- Part of an essay in progress
What is the impact of emotion on language learning?
Posted January 16, 2012 1:05 pmOne significant theory of second language acquisition, credited to Stephen Krashen of UCLA, makes a distinction between language acquisition and language learning. “Acquisition” refers to the subconscious absorption of language through meaningful interaction in the new language and without direct instruction or drilling, whereas “learning” refers to knowledge about the language gained through instruction. Krashen considers the former of greatest value by far. A key element of Krashen’s view is his Affective Filter hypothesis, according to which emotions may play an instrumental role in facilitating (high motivation, self-confidence, etc.) or thwarting (anxiety, self-criticalness) the progress.
I have been hearing wonderful stories that make clear the degree to which the need to communicate can advance language learning. Do you have such a story?
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Marianne Kroon January 16, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Everyone has a story. Creating an environment where the desire to share the story overcomes the fear of making a mistake can be a turning point for language learners. And the beauty of this is you can use the language which students produce, at whatever level they come at, as the starting point. It is not an artificial dialog memorized, or a set of grammar exercises (which can be completed with 100% accuracy even if one can’t speak)- it is authentic language. Any situation in which someone really wants to communicate is a teachable moment.
How do you build a student’s language when they are a very beginning student? Here is one example: A young Bosnian girl came to me at age 14, and had never studied English. She knew only the Cyrillic alphabet, so we began with the A,B,C’s. But she was pretty stressed and suffering, so she cried every day; she was desperate to tell her story. I had no other speakers of Serbo-Croatian or Bosnian to draw on, so with the help of a dictionary, some language rods, pictures and books, we began. Her story, and her language were the starting points of her language learning. Her ideas and thoughts and feelings were so beyond her language; but this gave us a way to help her articulate what she wanted to say. She was a remarkable student, and I am sure she would have acquired English no matter what method was used. But we were able to build on what she already knew, and what she wanted to say, which turned out to help her cope with the upheaval in her life — and learn English.