Академический Документы
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ELT 5011
15.10.2015
It is widely believed that there are a lot of issues which must be considered in language
teaching. Practice is undoubtedly the main issue. Teachers must give importance to practice in
their classes to help the students to acquire the input and skills of the language. It is also
suggested that teacher design their syllabus according to the theories based upon English
Language Teaching. Six of these theories and their perception of practice will be examined in
this paper.
First of all, Behaviourist Theorists accept learning as conditioning and habit formation.
Learning a new language is a kind of behaviour for them, and design of the classroom activities
are based on behavioural change and habit formation. They also focus on the term “operant
conditioning”. When the students perform very well, the teacher reinforces this performance by
praise or approval. Accordingly, the student repeats that and performs in the same way again.
Behaviourists explain this relationship as “stimuli” and “response”. It is also asserted that the
children imitate what they hear. If they get positive feedback in the process of imitation and
Secondly, Universal Grammar focuses on the features “marked” and “unmarked”. While
marked rules are typical language features, unmarked ones are universal and available in all the
languages. This theory implies that rules or word order are innate. We are automatically
programmed to acquire these rules and structures. In addition, this theory emphasizes there is a
link between application and language learning. If the students apply these rules in practice,
they will be able to acquire the input. Unlike Behaviourists, the claim reinforcement is not
Krashen focuses on the significance of input and acquisition. He claims that a student
needs comprehensible input through classroom activities in order to acquire a language. When
he/she gets an idea about the grammar, the input will be easily received. Moreover, students
should be exposed to second language as much as they can. The more they are exposed to, the
better they will practice. On the other hand, if they are anxious and unmotivated, the process of
acquisition will be blocked. The students must be self confident and play an active role in the
group speaking in target language. This activity should be natural and the students must not be
Cognitive Theorists believe that learning is a kind of mental activity. It involves the
practice of complex cognitive skills. Unlike the other theorists, they claims that sub-skills such
as skimming and scanning are indispensable parts of learning. In other words, these skills must
be taught and automatized through practice in the class. In addition, the students’ attention is
Conversation Theorists stipulates the practice and interaction in target language. They
assert that using scaffolding allow for conversation participation of weak students. To give an
example, repeating structure and fill in with correct information could be practised with the
students. They will definitely promote a better acquisition of target language. Another point to
consider is error correction and feedback. According to Conversation Theorists, the teachers’
main focus must be fluency. Feedback can only be given upon information or language
becoming adapted to new culture. In this theory, target language and culture are inseparable
parts of each other. That means, the students must be exposed to an interaction with native
speakers in natural context and get familiar with this new setting. Thus, the students will have
In the light of the ideas given above, there are several theories related to target language
acquisition which the teachers should take into account. We as language teachers should not
base our teaching on just one theory. Since there are a lot of theories, we must design our
syllabus or classroom activities and choose teaching method according to the profile or needs
of our students. In particular, it must be our main aim to combine our theoretical theory with
practice.
References
İpek H. (2009) Comparing and Contrasting First and Second Language Acquisition: