Language is to be considered in two contexts: on

the one hand, human system of conceptualization and

perception, and on the other, the actual use of
language in society. (J. Yalden, The Communicative Syllabus,
1987)

How is a language acquired /

learned?

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES

Skinner, Bloomfield etc BEHAVIOURISM

How do children acquire a language?
Language acquisition and learning formation of
habits imitation

The process: Stimulus response

reinforcement

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES

Noam Chomsky Cognitivism

How do children acquire a language?
The capacity of acquisition of a language is
innate.
Every human being was born with a LAD
(Language Acquisition Device)

Noam Chomsky Cognitivism

Language is a phenomenon internal to speakers,
rather than a social phenomenon
Focus on the speakers competence= mental
representation of language rules, that is the speakers
knowledge of the language or the intuitions that they
have about it.
Interest in the mental processes involved in using a
language and in learning to speak

Noam Chomsky Cognitivism

Language is creativity governed by rules:
with a finite number of grammar rules and a
limited vocabulary, speakers can generate an
infinite number of sentences, many of which may
have never been said before.
All speakers go through a process in the use of
language, period of interlanguage , in which
they produce their own creative constructions by
applying internal rules and an internal grammar
(Ex: errors of overgeneralization are considered
as developmental errors).

Noam Chomsky COMPETENCE / PERFORMANCE

COMPETENCE: a persons internalised knowledge
of a language. This means a persons ability to
create and understand sentences, including
sentences they have never heard before.
COMPETENCE refers to the ideal speaker/hearer
COMPETENCE is a cognitive (mental) skill.

Noam Chomsky COMPETENCE / PERFORMANCE

Grammatical competence (correctness)
Communicative competence (appropriateness)
Pragmatic competence (capacity to interpret
sentences using non-linguistic information)
Poetic/creative competence

Noam Chomsky COMPETENCE / PERFORMANCE

PERFORMANCE:
the actual use of language in concrete situations
how a person actually uses his/her language
knowledge in producing and understanding
utterances, including errors..
There are rules of use without which the rules of
grammar would be useless

Langue / Parole - Competence / Performance

De Saussures distinction between LANGUE and
PAROLE is similar to Chomskys distinction between
COMPETENCE and PERFORMANCE,

BUT
for De Saussure the repository of LANGUE is the
speech community, for Chomsky the repository of
COMPETENCE is the individual ideal
speaker/hearer.