THE FOREINGN LANGUAGE LEARNING topic6

Children acquire their mother tongue naturally. However, learning a foreign language is not so easy, since it is taught in an artificial situation and learners have less time and opportunities for language exposure. Linguists investigated they way in which the mother tongue is acquired, and they discovered that some aspects could be incorporated to FLT. Understanding more about the mother tongue acquisition and foreign language learning processes can help language teachers to facilitate their pupils learning. Based on this view, we will start by focusing on Linguistics and its contribution to foreign language teaching. Afterwards we will concentrate on language learning, paying attention to first language acquisition and foreign language learning theories. Then, we will analyse the main similarities and differences between these two processes, finishing with the teaching implications derived from the theories examined. We deal with an essential topic since, as teachers, we need to know how children learn languages. This will enable us to find the most efficient and effective way of teaching English to our particular group of pupils, with the objective of developing their communicative competence.

1. CONTRIBUTION OF LINGUISTICS TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Linguistics is the study of language as a system of human communication. For over 2,000 years language has been an object of fascination. From the earliest periods, scholars have investigated aspects of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation in an organized way. We will now concentrate on the most important linguists and theories that have influenced language teaching.
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE

Saussure is considered the father of modern linguistics. His Course in General Linguistics (actually published by his students) was the basis of a new approach to language studies. His crucial contribution was his statement that all language items are essentially interlinked. Each item is defined by its relationship to all others. He regarded words as signs. He distinguished between signifier (what a sign really means) and signified or meaning (what a receiver interprets). In order that communication is effective, a signifier and a signified must coincide. According to Saussure, the relation between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary: there is no link between them. For instance, there is no intrinsic connection between the word tiger and the animal it represents. He also made a distinction between synchrony and diachrony. In a synchronic relationship two similar things exist at the same time. Modern American English and British English have a synchronic relationship. On the other hand, in a diachronic relationship, related things exist separated by time. 12th century English and 21st century English have a diachronic relationship. Saussure contributed to the renewal of foreign language teaching in these aspects:

1. The smallest unit when teaching a language is the sentence, because words outside a context mean nothing. 2. The emphasis must be on speech over written language, because language is a system of communication between two or more speakers. 3. Translation as a teaching method must be avoided, because each language has its own system of signs.
LEONARD BLOOMFIELD

In the 1930s, a structuralist current emerged in the USA. It focused on the description and classification of linguistic units (morpheme, phoneme) and the analysis of structures. Leonard Bloomfield designed a methodology for the description of any language. According to him, the task of a linguist was to collect data from native speakers and then analyze it by studying the phonological and syntactic patterns. The Audio-Lingual Method is based on structural linguistics.
NOAM CHOMSKY

According to Chomsky, grammar is more than a description of utterances. It must also be able to explain the sentences that have not been written or uttered yet. Speakers count on a limited lexicon and a limited set of rules, which enable them to produce and interpret an unlimited number of sentences. According to him, linguistic competence is the ability of a person to create grammatically correct sentences. Chomskys contribution to foreign language teaching has been enormous. The first idea that must be taken into consideration is that learners have cognitive abilities for learning languages. It means that language is not a repetition of structures; learners can make utterances in creative ways. In addition to that, errors must be considered as normal in the process of learning. In fact, they provide positive evidence about the nature of the learning process.
BEHAVIOURISM

Behaviourism is based on experiments carried out with animals. Language is seen as a form of behaviour and is analysed in terms of stimulus and response. Language learning is conceived as a process of habit formation. Habits are formed when correct responses are reinforced and incorrect responses are corrected. As we will see later, behaviourism had a great influence on the teaching of foreign languages, especially, on the AudioLingual Method.
THEORIES OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

The theories of communicative competence have been of great relevance in foreign language teaching. In the 1970s, language started to be seen as communication and the Communicative Approach emerged. This method emphasizes communication and reallife situations. The goal is for students to communicate their needs and thoughts, without worrying about perfect grammar. The term communicative competence was coined by Hymes in the 1960s. According to him, being able to communicate requires more than linguistic competence, it requires

communicative competence. It is the ability to use and interpret language appropriately in a variety of situations.

It includes four aspects: 1. Systematic potential: The speaker possesses a system that has a potential to create a lot of language. 2. Appropriacy: The speaker knows what language is appropriate in a given situation, according to the participants, purpose, channel, topic... 3. Occurrence: The speaker knows how often something is said in the language and acts accordingly. 4. Feasibility: The speaker knows whether something is possible in the language or not. According to Canale and Swain, communicative competence includes four areas of knowledge and skill: 1. Grammatical competence: It is concerned with mastery of the language code. It includes knowledge of the lexical items, syntax, semantics, morphology and phonology. 2. Sociolinguistic competence: It is concerned with the appropriateness of communication depending on the context including the participants, purposes of the interaction... 3. Discourse competence: It is concerned with the coherence and cohesion of utterances in a discourse. 4. Strategic competence: It is concerned with the mastery of verbal and non-verbal strategies that are put into practice to compensate for breakdowns in communication or when communication fails. For example: asking questions, taking turns, using gestures... These four sub-competences are complemented by socio-cultural competence, which implies the knowledge of certain socio-cultural factors, which help to understand the messages in detail.

2. THE LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS

THEORIES ON FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION BEHAVIOURISM

Language learning is the result of imitation, practice, feedback on success and habit formation. Children imitate the sounds and patterns they hear around them and receive positive reinforcement, so they keep on imitating and practising until they form correct habits of language use. When children are learning their mother tongue, they are linguistically immersed in the culture. There is a continuous flow of input that makes it easy for children to imitate what they hear. However, this theory has been criticised because imitation and practice alone cant explain some of the forms created by the children, for example when they say cabi instead of cupo, or goed instead of went. Children pick up patterns and generalize them to new contexts until they understand how the forms are used.

INNATISM

Chomsky claims that children are biologically programmed for language. It develops in the same way that other biological functions do. Chomsky disagreed with behaviourism because the language the child is exposed to in the environment is full of confusing information and doesnt provide all the information needed. Children come to know much more than what is in their environment. For Chomsky, children are born with a special ability to discover for themselves the underlying rules of a language system: the Language Acquisition Device. It is described as a black box in the brain that contains the universal principles to all human languages. To make it work, children need access to samples of a natural language, which activate the device. Once it is activated, they are able to discover the structure of the language. The Language Acquisition Device works successfully only when it is stimulated at the right time: the critical period. There are some facts that support Chomskys innatist position: - Practically all children learn their native language successfully. - Children master the basic structure of their native language in a variety of conditions. - The language that children are exposed to doesnt contain examples of all the linguistic rules and patterns which they finally know.
COGNITIVISM

According to Cognitivism, language acquisition is related to childrens intellectual development. Children will produce structures if they have already created a mental picture or prototype of their surrounding environment. For example, before children acquire the structures of comparison (the elephant is bigger than the dog), they need to have developed previously the ability to make judgements on size. Prototypes are directly related to culture, because different cultures have different cognitive images.
THEORIES ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING BEHAVIOURISM

According to this view, foreign language learning is a process of imitation and reinforcement. Learners have a set of habits which will enable them to respond correctly to different stimulus. However, when children are learning a foreign language they are not linguistically immersed in the target language culture. Consequently, sometimes they dont know how to react to the stimulus they are exposed to. Teachers must try to reproduce the cultural environment of the foreign language. One way to do this is through contextualised drills, which will enable the students to repeat the appropriate language within a given situation. In this way, some habits will be formed and the different situations will suggest the appropriate language to use.

COGNITIVISM

Cognitivism maintains that language is not a form of behaviour. Foreign language learning is a process that involves active mental processes. Learners use their cognitive abilities and prototypes to work out hypotheses about the second language. Learners compare the new reality to their prototypes, deciding to what extent it is prototypical (similar to the prototypes that they have) or peripheral (different from their prototypes). If the element that the teacher presents in class is somehow related to the childrens culture and therefore prototypical, it will be easier to introduce in class.
KRASHENS MONITOR MODEL

This is an innatist theory of second language acquisition that has a great influence on foreign language teaching practice. Five hypotheses constitute it: 1. The acquisition-learning hypothesis: There are two ways to develop knowledge of a foreign language: acquisition and learning. Acquisition occurs if learners are exposed to samples of the second language which they understand. Learning takes place through a conscious process of study and attention. Acquisition is the most important process because only acquired language is available for fluent communication. 2. The monitor hypothesis: Acquisition is responsible for fluency. Learning acts only as a monitor, making changes and polishing what the acquired system has produced. Learners use the monitor model only when they are concentrating on being correct. 3. The natural order hypothesis: Learners seem to acquire the features of a language in predictable sequences. The natural order is independent of the order in which rules have been learnt in language classes. The reasons why it happens is that we always learn from the simplest to the most complex. 4. The input hypothesis: Language is acquired by exposure to comprehensible input. If the input contains forms and structures just beyond the learners current level of competence in the language, comprehension and acquisition will occur. 5. The affective filter hypothesis: The affective filter is an imaginary barrier which prevents learners from acquiring language from the available input. A learner who is tense, angry or bored may filter out input, making it unavailable for acquisition.
CONSTRUCTIVISM

Constructivism is the basis of foreign language learning in Primary Education. According to this theory, learners construct their own knowledge of the world through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. To do this, they must ask questions, explore and assess what they know. Children learn and enjoy more when they are actively involved, rather than passive listeners. The new language must be comprehensible and relevant to the learners needs. Learning must also be meaningful so that children can learn by relating the new language to their previous knowledge. Constructivism also stresses the active contribution of the learner. One of its mail goals is helping students to learn how to learn. The concept of constructivism has roots in the Socratic dialogue. In the 20th century, Jean Piaget and John Dewey developed theories of childhood development and

education that led to the evolution of constructivism. Piaget believed that humans learn through the construction of one logical structure after another. Dewey thought that education must be based on real experience. Other authors who have added new perspectives to constructivism are Vygotsky and Bruner. Vygotsky included the social aspect of learning. Adults mediate the world for children and make it more accessible to them. With the help of adults or more capable peers, children can do and understand more than they can on their own. This is called "Zone of Proximal Development. Bruner claimed that learning is an active and social process in which students construct new ideas or concepts based on their current knowledge. He referred to the way in which adults use the language to help children solve problems as scaffolding.

3. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING
SIMILARITIES

The similarities between the mother tongue acquisition and the foreign language learning can be summarized as follows: 1. Both the first and the foreign language learning are cognitive processes. Children and foreign language learners use their innate ability to learn language and can create new utterances. 2. Many errors in the first and the foreign language learning are similar. They are a positive evidence of the process. 3. Both processes aim at developing the skills listening, speaking, reading and writing. 4. There is a natural order both in the first and the foreign language learning. Some grammatical forms are acquired before others, because we learn from the simplest to the most complex. 5. In the first language acquisition, and at least in the first stages of the foreign language learning, grammar is learnt inductively. 6. The language items to be taught are selected according to the learners needs and interests. 7. The lexical items are presented orally and in context. 8. In both the first and the foreign language learning processes, repetition of the model takes place. Children imitate their parents, and foreign language learners also repeat the teachers model.
DIFFERENCES

1. Foreign language learners are different from children learning their mother tongue, since there is already a language in their minds that influences the foreign language learning. Therefore, first language interference errors may come up in the process of learning. 2. Foreign language learners have a set of cognitive skills and strategies that make them conscious of the learning process. They can reflect on the language, memorize words, use the dictionary... 3. The foreign language is taught in an artificial situation (the classroom) that lacks the diversity of contexts and situations that the first language learning has.

4. Foreign language learners have less time and opportunities for language exposure and practice than children acquiring their mother tongue. 5. Motivation is different. Foreign language learners already know a language, and this might reduce their need to learn another one. 6. The way in which parents talk to their children is different to the way teachers talk to foreign language learners.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING IMPLICATIONS

Teaching methods will depend on teachers knowledge on how learners acquire a language. Taking into account the theories and hypotheses on foreign language learning, we can list the following teaching implications: 1. Motivation: Foreign language teachers must encourage their pupils and increase their desire to learn. 2. Imitation and repetition: Foreign language learning requires phases of imitation and repetition. 3. Comprehensible input: In the early stages, listening is a basic skill. The level of difficulty must be slightly beyond the learners competence. Input must be sufficient and contextualised. 4. Phases on reflection: Reflection on a linguistic aspect might be helpful in the learning process, since learners have cognitive abilities. 5. Silent period: Teachers must respect a learners natural silent period. Pupils mustnt speak until they are ready. 6. Pleasant classroom atmosphere: Krashens affective filter hypothesis demonstrates that genuine acquisition cannot occur if the learners attitude isnt positive. The classroom atmosphere must be interesting and friendly. 7. Errors: Errors must be seen as something natural and logical, since they are a positive evidence of the learning process.