TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND

ACQUISITION. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. ERROR TREATMENT

INTRODUCTION

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed
him for a lifetime”. This Chinese proverb could be an understanding of how people
should behave in language teaching. Learning is a lifelong process. From the very
moment of our birth, humans exist in a continuous, perpetual process of learning,
everyday, at very moment, from every situation and from everyone. One of the most
essential matters people learn is language, the basis for further learning, being it our
mother tongue or a second language. So, it is logical that many theories have tried to
explain the way in which people learn languages in order to understand this process
and to search more effective and efficient methods of teaching languages. Nowadays,
the need for communication among people of different cultures and languages,
triggered by travelling and globalisation, puts pressure on people to learn languages
more quickly and efficiently. But how do we learn a foreign language? How does our
first language interfere in learning a second one? How can we, as teachers of foreign
languages, analyse the errors committed by our students and correct their mistakes in a
pedagogical view?

GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND

ACQUISITION
When we talk about language learning, we should be familiar with some terms, as they
are sometimes ambiguous and confusing: There are two different ways of developing
skills and knowledge in a second language: acquisition and learning. According to the
distinction established by Krashen, acquisition is the natural, inherent, subconscious
process of picking up a language by using it in natural communicative situations. It is
very similar to the way children acquire their first language and probably second
languages as well, since it is not structured step by step, and the learners are exposed
to a wide variety of vocabulary and grammar structures. Without experience acquisition
cannot occur. By contrast, learning refers to the development of conscious knowledge
of grammar and rules, and language is simplified and sequenced for this purpose. Both
formal teaching and error correction are necessary for learning to occur.

In learning languages, some other related terms are mother tongue or first language
(L1), second language (L2) and foreign language (FL). Mother tongue is the first

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TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
ACQUISITION. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. ERROR TREATMENT
language one learns as a child, whereas a L2 is the language of a community or country
where one lives which is different to one’s mother tongue, in other words, it is some
form of bilingualism, like English in India. A FL is one acquired in a formal setting –such
as in school, as the language is not spoken in the learner’s community, such as English
in Spain. However, the term L2 is often used to refer to any language which is not the
L1 –and that includes second language and FL.

In the study of language, a distinction between performance and competence is often

made. According to Chomsky, competence refers to the mental representation of the
linguistic rules the learner has internalized whereas performance consists of the
comprehension and production of language.

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

Nowadays, there is not a universal agreement on how learning occurs, but three main
theories have approached, from different perspectives, the question of how language is
learnt:

Behaviourism was very popular in the forties and fifties thanks to the work of
Skinner. Learning takes place through the formation of habits, the existence of
stimuli and response and the importance of input. Habit formation occurs when
learners receive positive reinforcement after showing correct learning
behaviour. Behaviourism focuses only on objectively observable behaviours and
ignores mental activities.
Behaviourists tried to explain learning without referring to mental processes. The
focus was on observable behaviour and how an organism (person or animal)
adapts to the environment. The famous ‘Dog-Salivation-Experiment’ by Pavlov
where he makes the dog salivate at the sight of food is one example of
behaviourists learning experiments. Thus, the subject is determined by his
environment and so he passively adapts to the circumstances
The most important processes in language development are imitation, practice,
memorization and repetition of grammatical structures. This model assumes that
all learning is similar; there is no different treatment between L1 and L2. The
learner of any age for SLA should imitate, repeat, practice and receive feedback
in order to establish ‘good habits’ and avoid ‘bad habits’. Implementation of the
behaviourist ideas are reflected in the teaching approach known as

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TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
ACQUISITION. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. ERROR TREATMENT
Audiolingualism and the typical activity under this view is the pattern drill.
Behavioural learning theory leads to the implementation of audio-visual
techniques and the practice of oral skills in a controlled environment, by
emphasizing formation of habits through practice, memorization and repetition.

 As a reaction to this theory, in the 1970s cognitive psychology began to overtake

behaviourism; cognitivism claims that language is not based on behaviour
learned through imitation and habit formation, but it is rule-based and produced
through cognitive processes such as motivation, thinking, reflection, memory,
mind and innate mechanism called Language Acquisition Device. Cognitive
theory views the learner as a thinking being and an active processor of
information, an active participant in the knowledge acquisition process. Chomsky
stated that human beings are born with a set of innate mental structures or rules
about language that enabled them to generate and understand sentences. He
called it LAD (language acquisition device) and says that language acquisition is
an innate device which only human beings have. Thus, learning is a process in
which the learner actively tries to analyze the situations where the application of
the rule would be appropriate and to make sense of data. He also argued that all
languages are fundamentally innate and that the same universal principles
underlie all of them, known as the Universal Grammar; so anyone can learn any
language they are exposed to. At first we may overgeneralize grammatical rules
and say, for example, goed (meaning went), suggesting that we have applied an
internalized rule. The implications of cognitive theories can be seen in the
teaching of reading and writing L2 techniques which cover activities such as
problem-based solving activity, collaborative tasks, comprehension exercises,
project-based learning, etc.

 Interactionist model: at about the same time than cognitive theory, another
psycho-educational perspective appeared, it was based on the work of L.
Vygotskty, holds that language learning is not only a private, mental cognitive
task, but a social activity where the process is participating in activities that
require cognitive and communicative functions. Language is one of the most
powerful emblems of social behaviour, and when we use language we send vital
social messages about who we are, where we are from and who we associate

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TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
ACQUISITION. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. ERROR TREATMENT
with. It is often shocking how we can judge a person’s background, character or
intentions based on the person’s language, dialect, or even a single word.
Language acquisition is but one example of the human child’s remarkable ability
to learn from experience, focusing on the interplay between the innate learning
ability of children and the environment in which they develop. So language is a
means of influencing later cognitive development and can be used to represent
knowledge that children have acquired through social interaction with the
environment. The implications of this model can be seen in the practice of
Communicative Language Teaching Approaches, which cover various topics or
activities such as content-based or task-based. The learner is an active
participant in teaching and learning; both the learner and teacher are participants
in the socio-cultural activity. Learning a second language means joining a second
culture and is seen as a process of group socialization.

SECONG LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES

The term second language acquisition refers to the process by which people learn a
second language in addition to their native language. One of the most prominent figures
in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is Krashen, who formulated 5 hypotheses that
are the base of his Monitor Model:
- The Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis distinguishes two different independent
systems of L2 performance: learned, which is the conscious knowledge of the language
forms, and acquired, a natural and subconscious process, by using the language in
significant communication
- The Natural Order Hypothesis establishes that grammatical structures are
acquired in a predictable order regardless of the order in which they have been taught.
Certain structures tend to be acquired early, like function words, and others are
acquired later on, like the 3rd person singular morpheme.
- The Monitor Hypothesis considers the existence of a brain device, the monitor,
which learners use to control and correct their language performance.
- The Input Hypothesis It holds that information is better understood when it is
close to the learner’s real level, but that the best conditions are given when the
information is a bit over the current knowledge of the learner.
- The Affective Filter Hypothesis shows that affective variables may let in or block
the input necessary for acquisition. Positive variables such as motivation or a good

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TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
ACQUISITION. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. ERROR TREATMENT
attitude may facilitate the psycholinguistic process by which linguistic data are stored in
the human memory. On the contrary, low motivation or anxiety may activate the “filter”
or block the process of integration of new information. With a negative affective
disposition, language acquisition is lesser or inexistent.

Related to these five principles, there are a number of factors which influence second
language acquisition:
* Second language aptitude, as it varies among individuals.
* The role of the first language and its interference.
* Depending on the amount of comprehensible input received by the learner, that is,
motivation.
* Age differences. Traditionally it has been considered that children have better learning
qualities than adults, although Ellis argues that children, adolescents and adults go
through the same stages in the learning process.

THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANAGUGE:

The term Interlanguage (IL) was introduced by the American linguist Larry Selinker in
the 1970s and refers to the linguistic system that a learner creates in the process of
learning a foreign language. The interlanguage differs from both the L1 and the L2.
Since the L2 is learnt after the L1, the IL occurs when the learners are older and,
consequently, different cognitive mechanisms are used. Another concept important to
the notion of interlanguage is the phenomenon of fossilisation, a process which
prevents learners from progressing. Fossilization includes those items and rules that L2
learners tend to retain in their IL, that is, all those aspects of IL that become fixed and
permanent, and that the majority of L2 learners can only eliminate with considerable
effort. Fossilisation can be due to neurological changes (age) or social and
psychological factors like motivation. For example, adults do not have the motivation to
change their accent and to acquire native-like pronunciation, unlike children, who are
generally more open to TL culture (i.e. foreign accent – Spanish rolled /r/ in their
English). But how does the learner create this interlanguage? According to Selinker,
there are a number of basic processes that the learner adopts in order to help him
acquire the language and overcome the difficulties:

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TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
ACQUISITION. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. ERROR TREATMENT
 Native language transfer: The learner uses his own L1 as a resource,
particularly in the early stages of second language acquisition. It can have
several different effects. Negative transfer occurs when learners transfer items
and structures that are not the same in both languages. For example, when
expressing the age at early stages, Catalan learners would say I have 10 years
old instead of I am 10 years old. But not all effects of language transfer are
negative. For instance, positive effects of transfer may be obvious when
languages are historically and linguistically related to each other, as French-
speaking learners of English share an enormous amount of vocabulary.
 Overgeneralization of L2 language rules in situations in which a native speaker
would not, such as using the past tense marker –ed for all verbs, alike drinked.
 Simplification of L2 morphosyntax, because the learner cannot produce the
target forms, or because he does not feel sure of them, as in the use of time
adverbs to indicate verb tense: I go yesterday
 Learning and communication strategies, language learners will find
themselves in situations for which they do not know all the necessary vocabulary,
grammar, etc and they will have to improvise with coin words, gestures, etc.

ERROR ANALYSIS VS CORRECTING MISTAKES

Closely related to interlanguage, is the nature of errors. Making errors is the most
natural thing and it is attached to the human being. In the second language
teaching/learning process the error has always been regarded as something negative
which must be avoided. Fortunately, little by little the error has been seen from a
different point of view being made obvious that we can learn from our errors.
Behaviourism considered errors as a sign of non-learning, since they were thought to
interfere with the acquisition of second language habits. When errors occurred they
were to be corrected and punished immediately by providing correct forms and using
intensive drilling. So, errors were seen to be caused by L1 transfer. This influenced the
way classes were done as teachers concentrated on memorization, mistakes were
corrected by repletion of the pattern, word, sentence, etc.

Influenced by behaviourism, Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis claims that differences

between learner’s L1 and the TG can be used to predict errors, since errors are the
result of the interference when the learner transfers L1 habits into L2.

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TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
ACQUISITION. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. ERROR TREATMENT

A quite different conception is the one that affirms that without errors there is no
progress. There are not only transfer errors, but also developmental errors which are
made during the learning process itself. Based on Chomsky’s idea that a child
generates language through innate universal structures, this mentalist view affirms that
second language learners form hypothesis about the rules to be formed in the TL and
then test them out against input data and modify them accordingly. So, thanks to this
view, errors were no longer related to correction but to learning and were seen as
something positive and not as a problem. Learners were encourage to work on more
conscious grammar exercises based on certain rules and deductive learning began to
be focused again.

Corder had quite a different view on the subject as he believed errors to be a strategy
used by learners to test out their hypotheses about the L2. His position and the concept
of IL helped change the idea of error from avoidance to a guide in the learning process.
He established the new theory called Error Analysis, the study of the unaccepted
forms produced by learners of a foreign language. It was based on developmentalism,
i.e. -learning develops in variable stages as learners interact with the environment; and
regarded errors not only as positive but also as necessary for the development to take
place. EA involves collecting samples of learner language, identifying the errors,
describing and classifying them according to their hypothesized cause, and evaluating
their seriousness. Among the most common errors we find errors in verb groups, in the
use of prepositions like I am married with John, in the use of articles such as He gave
me a bad news or errors in questions. Corder also drew a distinction between errors
and mistakes, as they are often used incorrectly. An error is an incorrect use of
language due to lack of knowledge, whereas a mistake is an incorrect use of language
and comes up when learners fail to perform their competence, to put knowledge into
practice. This duality corresponds to Chomsky’s distinction between competence and
performance, being an error a fault in competence and a mistake in performance.

THE TREATMENT OF ERROR IN LANGAUGE TEACHING

Error analysis is closely related to the study of error treatment in language teaching.
Nowadays, although there is a great emphasis on the communicative competence and
social interaction, errors must also be dealt in class in order to evaluate the students’

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TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
ACQUISITION. THE CONCEPT OF INTERLANGUAGE. ERROR TREATMENT
learning process and determine the most suitable type of correction or reinforcement to
encourage their progress. But in order apply error correction, teachers should take into
account some stages to analyse the error: localisation, identification and description of
the error and correction. It is of great importance to try to find out why the error is made,
because not all types of errors must be treated in the same way. Teachers should help
the students become conscious of their errors and encourage them to find for
themselves why they have made the error and how they could avoid repeating it, but
without intimidating the students. So when and how should teacher correct their
students? The danger of over-correcting is that students will lose motivation, especially
in the early stages and if the learner lacks confidence, and the other extreme, a lack of
correction, may make students feel insecure and discourage them. In my experience as
a teacher I have used some of the following strategies to make my students reflect on
what they have just said or wrote and give them a chance to correct themselves, like
using face expression and body language, rising intonation, error hunting by means of
playing games such as betting in a casino, talking about the mistakes the students have
made in general after a speaking or writing activity, asking a partner to help, avoiding
red for correction in paper, indicating the kind of error with abbreviations or signs, so as
the students know what the error is about or just correcting those errors which seems to
obstruct communication when speaking.

CONCLUSION
Nowadays learning a foreign language is necessary in our global world. Behavioural,
cognitive and socio-cultural contributions have highlighted the importance of the
process of language learning, specially a foreign language. Knowing these language
learning and acquisition theories can help us, teachers of foreign languages, to be
aware of all the processes involved in the classroom and find out our effective teaching
method when designing our syllabus and deciding the assessment criteria to be used.
For this reason, I think that teachers should consider the different learners’ learning
styles in order to make a significant effect on their process of learning. For example, we
should try to keep the experience positive for the learner, by means of creating a class
atmosphere where students feel at ease and confident and using the error as an
important part in the process of learning.

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TOPIC 2: GENERAL THEORIES ABOUT FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
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Regarding the concept of error, it has changed in the last recent decades; nowadays
there’s more tolerance and it has positive shed its negative connotations. Furthermore,
recent research shows that an increased direct error correction does not lead to
accuracy and it reveals the advantages of correcting in context. I with these findings
since there is no point in avoiding errors instead of paying attention to them. I think it is
also important to focus on errors without intimidating the students. This can be achieved
by not interrupting them when they are speaking in order to correct their mistakes, but to
reflect on them once they have finished their speeches. It can also be accomplished by
talking about the mistakes the students have done made in general after a speaking or
writing activity. The teacher should also bear in mind that excessive correction can be
discouraging. Thus, it should be avoided, especially at in the early stages and if the
learner lacks confidence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
- CORDER, S.: Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford: OUP, 1981
- ELLIS, R.: Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP, 1985
- KRASHEN, S.: Second Language Acquisition and Second language Learning. Oxford;
Pergamon Press, 1981

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