Stephen Krashen

Categories: American linguists | Language acquisition

Stephen Krashen is a controversial linguist, who has put forth a number of hypotheses on second language acquisition, particularly in bilingual education.

One of the more important ideas he puts forth is that in order for a student to learn, the input must be in a 'comprehensible' format. Even though this may sound like common sense to some, there are a number of 'sink-or-swim' educators who stipulate that through sheer exposure and repetition, students will acquire the target skills, in this case, target language. The cartoonish scenario of repeating a word more and more loudly to an uncomprehending listener is the opposite of Krashen's 'comprehensible input' premise.

Building on the idea of 'comprehensible input' for language learners, 'acquisition' is the absorption of the rules of the language via activated osmosis. A key assertion in Krashen's work is that language 'aquisition' and 'learning' are two entirely different processes. 'Acquisition' occurs in communicative situations in the 'real world'. 'Acquired' knowledge is readily available to communicate meaning. 'Learning' occurs through formal training (the classroom); it cannot be used to communicate 'meaning'. Instead, it monitors the proper grammatical use of 'aquired' language knowledge.

Krashen believes that language learners must build on their knowledge through 'interlanguage + 1' (i +1). This is also known as instructional scaffolding.

Krashen also penned a piece with Tracy D. Terrell on the natural approach (1983), which is more or less a continuation of the comprehensible input theme with the added idea that affective filters or emotional barriers must be lowered in order for learning to take place.