The psycholinguistic approach to second language learning is an approach that focuses upon how people learn and use language to communicate ideas (Taylor & Taylor, 1990). Matlin (1994) states that the central approach of psycholinguistic theory in general is that people, especially the young, are biologically predisposed to language learning and that what is learned is not so much a string of words but transformational rules that enable the language learner to understand the sentences heard. What this means is that developmentally appropriate instruction must be considered in second language learning.
With respect to second language learning, the best practices approach, according to Ortiz and Hernandez-Pound (1985), states that instructional efforts to teach a second language should not only be based on a given theory (e.g., psycholinguistics) but should be in accord with those practices and actions that educators have found to be successful with respect to the objective of learning a second language.
Given the foregoing, it can be seen that the selection of what instructional strategies to use should be those strategies that are both in accord with the psycholinguistic approach and which have been empirically demonstrated to yield success in second language learning. One instructional strategy that is based on the developmental considerations associated with the psycholinguistic approach as well as on best practices has been discussed by the Tacoma Community House Training Project and Washington Literacy Association (1994).
This is a student-centered strategy in which second language learning activities are both developed and implemented using a good deal of student involvement. For example, students help to develop the class' language goals; also, the strategy utilizes student self-assessment tools. In addition there are student program orientation activities; contracts; and student evaluation activities.
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