KRASHEN'S MONITOR MODEL

There is a belief abroad that children and some adults learn a second language spontaneously, without making a deliberate effort to learn the mechanics of the new language--just the way they learned their first language. On the other hand, most adults would seem to need guidance, tutoring, teaching, and concentrated attention on the form of the language rather than merely on its substance (meaning, communicative value). Not all linguists and teachers agree with this premise. One thing, though, is certain: there is to date no strongly entrenched theory to explain how people learn a second language. The only demonstrable and empirical fact is that different people seem to learn differently.

Nevertheless, in their search for illumination, linguists believe to have found some common denominators in the learning of symbolic systems--in particular language. One of these common acquisitive approaches has been described by Stephen D. Krashen and his collaborators under the appellation of The Monitor Theory. This short paper summarily describes and discusses this theory, the theories upon which it is based or of which it is part, and the model developed therefrom.

Before embarking on this endeavor, however, it is worth noting the caveat levelled by renown linguists, such as Wolfgang Klein (1986), professor at the Max Planck Institut f(r Psycholinguistik. Klein claims that "no sharp dividing line can be drawn between first and second language acquisition for

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how a learner at some stage of interlanguage development (i), moves to the next stage (i + 1). In other words: How does he or she acquire? "A necessary condition to move from stage i to stage i + 1 is that the acquirer understand input that contains i + 1, where 'understand' means that the acquirer is focused on the meaning and not the form of the utterance" (Krashen, 1980). Krashen fails to specify whether to focus on meaning implies understanding. There is a clear semantic imbroglio in his statement. The Affective Filter Hypothesis Nobody will dispute the fact that affective variables, such as anxiety, motivation, and self-confidence are related to the success of second language acquisition (or of acquiring or learning of all but conditioned mechanisms, for that matter). Dulay and Burt (1977) posited the existence of an Affective Filter, which subsequently Krashen believed to relate directly to subconscious language acquisition. They introduced the term Socio-Affective Filter to describe the relationship between affective variables and learning. For Krashen, the Affective Filter deals with the role of personality, motivation, and other affective variables related to success in second language acquisition. Thus the rate of acq

Category: Psychology - K