 Topic: Theoretical Bases for Cognitive Method
 Objectives
 Trainees will be able to give reasons for the design and procedures of the Cognitive Method.
 Lesson One
Giving Reasons for the Cognitive method
 Pre-task activities
 Step One: discussing the language theories underlying the method.
 Step Two: discussing the language learning theories underlying the method.
 While-task activities
 Step Three: group work to give reasons for the method.
 Post-task activities
 Step Seven: group speaker reporting to the class.
 The Cognitive Approach
Theory of language.
 Transformational generative linguistics:
Chomsky assumes that children are born with a language acquisition device( LAD). This LAD is made up
of a set of general principles called universal grammar. These general principles can be applied to all the
languages in the world. There are a finite number of rules that all native speakers know and with these
rules it is possible to create an infinite number of sentences.
Linguistic competence refers to the internalized knowledge of the language that a native speaker of
that language possesses. It is this language competence that allows the child to be creative as a
language user.
Linguistic performance refers to the actual utterances produced by the native speakers
 Theory of Language Learning
 Cognitive psychology
 They maintain that all the relationships among stimuli, responses and consequences are learned
and are integrated into the animal’s knowledge. That is to say, the animal under study makes a
response simply because it has the knowledge or belief that in a particular situation.
 Assimilation refers to the process by which new items are added to a concept or schema
 Accommodation refers to the process by which the existing concept or schema is changed on
the basis of new information.
 Transformational generative linguistics
 Contribution of Noam Chomsky(乔姆斯基）
 Language acquisition device
 Linguistic competence and linguistic performance
 Goal of transformational generative linguistics
 Approach taken by Chomsky
 Contribution of Noam Chomsky(乔姆斯基）
 The year 1957 saw the publication of Noam Chomsky’s book Syntactic Structures, which started
a revolution in the linguistic world and ushered in a new school--- the transformational
generative linguistics
 Language acquisition device
Chomsky assumes that children are born with a language acquisition device( LAD). This LAD is made up
of a set of general principles called universal grammar. These general principles can be applied to all the
languages in the world.
 Linguistic competence and linguistic performance
Linguistic competence refers to the internalized knowledge of the language that a native speaker of that
language possesses.
Linguistic performance refers to the actual utterances produced by the native speakers.
 Goal of transformational generative linguistics
Chomsky holds the position that linguists should study the linguistic competence, not the performance,
of the native speaker and try to set up a system of rules that will generate an infinite number of
grammatical sentences of the language and none of ungrammatical ones, will demonstrate and explain
the various kinds of relations including ambiguity among sentences, and will be able to characterize the
creative property of language.
 Approach taken by Chomsky
A deductive, hypothesis-testing approach is taken by Chomsky.
 Cognitive psychology
 Definition of cognitive psychology
 Computer technology
 Work of Jean Piaget
 Work of Noam Chomsky
 Theory of cognitive psychology
 Acquisition of knowledge
 Schemas and concepts
 Assimilation and accommodation
 Definition of cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology can be defined as the study of people’s ability to acquire, organize, remember
and use knowledge to guide their behaviour.
 Computer technology
A computer receives coded information, processes it and then sends it to the output system. All this
is analogous to what the brain does.The brain receives information through senses, processes it and
sends it out as behavioral actions.
 Work of Jean Piaget皮亚杰 Switzerland, 1896
 Based on the data collected in his experiments with children, Piaget claimed that while the child
grows up, his capacity of reasoning would become more and more developed through different
stages.
 He described the development of children’s reasoning abilities at each stage in terms of
hypothetical mental constructs which he called schemes
 Work of Noam Chomsky(1928- )
 Noam Chomsky’s publication of Syntactic Structures in 1957 not only started a revolution in
linguistics, but also had an enormous impact on psychology.
 He argued that language should be viewed as a system of mental rules which are in part wired
into the brain as a result of evolution.
 Theory of cognitive psychology
 All of cognitive psychologists want to explain observable behaviour by reference to hypothetical
mental structures.
 They maintain that all the relationships among stimuli, responses and consequences are learned
and are integrated into the animal’s knowledge. That is to say, the animal under study makes a
response simply because it has the knowledge or belief that in a particular situation.
 Acquisition of knowledge
 As for the acquisition of knowledge, some cognitive psychologists like Piaget describe it in terms
of cognitive structures. According to Piaget, there are two principal types of cognitive structures
which he called schemas and concepts.
 Schema and concept
 Concept: a concept is a mental

representation of a category, which

allows a person to sort stimuli into

instances and noninstances
 Schema: a schema is a mental

representation of a set of related

categories.
 Assimilation同化 and accommodation适应
 Assimilation refers to the process by which new items are added to a concept or schema
 Accommodation refers to the process by which the existing concept or schema is changed on
the basis of new information.
 ASSIMILATION:)
EXAMPLE: A child who knows what a dog is sees another four-legged animal that she or he has never
before encountered, such as a cow, and not recognizing it, uses previous schema to call it a dog.
 ACCOMMODATION:
EXAMPLE: After the child calls the cow a dog, his or her mother tells him or her that this new fourlegged creature is a cow. The next time the child sees a cow he or she identifies it as a cow, indicating
that the child’s previous schema of four legged creatures had been expanded to include cows.
 The hypothesis of linguistic universals
 Two approaches to the study of linguistic universals
 Core grammar and peripheral grammar
 Two approaches to the study of linguistic universals
One is taken by Noam Chomsky, who is making a detailed study of a particular language in order to
reveal the universals of language;
the other is taken by Joseph H. Greenberg, who studies and compares different languages in an effort to
determine the linguistic universals.
 Core grammar and peripheral grammar
The core grammar of a natural language agrees with the inborn set of general principles while the
peripheral grammar can not be governed by the language acquisition device.

The core grammar of the learner’s mother tongue will facilitate the development of the
learner’s interlanguage and will exert a positive influence on the acquisition of the target
language.
 The cognitive theory
Automaticity and restructuring
Automatic processing of information and
controlled processing of information
Restructuring
Functions of automaticity and restructuring
 Automaticity and restructuring
In the cognitive theory, automaticity and restructuring are the most important notions.
 Automatic processing of information and
controlled processing of information
Automatic processing of information needs less time and energy than controlled processing.

Teaching and practice will help the learner to acquire the automatic processing capacity.
 Restructuring
When the existing internal representation cannot be used to account for the new information, then it is
necessary for us to restructure the internal representation.
 Functions of automaticity and restructuring
Language learning at the beginning stage involves more of the process of automaticity while
language learning at the advanced stage usually involves more of the process of restructuring.