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The Teachability Hypothesis was produced by Manfred Pienemann. [1] It was originally extracted from Pienemann's Processibility model. It proposes that learners will acquire a second language (L2) features if what is being taught is relatively close to their stage in language development. [1]
The Teachability Hypothesis is based on previous psycholinguistic research in second language acquisition done by Meisel, Clahsen, and Pienemann (1981) and is reflective in Pienemann's Processibility theory. [2] The hypothesis reports that some aspects of language are sequenced in a way that follows the developmental levels of language in which Pienemann coined those these features as 'developmental'. [3] This sequence is reflective of the natural stages that learners will go through when learning a second language. [4] Pienemann (1984) emphasizes that teachability of L2 structures have psychological constraints are universally shared. [5] [6] Language sequences have been reflected in wh-questions, some grammatical morphemes, negation, possessive determiners, and relative clause. [4] Other features that do not have a developmental level of acquisition and can be acquired at any point in time Pienemann called 'variational' features. [3] Pienemann (1981) concludes that formal instruction needs to be directed towards the ‘natural’ process of second language acquisition. [7] [6]
In Pienemann's (1984, 1998) study, he predicted that by following the natural order hypothesis, learners must pass through a set sequence of stages when acquiring language features. However, the instruction is only effective if the learners' interlanguage is close to the step of acquiring that structure Pienemann (1984, 1989, 1998). [7] [6] In addition to following natural acquisition order Pienemann (2013) argued that natural order of acquisition is unbeatable. [7] Thus, instruction cannot make a learner to skip a stage. [7] This means that a learner who is classified at stage 2 in a specific language feature will not benefit from instruction that is directed at learners who are at stage 4. [4] Although, learners who are at stage 3 in a specific language feature may benefit from instruction that is directed at learners who are at stage 4. The reasoning for this is based on the learner's readiness. [4]
A barrier that the teachability Hypothesis mentions that can prevent the natural development of language acquisition is 'readiness'. [4] Second language learners will not develop and progress through the same stages at the same time. [4] This means that a learner's readiness refers to when a learner is able to move on to the next stage in the sequence of a particular language. [7] The teachability Hypothesis has been used by second language researchers to understand student readiness in acquiring specific linguistic abilities. [1]
The teachability hypothesis provides reasoning for the varied rate at which second languages are acquired. [4] This hypothesis allows educational professionals such as, second language instructors to gain a sense of reasoning as to why their learners may or may not be succeeding as rapidly as their peers. [4] It also documents the importance of teaching to a certain developmental level rather than a standard level or to age. [4] Educational professionals can apply Pienemann's (1988) conclusion of second language learning to their lessons by designing targeted instructions to be conscientious towards student readiness for the outcome of the target learning to be successful. [4]
The Teachability Hypothesis is important to the framework of psycholinguistic theories as it examines the reasoning as to why learners linguistic capabilities may not be developing at the same rate as other learners. [1] In addition, Second language researches have been studying issues around language pedagogy. [3] Common issues in which the Teachability Hypothesis has provided an explanation is whether and to what degree instruction helps in second language acquisition. [3] Second language acquisition researchers will often position themselves on a scale of the importance of instruction and innate learning. [4] [3] There are four main positions (1) interface position, (2) Variability Hypothesis, (3) Weak Interface Position, and (4) the Teachability Hypothesis. [3] The Teachability Hypothesis favours teaching according to natural development, it has supported second/foreign language pedagogies teaching approaches such as the Learning-Centered approach. [3] It has also supported classroom structure, instruction time, and use of first language in the classroom. [4] Through these perspectives on language acquisition, second language processing can be understood. [3]
| Author | Date | Description | Results |
| Krashen's Input Hypothesis | 1970-1980s | Learners input knowledge of the language when they are being taught at a level that is one above their current ability. The input of this level is called "i+1". 'i' refers to the learners internal language and '1' is the stage of acquisition that learners will input. | |
| Pienemann [8] | 1988 | Investigated whether instruction permits learned to skip a stage in the natural order of development through instruction. [4] | Learners can not skip steps when learning developmental features until they are ready. [4] |
| Mackay & Phillip [9] | 1998 | Studied whether adult learners who are at different developmental stages could progress their formation of questions if instruction used recast as a method of corrective feedback. [4] | Only learners who were ready and received recasts showed an excel in the production of question forms. [4] |
| Mackay [10] | 1999 | Can negative interaction in second language learning elicit second language grammatical development [10] | Learners need active participation in social interaction at the developmental level of the learner. [10] |
| Spada & Lightbown [11] | 1999 | Explored the acquisition of questions based on learner readiness [4] | Length of instruction has an effect on learners’ developmental readiness. However, First language may interfere with learners’ readiness. [4] |
| McDonough [12] | 2005 | Investigated the impact of negative feedback in Thai English as a second language learners by examining question development. [12] | Advanced question forms produced by the learner and test scores shows that learners will increase the stage over a long period of time. [12] |
| Kim [13] | 2012 | Examined if increasing the level of complexity in a task will promote greater interaction, feedback by comparing Korean university students in an English and a second-language class. If this is true, will it contribute to second language (L2) development. [13] | The higher the task was in terms complexity, the greater number of Language-Related Episodes (LREs) which strengthened question structures and language development. [13] |
| Name of Supporter | Description | Is Feedback Required | Does it Require the use of Authentic Material | The way Suggested for Learning | |
| Teachability Hypothesis | Manfred Pienemann | Learners must go through the developmental stages of language learning. [2] Language learning would not be successful if learners immediately enter a high stage of language learning. [2] This means that learners must not skip steps but achieve them one by one. | Sometimes (explicitly) [4] | no [4] | Activities suitable to different learning stages [4] |
| Audio-lingual Approach | Robert Lado | Response to the grammar-translation approach. [4] In order for language learners to learn, they have to verbally practice the language. [4] Moreover, the language that the learners must use is not in a naturalistic setting with focus on grammar. [4] It is argued that learners have to jump right into the advanced stage and get it right from the beginning. [4] | Always [4] | no [4] | Repetition [4] |
| Comprehension-Based Instruction | Steven Krashen | Learners do not have to practice the language, they just have to get to a point where they could comprehend it. Moreover, the focus is mainly on comprehension and receiving meaning input like reading and listening tasks. [4] | Never [4] | yes [4] | Activities concerned with comprehension more than form [4] |
| Task-based Language Teaching | Michael Long | Meaning is the most important to focus on when learning a language. [4] Tasks should be related to the real world and should only focus on form that only the teacher knows when learners are doing a task. [4] Learners get assessed with form after the task is done. It focuses on a balance between the input and output of the language. [4] | Sometimes (Implicitly) [4] | yes [4] | Task-associated with real-life usage of language and focused on meaning. [4] |
| Immersion-Content-Based Instruction | Merril Swain | Language depends on the content the learners are learning. [4] The main focus in class is learning the content delivered using a language, not learning the language itself. [4] | Sometimes (implicitly) [4] | mostly [4] | Activities that mixes content with language [4] |
| Form-Focused Instruction | Patsy Lightbown | Teach with respect to the learners language development, however, small aspects of language are not always taught explicitly. [4] The main focus is on the overall view of language learning. [4] | Sometimes (explicitly) [4] | mostly [4] | Activities similar to task [4] |
A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which is the language a speaker uses most or is most comfortable with, is not necessarily the speaker's first language. For example, the Canadian census defines first language for its purposes as "the first language learned in childhood and still spoken", recognizing that for some, the earliest language may be lost, a process known as language attrition. This can happen when young children start school or move to a new language environment.
Rod Ellis is a Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize-winning British linguist. He is currently a research professor in the School of Education, at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He is also a professor at Anaheim University, where he serves as the Vice president of academic affairs. Ellis is a visiting professor at Shanghai International Studies University as part of China’s Chang Jiang Scholars Program and an emeritus professor of the University of Auckland. He has also been elected as an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning—otherwise referred to as L2acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. The field of second-language acquisition is regarded by some but not everybody as a sub-discipline of applied linguistics but also receives research attention from a variety of other disciplines, such as psychology and education.
An interlanguage is an idiolect which has been developed by a learner of a second language (L2) which preserves some features of their first language (L1) and can overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics give an interlanguage its unique linguistic organization. It is idiosyncratically based on the learner's experiences with L2. An interlanguage can fossilize, or cease developing, in any of its developmental stages. It is claimed that several factors shape interlanguage rules, including L1 transfer, previous learning strategies, strategies of L2 acquisition, L2 communication strategies, and the overgeneralization of L2 language patterns.
Sequential bilingualism occurs when a person becomes bilingual by first learning one language and then another. The process is contrasted with simultaneous bilingualism, in which both languages are learned at the same time.
Task-based language teaching (TBLT), also known as task-based instruction (TBI), focuses on the use of authentic language to complete meaningful tasks in the target language. Such tasks can include visiting a doctor, conducting an interview, or calling customer service for help. Assessment is primarily based on task outcome rather than on accuracy of prescribed language forms. This makes TBLT especially popular for developing target language fluency and student confidence. As such, TBLT can be considered a branch of communicative language teaching (CLT).
Language attrition is the process of decreasing proficiency in or losing a language. For first or native language attrition, this process is generally caused by both isolation from speakers of the first language ("L1") and the acquisition and use of a second language ("L2"), which interferes with the correct production and comprehension of the first. Such interference from a second language is likely experienced to some extent by all bilinguals, but is most evident among speakers for whom a language other than their first has started to play an important, if not dominant, role in everyday life; these speakers are more likely to experience language attrition. It is common among immigrants that travel to countries where languages foreign to them are used. Second language attrition can occur from poor learning, practice, and retention of the language after time has passed from learning. This often occurs with bilingual speakers who do not frequently engage with their L2.
The generative approach to second language (L2) acquisition (SLA) is a cognitive based theory of SLA that applies theoretical insights developed from within generative linguistics to investigate how second languages and dialects are acquired and lost by individuals learning naturalistically or with formal instruction in foreign, second language and lingua franca settings. Central to generative linguistics is the concept of Universal Grammar (UG), a part of an innate, biologically endowed language faculty which refers to knowledge alleged to be common to all human languages. UG includes both invariant principles as well as parameters that allow for variation which place limitations on the form and operations of grammar. Subsequently, research within the Generative Second-Language Acquisition (GenSLA) tradition describes and explains SLA by probing the interplay between Universal Grammar, knowledge of one's native language and input from the target language. Research is conducted in syntax, phonology, morphology, phonetics, semantics, and has some relevant applications to pragmatics.
The critical period hypothesis is a theory within the field of linguistics and second language acquisition that claims a person can only achieve native-like fluency in a language before a certain age. It is the subject of a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition over the extent to which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to developmental stages of the brain. The critical period hypothesis was first proposed by Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield and co-author Lamar Roberts in their 1959 book Speech and Brain Mechanisms, and was popularized by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 with Biological Foundations of Language.
Fluency refers to continuity, smoothness, rate, and effort in speech production. It is also used to characterize language production, language ability or language proficiency.
The input hypothesis, also known as the monitor model, is a group of five hypotheses of second-language acquisition developed by the linguist Stephen Krashen in the 1970s and 1980s. Krashen originally formulated the input hypothesis as just one of the five hypotheses, but over time the term has come to refer to the five hypotheses as a group. The hypotheses are the input hypothesis, the acquisition–learning hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, the natural order hypothesis and the affective filter hypothesis. The input hypothesis was first published in 1977.
Processability theory is a theory of second language acquisition developed by Manfred Pienemann. The theory has been used as a framework by scientists from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.
The Competition Model is a psycholinguistic theory of language acquisition and sentence processing, developed by Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney (1982). The claim in MacWhinney, Bates, and Kliegl (1984) is that "the forms of natural languages are created, governed, constrained, acquired, and used in the service of communicative functions." Furthermore, the model holds that processing is based on an online competition between these communicative functions or motives. The model focuses on competition during sentence processing, crosslinguistic competition in bilingualism, and the role of competition in language acquisition. It is an emergentist theory of language acquisition and processing, serving as an alternative to strict innatist and empiricist theories. According to the Competition Model, patterns in language arise from Darwinian competition and selection on a variety of time/process scales including phylogenetic, ontogenetic, social diffusion, and synchronic scales.
Crosslinguistic influence (CLI) refers to the different ways in which one language can affect another within an individual speaker. It typically involves two languages that can affect one another in a bilingual speaker. An example of CLI is the influence of Korean on a Korean native speaker who is learning Japanese or French. Less typically, it could also refer to an interaction between different dialects in the mind of a monolingual speaker. CLI can be observed across subsystems of languages including pragmatics, semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics, and orthography. Discussed further in this article are particular subcategories of CLI—transfer, attrition, the complementarity principle, and additional theories.
Heritage language learning, or heritage language acquisition, is the act of learning a heritage language from an ethnolinguistic group that traditionally speaks the language, or from those whose family historically spoke the language. According to a commonly accepted definition by Valdés, heritage languages are generally minority languages in society and are typically learned at home during childhood. When a heritage language learner grows up in an environment with a dominant language that is different from their heritage language, the learner appears to be more competent in the dominant language and often feels more comfortable speaking in that language. "Heritage language" may also be referred to as "community language", "home language", and "ancestral language".
The order of acquisition is a concept in language acquisition describing the specific order in which all language learners acquire the grammatical features of their first language. This concept is based on the observation that all children acquire their first language in a fixed, universal order, regardless of the specific grammatical structure of the language they learn. Linguistic research has largely confirmed that this phenomenon is true for first-language learners; order of acquisition for second-language learners is much less consistent. It is not clear why the order differs for second-language learners, though current research suggests this variability may stem from first-language interference or general cognitive interference from nonlinguistic mental faculties.
The main purpose of theories of second-language acquisition (SLA) is to shed light on how people who already know one language learn a second language. The field of second-language acquisition involves various contributions, such as linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and education. These multiple fields in second-language acquisition can be grouped as four major research strands: (a) linguistic dimensions of SLA, (b) cognitive dimensions of SLA, (c) socio-cultural dimensions of SLA, and (d) instructional dimensions of SLA. While the orientation of each research strand is distinct, they are in common in that they can guide us to find helpful condition to facilitate successful language learning. Acknowledging the contributions of each perspective and the interdisciplinarity between each field, more and more second language researchers are now trying to have a bigger lens on examining the complexities of second language acquisition.
Focus on form (FonF), also called form-focused instruction, is an approach to language education in which learners are made aware of linguistic forms – such as individual words and conjugations – in the context of a communicative activity. It is contrasted with focus on forms, in which forms are studied in isolation, and focus on meaning, in which no attention is paid to forms at all. For instruction to qualify as focus on form and not as focus on forms, the learner must be aware of the meaning and use of the language features before the form is brought to their attention. Focus on form was proposed by Michael Long in 1988.
The interaction hypothesis is a theory of second-language acquisition which states that the development of language proficiency is promoted by face-to-face interaction and communication. Its main focus is on the role of input, interaction, and output in second language acquisition. It posits that the level of language that a learner is exposed to must be such that the learner is able to comprehend it, and that a learner modifying their speech so as to make it comprehensible facilitates their ability to acquire the language in question. The idea existed in the 1980s, and has been reviewed and expanded upon by a number of other scholars but is usually credited to Michael Long.
The interface position is a concept in second language acquisition that describes the various possible theoretical relationships between implicit and explicit knowledge in the mind of a second language learner. Tacit knowledge is language knowledge that learners possess intuitively but are not able to put into words; explicit knowledge is language knowledge that learners possess and are also able to verbalize. For example, native speakers of Spanish intuitively know how to conjugate verbs, but may be unable to articulate how these grammatical rules work. Conversely, a non-native student of Spanish may be able to explain how Spanish verbs are conjugated, but may not yet be able to use these verbs in naturalistic, fluent speech. The nature of the relationship between these two types of knowledge in second language learners has received considerable attention in second language acquisition research.
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