CAPES 1 : Learning / Acquisition

Stephen Krashen makes much of the distinction between Learning, on the one hand, and Acquisition, on the other. (See the lectures on Krashen, in particular here and here). You will also find some discussion of Krashen's ideas on the Listserve FLTeach, where Krashen contributes regularly. Look in the archives for posts by Krashen, by Ron Sheen, and - under the titles Thunk 1, 2 3, 4 & 5 - by me). While Learning, he argues, is conscious and requires effort, Acquisition is unconscious and relatively painless. Most of what happens in non-Communicative language classes results in Learning rather than Acquisition. Krashen thinks this is a problem because :

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  Acquisition gives you the language that you spontaneously use - in most real-life situations, this is the language that you will call upon. So real-use language needs to be acquired rather than learned.
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  Learning gives you what Krashen calls 'the Monitor' ; the Monitor applies the formally learned rules to the phrases and sentences that occur to the mind spontaneously, and, where it can, corrects them. Unfortunately, the Monitor may, in real language-use, slow the talker down and interfere with communication. The Monitor, says Krashen, should be used sparingly.
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  There is no interface between Learning and Acquisition. This means that what you learn will never seep into the acquired system. However well you know the formal rules of the Passive Voice in English, you will not produce correct passive sentences until you have acquired them.

So Learning should be less important in the Communicative Classroom than Acquisition. If Krashen is right, then much of the activity that takes place in school classrooms does not contribute a great deal to pupils' ability to communicate in a foreign language.

Before we go on, I want you to think about this. Most of you have spent some time in an English-speaking country. And most of you have - one hopes - found that your English has improved greatly thanks to your stay. Do you believe that you would have made as much progress if you had not learned something about the formal properties of the language before you left?

While you were in the foreign country, did you forget about the formal system and just use the language to communicate, or did you listen to the way things were said? Did you have a personal learning programme, or did you just take things as they come?

When you have thought about this, go on to the next screen

(If you have a question of a comment, write to me at tmason@timothyjpmason.com)