Developing an Integrated SLA Theory - Research Paper Example

Developing an Integrated SLA Theory In the recent past, the issues of SLA have been disregarded stead of people looking into them so as to identify a broader and clear way of acquisition. According to Vygotskian, social, cultural theory entails the development and advancement of the human cognitive and advanced psychological function. The theory particularly asserts on the interaction of social, biological and cultural factors learning processes. The theory emphasizes that the social and cultural circumstances play a significant role in the development of the social cognitive skills. Based on this theory, Second language acquisition is mainly concerned the process of acquiring a new language other than the inborn language and how the process is affected by other disciplines such as the social-cultural theories. The theory offers a clear reflection from a new perception, on some of the challenges that people face during new language acquisition. It offers some pedagogical suggestions for foreign linguistic teaching. However according to Moore and Kearsly (1996), foreign language educators ought to maintain three types of interactions: learner- content, learner-tutor and learner-learner. According to Krashen’s theory on second language acquisition, comprehensible input and interactions are crucial. Interactions facilitate practice that has the advantage of enhancing the acquisition and fluency of the foreign language. This paper makes attempts to expound Social-Cultural Theory’s paradigms, its influence on second language acquisition and the tutorial suggestions for foreign language coaching (Vygotsky, 1978). Key words: foreign language teaching, socio-cultural theory, higher mental function, second language acquisition, Introduction SLA Theories Krashen’s theory An overview of main second language acquisition theories that reveal that advance of the concepts of comprehensible input, understandable output, and interactions are significant in the second language acquisition. Many theories contain diverse views on the ways of ensuring interactions and the role it plays in the second language acquisition. Krashen’s theory (1985, 1994) has since becoming the most predominant theory in the acquisition of a second language and teaching exercise. According to the theory, SLA is determined by the extent of the compressible input during teaching. It asserts that the one-way contribution in the second language that is not only understandable but also at the level is just beyond the existing language proficiency of learners. The theory asserts that the prediction upon which learners acquire the notions of the second language relays of the method they get and understand the messages. Krashen’s (1994) offers the strategies that teachers of foreign languages can embrace to make language information easily comprehensible. They ought to ensure linguistic simplification, and the use of regalia, visuals, images, portraits, graphic organizers and other present ESOL approaches. Just like the Vygotsky’s “zone of proximal development” (1962), the scaffolding theory by Krashen’s is known as i+1, that is, second language is acquired unconsciously and in a manner similar to the acquisition of the first language (Krashen, 1994). Integrationist theory The Krashen (1994) believes that the compressible input is a major critical approach to the second language acquisition. However take the integrationist position to acknowledge the effect of the two-way in information. According to Pica (1994), Long (1985) and others, conversational interaction enables SLA under certain environments. According to Lightbrown and Spada (1999), giving learners the opportunity to engage in significant activities can compel them to negotiate for meaning, to express and seek clarification on their intentions. It also offers an enabling environment for putting through thought and opinions about what they are learning. Therefore, according to their postulation, the approach offers a way to arrive at mutual understandings that are particularly essential when the learners are working together to achieve a particular goal. Pica (1994) goes on to say that negotiation to define as the alteration and restructuring that happens when learners and their tutors anticipate, identify, or experience challenges in message comprehensibility. These modifications may involve certain things such as the simplification of linguistic as well as the conversational modifications. Conversational modifications entail actions such as reiteration, interpretation and confirmation checks that are mainly used to achieve understanding. When learning becomes negotiable, input comprehensibility is improved since learners tend to emphasis on noticeable linguistic features (Susan & Selinker 2008). Socio-Cultural Theory (SCT) Other integrationist theories base their arguments on the Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory of human mental processing to define the essence of communication in SLA. According to Lightbrown and Spada (1999), learners of a second language tend to advance their understanding on the language when they associate with people who have more experience and are talkers of the language, for example, their teachers and peers. Based on the (Vygotsky, 1962) scaffolding structures for example modeling, language simplification and repetition that are used by more competed speakers assist a lot in offering support to learners. They enable them to work and function well within their zones for continuous development. In all the integrationist theories, both input and output from the learner is vital in SLA. However, they are often classifies as secondary as they serves to strengthen and enhance the primary inputs in SLA according to Swain (1995). They serve to increase fluency, create awareness of the linguistic knowledge gaps, and provide opportunitys to exercise the language within its forms and structures. It also helps in obtaining feedback others about the language use and the ways to improve it. Hence, in linguistic, compressible output assists learners in putting across meaning while at the same time offering new challenges. The challenges push the learners to adjust their output since they are forced into a more mental processing for comprehension (Lantolf& Thorne, 2006) In summation, therefore, integrationist elaborate on the annalist concept of compressible information clarifying that communication, is fabricated via exchanges of both comprehensible input and output. As a result, when meaning is negotiated, support structures are used are enhanced. Based on this principle, social-cultural factors ought to be put into consideration when imposing new designs in enhancing second language acquisition. Social- cultural theory is based on the growth of the human brain that is, cognitive and advanced mental function. The theory postulates that the development of the human brain originates through social interactions and participation in social events; that involve mental and communicative skills. Individuals are made to utilize of these skills in the ways that cultivate and scaffold them. According the theory, children get their first language by the process of meaning making through collaborative work with other members of the community. The theory asserts that learning is embedded in the social setup hence as person interact with others and the environment, same principles of the first language can be applicable in SLA (Vygotsky, 1978) SLA is concerned with methods individuals tend to gain a certain language other their original language. According to Grass and Selinker, it is defined as the study of how learners create new linguistic systems with limited disclosure to the second language. It therefore the study of what is learned what is not learned; it is the study of why most second language learners do not achieve the same degree of acquaintance and competence in a second language as they do in their innate language. It major deals with identifying the reasons why some learners seem to achieve native like proficiency in different languages. All over the few past years, SLA has been debated from different viewpoints. One of these is behaviorism that suggests that learning language takes place through a sequence of inducements and reactions and that all learning is the formation of habits as a result of strengthening. Behaviorists believe that no learning occurs if there lacks changes in the behavior of an individual. They attribute this to the ignorance of the learner to the inaccessible mental processes and focus on notable behavior (Gass & Selinker, 2008) Constructs of Socio-Cultural Theory (SCT) and Their Role in SLA Therefore, SLA from the above entails complete mental processes as provides a rational comprehension of the learning techniques involved. According to Skinner, language is an uttered behavior and that the creation and comprehension of what one says are automatic. According to him, language learners can be made to produce and understand a language automatically without much support from others. It offers theoretical backing to teaching techniques and proposes a range of suitable training strategies that boost learning. Socio-Cultural Theory (SCT) therefore based on the contribution of the society in the acquisition of language. It attempts to depict the interrelation of cognitive and social factors in the acquisition of a second language. The theory was brought into the field of SLA by researchers such as Lantolf & Thorne. The theory majorly bases on the cognitive development and particularly emphasizes social, biological and cultural factors integration. It stipulates that the socio-cultural conditions play a crucial role in the development of social cognitive skills and are the process of developing an advanced mental functioning. Mental functioning according to this theory is the process by which people internalize or tend to regulate what they learn from the society via the arbitration of symbolic tools. It entails different stages of continuous development during which language develops from socially based speech to private speech and then eventually to inner speech or verbal thought (Vygotsky, 1978). Mediation and SLA Mediation is a principal that serves in uniting all the other factor of SCT. It is primarily rooted on the view that human beings do not act directly to the world but rather embrace the use of cognitive skills and material activities which are mediated by linguistic tools. According to SCT, Mediation is a central principle in language acquisition because language is a cultural artifact that mediates social and psychological activities. Second language acquisition is a practice of mediation in which entails three categories of mediation. They include which Other-mediation majorly dwells on the interaction of students with their peers. To encourage this, teacher ought to supply students with proper scaffoldings and offer support to students learning English as their second language. In SLA, Self-medication has a diverse of concepts which play roles such as met-cognition purpose, practice purpose and internalization purpose. Therefore, in English language acquisition, individuals can develop their cognitive capability, develop their competence of using the English language and internalize it by speaking to themselves. Gestures, on the other hand, are observed as the other method of private speech, which can be used to enhance the oral private speech especially in direct conversation or in telephone calls. In second language acquisition, tutors ought to try to embrace the socio-cultural environment and first language to increase the English language (Ehrich &Vygotskian, 2006). Internalization and SLA According to Lantolf and Thorne, internalization is the development of the ability to carry out complex cognitive and mental functions by increasingly becoming less reliant to outside mediations. Lantilf claimed that, through internalization, social activities involving people and cultural artifacts transform the inner brain activities. Self-internalization can be improved by imitation of the immediate language pattern in the learner’s linguistic background. Therefore, tutors ought to provide an encouraging environment for students learning English by emphasizing on internalization. According to studies, imitation has proven viable to people learning English as a second language. This is attributed to the fact that internalization suggests the embrace of enhancing interactions among the English learning students. Hence, following the importance of communication among the students, it is also essential that tutors realize that the design of expert is not restricted to that of a tutor, but it can also be applied to those learners who have adopted an aspect of the English language (Lantolf, 2000). Verbal Thought and SLA According to SCT, language acquisition concerns language purpose development, mental function and combination of language and thoughts. In general, the process entails all the processes through which a social speech can develop into a high level inner speech commonly known as verbal understanding. As stated earlier in the paper, language acquisition involved language meaning development, mental purpose development and the combination of linguistic and understanding. Everybody ought to have the fundamental level of language and mental function. According to the theory, both speech and thought are a combination that is developed into an advanced mental function. The theory asserts that the combinations are completed via taking part in social communication and collective activities. Hence, advanced level of inner speech development in English language acquisition ought to come from the social communication and other shared events. In summation, the verbal in SCT entails the process by which an individual changes the external speech to gradually internalize and combine it with though by means of communication (Vygotsky, 1978). Regulation Regulation usually refers to the process by which people control the process on an activity by use of rules. In the Socio-Cultural Theory, however, it is a form of mediation which involves the capacity of people to regulate their personal doings via linguistic approaches. It is achieved by taking part in the community activities that involve both mental and physical application. According to the theory, the process of developing a self-regulatory move takes three steps. First, many people and especially children require the use of object-regulation to push them to think. The stage entails the use of familiar objects within the environmental setup to pose a challenge. Secondly, regulation can also base on other things which include both the implicit and explicit mediation by parents teachers and other people within the society. It comprises of different stages of assistance and direction which is usually referred to as scaffolding. The process also entails the development of skill of self-regulation. It is the accomplishment of activities with minimal assistance or supervision from people. Based on the theory, self-regulation is attained by internalization of the linguistic features (Lantolf, 2000) Many theorists who work primarily with the second language acquisition have discovered that the great deal of language learning takes place through social interactions. However, they have also realized that the structure too relays on the interlocutors who adjust their speech to make it more understandable to students. The essence of any language is to be able to communicate one feeling and thought to other people. The concept of communication is one of the bases of the SCT in language learning. According to SCT the best way to learn English is to encourage more socialization among students with others and the English speakers. Tutors ought to ensure that the interaction is within the context of learning to improve internalization. The best way to learn English is ideally the place it is used and the speakers of the language. In context setting, English can be learned better through social activities in the classroom that call for cultural context of the language. Majorly interaction enables learners to put into action the English skills they learn in the classrooms. Through such interactions, the learners are able to get what they do not know and also perfect their knowledge via exercise (Ehrich &Vygotskian, 2006). Apart from the classroom setting, there are other factors that contribute greatly to the improvement of the English language. Tutors ought to encourage story telling sessions within their tuition. SCT suggests that they are supposed to present a set of related pictures to learners from which the learners ought to generate a story by describing what they see in the pictures. Tutors ought to give learners with opportunities to make decisions or make options on their own. While they are determining on what to do with the circumstances given to them, they instinctively say out loud the things that go on in their minds. This situation given out to be realistic and within the learners experience for that it may push for resolution. The intention of this activity is to push learners to think in the language (English) they are acquiring and make it unconscious. Tutors according to the theory can also arrange for an English language out where the learners are going to meet with speakers who do not understand their native language. The learner and the speaker can arrange for activities that they both can do such as playing some sport or having lunch together. The activity is intended to force learners to talk in the English (Ehrich &Vygotskian, 2006). In summation, Vygotsky’s SCT stipulate that social interactions and supportive learning is crucial in the formation of not only cognitive but also emotional images in the learners mind. The SCT theory asserts that learning SLA takes place as a result of collective experience offered in the social setting. Another major belief in the structure of SCT is the idea that learning occurs well through interaction between students and speakers. The theory offers ways teachers can embrace to solve foreign linguistic problems linguistic problems by helping them discover and create task and activities that can simplify language learning to make it proficient. The theory is also beneficial in the fact that it not only makes learning interactive but also provides an avenue through which students can channel their views about the learning process. According to SLA, human learning is a mutual interaction of mental, behavioral and ecological factors. Therefore, SCT offers a new outlook on the process of SLA, in which learners are stimulated or required to think as well as express in the objective language, this is to imply that language and thought should be closely linked with each other. The basis for this connection exists in social communication activities. Hence, the embrace of SCT in the learning and teaching of English is going to change the overall set up since it entails engagement and participation of the learner and the tutor (Vygotsky, 1978). Work Cited Ehrich, J. F. Vygotskian inner speech and the reading process. Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 6(3).12-25. Jun.2006. Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008)Second language acquisition, Taylor & Francis, Routledge, Oxon. Krashen, S. (1994). The input hypothesis and its rivals. In N. Ellis (Ed.) Implicit and explicit learning of languages. (p. 45-77). London: Academic Press. Lantolf, J. P. & Thorne, S. L., (2006) Socio-cultural theory and the genesis of second language development, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Lantolf, J. P. (2000). Sociocultural theory and second language learning, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Susan Gass and Larry Selinker (2008). Second Language Acquisition, NY & London: Routeledge Vygotsky, L., (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, Read More