REFLECTION KRASHEN’S SLA HYPOTHESIS

What I learned was that hypotheses and claims about SLA. For
instance, adults and adolescents ‘acquire’ a second language but it is
related how a learner exposes to the language, so one cannot achieve
nativelike command of a second language in one hour a day. The learner
creates a systematic interlanguage ; Turkish effects English in terms of the
use of grammar for example, we say what comes to your mind instead of
what comes to mind. There are predictable sequences in acquisition, we
learn simple past tense before learning past perfect tense. Practice does
not make perfect because it is not important how much practice you are
doing but how meaningful the practice is as Bruner says. So, when I
become a teacher I will try to do meaningful activities and I will benefit
from learning activities which are relevant to students’ life because I
believe that if teaching has relevance to students’ life , learning serves
them in the future. I also learned Krashen’s second language acquisition
hypothesis. The first one is input hypothesis. Krashen makes the
distinction between acquisition and learning. Acquisition is the natural way
like first language development in children. Those who acquire a second
language pick up the rules subconsciously. Learning, by contrast, occurs
as a result of conscious study of the formal properties of the language.
Most teachers focus their attention on language learning. The problem
here is that students cannot learn to communicate because
communicative language skills can only be acquired . According to the
theory, learning dosn’t lead to acquisition. So, when I become a teacher, I
will do as much listening activities in the classroom as possible and I will
benefit from authentic materials in my teaching. The second one is
Monitor hypothesis. Krashen believes that fluency in second language
performance is due to what we acquired not what we learned. Adults
should do as much acquiring as possible fort he purpose of achieving
communicative fluency. Their conscious knowledge serves only as a
‘Monitor’. Different individuals use their monitor in different ways,
however we should be ‘optimal users’. We should use conscious
knowledge when iit is appropriate. So, when I become a teacher, I will try
to ignore my students’ speaking mistakes because if I correct their
mistakes by interrupting them,they may not open their mouth again.
Students’ making mistakes is good because they can learn from their
mistakes. By making mistakes, students can learn speaking without using
their ‘monitor’ and they can develope fluency.The third hypothesis is The
Natural Order hypothesis. According to this hypothesis , certain
grammatical structures are acquired before others in first language
acquisition and there is a similar order in second language acquisition but
this does not mean that grammar should be tought in this order of
acquisition. If it were like this, 3rd person singular –s would be thaught the
end of the teaching. So, when I become a teacher, I can ignore my
students’ third person singular –s mistakes because according to the
theory i I know that students learn this rulet very last. The fourth
hypothesis is The Input Hypothesis . Krashen claims that people acquire
language best by understanding input that is a little beyond their present
level. For example, if a learner is at a stage “i”, acquisition occurs when
the learner is exposed to “i+1 level” comprehensible input ,so, students
develope competence overtime. So, when I become a teacher, I I will pay
attention that input isn’t so easy in that there’s nothing new to learn or it
isn’t too difficult but should be given at such a level that the learner must
work a little in order to understand. Fifth hypothesis is The Affective Filter
Hypothesis. A number of affective variables play an important role in
second language acquisiton. These are motivation, self-confidence and
anxiety. Low motivation, low self-confidence and anxiety raise the
affective fitler and form ‘a mental block’ that prevents comprehensible
input from being used for acquisiton . In other words , when the filter is
up , it prevents language acquisition. So , to prevent ‘the affective filter ‘ ,
I will try to create an enjoyable classroom set up. I can benefit from
‘desuggestopedia’ , I can hang some posters , balloons on the wall just to
make my students feel secure during the lesson.What I had difficulty in
figuring out was nothing. Everything was clear enough to understand.I
suppose I need to focus more on Krashen’s hypothesis to benefit from
them in practice in my teaching.