Can we learn a second language

like we learned our first?

By Robert William McCaul
11 February 2016 - 09:11

Robert William McCaul, winner (with Marek Kiczkowiak) of the TeachingEnglish

blog award, examines the influential ideas of linguist Stephen Krashen, and
the implications they have for the language classroom.

If you've ever doubted whether you're a good language learner, then bear in mind that
you've already learned one language very well indeed – your first. But this raises
an interesting question: can adults learn a second language in the same way they
learned their first as children? And if so, what are the implications for the classroom?

Stephen Krashen and the acquisition of languages

Perhaps no-one has looked at the question more closely than the linguist Stephen
Krashen, who has introduced some of the most influential concepts to the study of
second-language acquisition.

In his input hypothesis, first proposed in an article published in 1977, and expanded
upon in later years, he makes the distinction between learning: the conscious, traditional
grammar-based process in the classroom; and acquisition: essentially how we, as
children, pick up our first language. He says that our mistake is trying to teach
languages in the same way we teach science, history and mathematics. Instead, he
believes that learners should acquire second languages in the same way children learn
their first.

Krashen sums up the idea in a famous documentary on the subject called A child's
guide to learning languages, produced by BBC Horizon in 1983. In the documentary, he
says that acquisition is 'where the action is'. In other words, in every successful example
of language-learning – an infant mastering a first language, an adult learner of English
scoring a band 9 on the IELTS test – the reason for their success is that they have
'acquired' rather than 'learned' the language.

So, how do children and proficient adult learners perform the seemingly magical trick of
mastering a language, and what can teachers learn from this? Krashen offers the
following ideas:
1. We acquire languages when we can understand messages

Learners need to be exposed to what Krashen calls 'comprehensible input' – that

is, exposure to interesting and understandable listening and reading material. In
Krashen's view, we acquire languages when we understand messages. He stipulates
that the emphasis should be on meaningful interactions and not on form. When parents
speak to their children, for example, the emphasis is on meaning rather than the correct
use of grammar. If the child says, 'Daddy fish water!', the parent is likely
to respond, 'Yes, you're right, there's a fish in the river', rather than by correcting the
child's grammar. The theory here is that exposure to sufficient quantities of
comprehensible input always results in acquisition.

2. Getting the right level is crucial

Krashen makes the important point that comprehensible input needs to be at the right
level for the learner, namely just higher than the learner's own. He calls this theoretical
level 'i + 1'. A good practical example of this in action are graded readers. These are
books that are specially created for learners of foreign languages at various levels, such
as A2, B1, C2, etc, on the common European framework (CEFR).

3. The silent period

Children don't start speaking their mother tongue straight away. Until they utter their first
words, they are acquiring language, even if they are not using it. The miraculous first
words and sentences that quickly follow are the result of this acquisition. Adult
learners, both inside and outside the classroom, need this silent period, too. Teachers
shouldn't be afraid when their students don't participate in debates in class – perhaps
they are simply acquiring the language. Moreover, putting pressure on the learner to
speak before they are ready will result in anxiety.

4. Anxiety is the student’s arch enemy

This brings me to one of Krashen’s most famous insights, namely the affective
filter. This means that the rate of acquisition decreases if we are under stress, or if we
experience anxiety. Luckily, most children have a virtually stress-free language-learning
environment at home with their mothers and fathers. But for learners of a second
language, the classroom can be a cause of anxiety, greatly affecting the way
they receive and process comprehensible input.

By contrast, a house party with lots of international guests is a great place to

practise languages, as everybody is relaxed and having a good time. Such an
environment offers the language learner plenty of comprehensible input, but (hopefully)
none of the anxiety. The lesson here for teachers is that they can create a
similar environment by turning the classroom into a sort of house party where people
feel comfortable and relaxed.

5. The monitor hypothesis

According to Krashen, conscious language-learning cannot be the source of

spontaneous speech, it can only monitor output, i.e., production in speech or writing.
In other words, when learners freely formulate an utterance in the target language,
they can only draw upon their repertoire of acquired language to check whether it
is grammatically correct. This reduces errors as the learner can apply consciously
learned rules to an utterance before producing it, or after production through self-
correction. As many people place a high value on accuracy, especially in formal
situations, the existence of the 'monitor' could be seen as a reason for retaining a
grammar focus in a given lesson.

One way to apply this in the classroom would be to have learners notice grammatical
features in listening and reading texts using a guided discovery approach. For
example, if the learners were given a listening task to do on the biography of a famous
person who is still alive, the teacher could hand out the transcript and get the students
to underline all of the examples of the present perfect tense. This might be followed by a
short discussion, led by the teacher, as to why the tense is being used in this particular
situation, followed by some concept-checking questions to ensure students
understand how to use the target language. However, Krashen is clear that the main
focus of classroom activity should be on giving learners as much comprehensible input
as possible. Teachers should base their lessons on meaningful interactions with plenty
of graded listening and reading input.

6. The natural order hypothesis

The grammar and vocabulary of a language are acquired in the same general order,
irrespective of who the learner is, which language they are acquiring and the order of
the grammar syllabus. You can teach students reported speech, such as in the
sentence, 'she mentioned that she had been at the shop that morning', but learners
won’t acquire it unless they are ready to. Certain elements of grammar are 'late-
acquired', such as the third person '-s', and others are 'early-acquired'. This explains
why my little niece continues to say things like 'Daddy go to work every day', even when
she has already mastered more complex grammatical structures such as a conditional
sentence like, 'I would do it if I had time'. Evidence for this 'natural sequence' of
language acquisition can be found in the morpheme studies by Dulay and Burt. This
casts doubt on the teaching of many points of grammar too early, that is, before
students are ready to acquire them, such as the future perfect tense at intermediate
level.

The advantages children have over adult learners

Before looking at the classroom implications of Krashen’s insights, we should remind
ourselves of some of the advantages that children learning their first language have
over adults learning a second language. One of the principle advantages is that
children are exposed to copious amounts of comprehensible input at just the right level,
and there is no pressure on them to speak until they are ready to do so. Children can
also take their time and wait until they feel confident before attempting to speak.
Moreover, they often have lower expectations of themselves and this helps to ensure
that their anxiety levels are low, which, in turn, increases their rate of acquisition.

One of the most surprising things is that when children acquire a language, the
language acquisition itself is not their objective. Rather, it is a by-product of the
achievement of some other purpose, such as making friends in a school playground.
Moreover, they pick up the elements of their first language in its natural order. They are
not 'force-fed' grammar too early before their language acquisition devices are ready
for it. Instead, they acquire the language first and then consider its structure after
acquisition has already taken place. Finally, they learn the elements of a language in
the natural order.

The practical implications of Krashen's ideas for the classroom

From Krashen's theories, and having looked at the advantages that children have over
adults when it comes to learning languages, we can draw certain conclusions about
what conditions make for a successful learning environment. First, class time should be
taken up with as much comprehensible input as possible. Second, classes should be
stress-free environments where students are encouraged to relax and acquire the
language by having fun with it.

One particularly important implication of Krashen’s findings is that students, particularly

at lower levels, should have lower demands made on them to speak, and materials
and teacher talking time should be modified for each student's level. Furthermore,
grammar instruction should be done on a need-to-know basis, and only with older
learners. Last, but perhaps most important, lessons should not be based on grammar
points, but rather on the exchange of meaning.