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Key Concepts of Language Learning

1) Language acquisition involves unconsciously learning one's native language through interaction, while language learning is a conscious process involving formal instruction. 2) Theorists like de Saussure and Chomsky distinguish between underlying linguistic knowledge (competence/langue) and actual language use (performance/parole), with the former being the true object of study. 3) According to Chomsky, competence refers to a speaker's innate linguistic system, while performance represents observable speech which can differ from competence due to external factors like memory limitations.

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Mhae Marquez
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96 views

Key Concepts of Language Learning

1) Language acquisition involves unconsciously learning one's native language through interaction, while language learning is a conscious process involving formal instruction. 2) Theorists like de Saussure and Chomsky distinguish between underlying linguistic knowledge (competence/langue) and actual language use (performance/parole), with the former being the true object of study. 3) According to Chomsky, competence refers to a speaker's innate linguistic system, while performance represents observable speech which can differ from competence due to external factors like memory limitations.

Uploaded by

Mhae Marquez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Key Concepts in Language

Learning
Acquisition vs Learning
Language Acquisition

• Typically involves some type of unconscious,


effortless assimilation of linguistic knowledge
• More often applied to a child’s mastery of a first
or native language
• Requires meaningful interaction in the target
language
• Natural communication – Speakers are
concentrated not in the form of their utterances,
but in the communicative act
Language Learning
• A product of formal instruction
• Comprised of conscious process which results in conscious
knowledge “about” the language
• Held to involve both explicit and implicit psychological
processes
• Explicit Learning
The learner is consciously aware that he/she has modified his/her
knowledge base
• Implicit Learning
There will be a change in the learner’s knowledge base but this will be
outside his/her conscious introspection
“
“Learning” is less important than
“acquisition”.

-Stephen Krashen
”
Language Performance VS Competence
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 – 1913)

• A Swiss linguist whose ideas on the


structure in language laid the
foundation of 20th Century
linguistics
• Is almost famous for laying the
foundations of Semiology (later on
called Semiotics) or the study of
“signs”
• Concept of “la langue” and
“parole”
Noam Chomsky (1928 – Present)

• American linguist regarded


as “father of modern
linguistics”
• Developed the theory on
“transformational
generative grammar”
• Proponent of the idea of
“universal grammar”
• “Performance” and
“Competence”
de Saussure's Theory

• La Langue
• Includes a large number of elements whereby meaning is created by the
arrangements between the elements and their consequent relationships
• While learning a language, it is necessary to master the system of grammar,
spelling, syntax and punctuation (elements of langue)
• Langue precedes and makes speech possible
• Parole
• Actual utterances
• External manifestation of langue
• Usage of the system, but not the system
de Saussure's Theory

• Differentiates between language (la langue) and how it is used


(parole), enabling separate studies to be conducted
• de Saussure was more interested in la langue than parole
• Mainly because it is through la langue that meaning could be created, hence
the development of Semiology
Chomsky’s View

• Also distinguished the underlying knowledge of language from the


way language is used in practice
• Language performance may be affected by such things as
attention, stamina and memory
• A theory of language must therefore first be borne out of a theory
of competence.
Chomsky’s View

• Competence
• A person’s underlying (subconscious) linguistic ability to create and
understand sentences, including sentences they have never heard before
• Acquaintance with a set of grammatical rules and is different from the
actual linguistic devices
• Includes components such as phonology, phonetics, syntax, semantics and
morphology
• Enables native speakers to recognize ambiguous sentences or accept even
apparently meaningless sentences as syntactically correct
Chomsky’s View

• Performance
• Real-world linguistic output
• May accurately reflect competence, but may also include speech errors
• May be flawed because of memory limitations, distractions, shifts of
attention and interest, and errors or other psychological factors
• Represents only a small sample of possible utterances
Performance Error

• The performance of a speaker may not be fault free, even though


his competence is perfect.
Distinction Between
Competence and Performance
Chomsky VS de Saussure

• Competence is entirely psychological and mental in nature.


Performance refers to an actual event.
• Chomsky’s “performance” and de Saussure’s “parole” are used
interchangeably
• Langue is a static system of signs
• Competence is a dynamic concept
• Chomsky’s take is more psychological, while de Saussure’s is more
linguistic

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