Language Teaching Methodology

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Language learning is an important part of the modern world. This assignment will examine the theoretical side of language learning from prominent psychologists and the thinking and execution of each theory. There are multiple reasons why people learn a second language and these principles in thinking apply to any language which can be taught in an academic facility. Each theorist had a unique perspective i how language is acquired and within this assignment these will be explored. Acquisition and learning is a principle which was designed by an american linguist named Stephen Krashen. Krashen put forward the idea that a language could be learned by means of both conscious and subconscious learning. Subconscious learning being when the student is interacting with others in use of the language. Conscious being through the use of lectures and textbook learning. Krashen explains that, "language which we acquire subconsciously (especially when it is anxiety free) is language we can easily use in spontaneous conversation because it is instantly available when we need it." (Harmer 2007, p50 ) During the course of his experiments Krashen realised that successful uptake of a second language depended of the nature of how the language was being taught to the student. The key factor with the new information presented to the student was that it had to be comprehensible to the student even when it may be slightly higher in difficulty to what the student was at that time. One important caveat according to Krashen was that the advanced information was to be exposed to the student in a relaxed and anxiety free environment. Krashen claimed that when the anxiety of learning the language was less the student would learn a considerable amount more with freedom in terms of conversational aptitude. A counter point to Krashen's theory is the one proposed by psychologist
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