Stephan Krashen's Second Language Acquisition

In support of his findings, Skinner eventually realized that human beings could not only respond also manage their environment to induce results. However, Skinner and Watson both repudiated that thinking or emotion plays a significant role in determining behavior. Instead, humans appear to learn many behaviors -including languages- through repetitions and positive or negative reinforcement. Scientifically speaking, behaviorism explains how learning takes place. When it is taken into account in the field of language teaching, it shows how languages are learned.

On the other hand, Krashen (1988) also explained that the learned system is the result of a very formal way of learning a language that involves the conscious process of being knowledgeable about a language. This includes learning grammatical rules and semantic structure making. Krashen (1988) concludes that learning is less important than acquisition. However, he explains that this distinction is crucial as it explains how a big majority of adults are able to possess a second language. Keeping this in mind, I would argue that although the CPH hypothesis makes sense in explaining brain plasticity in acquiring a language, there is a way for adults to learn a second language albeit they might not do so perfectly.

The learner is conscious that the language is being taught. While acquisition is referred to as the real communication. Language is developing naturally at the acquisition stage and the learner is subconscious that it is taking place. The learner may not know the rules of the language but is able to have a feeling for what sounds right. Hamayan recognizes that “the acquisition of language is a development process and there are predictable stages of language proficiency, and yet the learner may pass through the different stages at different times”.

Parents help the children develop their first language. In addition, Krashen (1982:10) explains about language acquisition: “The first way language acquisition, a process similar, if not identical, to the way children develop ability in their first language. Language acquisition is a subconscious process; language acquirers are not usually aware of the fact that they are acquiring language, but are only aware of the fact that they are using the language for communication. The result of language acquisition, acquired competence, is also subconscious. We are generally not consciously aware of the rules of the languages we have acquired.

2.0 INTRODUCTION Language development happens both inside the classroom (as part of a formal establishment, school or institute) and outside it. The classroom is generally considered a formal setting, and most other environments informal, with respect to language learning. “In environments where informal language development is adequate, it is possible to regard the formal classroom as supplemental, complementary, facilitating and consolidating”(Van Lier, 1988: 20). For second-language development in such environments the informal settings can be regarded as primary and the formal classroom as ancillary. The L2 lesson then becomes a language arts lesson, focusing on special language skills and cognitive/academic growth, much in the same way

These studies suggest that collaborative writing provides learners with opportunities to learn through a discussion of the language they are using. The author suggests that working in pairs, and receiving feedback on writing in pairs, can enhance the language learning opportunities for learners through their ability to scaffold each other 's contributions and knowledge. This research assumes that the learners are discussing and deliberating on particular features of the language. While this level of collaboration between peers is implausible in my research, the teacher provides the discussion as peers annotate the corrections. The main conclusions are that discussion about errors combined with indicating the errors are supportive of learning.