LANGUAGE LEARNING

PAPER

Presented as a Requirement for Presentation Assignment of Applied Linguistic

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
University of Nusantara PGRI Kediri

By Group 6 :
Mochammad Ismail (13.1.01.08.0155)
Leni Rahayu Widyawati (14.1.01.08.0063)
Dewanti Anggariza (14.1.01.08.0095)
Nikitta Saphiera Ramadhan (14.1.01.08.0097)
Siti Nur Afifah (14.1.01.08.0134)

4–C

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF NUSANTARA PGRI KEDIRI

2017
 LANGUAGE LEARNING

Learning is “a persisting change in human performance or performance potential

(brought) about as a result of the learner’s interaction with the environment” (Driscoll,
1994, pp. 8-9). Another definition is said that Learning is “the relatively permanent
change in a person’s knowledge or behavior due to experience” (Mayer, 1982, p. 1040).
Then Language learning itself to dictionary is learning to use a language. It is broadly
define as developing ability to communicate in the second/ foreign language. Ex:
learning a new language, culture, thinking, feeling, acting etc.

A. VIEW OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

View Language Language Learning

Structural Language is a linguistic To learn structural items.

system made up of * vocabulary and grammar
structural rules and ( Sentence pattern)
voabulary

Functional Language is a linguistic To know how to combine the

system as well as a grammatical rules and the
means for doing things ( vocabulary to express notion
to used in real life) that prform the functions

*Communicative categories

*Communicative ability ( to
be able to communicate)

Interactional Language is a Not only to know the

communicative tool to grammar and vocabulary of
maintain social relations language, but also to know
the rule for using them in a
whole range of
communicative context

*to communicate
appropriately
( communicative strategies,
cultural awareness and etc)

There are some aspects to be understood to determine the proccess of language learning
especially for L2 such as the approach, model and style of learning. But before that to
know the theory as well is needed. There are 2 theories of language learning

a) Process oriented theories

b) Condition oriented theories

B. THEORIES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

A learning theory underlying an approach or method responds to two questions:
(a) what are the psycholinguistic and, cognitive processes involved in language
learning? And (b) what are the conditions that need to be met in order for these
learning processes to be activated? Learning theories associated with a method at
the level of approach may emphasize either one or both of these dimensions.
1. Process-oriented theories build on learning processes, such as habit formation,
induction, inferencing, hypothesis testing, and generalization. At the level of
process, Krashen (1982) distinguishes between acquisition and learning.
Acquisition refers to the natural assimilation of language rules through using
language for communication. Learning refers to the formal study of language rules
and is a conscious process. According to Krashen (1982), however, learning is
available only as a "monitor." The monitor is the repository of conscious
grammatical knowledge about a language that is learned through formal instruction
and that is called upon in the editing of utterances produced through the acquired
system.
a) Behaviorism
Behavioristic view of language acquisition simply claims that language
development is the result of a set of habits. Behaviorism denies nativist
accounts of innate knowledge as they are viewed as inherently irrational and
thus unscientific. Knowledge is the product of interaction with the environment
through stimulus-response conditioning. The behaviourists' basic mechanism of
learning is stimulus => response => reinforcement.

2. Condition-oriented theories emphasize the nature of the human and physical

context in which language learning takes place. Krashen's theory also addresses the
conditions necessary for the process of "acquisition" to take place. Krashen
describes these in terms of the type of "input" the learner receives. Input must be
comprehensible, slightly above the learner's present level of competence,
interesting or relevant, not grammatically sequenced, in sufficient quantity, and
experienced in low-anxiety contexts.
a) Cognitivism
Language is not a form of behavior. It is an intricate (complicated) rule-based
system. (Language is rule-governed). Chomsky has determined that being
biologically prepared to acquire language regardless of setting is due to the
child's language acquisition device (LAD), which is used as a mechanism for
working out the rules of language. Chomsky believed that all human languages
share common principles, such as all languages have verbs and nouns, and it
was the child's task to establish how the specific language she or he hears
expresses these underlying principles. For example, the LAD already contains
 the concept of verb tense and so by listening to word forms such as "worked" or
"played". According to Chomsky, infants acquire grammar because it is a
universal property of language, an inborn development, and has coined these
fundamental grammatical ideas that all humans have as universal grammar
(UG). Children under the age of three usually don't speak in full sentences and
instead say things like "want cookie" but yet you would still not hear them say
things like "want my" or "I cookie" because statements like this would break the
syntactic structure of the phrase, a component of universal grammar.
b) Cognitive-Constructivism
Constructivist view of language and learning as a personal construction of
knowledge to be learned based on the learner’s previous experience. A child has
to understand a concept before he or she can acquire the particular language
which expresses that concept. For example, a child first becomes aware of a
concept such as relative size and only afterward do they acquire the words and
patterns to convey that concept. Essentially it is impossible for a young child to
voice concepts that are unknown to them and therefore once a child learns about
their environment then they can map language onto their prior experience. An
infant's experience of a cat is that it meows, is furry and eats from a bowl in the
kitchen; hence they develop the concept of cat first and then learns to map the
word "kitty" onto that concept. Language is only one of the many human mental
or cognitive activities and many cognitivists believe that language emerges
within the context of other general cognitive abilities like memory, attention
and problem solving because it is a part of their broader intellectual
development.
c) Social-Constructivism
Vygotsky's social interaction theory incorporates nurture arguments in that
children can be influenced by their environment as well as the language input
children receive from their care-givers. Although the theories of Skinner,
Chomsky and Piaget are all very different and very important in their own
contexts, they don't necessarily take into account the fact that children don't
encounter language in isolation. The child is a little linguist analyzing language
from randomly encountered adult utterances. The interaction theory proposes
that language exists for the purpose of communication and can only be learned
in the context of interaction with adults and older children. It stresses the
importance of the environment and culture in which the language is being
learned during early childhood development because this social interaction is
what first provides the child with the means of making sense of their own
behavior and how they think about the surrounding world.

C. COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

The findings become much more understandable if one examines the relevance
of native speaker comprehension models for the process of second language
 learning. Clark and Clark (1977) have argued that native speaker listeners typically
draw upon a range of comprehension strategies when they are listening. They focus
on how syntactic and semantic strategies may be used to recover the meaning of
what is heard in a rather improvisatory manner.
Examples of syntactic strategy that they discuss are:
1. Whenever you find a determiner (a, an, the) or quantifier (some, all, many,
two, six, etc) begin a new noun phrase.
2. Whenever you find a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but, nor) begin a ne
constituent similar to the one you just completed.
3. Try to attach each new word to the constituent that came just before.

Clark and Clark (ibid: 72-9) also discuss semantic strategies such as:
1. Using content words alone, build propositions that make sense and parse the
sentence into constituents accordingly.
Clark and Clark are, in effect, arguing that native speaker comprehension is
probabilistic in nature, and does not follow any sort of deterministic model which
would rely on an exhaustive parsing of the utterance concerned.
These micro’ issues discussed by Clark and Clark (1997) can be located within a
wider model of comprehension, which has a more macro perspective. The
following table is adapted from Anderson and Lynch 91988: 13), who suggest that
comprehension (again, for the moment, native speaker comprehension) is
dependent on three main sources of knowledge:
Schematic knowledge
Background knowledge
- Factual
- Sociocultural
Procedural knowledge
- How knowledge is used in discourse
Contextual knowledge
Knowledge of situation
- Physical setting, participants
Knowledge of co-text
- What has been, will be said
Systematic knowledge
- Syntactic
- Semantic
- Morphological

D. APPROACH TO LANGAUGE LEARNING

E. METHOD OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

1. The Audio-lingual Method
The audio-lingual method was developed in the US during the Second World
War, this method was developed in order to develop the foreign language program
for military personnel. The audio-lingual method is a method of foreign language
teaching which emphasized the teaching of listening and speaking before reading
and writing. It uses dialogue as the main form of language presentations and drills
as the main training techniques. The learning theory of Audio-lingualism is
behavioral psychology is based on approach to the study of human behavior.
Behaviorism tries to explain how stimulus caused a change in the behavior of an
individual without using any kind of mental behavior.
 Objectives
a) Short-term Objectives
1) Listening Comprehension
2) Accurate Pronunciation.
3) Recognition of speech symbols and graphic signs.
4) The ability to reproduce the symbols in writing.
b) Long-term Objectives
To develop the students same type of abilities that the native speaker
have, to use it automatically without stopping think.
 The Syllabus
a) Based on a linguistic or structured-based approach to language teaching. Built
on:
1) Step by step linguistic syllabus, which contains:
- Phonology
- Morphology
- Syntax
2) Lexical syllabus of basic vocabulary.
 Types of Learning Techniques and Activities
a) Dialogues
b) Drills

2. Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative language teaching began in Britain in the 1960s as a
replacement to the earlier structural approach, called Situational Language
Teaching. The communicative language teaching was developed because a group of
experts saw the need to focus in communicative proficiency rather than mastery of
structures.
 Objectives
a) Use language as: means of communication, object of learning, and means of
expressing values.
b) Focus on communication rather than structure.
c) Language learning within school curriculum.
d) Focus on meaningful tasks.
 e) Collaboration.
 Procedure
Comprises the classroom techniques and practices that are consequences of
particular approaches and designs.
 Types of Classroom Activities
a) Information-Gap Activities
b) Jigsaw Activities
c) Pair and group work.

3. Total Physical Response.

TPR (Total Physical Response) is a language teaching method built around the
coordination of speech and action, it attempts to teach language through physical
(motor) activity. This method was developed around 1970s. TPR is based upon the
way that learner learn their mother tongue.
 Objectives
 To provide an enjoyable learning experience, having a minimum of the stress
that typically accompanies in learning foreign language.
 Applications of TPR in Basic English Skills
a) Reading : predicting skills and reading the text.
b) Writing : making dialogue, picturing.
c) Vocabulary : reality, demonstration, conversation.
d) Structure : reality, demonstration.
 Roles
a) Teacher plays an actives and direct role because he decides what to teach and
selects the model and materials.
b) The learners listen attentively and respond physically to commands. They are
expected to recognize and respond the new combinations of taught items and
they have to produce new combination of their own.

4. Community Language Learning

Community language learning was developed by Charles A. Curran. This
method also known as counseling-leaning. The term of counseling means one
person is giving advice, assistance, and support to another who has a problem. In
this method, the role of teacher is a counselor and the learner is as a client. This
method is one of the humanistic approach because it deals with the emotions and
feelings as well as with linguistic knowledge and behavioral skills.
 Objectives
The goal of this method is attaining near-native mastery of the target language.
Specific goal include developing the whole person learning process and a
trusting relationship among the members of the class.
 The Syllabus
 a) CLL doesn’t use a conventional language syllabus, which determines in
advance the grammar, vocabulary, and other items to be taught in specific
orders.
b) The course progression is topic based with learners choosing the message they
wish to communicate to other learners in the class.
c) It evolves its own syllabus.
 Types of Teaching and Learning Activities
a) Translation
b) Group Work
c) Recording
d) Transcription
e) Analysis
f) Reflection and Observation
g) Listening
h) Free Conversation

5. Suggestopedia
Suggestopedia is a teaching method based on the idea how the human brain
works and how we learn most effectively. It includes a rich sensory learning, a
positive expectation of success and the use of a varied range of methods like
dramatized text, music, active participation in songs and games, etc.
 Objectives
The main aim of teaching is not memorization, but the understanding and
creative solution of problems but memorization of vocabulary pairs is an
important goal of suggestopedia.
 The Syllabus
A unit is organized around three days. There are 10 units for 30 days course.
 Theory of Learning and Teaching Activities
a) Imitation
b) Question and answer
c) Role Play
d) Listening Activities

6. The Silent Way.

The silent way it is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as
much as possible in the classroom and the learner should be encouraged to produce
as much language as possible.
 Objectives
The objectives of this method is to give beginning level of student’s oral and
aural facility in basic elements of the target language.
 The Syllabus
Lesson planned around grammatical items and related vocabulary.
 Types of Learning and Teaching Activities
a) Learners go on to create their own utterances by putting together old and new
information.
b) The teacher models a word, phrase, or sentence and then elicits learner
responses.
c) Charts, rods, and other aids may be used elicit learner responses.
d) Teacher modeling is minimal, although much of the activity may be teacher
directed.
REFERENCES

Chomsky, N. (1975). Reflections of Language. New York: Pantheon Books.

Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language

Teaching: A Description and Analysis. Cambridge. Cambridge University
Press.1986
Skehan, Peter. 1998. A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning (Oxford Applied
Linguistics).