Krashen's Five Hypotheses

Krashen's Five Hypotheses
The Natural Order Hypothesis	'we acquire the rules of language in a predictable order'
The Acquisition/ Learning Hypothesis	'adults have two distinctive ways of developing competences in second languages .. acquisition, that is by using language for real communication ... learning .. "knowing about" language' (Krashen & Terrell 1983)
The Monitor Hypothesis	'conscious learning ... can only be used as a Monitor or an editor' (Krashen & Terrell 1983)
The Input Hypothesis	'humans acquire language in only one way - by understanding messages or by receiving "comprehensible input"'
The Affective Filter Hypothesis	'a mental block, caused by affective factors ... that prevents input from reaching the language acquisition device' (Krashen, 1985, p.100)

 

Acquisition	Learning
implicit, subconscious	explicit, conscious
informal situations	formal situations
uses grammatical 'feel'	uses grammatical rules
depends on attitude	depends on aptitude
stable order of acquisition	simple to complex order of learning

Combined model of acquisition and production

Evidence for the Input Hypothesis

i)	people speak to children acquiring their first language in special ways
ii)	people speak to L2 learners in special ways
iii)	L2 learners often go through an initial Silent Period
iv)	the comparative success of younger and older learners reflects provision of comprehensible input
v)	the more comprehensible input the greater the L2 proficiency
vi)	lack of comprehensible input delays language acquisition
vii)	teaching methods work according to the extent that they use comprehensible input
viii)	immersion teaching is successful because it provides comprehensible input
ix)	bilingual programs succeed to the extent they provide comprehensible input