Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

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KRASHEN’S THEORY OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION KRASHEN’S THEORY OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 1. Input Hypothesis — is a part of Krashen’s theory on Second language Acquisition which attempts to explain two major elements: * How the learner acquires a second language? * How second language acquisition takes place? The Input hypothesis is only concerned with 'acquisition', not 'learning'. According to this hypothesis, the learner improves and progresses when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a stage 'i', then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input' that belongs to level 'i + 1'. We can then define 'Comprehensible Input' as the target language that the learner would not be able to produce but can still understands. It goes beyond the choice of words and involves presentation of context, explanation, rewording of unclear parts, the use of visual cues and meaning negotiation. The meaning successfully conveyed constitutes the learning experience. 2. I like Input Hypothesis among the other theories, for it somehow describes the situation of the nearest to reality second language acquisition and learning. It can be capsulized as to ‘humans acquire language in only one way- by understanding messages or by receiving “comprehensible output (chiefly Krashen 1985).”’ In the faculty of my learning, I thereby understand that when a learner of second language acquired the latter, then it is through the understanding of the messages which are encoded by others and decoded by the certain learner. This part is also well explained. It follows the assumption that if the more comprehensible input is given, then the greater second language proficiency has. Comprehensible outputs can be achieved through a vast learning

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