1. (Psycholinguistics)
Presented to: Dr. M Iqbal butt
Presented By: Muhammad Sajjad Raja

2. The Goals
Behaviourist learning theory
Mentalist theory of language learning
What is ‘Interlanguage’ ?
A computional model of L2 acquisition

3. Interlanguage
Earlier we noted that some researchers
consider that the systematic development of
learner langauge refelects a mental system of
L2 knowledge. This system is often reffered to
as interlanguage. To understand what is
meantby interlangauge we need to briefly
consider behaviourist learning theory and
mentalist views of language learning.

4. Behaviourist Learning Theory
The dominant psychology theory of the
1950s and 1960s was beahviourist learning
theory. According to this theory, language
learning is like any other kind of learning in
that it involves habit formation. Habits are
formed when learners respond ti stimuli in the
enviroment and subsequently have their
responses reinforced so that they are rembered.
Thus, a habit is a stimulus-response connection.

5. Behaviourist Learning Theory
It was believed that all behaviour,
including the kind of complex behaviour
found in language acquisition, could be
explained in terms of habits. Learning took
place when learners had the opportunity to
practise making the correct response to a
given stimulus. Learners imitated models of
correct language and received positive
reinforcement if they were correct and
negative reinforcement if they were incorrect.

6. Behaviourist Learning Theory
Behaviour cannot adequately account
for L2 acquisition. Learners frequently do not
produce output that simply reproduce the
input. Furthermore, the systematic nature of
their errors demonstrates that they are actively
involved in constructing their own ‘rules’,
rules that sometimes bear little resemblance to
the patterns of language modelled in the input.

7. A mentalist theory of language
learning
The obvious inadequacies of
behaviourist explanations of L2
acquisition led researchers to look
towards an alternative theoretical
framework. They did not have to look
very far as the 1960s witnessed a major
shift in thinking in psychology and
lingusitic.

8. In the 1960s and 1970s a mentalist theory of first language (L1)
acquisition emerged. According to this theory:
• Only human beings are capable of learning
language.
• The human mind is equipped with a faculty for
learning language, reffered to as a Language
Acquisition Device. This is separate from the
faculties responsible for other kinds of cognitive
activity.
• This faculty is the primary determinant of
language acquisition.
• Inout is needed, but only to ‘trigger’ the operation
of the language acquisition device.

9. What is ‘Interlanguage’ ?
In term ‘interlanguage’ was coined
by the American linguist, Larry Slinker, in
recognation of the fact that L2 learners
construct a linguistic system that draws, in
part, on the learner’s L1 but is also
different from it and also from the target
language. A learner’s interlanguage is,
therefore, a unique linguistic system.

10. The concept of interlanguage involves the following premises
about L2 acquisition:
• The learner constructs a system of abstract linguistic rules
which underlies comprehension and production of the L2.
This system of rules is viewed as a ‘mental grammar’ and is
reffered to as an ‘interlanguage’.
• The learner’s grammar is permeable. That is, grammar is
open to influence from the outside . It is also influence from
the inside.
• The learner’s grammar is transitional. Learners change their
grammar from one time to another by adding rules, deleting
rules, and restructuring the whole system. This is results in
an interlanguage continuum. That is, learners construct a
series of mental grammars or interlanguages as they
gradually increase the complexity of their L2 knowledge.

11. The concept of interlanguage involves the following premises
about L2 acquisition:
• Some researchers have claimed that the systems learners
construct contain variable rules. That is, they argue that
learners are likely to have competing rules at any one stage
of development. However, other researchers srgue that
interlanguage systems are homogenous and that variability
reflects the mistakes learners make when they try to use
their knowledge to communicate.
• Learners employ various learning strategies to develop their
interlanguages. The different kinds of errors learners
produce reflect different learning strategies.
• The learner’s grammar is likely to fossilize. The prevalence
of backsliding is typical of fossilized learners. Fossilization
does not occur in L1 acquisition and thus is unique to L2
grammars.

12. What is ‘interlanguage’ ?
This concept of interlanguage
offers a general account of how L2
acquisition takes place. It incorporates
elements from mentalist theories of
linguistic (i.g. the nation of a ‘language
acquisition device’) and elements from
cognitive psychology (i.g. ‘learning
strategies’).

13. A computional model of L2
acquisition
The concept of interlanguage can
be viewed as a methaphor of how L2
acquisition takes place. It implies that the
human mind functions like a computer .
Figure 3.1 reprents the basic
computational metaphor that has grown
out of ‘interlanguage’ and that informs
much of SLA.

14. A computional model of L2
acquisition
The learner is exposed to input, which is
processed in two stages. First, parts of it are attended
to and taken into short-term memory. These are
reffered to as intake. Second, some of the intake is
stored in long-term memory as L2 knowledge. The
processes responsible for creating intake and L2
knowledge occur within the ‘black box’ of the
learner’s mind where the learner’s interlanguage is
constructed. Finally, L2 knowledge is used by the
learner to produce spoken and written output.

15. A computional model of L2
acquisition
Intake L2 knowledge
Input output

16. A computional model of
language learning
As we shall shortly see, this basic model of L2
acquisition can be elaborated in anumber of ways. For
example, a component labelled ‘social context’ might be
added to explain how the nature of the input varies from
one setting to another. The ‘L2 knowledge’ component
can be broken up into two or more components to reflect
the different kinds of knowledge learners construct. An
arrow can be drawn from ‘output’ to ‘input’ to show that
what a leraner says or writes can also serve as samples of
language from which intake can be derived.