Stephen Krashen

Age, Rate and Eventual Attainment in Second Language Acquisition.

(1) Adults proceed through early stages of syntactic and morphological development faster than children (where time and exposure are held constant). (2) Older children acquire faster than younger children (again, in early stages of morphological and syntactic development where time and exposure are held constant). (3) Acquirers who begin natural exposure to second languages during childhood generally achieve higher second language proficiency than those beginning as adults.

Extensive Reading in English as a Foreign Language.

Abstract Three experiments confirm the value of extensive reading in English as a foreign language (ELF). In extensive reading, students do self-selected reading with only minimal accountability, writing brief summaries or comments on what they have read. In Experiment 1, “reluctant” EFL students at the university level in Japan did extensive reading for one semester. They began the semester far behind traditionally taught comparison students on a cloze test, but nearly caught up to them by the end of the semester. In Experiment 2, extensive readers outperformed traditionally taught students at both a prestigious university and a two-year college. In Experiment 3, extensive readers who wrote summaries in English made significantly better gains on a cloze test than a comparison class that devoted a great deal of time to cloze exercises. Gains made by extensive readers who wrote in Japanese were greater than comparisons, but the difference was not significant. Those who wrote in Japanese, however, made gains superior to both groups on a measure of writing and in reading speed.

Formal and Informal Linguistic Environments in Language Acquisition and Language Learning.

While some studies indicate that adults can efficiently utilize informal linguistic environments for second language acquisition, other studies suggest that the classroom is of greater benefit. This conflict is resolved in three ways. Evidence is presented to support the hypothesis that informal and formal environments contribute to different aspects of second language competence, the former affecting acquired competence and the latter affecting learned competence. Second, a distinction must be made between informal environments in which active language use occurs regularly and those in which language use is irregular. Finally, data is presented that suggests that the classroom can be used simultaneously as a formal and informal linguistic environment, a result that is consistent with reports of success with language teaching systems that emphasize active language use.

The development of language in genie: a case of language acquisition beyond the “critical period” ☆ ☆☆

Abstract The present paper reports on a case of a now-16-year-old girl who for most of her life suffered an extreme degree of social isolation and experiential deprivation. It summarizes her language acquisition which is occurring past the hypothesized “critical period” and the implications of this language development as related to hemispheric maturation and the development of lateralization. The results of a series of dichotic listening tests administered to her are included.

Is the Left Hemisphere Specialized for Speech, Language and/or Something Else?.

Experienced Morse code operators showed significant right‐ear superiority, indicating left‐hemisphere lateralization, for the perception of dichotically presented Morse code letters. No significant lateralization was found for rapid monotically presented Morse code words. Subjects who did not know Morse code did not show significant lateralization when dichotically presented with a set of stimuli which included all Morse code letters; however, they showed a tendency toward left‐hemisphere lateralization with a set of Morse code letters which were restricted in duration and presented at relatively low intensity. Our results show that articulability is not a necessary property of stimuli lateralized to the left hemisphere in dichotic listening; a possible further interpretation is that it is language rather than speech that is lateralized to the left hemisphere.

The impact of popular literature study on literacy development in EFL: more evidence for the power of reading

Abstract University level EFL students in Hong Kong who participated in a popular literature class that emphasized reading for content and enjoyment, including some self-selected reading, made superior gains on measures of vocabulary and reading rate, when compared to students enrolled in a traditional academic skills class. Eighty-eight percent of the literature students felt that what they learned from the course would help them in other university courses, but only 12% of the traditional academic skills students had this opinion about their class. These results are consistent with previous studies showing that meaningful reading is an important source of literacy competence.

THE CRITICAL PERIOD FOR LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND ITS POSSIBLE BASES

The idea of a critical period for learning derives from studies by Hessl and by Lorenz,* who observed that greylag goslings “imprinted” on certain moving objects only during a certain limited developmental stage (a few hours after hatching). Lenneberg3 (see also Ref. 4) has hypothesized that a critical period may exist for human language as well, and suggests that first language may be completely and naturally acquired only between the ages of about two and puberty. Two important arguments implicate puberty as the time of the close of the critical period. The first of these (pp. 142-150) is based on a n analysis of recovery from aphasia in children: Lenneberg notes that “the chances for recovery from acquired aphasia are very different for children than for adult patients” (p. 142). In the adult, according to Lenneberg, recovery may occur fairly rapidly (within three to five months). However, “symptoms that have not cleared up by this time are, as a rule, irreversable” (p. 143). Yet, “if language had developed before the onset of [this] disease and if the lesion is confined to a single hemisphere, language will invariably return to a child if he is less than nine years old a t the time of the catastrophe” (p. 146). Aphasias that develop around puberty or after will “commonly leave some trace behind which the patient cannot overcome” (p. 150). To the extent that recovery from aphasia involves actual relearning of the first language, to that extent does this data directly support the notion of a critical period. The observations of Lenneberg et aL4 of language learning in Down syndrome children also provide direct evidence of a reduced first-language learning capacity after puberty. For these mentally retarded children, their slow progress in language acquisition continues only until puberty, an observation that indicates that “even in the absence of gross structural brain lesions, progress in language learning comes to a standstill after maturity” (p. 155).

The case for narrow listening

Abstract In narrow listening, acquirers collect several brief tape-recordings of proficient speakers discussing a topic selected by the acquirer. Acquirers then listen to the tape as many times as they like, at their leisure. Repeated listening, interest in the topic, and familiar context help make the input comprehensible. Topics are gradually changed, which allows the acquirer to expand his or her competence comfortably. Narrow listening is a low-tech, inexpensive, and pleasant way to obtain comprehensible input, and is also an easy way to get to know speakers of other languages.

Teacher Attitudes toward the Principles of Bilingual Education and toward Students' Participation in Bilingual Programs: Same or Different?.

Abstract 794 elementary and secondary teachers filled out a questionnaire probing attitudes toward bilingual education. While support for the principles underlying bilingual education was strong, support for actual participation by students in bilingual programs was not as strong. Those with more supplementary training in ESL and bilingual education were more supportive of bilingual education.

Language Education Past, Present and Future

The recent past in language teaching has been dominated by the Skill-Building Hypothesis, the view that we learn language by first learning about it, and then practicing the rules we learned in output. The present is marked by the emergence of the Comprehension Hypothesis, the view that we acquire language when we understand messages, and is also characterized by the beginning stages of its applications: comprehensible-input based teaching methods, sheltered subject matter teaching, and the use of extensive reading for intermediate language students. My hope is that the future will see a clearer understanding of the Comprehension Hypothesis, and the profession taking more advantage of it.