Learning vs. Aquisition

According to the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, learning is “the process by which change in behaviour, skills, knowledge, etc, comes about through practice, instruction or experience and the result of that process”.(2002: 298)

Following the same source, language acquisition is “the learning and development of a person’s language (...) Some theories use “learning” and “acquisition” synonimously. Others maintain a contrast between the two terms , using learning to mean a conscious process involving the study of explicit rules of language (...) and acquisistion to mean a nonconcious process of rule internalization resulting from exposure to comprehensive input when the learning attetion is on meaning rather than form.”(2002: 284). These last definitions were the ones supported by Stephen Krashen during his well known debate with Robert O’Neil.

Krashen argues that adults can aqcuire a language and that this acquisition is enhanced by comprehensible input that is one step above the learner current level of performance. Moreover, he says that adult competence in language follows a predictable order or natural order that cannot be altered.

Although O’Neil believes that comprehensible input is an essential part of the learning process, it doesn’t mean that this leads to acquisition. O’Neil favours the view that there is a critical period hypothesis. According to this view, due to the maturity and lack of plasticity of the adult learners , they will never acquire a language but rather learn it. However, according to him learning does not necessarily have to be conscious, as in the case of many natural processes, which grown ups cannot explain, but they understand and know how they work, e.g. light.

Following O’Neil, adult learners’ minds are not identical with the ones they used when acquiring their L1.

O’Neil rejects the idea that grown ups follow a predictable order, since some of them do not make any progress in spite of language instruction and they fossilize, ie they reach a plateau level of language and stop improving. Besides, contrary to children, adults seek for logic and rules in language learning.

In our opinion Krashen and O'Neil do not desagree in what is essencial to attain language competence, but they term the product of that process differently and attribute the competence in language to two different processes: Krashen thinks that it is the result of a natural genetically triggered process called “acquisition”, whereas O'Neil assumes that it is derived from an intellectual process called “learning”.

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