Stephen Krashen's theories on language acquisition - THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS

We will soon have an online seminar with Professor Krashen and are
reviewing some of his ideas now. - Dave

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There are five key hypotheses about second language acquisition:

4. THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS

The input hypothesis answers the question of how a language acquirer
develops comptency over time. It states that a language acquirer who is
at "level i" must receive comprehensible input that is at "level i+1."
"We acquire, in other words, only when we understand language that
contains structure that is 'a little beyond' where we are now." This
understanding is possible due to using the context of the language we
are hearing or reading and our knowledge of the world.

However, instead of aiming to receive input that is exactly at our i+1
level, or instead of having a teacher aim to teach us grammatical
structure that is at our i+1 level, we should instead just focus on
communication that is understandable. If we do this, and if we get
enough of that kind of input, then we will in effect be receiving and
thus acquiring out i+1. "Prduction ability emerges. It is not taught
directly."

Evidences for the input hypothesis can be found in the effectiveness of
caretaker speech from an adult to a child, of teacher-talk from a
teacher to a language student, and of foreigner-talk from a sympathetic
conversation partner to a language learner/acquirer. 

One result of this hypothesis is that language students should be given
a initial "silent period" where they are building up acquired competence
in a language before they begin to produce it.

Whenever language acquirers try to produce language beyond what they
have acquired, they tend to use the rules they have already acquired
from their first language, thus allowing them to communicate but not
really progress in the second language.

Part Five coming tomorrow...






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