7 Trends II
Psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and
educational aspectsFor the topical organization of the trends mentioned in the previous chapter
that do not deal with theories and research methodology, the traditional
distinction between psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and educational aspects
has been used, even though over time the boundaries between thesefirst two
have become less clear.
7.1 Psycholinguistic aspects: language and cognition
The definition of psycholinguistics in AL is not clear. It seems to refer to all
approaches that see language primarily as an individual’s commodity residing
in the brain. SLA research looks at how humans develop and use languages.
In some theories the human learner is endowed with a special language
acquisition device that is innate. Input triggers the language acquisition device
and limits the set of possible patterns and rules. A core issue in this tradition is
to what extent the innate capacities that play a role only infirst language
acquisition, also play a role in the acquisition of later learned languages.
While this issue was hot in the 1990s, the issue seems to have petered out
after that, with no empirical evidence to decide between the two options. In
other theories no innateness is assumed, and language development results
from the interaction of basic, non-linguistic cognitive skills with a rich linguistic
environment.
7.1.1 The role of input, output and interaction
The role of input has become one of the main issues in AL. It was a promi-
nent feature of the Krashen model, in particular in the form of comprehen-
sible input. Because it turned out to be difficult to define comprehensible
input, it lost importance, even more so when Swain started stressing the
need for output on the basis offindings in Canadian immersion education.
But input continues to be crucial for development. Stephen Krashen
says:“Most important for me is that we no longer assume that we acquire
languages by conscious learning and output practice. This was an axiom, but
it has been demoted to the status of hypothesis.”According to Robert