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Bloomfield 1933
Two parallel schools of thought in linguistics and psychology. In linguistics, the structural school of linguistics (Bloomfield 1933), the approach arose from the attempts to analyze Indian languages. Many languages did not have a written form and that people learnt to speak before they learnt to read or write, structural linguists assumed that language was primarily an oral phenomenon (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler 2006). -
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Historical Milestones of Language Learning & Teaching
Historical Milestones of Language Learning & Teaching -
Audiolingual Method
The Audiolingual teaching approach was an instructional method that emphasized the importance of starting with the teaching of oral skills, rather than written ones, by applying the fixed order of listening- speaking-reading-writing for each structure. Learners were engaged in a series of activities, such as drills and substitution exercises, which focused on repeating grammatical structures and patterns through intense aural-oral practice (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
1940s-1950s Behaviorist
1940s-1950s Behaviorist, people learn through habit formation by repeated associating a stimulus with a response; imitation, practice, and positive reinforcement (Skinner, 1957)(Shrum&Glisan, 2010) -
The Innatist
The innatist; shift from structural to generative, contains both surface forms of utterances & the abstract structures underlying sentences, emphasizing the creative nature of human language. This shift initiated by Chomsky’s book Syntactic Structures (1957).This theory contends that language has a deep structure, which consists of the essential meanings, and a surface structure, which is made up of the particular way in which ideas are stated. (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
The Environmentalist
The environmentalist was popular up to the end of the 1960s. The target of language learning was to master all the elements of the system and to learn the rules by which these elements were combined, from phoneme to morpheme to word to phrase a sentence. (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
Paradigm Shift Simultaneously in Psychology and Structural Linguistics
In contrast to the behaviorists approach, the learner was seen as possessing an innate ability to process language and as actively participating in the learning process. Psycholinguistics studies (Klima& Bellugi 1966; Slobin 1970; Brown 1973) showed conclusively that children were active rather than passive participants in the language learning process, since they inferred rules to test how language worked (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
Piaget
Piaget (1966, 1972, 1974) discovered that learning developed through a series of stages, each stage having a set of cognitive characteristics that determined how learning could take place. He was more concerned with the process of learning than with the product of learning and saw cognitive development as a process within there is an interaction between genetics and experience (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
1970 - Introduction of Communicative Competence
Hymes felt that Chomsky’s theoretical distinction between competence and performance did not include any references to aspects of language use in social practices and related issues concerning the appropriacy of utterance to a particular situation. He introduced the term communicative competence, which included Chomsky’s grammatical competence and the rules of language use in social context and the sociolinguistic norms of appropriacy (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
The Interactionists -1970s
Halliday’s systemic grammar attempted to explain how the function of language determines the form of language. Halliday (1975) postulated seven communicative functions characterizing the child’s early communicative development that are related to aspects of social life: instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal, heuristic, imaginative and representational. He theorized that children learned to talk because it served a function for them (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
The Role of Input and Interaction in L2
In 1975, Wagner-Gough and Hatch illustrated how learners’ participation in conversation interaction provided them with opportunities to hear and produce the L2 in ways that went beyond its role as simply a forum for practice. Their analysis of conversations between learners and interlocutors suggested that L2 syntax might develop out of conversation, rather than simply feed into it (Gass, MacKey, Pica, 1998). -
A Communicative Competence
Canale and Swain (1980), and further expanded by Canale (1983). The integrative theoretical framework has four main competencies: grammatical - the knowledge of the language code; sociolinguistic - the knowledge of the sociocultural rules of use in a particular context; strategic -the knowledge of how to use verbal and nonverbal communication strategies to handle breakdowns in communication; Discourse - the knowledge of achieving coherence (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
Long - Native and Non-Native Interaction
Long (1980) distinguished between the talk directed toward L2 learner by native speakers where clarification requests and confirmation of message meaning, and comprehension checks were more prevalent than with non-native speakers. Long suggested that they could serve a role in providing the comprehensible input needed for successful L2 learning and proposed a two-step argument concerning the relationship between conversational interaction and acquisition (Gass, MacKey, Pica, 1998). -
Four Components of Communicative Competence
Savignon (1983) puts the four components of communicative competence in the shape of an inverted pyramid to show how an increase in only one component produces an increase in the overall level of communicative competence, because all components are interrelated to each other (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
Output Hypothesis
The output hypothesis proposes that through producing language, either spoken or written, language acquisition/learning may occur (Swain, 1985). Language production provides the opportunity for meaningful practice of one’s linguistic resources permitting the development of automaticity in their use, which is an issue of fluency rather than accuracy, and corresponds to our intuitions that one gains in fluency by using the language as frequently as possible (Swain, 1992). -
Bachman
Bachman (1987) developed a model of communicative language ability using three components: language competence, strategic competence and psychomotor skills. Bachman made a distinction with regard to pragmatic competence and took into account the psychophysiological mechanisms which are essential for performing utterances (Uso, Juan, Martinez Flor, 2006). -
Levelt 1989 - Speech Production=Messages are "Planned"
For one to be able to produce oral language, speakers had to construct a plan on the basis of four major process: conceptualization, formulation, articulation and monitoring. Speaking was regarded as a complex activity that required speakers to possess a capacity to integrate different interpersonal and psychomotor aspects during the oral production event (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
Motivation of Learners Within Tasks
Wen's 1997 study illustrated that expectations of the learning task and of one's own ability play a significant role in motivation and learning. When learners think that learning experiences will lead to certain meaningful results, they exert more effort. Motivation has an effect on how and when students use language learning strategies and the degree to which they take responsibility foor their own progress(Oxford & Nyikos, 1989). -
Alcón (2000) Model of Communicative Competence
A hybrid of the models by Bachman (1990) and Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei, and Thurrell (1995). Alcón’s model consists of three main subcompetencies that are interrelated namely discourse competence (linguistic, textual, and pragmatic), psychomotor skills and competencies, and strategic competence. Discourse competence influences the abilities of listening, speaking, reading and writing, which are interrelated and use the language for communicative purposes (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
Discourse Competence - Celce-Murcia and Olshtain, (2000)
Discourse competence involves speakers' ability to use a variety of discourse features to achieve a unified spoken text given a particular purpose and the situational context where it is produced. Learner has knowledge of discourse markers, the management of various conversational rules, cohesion and coherence, as well as form schemata. Making effective use of all these features requires a highly active role on part of the speakers. (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006). -
Communicative Competence and Speaking
Usó-Juan and Martinez-Flor presented a framework of communicative competence highlighting the paramount importance of speaking skills. It describes how the different components influence the development of this particular skill in order to increase learners’ communicative ability in L2 (Usó-Juan, Martinez-Flor, Soler, 2006).
