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The environment in which one learns a second language has the most effect on the learner. Different stimuli and activities shape the learner's experience depending on their sphere of learning.
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As opposed to the environmentalist approach, innatist focused more on the language learner as an individual. The learner possesses an innate ability to process language and shows this through an active participation in language learning rather than passive.
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Chomsky proposed that all people are born with an LAD to process languages. This is shown in children who use known grammar rules to produce a sentence that they have not heard before. The LAD triggers and finds rules in languages the learner hears.
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This apporach seemingly combined the earlier approaches. The Interactionist Approach focuses on the relationship between the learner's environment and the learner's innate language ability. This approach stated that both were crucial for language development, rather than one being more important than the other.
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Hymes expanded on Chomsky's studies and coined this term. Hymes' theory factored in the social and contextual aspects of communication.
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Selinker defines the developing language of learners as a dynamic and ever-evolving interlanguage. These interlanguages are created as second language learners resulting from different cognitive processes.
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Vygotsky stated that learners have an actual developmental level and a potential developmental level, where the area in between is the ZPD. Novice and expert interaction is also critical, as the ideal situation is that the potential developmental level is achieved with the help of the expert one day, then is achieved by the student alone on the next day.
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Canale and Swain further refined Hymes' theory of Communicative Competence. They divided the theory into subcategories which include sociocultural, discourse, linguistic, formulaic, interactional, and strategic discourse.
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Krashen put forth a controversial model on language acquisition based on innatist views. His input hypothesis, i+1, is widely known as an optimal goal for teaching, where i is the learner's current language level and the +1 being slightly above. This ensures a modicum of learning while at the same time not verwhelming the learner with more information.
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Long proposed that learner's receive input from many sources when learning a new language. The learner takes the input and internalizes it by simplifying it, using already known background knowledge, or by modifying the actual conversation.
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Binding refers to linking the meaning of words with a form. Ideally the new word would be bound directly to its meaning and not a translation in the learner's native tongue.
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As opposed to Krashen's Input Hypothesis, Swain states that Output is also another important, yet insufficient factor in second language acquistion. Learners need to have opportunities to provide output in order to truly learn anothe language.
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Paradis describes procedural memory as a system capble of generating sentences. This sometimes occurs automatically in conversations, where the the template conversation varies but you automatically respond with the normal response.
