English Didactics

Schools of Tought in 2nd Language

Acquisition
LIC. BERNARDO COTO M.
UNIVERSIDAD AMERICANA
COSTA RICA, CA

It is in response to these questions, and with the

goal of providing sharper boundaries among these

categories to inform learning architects, that we
have written this chapter.
Schuh and Barab
Teaching may be an art, but we must become
architects of learning, engineers of
knowledge.

2nd Language Acquisition

Each teacher, conscious or unconsciously, has

certain beliefs towards learning and teaching that

determine their teaching philosophy, and directly
affects their teaching practices.
Beliefs about how people learn, what is learning,

what is good or real knowledge determine the

approach or paradigm that guides each teacher
in their job.

2nd Language Acquisition

This approach or paradigm can be conscious and

scientific, based on theories, research, advice from

other more experienced teacher, and of course, our
own experience and reflection on our job

This could create in the teacher a flexible attitude

towards teaching, with a practice that is open to

change, and innovation.

Paulo Freire referred to this attitude as a Liberating

Educational Praxis.

2nd Language Acquisition

Or, the teacher can be unaware of the approach they follow,

unconsciously basing their decisions in non-scientific beliefs,

outdated and backwards teaching practices, and their own
frustrating experiences, where reflection about the
teaching/learning is absent or superficial.

This can lead the teacher into a path of rigidness, with a

practice that reflects close-mindedness, inflexibility, and an

irrational attachment to the same methodology because it
has always worked for me

Paulo Freire had a name for this; he called it Banking

Education in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

2nd Language Acquisition

Different philosophical perspectives are grounded on
different scientific schools of thought.
Regarding education, philosophy encompasses
different fields:
Ontology (What does exist in the world? What is

real?)
Language (what is language?)
Epistemology (How do we get to know about what
exists? How do we learn?)

2nd Language Acquisition

Epistemology addresses the origins, nature,

methods, and limits of human knowledge (Reber,

1995)
It focuses on questions about the nature of

knowledge, and what can be considered legitimate

and reliable knowledge.

2nd Language Acquisition

Epistemology deals with theories of knowledge:

such as Empiricism, Rationalism, Intuition

Educators must have an epistemological purpose:

supporting learners in coming to know (learning).

2nd Language Acquisition

Ontology addresses the nature of being and reality

(Lombardo, 1987; Reber, 1995)

It defines what is real in the world, whether physical

or abstract structures.
Educators must have an ontological preference to

specify what are considered truths about knowledge,

information and the world.

2nd Language Acquisition

Ontology and epistemology are fields that belong to

Philosophy.
A philosophical perspective is a worldview that

defines

the nature of the world,

the individuals place in it,
and the possible relationships to that world and its parts.

2nd Language Acquisition

Learning and instructional theories are based on

assumptions about what it means to learn and

know.
Educators make decisions based on assumptions in

order to make better decisions about learning and

teaching.
We must understand the distinctions underlying

such assumptions to take better decisions.

2nd Language Acquisition

Instructional Strategies and Methods are clearly

influenced by philosophical assumptions that

conform theories of Knowing and Learning which
are implicit in the instructional design.
Educators make decisions driven by tacit or explicit

assumptions about the nature of how students

think,
know,
and learn.

Empiricism/Positivism
Ontology: the only true knowledge is empirical,

what can be perceived by the senses only.

Empiricism/Positivism
Science: knowledge is objective, what can be seen ,

touched, recorded, measured

Rationalism

Structuralism/Behavio Rationalism/Cognitiv
rism (1940s-50s)
e Psychology (1960s)

Science

Language

Psychology
Epistemology

Empiric (observable) data =

Positivism
Mechanicist methodology

Structural/Descriptive School
of Linguistics
Leonard Bloomfield, Edward
Sapir, Charles Hocket, Charles
Fries
Describe human language
Identify structural
characteristics of languages
Surface structures of Lang
Language can be dismantled
into smaller pieces to
understand the whole (lang as
a machine)

B. F. Skinner, Pavlov
Learning is observable
performance (response)
Objective, recordable,
measurable knowledge
Classical/operant conditioning
Rote verbal learning
Instrumental learning

Rationalism: use logic,

reason, extrapolation,
inference (drawing
conclusions from evidence)
to derive explanations to
human behavior.

GenerativeTransformational Linguistics
Noam Chomsky
Explain how human
language works
Performance vs. Competence
Language Acquisition
Innateness of language
Interlanguage systematicity
Universal Grammar
Deep structure of Lang

Constructivism
(1970s-today)

David Ausubel
Learning includes meaning,
understanding and knowing.
Discover underlying
motivations and deeper
structures of human
behavior (communication=>
language)

Jean Piaget: the

epistemologists (how
children learn)
Lev S. Vygotsky: we learn
more by interacting with
others
Reality and Language are
Constructed by each
person.
Each personal version of
reality/knowledge is valid.
Conversational discourse
Cooperative group learning
Interlanguage variability
Sociocultural learning
factors
Interactionist hypotheses.

Consulted Sources
Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of Language

Learning and Teaching. (5th Ed.) New York:

Longman. 1-22.
Schuh, K. and Barab, S. (2008). Philosophical
Perspectives. In Handbook of Research on
Educational Communications and Technology. (3rd
Ed.) Routhledge. 67-82.
http://www.aect.org/edtech/edition3/