple of minutes and give you some sample language lessons.

I'll use a language that I'm sure you've heard before and maybe some of you speak.

And you can tell me, which of these two, very brief lessons you like better.

Here's lesson number one:

Wir werden jetzt anfangen, Deutsch zu lernen.

Und ich möchte im Voraus sagen, das nach meiner Meinung:

Deutsch ist eine sehr schöne Sprache.

Und ich hoffe, dass Sie alle sehr viel Erfolg mit Deutsch haben werden.

What do you think? Good lesson so far?

Do you think if I kept talking to you like that, you'd pick up German?

Not very likely.

How about if I repeated it?

Would that help?

Probably not.

How about if I said it louder, would that help?

Probably not.

How about if I said it and you repeated it back?

Again, I don't think that would help.

How about if I wrote it out for you, and you could see it on your television screen?

That wouldn't help either.

How about if I wrote it out for you, and you copied it down?

How about if I read it out for you, and deleted every fifth word, and you try to guess what the word is?

The truth is that none of these things help,

none of these things mean anything.

And I hope you can see that now.

Here's lesson number two:

And for this, you have to watch me carefully!

Das ist meine Hand.

Verstehen Sie das, Hand?

Everyone say "Ja!".

I can hear you even though it's a TV audience.

Good!

Kopf.

Das ist mein Kopf.

Verstehen Sie Kopf? Ja? Gut!

Kopf.

And here I'll draw a picture now.

Kopf.

Ist gut, ja?

Schön.

Kopf.

Das ist Mr. Spock. Ja?

Mr. Spock hat zwei Ohren.

Ohren, verstehen Sie Ohren?

Er hat zwei Ohren.

Ok, Mr. Spock, ja ach nein, Entschuldigung.

Augen.

Verstehen Sie Augen? Augen.

Wie viele Augen? Eins, zwei, drei Augen.

Drei Augen.

Ist das richtig, drei Augen?

Nein!

Wir haben nur zwei Augen.

Mund.

Verstehen Sie Mund?

Und dann: hier ist eine Zigarette, ja?

Nein!

Zigaretten sind nicht gut.

If you understood lesson number two,

not every word, but more or less,

I did everything necessary to teach you German.

And now, I'm going to share with you the most important thing I have learned about language

Probably the best-kept secret in the profession.

We acquire language in one way and only one way:

when we understand messages.

We call this comprehensible input.

We acquire language when we understand what people tell us.

Not how they say it, but what they say.

Or when we understand what we read.

Comprehensible input, in my opinion,

has been the last resort of the language teaching profession.

We've tried everything else.

We've tried grammar teaching, drills and exercises, computers, etc.

But the only thing that seems to count, is getting messages you understand:

comprehensible input.

Now, one of the reasons lesson number two is better than lesson number one is:

we had Mr. Spock to help us out.

So anything that helps make input comprehensible,

pictures, knowledge of the world, realia, etc., helps language acquisition.

If comprehensible input is true,

what we call the Input Hypothesis is true,

other things follow from it.

And a very important corollary to the input hypothesis is this:

and this may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you,

certainly came as a surprise to me,

talking is not practicing.

"Talking is not practicing", what does this mean?

It means if you want to improve your Spanish,

it will not help you to speak Spanish out loud in the car, as you drive to work in the morning.

It will not help you to go to the bathroom, close the door, and speak Spanish to the mirror.

I used to think those things help,

now I think they don't.

On the other hand, if we were in a German class and we could hang together for a couple of weeks,

say an hour a day of German,

and I could keep the input light and lively, as in the second example,

you'd start to acquire German

It would come on its own.

And eventually you'd start to talk,

your speaking ability would emerge gradually.

Now, we have a lot of evidence that this is true.

And the evidence is in the professional literature,

in books, in journal papers, etc.

And if you're an insomniac, you're welcome to look at all that.

But rather than go through that,

I'd like instead to tell you a story that illustrates the same point.

I've used this story for a long time,

so those who've heard it before,

I've been using this for about 15 years, and the reason I keep staying with it,

is that it makes the point very well.

And I've decided, I've discovered, it's just about a universal experience.

What has happened to me has certainly happened to you.

And bear in mind, if you've heard it before, and you're tired of hearing it: think how I feel.

My experience took place in 1974, when I was briefly living in exile from California,

working at the City University of New York at Queens College,

as director of English as a second language.

And like everyone else in New York, we lived in a big apartment building.

And the apartment next door to us was owned by a Japanese company.

And every year there would be a new family in the apartment.

And every year there were the children who couldn't speak English.

And there I was:

director of English as a second language.

I will teach English to these children and brag about it to my friends.

So I remember going up to the little girl next door,

she was four years old, her name was Itomi.

And I didn't know about this material on language acquisition then. Nobody did.

And I thought then, the way you get people to acquire language, is you get them to practice talking

So I tried to get her to talk.

I'd say: "Itomi, talk to me!",

"Say good morning" , "Say hi!"

No response.

Well, clearly, I've decided, I've got to make this more concrete.

"Itomi, say ball!"

No response.

Well, obviously, I've got to break it down into its component parts.

Let's work on initial consonants!

"Say bah! Look at my lips!"

Again, no response.

There was a theory going around then, that a lot of people still believe,

that children don't really want to acquire language, you have to kind of force it out of them.

So I tried that: "I won't give you the ball until you say ball!"

That didn't work either.

No matter what I said, Itomi wouldn't speak.

She didn't say anything the first week,

she didn't say anything the second week,

the first month,

the second month,

five months until she started to speak.

Actually, that's not entirely true,

children during this stage do pick up certain expressions from the other children in the neighborhood.

It's not real language.

They understand approximately what they mean.

Again, it's not real language.

They have a rough idea what it means, they use it in roughly appropriate situations.

Things like: "Leave me alone!", "Get out of here!"

In fact one child I knew, the only thing he could say was "I kick your ass", said it everywhere

He wasn't quite sure what it meant.

After about five months, Itomi started to speak,

and several things were interesting about her language.

First, it looked a lot like first language acquisition,

the same process our children went through.

One word, two words, gradually getting more complicated.

Second, it came quickly.

By the time Itomi and her family went back to Japan, at the end of the year

her English was closing in on the way the other children in the neighborhood were talking.

The question is this: what was going on during those five months?

She was listening.

She was picking out comprehensible input.

When she started to speak,

it was not the beginning of her language acquisition.

Let me repeat that:

when she started to speak, it was not the beginning of her language acquisition.

It was the result of all the comprehensible input she had gotten over those five months.

Now, a silent period for a child in a situation like this, is not pathological,

it's normal.

It's what you'd expect.

You'd like to have a silent period, wouldn't you?

How would it be, if you had to study another language,

but you went to a class, where you didn't have to say anything?

Doesn't that sound wonderful?

You can talk all you want, you can raise your hand, you can volunteer,

but no one is going to call on you, no one is going to put you on the spot.

Also, in this perfect class, if the input is incomprehensible,

it's the teacher's fault, not yours?

That's how we're doing it now,

and the results we're getting aren't a little better than other methods,

they're actually much, much better.

Before I leave this topic, let me put in a brief commercial message for speaking.

I'm not opposed to speaking, I think when students speak it's fine.

But what counts in speaking is not what you say,

but what the other person says to you.

In other words when you get involved in conversation,

what counts is the input that you can stimulate from other people.

So I'm in favor of students speaking,

but we have to understand it makes an indirect;

a helpful, but indirect contribution to language acquisition.

I'd like to discuss one more hypothesis before we move on to literacy,

and this is a very important one,

called the Affective Filter Hypothesis.

Our research in language acquisition has concluded that

there are several factors that relate to success in language acquisition,

and I'm going to list them here on your screen.

One factor is motivation.

Students, who are more motivated, do better in language acquisition.

Of those of you who study this, know that it's a little more complicated than this,

but this is a good approximation.

Second: self-esteem.

Probably the dominant concept today in popular psychology.

Students with more self-esteem, more self-confidence do better in language acquisition.

Third: anxiety.

And here, the correlations are negative:

the lower the anxiety, the better the language acquisition.

In fact my hypothesis is,

for language acquisition to really succeed, anxiety should be zero.

This has happened to you.

Have you ever been in a situation,

speaking a language that you may not speak very well,

when the conversation gets so interesting, you temporarily forget

that you're using another language.

If this is happening to you,

that's when you're acquiring.

When your focus is completely on the message, what the other person is saying,

and your anxiety is temporarily gone.

By the way as an important footnote to this - I guess today we say sidebar.

As a sidebar to all this:

I'm not sure that zero anxiety is right for everything.

I'm sure it's good for a lot of things, but I'm not quite sure how far to push this.

Speaking to you as a college teacher, speaking to you as a parent, I'm not all that free and easy.

I think there are certain things in school, children absolutely must learn.

I think my students at the University of Southern California should suffer.

We have hard classes.

Tough requirements. You don't do the work, you're out.

I finally learned what they tried to teach us in educational psychology:

the amount of drive or anxiety necessary to accomplish a task,

depends on the task.

Sometimes what we call facilitative anxiety is okay.

I don't believe in torture, but sometimes a little anxiety is okay.

Language acquisition though, is different.

For language acquisition to succeed, anxiety has to be directed somewhere else, not at the language.

Frank Smith puts it this way: for the child to develop literacy, the child has to assume that she's going to be successful.

The way we integrate this into the theory is like this:

if the student isn't motivated, if self-esteem is low, if anxiety is high,

if the student is on the defensive,

if the student thinks the language class is a place where his weaknesses will be revealed,

he may understand the input,

but it won't penetrate.

It won't reach those parts of the brain that do language acquisition.

A block keeps it out.

We call this block the affective filter.

Here's how it works:

somewhere in the brain, Chomsky tells us, is a Language Acquisition Device.

Our job is to get input into the device.

So that's input here.

Low motivation, low self-esteem, high anxiety: the block goes up, the filter goes up,

and the input cannot get in.

This explains how it can be that we can have two children in the same class,

both getting comprehensible input,

one makes progress, the other doesn't.

One is open to the input, the other is closed.

Let me now try to summarize everything I've said in the last 10-15 minutes or so.

And I'll summarize it in one sentence.

And we'll wonder why it took me that long.

We acquire language in one way,

and only one way.

When we get comprehensible input,

in a low anxiety environment.