THE EVOLUTIONIST VIEW by Paula Andrea Pelaez

 

USEFUL ELEMENTS OF THEORIES ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING AND ACQUISITION

                                                                                    

     All the ideas, researches and opinions about language acquisition and learning make us reflect as language teachers about how people acquire and learn the native language and others. How I can say that one of those methods is better than another. Taking into account my own experience in the classroom when I teach English, I take elements from different approaches, and I use a variety of techniques to teach the language. I consider that cognition evolves by the time our language is developed, according to the motivation and the exposure we have to the environment.

    Let’s define learning and acquisition: in the first action, we are conscious about language, it is formal; in the second one we are unconscious and it is more informal. Krashen defined these concepts in his Natural Approach, not paying too much attention to the grammar or mistakes learners make but communication, in which he bases his theory. In this proposal, Krashen emphasizes in the affective filter as the clue to involve students’ positive emotions in language acquisition. 

     According to Chomsky, Mind and thought processes are very important. The learner of any language has an inbuilt learning capacity for language that enables learner to construct a kind of personal theory or set of rules about language based on exposure, that is to say that all of us were born with some innate knowledge about a language, which is improved through application and construction over and over again.
    

     At this point I wonder: do human beings acquire the language from nature or do we nurture it? Or both? We recognize sounds, words and simple phrases since we are very young, that is our nature; through time individuals construct, rebuild, create and recreate a language, that is nurture. Skinner, in his behaviorism theory said that human beings learn through stimulus- response and repetition. This is a reliable hypothesis for me because motivation and repetition has had a strong influence in my learning. 

     I believe our experiences have a crucial impact in our language learning. Behaviorists said people learn by imitation and association, that is why we enrich vocabulary, grammar, expressions and sounds everyday; at the same time our brains have that innate capability to acquire the language, having in mind L.A.D proposed by Chomsky.

     Interaction, says Bruner, is an important element for language acquisition. The relationship with the environment, with other people, with situations and events allow us acquire and learn a language, that connection is one of the keys to build and maintain the language in our brains. Piaget takes into account the child’s development in the construction of language. Gardner believes that multiple intelligences must be had in mind by the time we want students learn something easier.

    All these entries made me think about the best method to address my English class, and after reading them, I found that there is no a perfect one. All of them can fit my learners’ abilities, because they have to deal with our condition as human beings, I mean our biological brain development and our emotions intelligence to overcome difficulties. It is a matter of knowledge and physiological evolution. 
As a conclusion, there will be more and more researchers and findings in this field and there will always be a theory or theories that can help language teachers get better results, so our contribution is and will be continue taking care of our profession and giving the best to our students.

To read more, please visit http://pandreapelaez.blogspot.com/