S. A. Chomsky's Theory Of Language Development

5.1.2. Innatism.

According to his author, N. A. Chomsky, humans are born with the language faculty, a “language acquisition device”, which is responsible for the initial state of language development. (Menezes, 2013). This language acquisition device is known as Universal Grammar, and unlike Skinner, Chomsky’s theory considers that messages from the environment are not models to be imitated, but a series of stimuli that “activate” the language acquisition device that comes with the children.

On the basis of such theory, S. D. Krashen went a step further and elaborated a model of acquisition of non- native languages known as Monitor Model, consisting of five hypotheses:

Acquisition vs. learning: This hypothesis declares that there is a difference

This hypothesis maintains that learners acquire grammatical structures in an established order. The order can be different between learners and languages, but there is still an order.

Monitor hypothesis: While the learning vs. acquisition hypothesis explains the difference between these two concepts, the Monitor hypothesis explains its relationship: acquisition is the utterance initiator and learning is the editor or monitor who corrects, revises and controls what the acquisition device has already learned and created.

Input +1: The learner acquires a second language through inputs; and each input must have some elements and structures which are slightly superior to the current degree of knowledge of the learner (input + 1), in order to progress in learning (Thouësny & Bradley, 2011)

Affective filter: The language acquisition process is more effective when the learner achieves a feeling of self-confidence, or low affective filter. According to Krashen (1982): “it is easier for a learner to acquire a language when he/she is not tense, angry, anxious, or

B. Bloom’s taxonomy or categorization of abilities was created by with the purpose of giving tools to motivate more sophisticated thinking skills in their students, like analyzing and applying knowledge. But this classification has an order, which means students have to acquire certain skills in order to achieve the higher levels. According to Bloom (1984), there are three Domains of Learning: Cognitive (mental skills), Affective (attitudes) and Psychomotor (manual or physical skills). Involved in the cognitive domain, Bloom developed a categorization of six major thinking processes: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation. This classification was later revised by Anderson et al. (2001), who created new skills groups: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create (changing the order of the last