Second Language Acquisition

ESSAY

THEORIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

HARRISON ANDRES GOMEZ LOMBANA

TEACHER

CONSUELO CEDANO

UNIVERSIDAD DEL TOLIMA

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN

LICENCIATURA EN INGLES

IBAGUE TOLIMA

2014

THEORIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

For many centuries, second language learning was based on traditional grammar-translation method, which was only applied to study classical languages, but in the field of research little or nothing had been advanced. The twentieth century was the time when some experts in education came out with so many theories about how people learn a second language. That was extremely fruitful age for linguistic research field; thereafter experts have come to sketch various methods of study about second language acquisition (SLA).

One of those theories is Stephen Krashen’s theory which is one of the most famous second language acquisition theories. It is called Krashen’s monitor model. The language with this method occurs naturally and unconscious while learning is the result of a aware study of the language.

This theory has identified five different stages for the development of second language acquisition:

1 the receptive or preproduction stage

2 the early production stage

3 the speech emerging stage

4 the intermediate fluency

5. The advanced language proficiency speakers

When I wrote before subconscious, i refer to the implicit knowledge system of the Language. It is when a person can use the language successfully, but this person does not know or he is not aware about the rules of the language that he is using. If a mistake is made, the speaker knows there is a problem but the he does not know what grammatical rule has been violated. Conversely, learning refers only to grammatical rule that is why learning has an extremely limited function which is autocorrect. This function only can take place when three components join together: time, focus on the rule and the knowledge of the rule.

Finally, acquiring a second language is very important in our society. Every day is becoming more important to learn a second language because we live in a multicultural society. Thanks to these theories for learning a second language today we all can learn languages, recognizing that we learn differently and how important is to be taught depending on how we learn and the needs we have. Currently, language teaching should not be categorized within this or that method. Instead, teachers should have access to a diversity of designs and methodological techniques for teaching a second language depending of student’s needs.

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