Post 83: The Natural Order Hypothesis and The Monitor Hypothesis

The Natural Order Hypothesis

Krashen believes that adults can learn a foreign language in the same way children learn their first language. According to Krashen, all children learn the grammar of their language in the same predictable order no matter the language. First, babies pick up vowels, then consonants. Babies around the world pick up the 'Ba' or 'pa' sound for father and 'Ma'' sound for mother which is why in so many languages mother and father are the sound word or variations of the same 'ba' or 'ma' sound. Children have a natural ability to find patterns in language by listening to what the adults around him are saying. Chomsky calls this innate ability for humans to learn language, the Language Acquisition Device. Therefore, the trick to learning a second language for adults is to replicate how a child learns language and to trigger the LAD in adults through The Natural Method.

The Monitor Hypothesis

When an adult learns a second language, he has already acquired and learned the grammar of his native language. He is used to speaking a language or constructing a language a certain way. He has a certain phonetic range for his consonants and vowels. Or he is used to using certain tones and emphasis in his speech so when he speaks another language, then the habits he has picked up from his first language seeps into his second language. All this learning of the first language then prevents the adult from thoroughly learning a second language, because the learner tries to translate from the first language into the second language.

Whereas when a baby learns a first language, the baby is not encumbered by having a habit of speaking a certain way. Instead, a baby's brain is like a fresh sponge ready to imprint any language of the world or any accent of the world perfectly and fluently.  We call this monitoring of the second language speaker's thoughts of translating or going back to the first language for reference, the Monitor Hypothesis. Second Language speakers have an accent from their first language and they speak slower because they translate from their first language. In writing, second language learners make mistakes by writing the second language like their first language.

To prevent learners from having a monitor, Krashen recommends teachers use The Direct Method by having teachers teach the language in the target language so learners make a direct association of a word to the word in the target language without resorting to any kind of translation from the first language resulting in greater fluency for that adult in the second language.