one new aspect of grammar at a time (Krashen and Seliger 1975), which are not found
in acquisition settings. To support this claim, Krashen (1987: 11) refers to Brown et.
al. (1973) who found that parents help their children acquire their first language by
attending more to the truth value rather than to the form of their sayings.
However, not all researchers accept Krashen’s hypothesis for the
distinctiveness of the two processes. For Ellis (1999: 246), the hypothesis cannot be
accepted because it cannot be tested in empirical investigation, while McLaughlin
(1987: 22) opposes to such a view claiming that Krashen does not supply with an
objective way of determining what is acquisition and what is learning. Finally,
Biallystok (1978), in her model of second language learning, although she accepts
Krashen’s distinction between acquisition and learning (referring to them as ‘implicit’
and ‘explicit’ knowledge of language), she views them as the two ends of a
continuum with connecting inferencing processes rather than as two processes which
are completely separate from each other.
The Monitor Hypothesis
For Krashen (1981: 2), the acquired linguistic system is responsible for the
initiation of utterances, i.e. for the speaker’s fluency, while the learnt system,
comprising one’s formal knowledge of the second language, may only be used to alter
the output of the acquired system, acting as an editor or ‘Monitor’. However, in order
for the Monitor to function successfully, Krashen (1981: 3) emphasizes that there are
three conditions to be met. The first is that the performer needs to have time,
something, however, which is not feasible during normal conversation. The second,
according to Krashen, is that there should be a ‘focus on form’ which can also become
problematic as we might be so involved with what we say that we do not pay attention
to how we are saying it. Finally, as a third condition Krashen refers that the performer
needs to know the rule, something which, again, we cannot be sure of for students
who are in a process of learning a second language. As, according to Krashen (1981:
3), situations in which all three conditions can be satisfied are rare, there is a claim
that it is very difficult to apply conscious learning to performance successfully.
The Natural Order Hypothesis
Krashen (1977: 153), making reference to research in language acquisition
(Brown 1973; Slobin 1973; Ervin-Tripp 1973; Dulay and Burt 1974b and 1975),
claims that when language is acquired naturally, the linguistic system develops
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