CAUSATIVE VARIABLES IN • There is no variation in the

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION acquisition process itself, but

there is in:
Prepared by:
• The rate and the extent
Jezril Anne May B. Abasola acquisition as a result of
Hanica Jane De Dios the amount of
comprehensible input
Aileen B. Pantalla received, and the strength
of the affective filter.
• Performance, brought
1. Comprehensible Input and about by the extent of the
Strength of the Filter. learner’s reliance on
 In order to acquire, two conditions ‘learnt’ knowledge.
are necessary. The first is
comprehensible (or even better, • 3 TYPES OF MONITOR USERS:
comprehend ed ) input containing • Over-users. This is when
i + 1 , structures a bit beyond the performers monitor all the
acquirer's current level, and time. As a result, they may
second, a low or weak affective speak with hesitation and
filter to allow the input "in". usually correct themselves
2. in the middle of the
Language Teaching utterance.
• The more we know about • Under-users. This is when
language and language learning, performers depend only on
the more informed decisions we the acquired system. They
make about language teaching. do so either because they
• Its primary function is to supply have not learned or
comprehensible input for those because they don’t want to
who cannot get it elsewhere, use their learned system.
those constrained by their They don’t self-correct
situation (i.e. foreign language even if the three conditions
students who do not have input are met.
sources outside the class) or by • Optimal users. This is
their competence (those unable to when the performer uses
understand the language of the the monitor process when it
outside world). While it is less is suitable and will not
useful for those who have other affect communication.
sources of input, there still are When the three conditions
things the competent classroom are met, the optimal
can contribute to the intermediate performer will monitor to
student. make his output more
3. accurate.
Exposure Variables
4. childhood generally
Age achieve higher second
language proficiency than
• It has been popularly assumed those beginning as adults.
that age itself is a predictor of
second language proficiency, that 5.
younger acquirers are better at Acculturation
second language acquisition than
older acquirers. • According to Brown
(1980:129), acculturation is
• Affects the amount of the process of becoming
comprehensible input that is adapted to a new culture.
obtained
• According to Maxwell
• Influences the affective state of (2002), acculturation is the
the learner process whereby the
attitudes and/or behavior of
• After puberty the affective filter is people from one culture are
likely to increase in strength modified as a result of
• Younger learners may get more contact with a different
than older learners culture.

• Age also affects ‘learning’; older • Schumann (1978b) has

learners are better in studying hypothesized that acculturation is
language form and using ‘learnt’ the "major casual variable in
knowledge in monitoring second language acquisition" (p.
29).
• Krashen, Long, and Scarcella
(1979) reviewed the available • Schumann defines two
empirical research on the effect of types of acculturation:
age and second language • "In type one acculturation, the
acquisition and concluded that all learner is socially integrated with
published studies were consistent the TL group and, as a result,
with these three generalization: develops sufficient contact with TL
• 1. Adults proceed through speakers to enable him to acquire
the early stages of second the TL. In addition, he is
language development psychologically open to the TL
faster than children do such that input to which he is
(where time and exposure exposed becomes intake.
are held constant). • Type two acculturation has all the
• 2. Older children acquire characteristics of type one, but in
faster than younger this case the learner regards the
children, time and TL speakers as a reference group
exposure held constant. whose life styles and values he
consciously or unconsciously
• 3. Acquirers who begin desires to adopt. Both types of
natural exposure to second acculturation are sufficient to
languages during
 cause acquisition of the TL, but
the distinction is made to stress
that social and psychological
contact with the TL group is the
essential component in
acculturation (as it relates to SLA)
that that adoption of the life style
and values of the TL group
(characteristics traditionally
associated with the notion of
acculturation) is not necessary for
successful acquisition of the TL"
(p.29).

TEACHING IMPLICATION

REFERENCE
Krashen, S. D. (1987) Principles and
practices in second language acquisition.
New York, NY: Prentice Hall. Retrieved
from
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/vivich
ultzend/second-language-acqusisition-
theory-67259827