How Important is the Environment in Lanaguage Acquisition?

ELL, ELT, Reflective Teaching, SLA, Teacher Development, Teaching 0 comments

How Important is the Environment in Language Acquisition?

Environment is indeed a vital component in language acquisition. Keeping in mind that the environment plays an important role in the learning process, it potentializes or can even inhit learning.

Take the example of what we call today the “silent period.” Whether this is applied to adult learners or just to young learners, all of us when confronted with a second language learning, we all face a period in which we are just receptive (mere listeners) and not productive (active speakers). In Chomsky’s words, the learner is seeing how language related to thinking (cognition), comprehension (cognitive decoding of messages), and communication (cognitive encoding of messages) (Chomsky 1980, cited by Cook 1993). All of this happens within our LAD (language acquisition device) without being aware of what is going on. Our silent periods are just a preparation time in which our brains are getting ready to use the tools the environment is making available for the learners. Somehow, all of us when learning a second language will find the right moment to speak. But –likewise-, this period needs not to be “spoiled” by an instructor who is pushing learners to “produce” when they are not ready yet.

Another example is Asher’s Total Physical Response (1965), which continues being used in bilingual preschool education and as a communicative resource in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) learning environments. TPR is a “so-called” reflection of how motherese language instruction takes place at home. Being the infant unable to speak and communicate, s/he basically responds physically to commands that s/he later on will be able to utter. In teaching settings where students barely understand the target language, instructors will make use of TPR to foster the Silent Period before real production takes place, and while the student’s interlanguage is being developed, modified, and consolidated. TPR as a an element within one’s teaching environment makes use of concrete referents (such as realia) to help students learn the language.

In conclusion, the environment in language acquisition is vital for the learner. If the environment also provides a nice, cozy, and relaxing atmosphere for learning (Krashen’s Affective Filter), students will feel confident and ready to come out of their silent period and communicate openly.

Asher, J. (1969, Jan.). The Total Physical Response to Second Language Learning. The Modern Language Journal. Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 3-17. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/322091?uid=2134&uid=376302783&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=376302773&uid=60&purchase-type=article&accessType=none&sid=21103952993067&showMyJstorPss=false&seq=1&showAccess=false

Cook, V. (1993). Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. Hampshire: Palgrave-Macmillan

? To fully comprehend the scope of this teaching reflections, it is highly advisable that the following topics must be expanded further:

· The Silent Period in Language Learning

· Asher’s Total Physical Response

· CLT (Communicative Language Teaching)

· Krashen’s Affective Filter

Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano

ELT Trainer, Instructor & Curriculum Developer based in Costa Rica

Active NCTE – Costa Rica Member

Resource Teacher & Curricular Developer at CCCN

Senior ELT Instructor at Universidad Latina, Costa Rica, since 1998

Contact Information:

Twitter @jonacuso

Email: jonacuso@gmail.com

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