BES 1043

English Proficiency 4

REPORT FOR RESEARCH PAPER

“Acquiring the Language Naturally Helps Adult Learners Second Language

Learning”

Prepared by:

Syed Ahmad Afiq Hasif b. Syed Ab. Rahaman (023590)

Mohd Najib b. Abdul Kadir (024550)

Prepared for:

En. Mohamad Muhaymein b. Ahmed Zawawi

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION PAGE 3-4

Background

Statement of the problem

Purpose of the Study

o Research Objectives

o Research Questions

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW PAGE 5-8

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PAGE 9-10

Research Design

Setting / Location

Population and Sample

Instrument

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS PAGE 11-18

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION PAGE 19-21

Conclusions

Recommendations

REFERENCES PAGE 22

APPENDIX PAGE 23-40

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Language acquisition, first or second, occurs when comprehension of real messages

occurs, and when the acquirer fully understands the message. Language acquisition does not

require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill. It does

not occur overnight, however. Real language acquisition develops slowly, and speaking skills

emerge significantly later than listening skills, even when conditions are perfect.

1.2 Statement of the problem

From an observation, the adult learners are still having problems to master English as a

second language. There are a lot of reasons and excuses given why these ancient problems

happened. The observation had been done on university students. Based on their level, they

should be proficient enough as they had gone through many years of English learning. This

phenomenon comes to the senses that are all these years of learning failed? Is it because of the

teacher, students or the approaches? This research was carried out to investigate the problem.

1.3 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to discuss and to know whether acquiring the language

naturally helps adult learners in second language learning process. According to Krashen there

are two independent systems of second language performance: 'the acquired system' and 'the

learned system'. The 'acquired system' or 'acquisition' is the product of a subconscious process

very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires

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meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are

concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act.

Linguist said that learning takes place more efficient in natural environment than

classroom setting. What its mean by learning in natural environment? Natural environment

brought the meaning of acquiring the language under subconscious learning. In such way,

communicating with the native speakers and living in a English usage environment are

considered as natural environment. Krashen (1987) agreed on the theory of a children acquire a

language faster than others because of the different environment. This showed that controlled

setting have a psychological barrier for the learner to acquire the language. So, they find it hard

to learn.

The aim of this study is to know how natural environment works in second language

learning, to find out what are the factors in natural environment that help adult learner in the

learning and to investigate the effect of natural environment in language learning.

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2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

From the definition in Concise Oxford Dictionary (10th edition), ‘acquire’ means come

to posses where as ‘acquisition’ brings the meaning of a recently acquired asset or object.

Therefore, acquiring a language means the process by which humans acquire the capacity

to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate. This capacity involves the

picking up of diverse capacities including syntax, phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary. This

language might be vocal as with speech or manual as in sign. Language acquisition usually refers

to first language acquisition, which studies infants' acquisition of their native language, rather

than second language acquisition that deals with acquisition in both children and adults of

additional languages.(Wikipedia, 2010)

As Stephen Krashen (1987) stated the finding of his research, acquisition requires

meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are

concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and

understanding. So, the best way the adult learners to acquire a second language is by natural

learning or environment. Natural environment includes having communication with the native

speakers, living in an English usage environment and learning in a non-artificial surrounding.

“The term "native speaker" is pivotal in a number of areas. Firstly, even in generative

linguistics, the concept of an "ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogenous speech

community" (Chomsky, 1965:3).

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“I have gone into the subject of "language" before discussing the term "native speaker"

because, as I have stated, the two are mutually interdependent. A native speaker is a type of

speaker of a particular language, but our idea of what constitutes a language is dependent on

assumptions about who is a native speaker of that language. The term "native", however, seems

to be about as clear as the terms "language" or "dialect"; like St. Augustine's "time", "we

understand it until we start to think about it" (Ellis, 2004:78).

So, if we want to acquire a certain language, one of the effective ways is to communicate

with the native speakers of the language.

"The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety

situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force

early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready',

recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input,

and not from forcing and correcting production." Stephen Krashen (1980s)

In order for the adult learner to acquire second language, a couple of approaches usually

done which is Natural Setting learning and Classroom Setting learning.

According to Krashen there are two independent systems of second language

performance: 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'. The 'acquired system' or 'acquisition'

also known as natural setting learning is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the

process children experience when they acquire their first language.

The 'learned system' or 'learning' also known as classroom setting is the product of formal

instruction and it consist of a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge 'about' the

language, for example knowledge of grammar rules.

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“Learning is less important than acquisition” Stephen Kreshen (1980s)

Communicating with the native speaker will greatly help the learner to acquire the

language. Language learner should be exposed to the natural environment in order to be able

acquire the language effectively. You cannot learn a language without interaction.

"In the real world, conversations with sympathetic native speakers who are willing to

help the acquirer understand are very helpful." Stephen Krashen (1980s)

A number of studies have reported that there is a negative correlation between age of L2

acquisition and performance on a variety of measures of L2 ability, and that individuals who

begin learning an L2 after approximately 15 years of age fail to attain native-like levels of

competence. These results have been interpreted as support both for the hypothesis that there is a

critical period for L2 acquisition and for the hypothesis that there is a maturational decline in

access to Universal Grammar (UG). We argue that extant results are not an adequate test of the

critical periods hypothesis because they are based on the performance of learners who have not

necessarily achieved native-like proficiency in the L2. In this study, we develop criteria to

establish whether an L2 speaker has achieved native-like proficiency. We compare the

performance of three groups (near-native speakers of English, non-native speakers and controls)

on two tasks designed to tap aspects of UG which have been claimed to be subject to critical

period effects. We found no significant differences between our near-native group and native

speakers on either of the tasks. We conclude that native-like competence in an L2 is achievable,

even by older L2 learners. (Lydia White, 2008)

Second Language Research, Vol. 12, No. 3, 233-265 (1996

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There are some serious problems that need to be mentioned before concluding. These

have to do with the acceptance, by teachers and students, of language acquisition as primary, and

comprehensible input as the means of encouraging language acquisition. These problems are

caused by the fact that acquisition differs from learning in two major ways: acquisition is slow

and subtle, while learning is fast and, for some people. It is consistent with the way thousands of

people have acquired second languages throughout history, and in many cases acquired them

very well. They acquired second languages while they were focused on something else, while

they were gaining interesting or needed information, or interacting with people they liked to be

with." (Wilson. R, 2005)

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3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design

This is a quantitative educational research. It is an observation-based research.

3.2 The Setting/Location

In order to get the right population for this sophisticated study, we need to get the responses from

the university students. So, the location of the study is at Universiti Darul Iman Malaysia which

located at Gong Badak, Terengganu. This IPTA is consists of seven faculties and held more than

5000 students.

3.3 Population and Sample

The IPTA has more than 5000 students which come from seven different faculties. Lately,the

university organised a big event that intended to test the proficiency of second language of the

new intake students. The population of the study is taken from the English Proficiency

Enhancement Programme. This programme was made to improve the level of English amongst

UDM students. There are about 400 newcomers who involved in the programme. To get the

sample of the study, we chose only a small numbers from them. They are 20 students from 3

small groups in the programme. Half of them were male students (50%) and the other are female

(50%).

The questionnaire was the method used to get students or adult learners in determining

whether acquiring the language naturally helps them in second language learning process. These

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students were selected because they were first year students and they were exposed and have the

experience of learning English in natural environment.

A small sample was chosen because of the expected difficulty obtaining the data from a

large number of samples. Before giving out the questionnaires to the samples, we give a brief

explanation about the topic for them to fully understand what does it means by acquiring the

language naturally. We explained the terms such as ‘natural environment’, ‘native speakers’ and

so on. We also constructed intermediate questions in the questionnaires to ease them in

answering them. To enable the subjects to see the word in the questionnaire sheet clearly, the

questionnaire sheet were configured with a large font of word, moderate spacing between words

and lines, clear font type of word, and the instruction were bold.

3.4 Instrument

We developed 22 questions for this study. The questions are consisting of four sections

which are section A, B, C and D. Section A is made up of demography data questions. It asked

about the age, gender, course and semester of course of the respondents. Whereas sections B,

there are 7 multiple choice questions, section C consists of 11 Likert scale question where the

respondents are needed to choose from strongly disagree to strongly agree based on statements

given. Last but not least, section D has 3 yes – no question and an open-ended question. In the

process, we distributed 30 sheets of questionnaire and in the end; we got only 20 sheets of valid

answered questionnaires. Both my partner and I personally administered the questionnaires.

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4.0 FINDINGS

Of the initial cohort of 20 students, 10 of them were female and 10 male. 16 of them are from the

Faculty of Islamic Contemporary and the other 4 of them are from the Faculty of Technology.

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30%

5%40%

25%

Learning in Natural Environment

Study outside the classReading in the jungleLearning in English stateTaught by English speakers

DIAGRAM 1

The result of the study shows that most of the students thinks that learning in natural

environment is learning in English state (40%) and only (5%) of them confused with the

meaning of learning in natural environments, they thought it is associated with reading in the

jungle.

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25%

5%

35%

35%

The Drawbacks of Natural Environment Learning

Interfered by mother tongue languageHard to find natural en-vironmentTakes longer time to mas-ter the languageStudents can't see the ob-jective of the learning

DIAGRAM 2

When being asked the question about the drawbacks of natural environment learning, 35% stated

that it takes longer time to master the language and so did students can’t see the objective of the

learning. In contrast, only 5% of the respondents agree that it is hard to find natural environment.

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50%

20%

10%

20%

Learning English from the Native Speakers

InterestingHard to communicate with the teacherBoringMake the learning easier

DIAGRAM 3

Half of the samples (50%) think that learning in English from the native speaker is interesting. A

few of them think that learning that it is boring. These show that majority of them like to learn

English from native speaker.

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45%

55%

Acquire naturally helps to improve Eng-

lishStrongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree

5%

35%

50%

10%

Helps in speaking than grammar

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree

DIAGRAM 4 DIAGRAM 5

In the Likert scale question the (55%) of the sample agree that acquiring the language naturally

helps them to improve their English, while the other (45%) are neutral. Although it can help

them improve in their speaking more than half of them said that it is not helping them in

grammar aspect, (50%) agree and (20%) strongly agree.

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5%

25%

60%

10%

Learning with local teachers

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree

DIAGRAM 6

After that, in Diagram 6, the finding said that the respondents agreed that learning English with

the local teachers is more comfortable and easier than with native speakers (60%) and (5%)

disagreed with the statement.

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35%

35%

20%

10%

English subject should be taught in English country

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree

DIAGRAM 7

Next, the respondents seemed disagreed and neutral with the statement that English subject

should be taught in English country only with the percentage of 35%. Only 10% strongly agreed

with it. The result is shown in Diagram 7.

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Yes No0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

80%

20%

Need more Native speakers as English teachers

The next question asked the opinions of the respondents if we need more native speakers as

English teacher. Diagram 8 symbolized the results as 80% of them said that we must have more

native speaker as English teachers and 20% thinks that local teacher is more needed.

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5.0 CONCLUSION

In the first finding, the students are understood with the natural environment approach because

they already engaged in this type of learning process indirectly. Then, with the accumulated

percentage of 70%, half of them said that this method takes longer time to master the language

because acquiring a language naturally really time-consuming and other agreed that natural

environment method do not teach the language directly so they cannot see the objective of the

learning.

Based on the findings recorded, half of the samples think that acquiring the language naturally

helps them improve their English and the other didn’t think that because by this method they can

practice their communication skill such as speaking more efficient. On the other side, they said

that learning naturally only helps to improve their speaking skill but not their literacy skill such

as reading, writing and grammar. There is no doubt since literacy skills cannot be taught in a

natural environment. It has to be in classroom oriented lesson.

In learning English the students prefer to have the native speaker of the language to teach them

since one of the most effective ways to learn a certain language is by learning it from the native

speakers. The native speakers have clearer and better pronunciation than some of the local

teachers. Not to mention how well they are train to teach their own mother tongue. These make

the learning process more interesting. However, when asked which one they prefer,60% of the

respondents are more comfortable with the local teachers maybe due to social backgrounds and

they find it more easier to communicate.

Next, 35% of the respondents disagree with the statement that English subject should be taught

in English country because they are aware of the important of English in this globalization world

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these days. So, in order to improve themselves they need to learn English subject in their own

country.

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5.1 RECOMMENDATIONS

Real language acquisition develops slowly, and speaking skills emerge significantly later than

listening skills, even when conditions are perfect. The best methods are therefore those that

supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really

want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow

students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying

communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production. This

way it can help the students to acquire the language effectively.

To overcome the drawbacks of this method, errors in speech should be corrected by the lecturer,

and give homework may include grammar exercises that will be corrected. Goals for the class

emphasize the students being able use the language "to talk about ideas, perform tasks, and solve

problems." This approach aims to fulfill the requirements for learning and acquisition, and does a

great job in doing it. Its main weakness is that all classroom teaching is to some degree limited in

its ability to be interesting and relevant to all students.

Interacting in an environment in which the language is spoken will likely prove to be better for

the student, especially considering the fact that a language classroom will not be able to reflect

the broad range of language use that the real world provides. The classroom's goal is to prepare

students to be able to understand the language used outside the classroom.

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6.0 References

Crystal, David The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Krashen, Stephen D. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Prentice-Hall International, 1987.

Krashen, Stephen D. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Prentice-Hall International, 1988.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/Second-Language-Acquisition-Theory.html

http://www.esaudio.net

Antepara, R. (2003). 'Using News Stories in the ESL Classroom', The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. 9, No 12 http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Antepara-5Ws.html

Clifton, J. (2006). 'Using Newspaper Articles Communicatively in the ESL Classroom'.,The Internet TESL Journal, Vol 12, No 2. http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Clifton-Newspaper.html

Daly, B. (2004). 'Facilitating Discussions of Newspaper Articles in the ESL/EFL Classroom', The Internet TESL Journal, Vol 10, No 7. http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Daly-Newspaper.html

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/106048/chapters/How_Students_Acquire_Social_and_Academic_Language.aspx

http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/rw/krashenbk.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/L1%20and%20L2.htm

http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/rw/krashenbk.htm

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Appendix

Appendix A

Differences between L1 and L2 acquisition               Ellis 94 (based on Bley-Vroman 1988)

Feature  L1 acquisition L2 (foreign language)acquisition

VC's objections

1. Overall     success

children normally achieve perfect L1 mastery

adult L2 learners are unlikely to achieve perfect L2 mastery

 

 

All implicitly see 'success' in the sense of what a mono-lingual native speaker does, not an L2 user

2. General     failure

success guaranteed complete success rare

3. Variation little variation in degree of success or route

L2 learners vary in overall success and route

4. Goals target language  competence

L2 learners may be content with less than target language competence or more concerned with fluency than accuracy

5. Fossilisation

unknown common, plus backsliding (i.e. return to earlier stages of development

And L2 users too have L1 attrition

6.Intuitions children develop clear intuitions about correctness

L2 learners are often unable to form clear grammaticality judgments

But bilingual children are better at this than monolinguals

7. Instruction not needed helpful or necessary All depends!

8. Negative     evidence

correction not found and not necessary

correction generally helpful or necessary

Recasts are in fact based on L1 acquisition ideas

9. Affective     factors

not involved play a major role determining proficiency

Again measured against monolinguals

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From the table above we can see the differences between the first language acquisition

and second language acquisition. It is hard for adult learner to acquire and master the second

language (L2) compare to the first language (L2) because there will be many thing that going to

interfere with the acquisition process. Adult learners for L2 are hard to achieve perfect L2

mastery because of the brain plasticity is decreasing. It is much easier for the children to acquire

the L2.

Although English language learners may speak English on the outside classroom, this

does not mean they have mastered the academic and cognitive language of the classroom.

Language acquirers are not consciously aware of the grammatical rules of the language, but

rather develop a "feel" for correctness. "In non-technical language, acquisition is 'picking-up' a

language. However, for the intermediate level student and above, living and interacting in an

environment in which the language is spoken will likely prove to be better for the student,

especially considering the fact that a language classroom will not be able to reflect the broad

range of language use that the real world provides. The classroom's goal is to prepare students to

be able to understand the language used outside the classroom.

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Appendix B

A Summary of Stephen Krashen's "Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition"

By Reid Wilson

 

Bibliographic information:

Krashen, Stephen D. 1981. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. English Language Teaching series. London: Prentice-Hall International (UK) Ltd. 202 pages.

Quote that captures the essense of the book:

"What theory implies, quite simply, is that language acquisition, first or second, occurs when comprehension of real messages occurs, and when the acquirer is not 'on the defensive'... Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill. It does not occur overnight, however. Real language acquisition develops slowly, and speaking skills emerge significantly later than listening skills, even when conditions are perfect. The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production." (6-7)

Summary of Part I. Introduction: The Relationship of Theory to Practice

In deciding how to develop language teaching methods and materials, one can take three approaches: make use of second language acquisition theory, make use of applied linguistics research, and make use of ideas and intuition from experience. These approaches should in fact support each other and lead to common conclusions. This book incorporates all three approaches, with a hope of reintroducing theory to language teachers. While "most current theory may still not be the final word on second language acquisition," it is hoped that teachers will use the ideas in this book as another source alongside of their classroom and language-learning experiences.

Summary of Part II. Second Language Acquisition Theory

There are five key hypotheses about second language acquisition:

1. THE ACQUISITION-LEARNING DISCTINCTION

Adults have two different ways to develop compentence in a language: language acquisition and language learning.

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Language acquisition is a subconscious process not unlike the way a child learns language. Language acquirers are not consciously aware of the grammatical rules of the language, but rather develop a "feel" for correctness. "In non-technical language, acquisition is 'picking-up' a language."

Language learning, on the other hand, refers to the "concious knowledge of a second language, knowing the rules, being aware of them, and being able to talk about them." Thus language learning can be compared to learning about a language.

The acquistion-learning disctinction hypothesis claims that adults do not lose the ability to acquire languages the way that children do. Just as research shows that error correction has little effect on children learning a first language, so too error correction has little affect on language acquisition.

2. THE NATURAL ORDER HYPOTHESIS

The natural order hypothesis states that "the acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order." For a given language, some grammatical structures tend to be acquired early, others late, regardless of the first language of a speaker. However, as will be discussed later on in the book, this does not mean that grammar should be taught in this natural order of acquisition.

3. THE MONITOR HYPOTHESIS

The language that one has subconsciously acquired "initiates our utterances in a second language and is responsible for our fluency," whereas the language that we have consciously learned acts as an editor in situations where the learner has enough time to edit, is focused on form, and knows the rule, such as on a grammar test in a language classroom or when carefully writing a composition. This conscious editor is called the Monitor.

Different individuals use their monitors in different ways, with different degrees of success. Monitor Over-users try to always use their Monitor, and end up "so concerned with correctness that they cannot speak with any real fluency." Monitor Under-users either have not consciously learned or choose to not use their conscious knowledge of the language. Although error correction by others has little influence on them, they can often correct themelves based on a "feel" for correctness.

Teachers should aim to produce Optimal Monitor users, who "use the Monitor when it is appropriate and when it does not interfere with communication." They do not use their conscious knowledge of grammar in normal conversation, but will use it in writing and planned speech. "Optimal Monitor users can therefore use their learned competence as a supplement to their acquired competence."

4. THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS

The input hypothesis answers the question of how a language acquirer develops comptency over time. It states that a language acquirer who is at "level i" must receive comprehensible input that

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is at "level i+1." "We acquire, in other words, only when we understand language that contains structure that is 'a little beyond' where we are now." This understanding is possible due to using the context of the language we are hearing or reading and our knowledge of the world.

However, instead of aiming to receive input that is exactly at our i+1 level, or instead of having a teacher aim to teach us grammatical structure that is at our i+1 level, we should instead just focus on communication that is understandable. If we do this, and if we get enough of that kind of input, then we will in effect be receiving and thus acquiring out i+1. "Prduction ability emerges. It is not taught directly."

Evidences for the input hypothesis can be found in the effectiveness of caretaker speech from an adult to a child, of teacher-talk from a teacher to a language student, and of foreigner-talk from a sympathetic conversation partner to a language learner/acquirer. One result of this hypothesis is that language students should be given a initial "silent period" where they are building up acquired competence in a language before they begin to produce it.

Whenever language acquirers try to produce language beyond what they have acquired, they tend to use the rules they have already acquired from their first language, thus allowing them to communicate but not really progress in the second language.

5. THE AFFECTIVE FILTER HYPOTHESIS

Motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety all affect language acquisition, in effect raising or lowering the "stickiness" or "penetration" of any comprehensible input that is received.

These five hypotheses of second language acquisition can be summarized: "1. Acquisition is more important than learning. 2. In order to acquire, two conditions are necessaary. The first is comprehensible (or even better, comprehended) input containing i+1, structures a bit beyond the acquier's current level, and second, a low or weak affective filter to allow the input 'in'."

In view of these findings, question is raised: does classroom language teaching help? Classroom teaching helps when it provides the necessary comprehensible input to those students who are not at a level yet which allows them to receive comprehensible input from "the real world" or who do not have access to "real world" language speakers. It can also help when it provides students communication tools to make better use of the outside world, and it can provide beneficial conscious learning for optimal Monitor users.

Various research studies have been done comparing the amount of language competance and the amount of exposure to the language either in classroom-years or length of residence, the age of the language acquirer, and the acculturation of the language acquirer. The results of these studies are consistent with the above acquisition hypotheses: the more comprehensible input one receives in low-stress situations, the more language competance that one will have.

Summary of Part III: Providing Input for Acquisition

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Once it is realized that receiving comprehensible input is central to acquiring a second language, questions are immediately raised concerning the nature and sources of this type of input and the role of the second language classroom.

To what extent is the second language classroom beneficial? Classrooms help when they provide the comprehensible input that the acquirer is going to receive. If acquirers have access to real world input, and if their current ability allows them understand at least some of it, then the classroom is not nearly as significant. An informal, immersion environment has the opportunity to provide tons of input; however, that input is not always comprehensible to a beginner, and often for an adult beginner the classroom is better than the real world in providing comprehensible input.

However, for the intermediate level student and above, living and interacting in an environment in which the language is spoken will likely prove to be better for the student, especially considering the fact that a language classroom will not be able to reflect the broad range of language use that the real world provides. The classroom's goal is to prepare students to be able to understand the language used outside the classroom.

What role does speaking (output) play in second language acquisition? It has no direct role, since language is acquired by comprehensible input, and in fact someone who is not able to speak for physical reasons can still acquire the full ability to understand language. However, speaking does indirectly help in two ways: 1) speaking produces conversation, which produces comprehensible input, and 2) your speaking allows native speakers to judge what level you are at and then adjust their speak downward to you, providing you input that is more easily understood.

What kind of input is optimal for acquisition? The best input is comprehensible, which sometimes means that it needs to be slower and more carefully articulated, using common vocabulary, less slang, and shorter sentences. Optimal input is interesting and/or relevant and allows the acquirer to focus on the meaning of the message and not on the form of the message. Optimal input is not grammatically sequenced, and a grammatical syllabus should not be used in the language classroom, in part because all students will not be at exactly the same level and because each structure is often only introduced once before moving on to something else. Finally, optimal input must focus on quantity, although most language teachers have to date seriously underestimated how much comprehensible input is actually needed for an acquirer to progress.

In addition to receiving the right kind of input, students should have their affective filter kept low, meaning that classroom stress should be minimized and students "should not be put on the defensive." One result of this is that student's errors should not be corrected. Students should be taught how to gain more input from the outside world, including helping them acquire conversational competence, the means of managing conversation.

Summary of Part IV: The Role of Grammar, or Putting Grammar in its Place

"As should be apparent by now, the position taken in this book is that second language teaching should focus on encouraging acquisition, on providing input that stimulates the subconscious

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language acquisition potential all normal human beings have. This does not mean to say, however, that there is no room at all for conscious learning. Conscious learning does have a role, but it is no longer the lead actor in the play."

For starters, we must realize that learning does not turn into acquisition. While the idea that we first learn a grammar rule and then use it so much that it becomes internalized is common and may seem obvious to many, it is not supported by theory nor by the observation of second language acquirers, who often correctly use "rules" they have never been taught and don't even remember accurately the rules they have learned.

However, there is a place for grammar, or the conscious learning of the rules of a language. Its major role is in the use of the Monitor, which allows Monitor users to produce more correct output when they are given the right conditions to actually use their Monitor, as in some planned speech and writing. However, for correct Monitor use the users must know the rules they are applying, and these would need to be rules that are easy to remember and apply--a very small subset of all of the grammatical rules of a language. It is not worthwhile for language acquisition to teach difficult rules which are hard to learn, harder to remember, and sometimes almost impossible to correctly apply.

For many years there was controversy in language-teaching literature on whether grammar should be deductively or inductively taught. However, as both of these methods involve language learning and not language acquisition, this issue should not be central for language teaching practice. There has similarly been controversy as to whether or not errors should be corrected in language learners' speech. Second language acquisition theory suggests that errors in ordinary conversation and Monitor-free situations should not be corrected, and that errors should only be corrected when they apply to easy to apply and understand grammatical rules in situations where known Monitor-users are able to use their Monitor.

There is a second way in which the teaching of grammar in a classroom can be helpful, and that is when the students are interested in learning about the language they are acquiring. This language appreciation, or linguistics, however, will only result in language acquisition when grammar is taught in the language that is being acquired, and it is actually the comprehensible input that the students are receiving, not the content of the lecture itself, that is aiding acquisition. "This is a subtle point. In effect, both teachers and students are deceiving themselves. They believe that it is the subject matter itself, the study of grammar, that is responsible for the students' progress in second language acquisition, but in reality their progress is coming from the medium and not the message. And subject matter that held their interest would do just as well, so far as second language acquisition is concerned, as long as it required extensive use of the target language." And perhaps many students would be more interested in a different subject matter and would thus acquire more than they would in such a grammar-based classroom.

Summary of Part V: Approaches to Language Teaching

Popular language teaching methods today include grammar-translation, audio-lingualism, cognitive-code, the direct method, the natural approach, total physical response, and

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Suggestopedia. How do these methods fare when they are evaluated by Second Language Acquisition theory? Each method will be evaluated using the following criteria:

Requirements for optimal input -- comprehensible -- interesting/relevant -- not grammatically sequenced -- quantity -- low filter level -- provides tools for conversational management

Learning restricted to: -- Rules that are easily learned and applied, and not acquired yet -- Monitor users -- Situations when the learner has adequate time and a focus on form

1. GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION

Grammar-translation usually consists of an explanation of a grammatical rule, with some example sentences, a bilingual vocabulary list, a reading section exemplifying the grammatical rule and incorporating the vocabulary, and exercises to practice using the grammar and vocabulary. Most of these classes are taught in the student's first language. The grammar-translation method provides little opportunity for acquisition and relies too heavily on learning.

2. AUDIO-LINGUALISM

An audio-lingual lesson usually begins with a dialogue which contains the grammar and vocabulary to be focused on in the lesson. The students mimic the dialogue and eventually memorize it. After the dialogue comes pattern drills, in which the grammatical structure introduced in the dialogue is reinforced, with these drills focusing on simple repetition, substitution, transformation, and translation. While the audio-lingual method provides opportunity for some acquisition to occur, it cannot measure up to newer methods which provide much more comprehensible input in a low-filter environment.

3. COGNITIVE-CODE

Cognitive-code is similar to grammar-translation except that it focuses on developing all four skills of language: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Communicative competence is focused upon. Since the cognitive-code approach provides more comprehensible input than grammar-translation does, it should produce more acquisition, but other newer methods provide even more and have better results. Learning is overemphasized with this method.

4. THE DIRECT METHOD

Several approaches have been called the "direct method"; the approach evaluated here involves all discussion in the target language. The teacher uses examples of language in order to inductively teach grammar; students are to try to guess the rules of the language by the examples provided. Teachers interact with the students a lot, asking them questions about relevant topics and trying to use the grammatical structure of the day in the conversation. Accuracy is sought and errors are corrected. This method provides more comprehensible input than the methods discussed so far, but it still focuses too much on grammar.

5. THE NATURAL APPROACH

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In the Natural Approach the teacher speaks only the target language and class time is committed to providing input for acquisition. Students may use either the language being taught or their first language. Errors in speech are not corrected, however homework may include grammar exercises that will be corrected. Goals for the class emphasize the students being able use the language "to talk about ideas, perform tasks, and solve problems." This approach aims to fulfill the requirements for learning and acquisition, and does a great job in doing it. Its main weakness is that all classroom teaching is to some degree limited in its ability to be interesting and relevant to all students.

6. TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

Total Physical Response, or TPR, involves the students listening and responding to commands given by the teacher such as "sit down" and "walk," with the complexity of the commands growing over time as the class acquires more language. Student speech is delayed, and once students indicate a willingness to talk they initially give commands to other students. Theory predicts that TPR should result in substantial language acquisition. Its content may not be always interesting and relevant for the students, but should produce better results than the audio-lingual and grammar-translation methods.

7. SUGGESTOPEDIA

Suggestopedia classes are small and intensive, and focus on providing a very low-stress, attractive environment (partly involving active and passive "seances" complete with music and meditation) in which acquisition can occur. Some of the students' first language is used at the beginning, but most in the target language. The role of the teacher is very important in creating the right atmosphere and in acting out the dialogues that form the core of the content. Suggestopedia seems to provide close to optimal input while not giving too much emphasis to grammar.

What does applied linguistics research have to say about these methods? Applied research has examined the older methods of grammar-translation, audio-lingual, and cognitive-code much more than it has looked at the newer methods. There seems to be only small differences in the results of the older methods. While much research remains to be done, Total Physical Response and the other newer approaches "produce significantly better results than old approaches."

So what is better, the classroom or the real world? "Quite simply, the role of the second or foreign language classroom is to bring a student to a point where he can begin to use the outside would for further second language acquisition.... This means we have to provide students with enough comprehensible input to bring their second language competence to the point where they can begin to understand language heard 'on the outside'.... In other words, all second language classes are transitional."

In the real world, conversations with sympathetic native speakers who are willing to help the acquirer understand are very helpful. These native speakers engage in what is called "foreigner talk," not very different from the way that a parent would talk to a child.

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Voluntary pleasure reading is also beneficial for second language acquisition, especially as the reader is free to choose reading material that is of interest and the proper level in order to be understood.

Taking content classes in the language that is being acquired can also be helpful to the more advanced learner, especially when the class is composed of students who are all acquiring the second language.

How does all of the above affect our views on achievement testing? As students will gear their studying to the type of tests they expect to take, the kinds of language tests that are given is very important. "Achievement tests...should meet this requirement: preparation for the test, or studying for the test, should obviously encourage the student to do things that will provide more comprehensible input and the tools to gain even more input when the class is over." With this in mind, general reading comprehension tests are helpful, as would be a test that would encourage students to participate in conversations and employ the tools of communicative competence.

Assuming that the conclusions in this book are correct, many new classroom language materials need to be developed. These materials should focus on providing much comprehensible input to beginning and intermediate students and should provide them with the means to gain even more input outside the classroom. Such materials should only focus on grammatical rules that are easy to learn and apply. Readers should have much more reading material in them and much fewer exercises and should have enough content that students can choose which topics to read about.

A quote from the conclusion:

"Even if the theory presented here is totally correct, and my suggestions for application are in fact the appropriate ones, there are some serious problems that need to be mentioned before concluding. These have to do with the acceptance, by teachers and students, of language acquisition as primary, and comprehensible input as the means of encouraging language acquisition. These problems are caused by the fact that acquisition differs from learning in two major ways: acquisition is slow and subtle, while learning is fast and, for some people, obvious.... I think that I have presented a conservative view of language acquisition theory and its applications, conservative in the sense that it attempts to be consistent with all empirical data that are known to me. It is consistent with the way thousands of people have acquired second languages throughout history, and in many cases acquired them very well. They acquired second languages while they were focused on something else, while they were gaining interesting or needed information, or interacting with people they liked to be with."

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Appendix B

What is Natural Environment Learning?

Many people think of ABA as a child and teacher at a table, with instructional materials, a program book, and reinforcers spread out in front of them. In truth, this is more the case with structured teaching (usually DTT). However, ABA is more than DTT, more than structured teaching. Students must learn to learn in all environments, not first in one and then taught to generalize to others. Environmental contingencies (the way in which the environment is arranged, so to speak) has a lot to do with stimulus control. In order to generalize well and easily, generalization must be built into teaching from the beginning, and one way to do this is with Natural Environment Teaching (NET).

NET is not complicated, although those coming from a purely structured teaching model may have difficulty adjusting at first. Luckily, students rarely do. In a nutshell, NET is teaching the student away from the table (the structured teaching setting). Good ABA programs generally involve both NET and structured teaching, since there are certain skills that are difficult to teach first in the natural environment, such as academics. In NET, the teacher has a curriculum in mind (what to teach) and makes it portable. Following the student's MOs/EOs initially, the teacher generates ways to teach the curriculum using those MOs/EOs and the materials in the natural environment. Here, the cliche that "The world is a classroom" really applies; learning is not dependent on a table or particular set of materials.

One important variable in NET is instructional control. It is often easier to maintain instructional control at a table, but that is often accomplished through socially mediated negative reinforcement, or working to escape work. This is the student-teacher dynamic in which the student works for "breaks," or time away from the table. Generally, teachers can only get through 3 or 4 trials before needing to reinforce with a break; any more than that and they may start to "lose" the student. The reason for this is typically that the reinforcement value of learning is fairly low, and that the reinforcement value of escape from learning is much higher. These two factors are in constant flux; a balance of difficult tasks with easier tasks combined with the teaching procedures mentioned elsewhere on this site will keep the reinforcement value of learning high. Failure to use those teaching procedures will raise the reinforcement value of escape higher than that of learning and will result in the student's attempting to escape work through tantrums, aggression, or other undesired behavior. In this situation, students will tolerate a brief period of instruction that is over just before the value of escape becomes higher than that of learning. This is no way to teach, as it breaks up the rate of instruction and prevents fluency.

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A better way to establish instructional control is for teachers to first pair themselves with positive reinforcement (pairing). Pairing begins with noncontingent reinforcement, meaning that the student is first reinforced without having demands placed on him or her. Technically, the reinforcement is still contingent, as there must be an absence of undesired behavior (tantrums, aggression, SIB, etc.) for reinforcement to be delivered. Initially the only requirement for accessing reinforcement (besides the lack of undesirable behavior) is that the student take the reinforcers from the teacher. After this is happening consistently, the teacher must gradually fade in demands, slowly increasing the response requirement before reinforcement is delivered. Eventually the teacher will be able to present more trials of varied difficulty without lowering the reinforcement value of learning and increasing the value of escape. Pairing is slightly more involved than that, but essentially involves 3 elements which must be in close association with each other: 1) The student; 2) the teacher; and 3) the student's MOs/EOs and reinforcers. The teacher must capture and contrive MOs/EOs and identify strong reinforcers, with which she can pair herself, in order to become a reinforcer herself. Once this happens, everything associated with the teacher, especially learning itself, will become reinforcing. One tip: If the student's situation doesn't change for the worse (read: if the level of reinforcement doesn't decrease) when the teacher leaves the room, the teacher isn't pairing correctly. The teacher must be the conduit directly through which the student gains access to reinforcement. It is not enough to be in the room with the reinforcement while the student is contacting it; the teacher must be an integral part of it.

To describe this in more scientific detail, when you pair yourself with positive reinforcement, what you're technically doing is conditioning yourself as a reinforcer. Some stimuli start out as reinforcers, meaning that they strengthen behavior, even though a person has never had any contact or experience with them before. These stimuli, such as sleep, food, drink, sex, etc., are called unconditioned reinforcers. There are also unconditioned punishers, such as pain, that weaken behavior even without prior contact or experience. When stimuli are unconditioned, we don't have to be taught to "like" or "dislike" them; they're tied to some biological need and are therefore classified right out of the box. While these unconditioned stimuli are very important, most of the reinforcers and punishers we traffic in aren't unconditioned; they are conditioned. This means that the stimuli, through being paired with other reinforcers or punishers, take on some of their reinforcing or punishing properties. We gather conditioned reinforcers and punishers through our experience and history with the environment. Since we all experience the world differently, the complete list of our reinforcers and punishers is sort of our experiential thumbprint, different from everyone else's. In other words, we learn through experience to "like" or "dislike" things, which means that they will either increase or decrease certain behaviors when presented as consequences for those behaviors.

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Given all that, when you're attempting to pair yourself with positive reinforcement, or condition yourself as a reinforcer, you're likely going to start by associating yourself with a range of unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers. So you'll identify foods, drinks, toys, games, videos, computer games, physical/social reinforcers, etc., to associate yourself with. The more directly you are involved in providing your child with access to reinforcement, the more you will be paired up with that reinforcement. The child should always have to go through you to get what he wants; otherwise, he's just accessing reinforcement while you're in the room, which isn't enough. You have to be a key part of the reinforcement: Handing the food, drink, or toy to the child, playing the game with him, helping him bounce, pushing him on the swing, turning on the TV or computer, etc. If he doesn't have less fun when you leave the room than he does when you're there, you're not pairing, because the access to reinforcement must not really involve or be dependent on you. You have to make the reinforcement happen, not just be there while it's happening. It's the difference between chipping in on a lottery ticket with a friend and picking half the winning numbers versus going with your friend when she picks the numbers and buys herself a winning ticket. For more info, see Yoon, So-Young, and Bennett, Gina M., Effects of a Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing Procedure on Conditioning Vocal Sounds as Reinforcers, Analysis of Verbal Behavior, Vol. 17

Pairing must take place for instructional control to be gained in both natural and structured environments. However, it is especially important in NET because the student is moving from environment to environment with the teacher. If the teacher doesn't have instructional control, it will be very difficult to teach in the natural environment. Once pairing has been done, however, the teaching should start. It's very difficult to give blanket descriptions of NET, since it's so dependent on creativity and motivation, so here are some examples of how to teach in the natural environment:

° Manding: The student wants to go on a swing outside. The teacher gets a mand for "Swing" (at whatever level the student can mand) and then begins chaining in mands. The teacher tells the student to get his "socks" and "shoes," each of which he must mand for, as well as perhaps manding for "help" to get them on. Then the teacher can block the door to the backyard, prompting the student to mand, "Move" or "Excuse me." Once she moves, the student can mand to "Open" the door, then again for the "swing," to "get up," get a "push," go "faster," "higher," etc. This will squeeze several mands out of just one. However, be careful not to chain in too many mands too soon, or the student's MO/EO may be lost.

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° Receptive ID and Tacting Colors: The student enjoys playing with playdoh. The teacher begins to make favorite shapes and then allows the student to mand for what to make. The teacher can ask the student to give her the "yellow" playdoh to make Big Bird, the "blue" playdoh to make Blue from Blue's Clues, the orange playdoh to make Chuckie's hair (from Rugrats), etc. The colors become motivating themselves because they're used to make the characters that the student loves look more accurate and realistic. You can also build in tacts of the colors and characters, echoics of the characters' catchphrases, etc.

° Intraverbal Fill-ins: The student loves music, so the teacher sing some songs while playing and leaves out key words from the songs, i.e., "The wheels on the..." or "Head, shoulders, knees, and..." Gross motor imitation of the movements that go with the songs, receptive ID and tacting of body parts in the songs, and echoics can also be worked in.

The important elements of NET are to keep in mind are what you want to teach, to identify MOs/EOs that will create strong reinforcers, to be creative in figuring out how to teach the target skills using those MOs/EOs, and to have fun. When the curricular targets are functional and made to be motivating through good teaching, much can be accomplished in the natural environment.

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SAMPLE OF QUESSTIONNAIRES

We are conducting a survey “Acquiring the Language Naturally Helps Adult Learners

Second Language Learning” for our BES 1043. Kindly answer the questions honestly.

We thank you for your kind cooperation.

Age __________

Gender Male ( ) Female ( )

Course ___________________

Semester _______

CIRCLE THE ANSWER ON WHICH YOU PREFER THE MOST

1. Do you like/love English?

A. Sure.

B. Not really

C. Sometimes

D. Not at all.

2. What is your language level?

A. Poor

B. Intermediate

C. Advance

D. Not sure

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3. How do you prefer to learn English?

A. Mass lectures

B. Tutorial

C. Communicate with native speakers

D. Other , state : ________________________

4. Where do you prefer to learn English?

A. Lecture hall

B. Classroom

C. Outside the class

D. Tuition

5. What do you understand about learning in natural environment?

A. Study outside the class

B. Reading in the jungle

C. Learning in English state

D. Taught by native speaker

6. What are the drawbacks of natural environment learning?

A. Interfered by mother tongue language

B. Hard to find natural environment

C. Takes longer time to master the language

D. Students can’t see the objective of the learning

7. What do you think about learning English from the native speaker?

A. Interesting

B. Hard to communicate with the teacher.

C. Boring

D. Make the learning easier

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PLEASE ( ) ON WHICH ONE YOU PREFER THE MOST.

QUESTIONS STRONGL

Y

DISAGREE

DISAGREE NEUTRAL AGREE STRONGLY

AGREE

1. Acquiring the language naturally helps me to

improve my English.

2. Acquiring the language naturally also helps

me speak English better.

3. It helps me speaks better but not in grammar

aspect.

4. Learning in the classroom is more effective

than natural environment.

5. To me it is hard to acquire the language

naturally rather than learning it in classroom.

6. I find it easier to learn with local teachers

than native speakers.

7. I feel more comfortable and confident to

learn English in class.

8. I would like to learn English with local

teacher.

9. English subject should be taught in English

country.

10. It is easier to learn English in classroom.

11. It is more interesting to learn language in

natural environment.

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PLEASE ( ) ON WHICH ONE YOU PREFER THE MOST.

1. Do we need more native speaker as English teacher?

YES ( ) NO ( )

2. Acquiring the language in natural environment helps in learning the second language?

YES ( ) NO ( )

3. Speaking with native speakers improves my communication skills.

YES ( ) NO ( )

3. In your opinion, what is the best way to improve your English?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

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