The following notions are only exemplary. The students need to have a good understanding of the theoretical approaches to these concepts based on the materials listed below.

What is language?

First language acquisition theories : behaviouristic approach (Skinner), nativist approach (Chomsky), cognitivist approach (Bloom), social interaction (Piaget,
Vygotsky) (care-taker talk/ motherese)

First/second language acquisition notions 1 : competence/performance, comprehension/production, nature/nurture, systematicity/variability, language universals imitation/practice,

Second language acquisition theories: innatist model (Krashen – 5 hypotheses), information processing (McLaughlin), social-constructivist model (Long, cf
Vygotsky) (foreigner talk, teacher talk)

First/second language acquisition notions 2: Operant conditioning (Skinner), meaningful learning (Ausubel), humanistic psychology (Rogers), deductive/inductive reasoning

Age and acquisition: critical period hypothesis, hemispheric lateralization, biological stages, cognitive considerations, affective considerations, linguistic considerations

Personality factors: affective domain (anxiety, risk taking/inhibition), intelligence, aptitude, motivation, Myers-Briggs character types

Learning Styles: filed dependence/field independence, visual/auditory/kinesthetic, right/left hemisphere dominance

Learning strategies (acc to Oxford)

Sociocultural factors: acculturation/pidginization (Schumann) stereotypes/generalization, attitude,

Linguistic factors: interlanguage (systematisity/variability of interlangue), fossilization


Errors : transfer, inference, overgeneralization

Mistakes : slips (cf. Aitchison)

Communicative competence: language functions, discourse analysis, gender differences, non-verbal communication

Memory: sensory/visual/auditory memory; short term memory, working memory, what is learning, levels of processing, role of organization, mnemonics (cf.
Baddeley)
Bibliography:
Aitchison, J. (1989). The articulate mammal . (chpt 11)
Baddeley, A. (1997). Human memory . Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press. (chpt 1-
8)
Brown, H. D. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching, 3 rd edn.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents
Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching, 4 th edn.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents
Cook, V. (1991). Second language learning and learning teaching London: Edward
Arnold (chpt 2, 3, 4)
Ellis, R. (1985). Understanding second language acquisition. OUP (chpt. 5, 6, 8, 10)
Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (1993). How languages are learned.
OUP (chpt 1, 2, 3,
4)