How wrong ideas and misconceptions

about second language acquisition,

affect the attainment of English proficiency in students from public high
schools.

Proposal to fulfil the requierements to obtain the English teacher degree.

Student: Roberto E. Cifuentes Gaete.

Guide teacher: Mrs. Stella Jammet Widerstrm

CONCEPCIN, 20th, 2011

Guide teacher______________________________________________4
Dedicatory.________________________________________________5
Acknowledgment___________________________________________6
Quote____________________________________________________7
I.- INTRODUCTION________________________________________8
1.1 Problem presented.___________________________________________________12
1.2 Objectives of the investigation._________________________________________12
1.2.1- General objective._______________________________________________________12
1.2.1- Secondary objectives..____________________________________________________13

1.3 Hypotheses presented_________________________________________________14

1.4 Hypotheses classification______________________________________________14
1.5 Variables Definition.__________________________________________________15
1.5.1 Independent variable.____________________________________________________15
1.5.2 Dependent variable.______________________________________________________16

II.- JUSTIFICATION________________________________________17
2.1- Limitations of the investigation________________________________________20

III.- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK___________________________21

3.1-

First language acquisition theories.___________________________________22

3.1.1-The biolinguistic approach, Chomsky(1979).__________________________________23

3.1.2- Behaviorism, Skinner.____________________________________________________25
3.1.3- Sociolinguistic, Dore, Brunnet, Bates._______________________________________26

3.2 Known hypotheses about SLA._________________________________________28

3.3- Contrasting and comparing first and second language acquisition.__________30
3.4- Myths and misconceptions about second language acquisition.______________32
3.4.1- Age and SLA.__________________________________________________________33
3.4.2- The environment._______________________________________________________34

IV.- INVESTIGATION METHODOLOGY_______________________36

4.1 Target universe.______________________________________________________37

4.2 Sample characteristics________________________________________________37
4.3 Type of investigation._________________________________________________39
4.4 Measurement instrument______________________________________________39
4.5 Validation of the instrument___________________________________________43

V.- RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION___________________44

5.1 Results.___________________________________________________________45
5.2 Analysis___________________________________________________________45
5.3 - Discussion_________________________________________________________46

VI.- CONCLUSION__________________________________________47
VII.- ANNEXES_____________________________________________49
7.1 Plannings___________________________________________________________50
7.2 -Portafolio__________________________________________________________53

VIII.- BIBLIOGRAPHY________________________________________67
Bloomfield, Leonard_____________________________________________________68
Chompsky, Noam_______________________________________________________68
Krashen, Stephen_______________________________________________________68
Stern, H.H._____________________________________________________________69

IX.- WEBGRAPHY__________________________________________70

Guide teacher
Miss
Stella Jamett Widerstrm

Id like to dedicate this work to my mother who

was very supportive and was always there for me,
even when I wasnt.

Acknowledgment

There is no teacher who cannot be a

student.
Baltazar Gracian.

Chapter
I

INTRODUCTION

English is the Lingua Franca 1 of the world and since this investigation will focus on
several theories about first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition, it is aimed
to understand what is happening in our classrooms with students who have already
acquired their first language, specifically high school students from the public educational
system.

Language (henceforth addressed for human spoken language) is one of the most distinctive
features that separates human beings from other species.
The way we acquire language has been a matter of study for several years, without coming
to a one absolute explanation about the way the brain acquires the language.

MRIs2 have been used to identify what happens on the brain while we produce the
language, but research have shown only where the production of the language takes place,
but gives no specific information about what happens on those parts of the brain, such as
relevant information about what are the processes that come into play when we are
speaking. So this leaves a very open gap between the cognitive-affective process of
acquiring a language, and the scientific factual explanation on what really happens in our
brain.

Italian for Frankish language. Working language, bridge language,

vehicular

language,

is

language

systematically

used

to

make

communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue.

2

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Technique used in radiology to

visualize detailed internal structures.

Several theories will be revisited in the following pages, and since this thesis is about how
wrong ideas and misconceptions affect second language acquisition (SLA) in students who
have already mastered a first language, in our case Spanish, it is imperative to be familiar
with the different theories about how human beings acquire their first language, and what
are the most accepted theories about SLA in order to have a complete picture of all the
factors that come into play when acquiring or learning a second language.

The following pages will try to state that the research done so far and the theories
supported in this investigation are not denying other theories but simply disproving some
myths about the way students can acquire L2 in our classrooms nowadays.

Sure that by the end of this report, we are not going to find that there is only one way of
acquiring/larning L2, but we will find that there are certain aspects that do not completely
apply to the process as many teachers seem to believe, and hopefully it will help as a guide
for improving methodologies taking under consideration the diversity of concepts
presented.

It is worth mentioning that this research is going to backup their hypotheses based on the
experiences from four groups from two different public high schools from Talcahuano with
an apparently dissimilar profile of student.

One of them is Las Americas C.E.A.I. high school. This school is known for receiving
students in an irregular academic situation, being this either they have been rejected by the
traditional high schools or because at some point they abandoned their studies and wanted
10

to resume them in order to graduate from high school. This educational institution also
grants the students a diploma, which consits of an especialization in a specific area
(electronics or mechanics) so the student will graduate with an occupation plus their
graduation diploma from high school.

The other institution is a traditional one. The A-21 high school is a very recognizable
institution in Talcahuano which aim is to prepare students for a future student life, which is
the traditional path of following a career, either in a university or an institute.

The experiences collected in these two institutions are very useful in order to know, not
only the differences in the curriculum concerning the programm followed for teaching the
same subject, in this case English, but also to know that the affective and motivational
aspect is very important when it comes to learn something from scratch or almost, since the
baseboard for learning English is very bad.

Different methodologies were used for the groups. An entire English spoken class was
given for two of them for a short period of time. The other two groups were in a 60%
English 40% Spanish (more or less) class.

Knowing this we have to consider that the contents given were the ones from the units the
groups were supposed to see during their period, not from basic contents which may not
sound relevant but indeed it is, since the curriculum demands imparting those contents,
after all those contents are going to be under evaluation, not basics. It is also a factor to
consider the fact that the time spent for the entire English spoken class might not have been
11

quite enough to really asses the acquisition of the L2 but still a projection can be donde
based on the response of the group towards the class, and in this way we could calculate
the amount of time requiered for acquiring the language, not learning it.
Another factor to be taken into consideration is that the four groups willingly agreed to
participate in the workshops, this is a very important point to mention since the students
were not reluctant towards learning a new language.
It is also important to point out that the four groups enrolled in the workshop as a way to
improve their marks in the subject, not with the idea of actually learning the language,
even so they had the necessary motivation to be open to receiving the information in order
to acquire the necessary understanding to better comprehend the subject.

1.1 Problem presented.

The low results we see in public high school students when it comes to evaluate their
competence in L2, in this case English.

1.2 Objectives of the investigation.

1.2.1- General objective.

To clearly establish the differences between the acquisition of the L1 and L2 for
acknowledging that the process is different in many aspects and therefore some methods

12

are not quite correct, if not completely wrong when some teachers suscribe to the idea of
teaching English through an entire English spoken class for making the process as similar
as acquiring L1.

1.2.1- Secondary objectives..

Try to establish the negative effect some ideas about SLA or learning may have on students
from public high schools, and along with this give the necessary information based on a
series of studies about SLA in order to contribute to new methodologies that will,
hopefully in time, improve the attainment of an intermediate proficiency on the part of
public high school students in English.

13

1.3 Hypotheses presented

Hypothesis 1: An entire English spoken class does not necessarily mean a good English
class.

Hypothesis 2: L1 does not necessarily mean interference while in the process of learning
L2.

Hypothesis 3: L1 can actually facilitate the SLA process by making the input a little bit
more comprehensible.

Hypothesis 4: The teaching grammar without teaching grammar concept, does not apply
100% in every case.

Hypothesis 5: Speaking in classes is not completely necessary for acquiring the language
as much as it is necessary for improving the native-like accent. Ergo, speaking is not
producing.

Hypothesis 6: The reason most students have for rejecting the subject of English is that
the program tends to expect students to learn complex structures without paying attention
to basics.

14

1.4 Hypotheses classification

The investigations hypotheses are classified as correlational since the investigation

focuses on how some misconceptions about the learning of a second language in our
classrooms with high school public students can affect the attainment of a basic proficiency
in the subject, ergo this investigation will try to identify the relation between some
misconceptions about a class given in public high schools and the low understanding on
the subject shown by high school public students.

1.5 Variables Definition.

The variables this investigation considered were:

1.5.1 Independent variable.

Considering the concepts from the hypothesis, the independent variables for this
investigation are several. Nevertheless all of them can be summarize into the main
hypothesis of this investigation, that an entire English spoken class does not
necessarily mean a good English class, especially in public high schools.

The so-called effectiveness of an entire English spoken class can be objected by

taking under consideration two variables or two types of classes given to students.
One is an entire English spoken class, the other a mixed class begining with a 50 50
percent English and Spanish class. By alternating the type of class, we will be able
15

to see the reaction and response of the subjects3 towards the contents the curriculum
designed by the chilean board of education demands.

1.5.2 Dependent variable.

The proficiency in English depending on the type of classs given.

By examining the results seen in each group, depending on the type of class they
received, we will be able to determine the effectivess in every case.

The concept of effectiveness here will be determined by making projections upon

the direction the different types of classes took.

Here we have to remember that the main objective of every workshop was to
review the contents seen in regular classes and not to go to basics.

Students from the two public high schools.

16

Chapter
II

JUSTIFICATION

17

This investigation springs from the necessity of understanding why our students, in this
case high school public students, have very little if not zero competence in the English
language which is imparted as an EFL program in our schools since 5th primary grade.

This has been a matter of questioning during the last fithteen years or so, since our country
is opening to international markets, the use of English, according to the experts, is a very
essential tool for the development of the economy and therefore the country. Taking this
into consideration, it is imperative to know what is happening with our students
considering the last SIMCE4 test in English, which was measured using the TOEIC Bridge
test5, yielded extremely disappointing results.

According to SIMCEs results only the 11% of the students in Chile can be certified with a
basic competence in English6. This is a very low percentage considering that the universe
measured was two hundred thousands nine hundred and ninety six(207.996) students. This
means that only twenty two thousand eight hundred and seventy nine (22.879) students met
the minimun competence requirements in the language.

Sistema de medicin de la calidad de la educacin.

TOEIC Bridge; Test of English for international comunication, measures the level

of English from basic to intermediate.

6

Considering the test was applied only to 3rd graders.

18

For these reasons the Chilean government along with the Chilean board of education, have
proposed a program for making the country a bilingual country. This was first proposed in
2003 with the program English open doors Ingls abre puertas and it was lunch in 2004.

The idea of the program was firstly to improve the proficiency in English by implementing
a set of measures into the program, among which the most recognizable is to extend the
amount of hours per week. This means an increase from two hours of English per week in
primary grades (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades) to three hours per week.

Another recognizable measure is to bring native speaker teachers into our classrooms.

But the most important goal of this program is to make the country a bilingual one by
introducing the language in an earlier stage in public schools.

Nowadays public schools begin the impartition of the language in fifth grade. The idea of
the program is to start from the first grade, which in time will help reach the goal of a
bilingual country. Something that took almost 40 years for Sweden to get to where Chile
pretends to be, to be a bilingual country.

But until then, what do we do in order to improve the students competence in the language
at a high school level? This question may not be completely answered in this
investigation , but it may give some direction. So the justification for this investigation can
be sumed up in the following points.

19

 The necessity of improving methodologies that are being applied in public high
school English classes in order to reach the basic competence in the language. This
is, to give students the necessary basics in order for them to continue building
their learning process in a more natural way without having to go back to basics
in order to learn a new content.

To try to give teachers, and the people in charge of the programs, an old-new
concept on the way the L2 is acquired/learned in order for them to have a better
understanding about what can be done for students in order to acquire the L2 in a
more natural way.

To find, starting from the concepts revisited here, better methods in order to make
the SLA process a more significant experience.

2.1- Limitations of the investigation

Due to the nature of this investigation, which is mainly exploratory and bibliographical, the
limitation for this investigation is mainly time.

Since the samples used by the student/investigator7 were the groups mentiones earlier, the
amount of hours for the assessment of which class was more efficient (the entire English

The author of this Thesis

20

spoken class or the mixed class) may no have been enough, that is why projections will be
done in order to determine the direction each class were could have taken.

21

Chapter
III

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

As stated before in order to have a clear idea of what this investigation is trying to prove
we need to be familiar with the differences between the acquisition of our first language
and the idea of learning a second one, which are clearly different, therefore the processes

22

may be similar but not quite the same. This gathers great importance especially when we
talk about public high school students who, according to the English program developed by
the Chilean board of education, have to be able to recognize a series of contents concerning
tenses and have a vocabulary to an extent of one thousand and six hundred (1.600) words.
This is clearly not the reality of any public high school group since the baseboard of
English they have is not enough for understanding half the contents the program proposes.

For this and a couple of other reasons it is important to establish the differences between
first language(L1) acquisition and second language(L2) acquisition or learning in the case
of public high school students. In order to do this we will re-visit some of the most
accepted and recognizable theories about L1 and L2 acquisition and learning.

3.1- First language acquisition theories.

In this section the investigation will focus on what the most acceptable theories about L1
acquisition pose. This will help delimit the lines on what we need to know about
acquisition and learning which are two very different processes that converge at some
points but still they run through different paths. We need to be familiar with these thoeries
in order to understand that the acquisition process may be similar to the learning process
but not completely and we will see that some very important factors come into play when
we want determine the best methodological way to teach L2.

23

For many teachers the acquisition of a language should be the aim of any language class, in
our case English. The acquisition process, as we will see in this section, its a very
intrinsic, and rather mysterious process.

The following theories will show the journey that has been made after years of
investigating how humans acquire their L1.
This investigation will consider only the most representative investigation and authors
from certain decades, to mantion every theory about L1 acquisition will be redundant.

3.1.1-The biolinguistic approach, Chomsky(1979).

The biolinguistic approach tell us that human beings comes with what the biologist Noam
Chomsky, one of the most recognized exponent of this theory if not the most representative
exponent, has called a language acquisition device (LAD). According to this approach
every human being is pre-wired with a special device designed for language acquisition.
This device is supposed to come with everything we need for acquiring a language,
syntactic comprehension, grammatical structures, etc. So according to Chompsky every
human being is capable to acquire a language without the necessity of an over exposure to

environmental input.

24

Eventhough Chomsky claims that every human being is capable to acquire any language
due to this LAD, it is important to point out that there are some particularities about the
process of SLA that this theory passes over; these particularities are to be more explained
as we further this document.

As some detractors of his Universal Grammar (UG) theory claim, this point of view on
how humans acquire language is very restricted; as stated before, this theory passes over
some concepts and does not take into consideration environmental factors, social factors,
and historical language factors.

If we took Chompskys theory as fact, it would be fair to consider that there is no

difference between L1 and L2 acquisition. This very point will help this investigation to
show that there are some significant differences in the process, and therefore the
techniques used for teaching a L2 cannot be exactly the same as the ones used in the
process involving L1 acquisition, ergo, it would be fair to consider some methodologies
not quite correct for the process of learning a L2 when the L1 has been already mastered
(implying the fact this investigation focuses on public high school level students).

3.1.2- Behaviorism, Skinner.

25

Here we have what is considered to be the first theory about L1 acquisition8.

To be fair before the 1950s there was structuralism. Originated in the structural linguistics
of Ferdinand de Saussure9, structuralism considered the child basically as a sponge which
absorbs everything, in this case language, and for some reason the structures of grammar
automatically appeared. Off course structuralism is about more than just languae
acquisition, just like behaviorism, and is not the focus of this investigation to further into it.

In the late 50s Skinner made his appearance with his behaviorism theory which claimed
that the stimulus-response-reinforcement was the driven force behaind every human
behavior. According to Skinner, the behavior of every human being can be modify by
giving the necessary stimulus for an expected response and rewarding the subject every
time the expected behavior appears. The same principle was linked int the acquisition of
the language.

According to Skinners theory, children simply learn by imitating, listening and repeating
over and over again until they acquire the language somehow. So for Skinners theory,
environment is critical, for the more input around the subject the more the subject will
acquire words, and thus the formation of sentences. This theory sees the subject as a
passive entity who does not have any driven desire for acquiring the language. Just the fact

This considering its impact in linguistic,we have to remember that behaviorism is a theory

developed by B.F. Skinner to account for human behavior only, within this idea comes off the accounting for
humans acquiring language.
9

Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments

in linguistics in the 20th century.

26

that the subject is inmerse in an enviroment where the target language is being spoken, is
enough for the subject to starting acquiring the language.

A clear example of this is the stimulus given by parents towards their children when their
children start to mumble their first, so called, words. When this happens, parents just
reinforce the idea of the word spoken by the child by repeating the word in its correct form,
hoping for the kid to acquire the word in a way that in time the infant will be able to repeat
the word correctly.

3.1.3- Sociolinguistic, Dore, Brunnet, Bates.

Finally we have sociolinguistic which is sort of an extension of what behaviorism

proposes.

Here the environment is still critical, for the more the child is exposed to language the
more he will acquire. The difference here is that this theory treats the child as an active
entity, in contrast of what Skinner believed that the child was simply a passive entity
copying everything around him and acquiring the language by just repeating.

Sociolinguistic proposes that the child actually expresses intent, and that the child actually
scaffold his language by using it in context. This due to the belief, according to this theory,

27

that every human being is born with the motivation, the necessity of communicate with
others.

As we can see, almost every theory about L1 acquisition subscribes around the
same idea of a non-grammar formal teaching in order to develope the language. To have a
better understanding about the first language acquisition theories, which clearly surround
the idea of a subject imitating external stimuli we can cite 10Leonard Bloomfields work
(1933). In his work, Bloomfield argued that the study of language could be pursued
without reference to psychological doctrines and he took a firmly behavioristic line aimed
at scientific objectivity. Bloomfield did not deny the role of meaning in language, but he
objected to its importance in the study of language at a time when human knowledge of the
vast range of semantic association attached to every linguistic form was so very little.
Moreover, he viewed semantics as a subordinate element to the primary stimulus response
relationship of verbal behavior.

3.2 Known hypotheses about SLA.

10

American linguist who led the development of structural linguistics in the

United States during the 1930s and the 1940s.

28

Several hypotheses about SLA have been proposed. Despite the fact that all of them may
have something right in their assumptions, we will consider only one theory from one man
(some people say this theory was postulated before this man), Stephen Krashen.

Stephen Krashen, an American linguist which SLA theory is believed to be the most
acceptable for it accounts aspects of the development of the language which consider
factors such as environment, motivation, anxiety, etc

Krashen postulates in his SLA theory five principles (hypotheses) about SLA, this
principles and what they mean are as follow.

1) The acquisition-learning hypothesis. For S. Krashen there is a difference

between acquiring a language and learning it, for him the first is a sub-conscious
process while the other is conscious. Thus this results in children acquiring
language better than adults.

The concept everyone has about learning a language is very vague sometimes
especially when they tend to confused learning with acquiring. For the sake of this
investigation it is imperative to establish the diffences between these two terms. As
reads in the upper paragraph learning is a conscious process.

Taking under consideration our subjects (being students from public high schools)
what is intended to do in English classes in public high schools, is to teach the

29

language, supposedly by scaffolding the contents and knowledge acquired in earlier

grades.

2) The natural order hypothesis. This hypothesis claims that there is a natural order
in the way we acquire parts of a L2. In this hypothesis Krashen identifies three
very important aspects, which are:

2.1) This order is not based on any features of complexity and

simplicity.
2.2) The natural order cannot be changed; it is immune to deliberate
teaching.
2.3) The natural order is not the teaching order.

3) The monitor hypothesis claims that if we learn grammar we develop a monitoring

system. Since grammar focuses most of the time in form instead of meaning, three
conditions are needed to use it. Time, focus on form, and know the rule. It is here
where some teachers suscribe that when we have acquired our first language, there
is no need for teaching grammar at all, for the grammar will construct itself while
in the process of SLA.

4) The comprehensible input hypothesis is probably the most important point of all
tell us that we acquire language when we understand the message.

30

5) Finally, The affective filter hypothesis tell us about the conditions needed to
acquire a language in a more natural-fluent way. This hypothesis is based on three
conditions that need to be considered when we want to acquire L2. Motivation,
self-esteem and anxiety. The first two have to be high, the third on the contrary has
to be low, otherwise the input, no matter how comprehensible, will not penetrate
the LAD.

These hypotheses are going to back up the idea of this investigation, and its
hypotheses as well, since the work of Krashen demarks the difference between
learning and acquiring a second language.

3.3- Contrasting and comparing first and second language acquisition.

Differences between the process of acquiring L1 and SLA may appear obvious for some
people, but somehow apparently not for some teachers.

Based on Chomskys theory, which is the most accepted theory about L1 acquisition, the
brain has this LAD which allows human beings to integrate language in our brain.

So this means that when we are born, and some recent research claim that even before, we
are acquiring language, for the brain is like a blank sheet of paper which easily is going to

31

attain the proficiency in the language that surrounds the subject, but still we will be able to
use this UG that helps us acquiring a new language, not in the same way we acquire L1,
but it will help to construct the L2 in a sub-conscious way.

H.H. Stern11 points out some misleading ideas about how the SLA process has to be taught
the same way we acquire L1, and it serves as an indicator of how some English teachers
follow this wrong ideas. Some of the ideas presented here are posted as valid
methodological teaching techniques from the part of some English teachers.

1. In language teaching, we must practice and practice, again and again. Just
watch a small child learning his mother tongue. He repeats things over and
over again. During the language-learning stage he practices all the time. This
is what we must also do when we are learning a foreign language.

2. Language learning is mainly a matter of imitation. You must be a mimic. Just

like a small child. He imitates everything.

3. First, we practice the separate sounds, then words, then sentences. That is the
natural order and it is therefore right for learning a foreign language.

4. A small child listens and speaks and no one would dream of making him read
or write. Reading and writing are advanced stages of language development.

11

Canadian second laguage teaching educator.

32

The natural order for first and second language learning is listening, speaking,
reading, and writing.

5. You did not have to translate when you were small. If you were able to learn
your own language without translation, you should be able to learn a foreign
language in the same way.

6. A small child simply uses language. He does not learn a formal grammar. You
don't tell him about verbs and nouns. Yet he learns language perfectly. It is
equally unnecessary to use grammatical conceptualization in teaching a
foreign language.

We have to consider that this methodologies are not inconrrect in their assumptions, but
since this investigation focuses on public high school students, these techniques may not be
100% effective and efficient.

3.4- Myths and misconceptions about second language acquisition.

This part of the investigation focuses on some studies that will support the hypotheses
claimed by this investigation. Hopefully this part will help clarify the main idea behind
the investigation, that for students from public high schools an entire English spoken class
does not necessarily mean a good English class.

33

3.4.1- Age and SLA.

This is believed to be the main reason why older people or adolescents, who have,
according to some theories, pass the critical period12, cannot learn, or at least be competent
in a second language once they have already acquired their first.

This has been refuted by some research that prove that actually in some cases, adults can
be better learners that children 13, since children dont have the necessary cognitive tools,
they rely more on short-term memory rather than in long term memory, and adults can
always rely on their cultural background in order to make the necessary links to their
acquired knowledge. This is a very important point to consider when we try to establish
that an entire English spoken class does not necessarily mean a good English class.

Here we have mentioned the the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH). This hypothesis claims
that until a certain age, the individual will not be able to acquire a language the way they
acquire their first. This may be partly true. Since in this investigation we are trying to
establish the differences between acquiring a language and learning one, we must also
make the difference between someone acquiring a language and someone conciously
learning one.

12

For some researches the critical period finishes with puberty.

13

The concept of being a better learner gathers importance in this investigation

for there is a significative difference between acquiring a language and conciously try
to learn one.

34

If we take what CPH poses, we will have to assume that someone who has passed the
critical period will never be able to acquire the language.

3.4.2- The environment.

Another wrong belief is that for the SLA process you have to be immerse in an
environment where the language intended to be acquired is present all the time.

Here we come back to the comprehensible input hypothesis, if you understand the
message, eventually you will acquire the language without the anxiety of trying to keep up
with what the teacher is saying all the time. This is what this investigation calls the Inverse
Enviroment14.

3.4.2.1- Inverse Enviroment.

The concept of the Inverse enviroment, simply means that for some teachers a student is
never going to acquire the language if they are not immerse in an enviroment where the
target language is produced all the time. This may be the case when the enviroment
exceeds the number of subjects trying to learn the target language or when you have
fostered students from an early stage or grade.

14

Concept developed by the author of this thesis.

35

For example lets consider someone who starts a new life in a foreing country, off course
this person does not know the language or has a very vague idea of some concepts. Lets
say this person moves to a neighborhood where he/she is the only foreigner, he/she will be
forced to learn the language in order to be able to communicate with others and make a
living.

First the subject has an imperative necessity of lerning the language for survival, second
the person only hears the target language all the time without being able to communicate
with others in their mother tongue, in time besides the basics concerning the target
language our subject may or may not have, he is surrounded by it and he/she has two
hundred people speaking the target language versus one person speaking a language no one
uses. This will only result that in time our subject is going to acquire the language instead
of formally learning it because it is the predominant language.

On the other hand in a classroom, especifically a public high school classroom which is the
focus of this investigation, we have only one person who speaks the target language versus
fourty, and sometimes even more, who speak another language and most of the time they
do not see the necessity of learning this new language, so the interest and motivational
aspects are almost completely absent.

Off course one can argue that teachers should try to speak in English all the time, but since
the acquiring process is not going to be as significant as it was when we acquired the
language as children or because of the necessity of survival, students from public high

36

school always have this anxiety of seeing English just as another subject in which you need
a good mark in order to pass, nothing else.

3.4.3- Speaking is not producing.

Another wrong assumption is that people have acquired a language when they are able to
speak in that language. Nothing further from the truth, according to research, the only thing
that improves when you speak is your pronunciation and fluency, which obviously are very
important aspects of the language, but this does not necessarily mean that you have
acquired a language.

In the case of our study, high school students from the public system, speaking is more
likely to be important for acquiring pronunciation and for the recognition of sounds to
unconsciously familiarize with the English sounds and therefore have a better
understanding on the syntactic structure and to acquire the necessary discrimination
techniques for, depending on the context, recognize the word that is being listened to. This
is another reason why this investigation claims that spoken evaluations at this level(public
high school) are not necessary for they put more presure and build anxiety in students,
spoken exercises should be done but in a relaxed enviroment and not with the presure of
being evaluated, since evaluating speaking is a very intrinsic process and should be donde
very carefully.

37

Chapter
IV

INVESTIGATION METHODOLOGY

38

4.1 Target universe.

Students from public high schools.

Since this investigation is about how wrong ideas and misconceptions about second
language acquisition affect the attaintment of English profficiency in students from public
high schools it would be honest to say that the sample was not meant as a sample for any
investigation, at least not intentionally. Is this factor which validates the reliability of the
sample.

Having stated this, the sample was divided, as mentioned earlier in this investigation, in
four groups from two different high schools. Two groups were given an entire English
spoken class, and the other two a class which combined English and Spanish with more
emphasis on the actual explanations about the contents. These explanations were in Spanish
and every example in English was read aloud by the teacher.

4.2 Sample characteristics

For this investigation a probabilistic sample was used.

The charasteristics of the groups mentioned earlier are very similar in relation to an average
student from any public high school. This means that the knowledge and understanding of
the English language is very poor if not completely absent.

39

Every group consisted on 10 members each, being these average students with no further
understanding of the language whatsoever.

The way the sample was obtained, was through an English workshop imparted in both
schools. The students were invited to participate in the workshop with the premise of
improving their understanding in the language regarding the contents they were seeing in
class at the moment of enrolling the workshop.

Another factor to consider is that the members of the sample presented a very possitive
attitude towards the workshop, this implies that the affective/tensional/anxious enviroment
was optimal for teaching the target language.

NOTE: This investigation admits that the number of the universe measured during
the workshops may not be sufficient for an extremely accurate analysis, but the
reliability of the sample lies on the fact that the sample itself is a very good
representation of what many students in public high schools feel towards the English
class.

40

4.3 Type of investigation.

This investigation due to its characteristics corresponds mainly to a descriptive/exploratory

investigation. It will also serve as a theoretical/bibliographic research based mainly on the
work of several linguists.

Apart from the point that this investigation relies mainly on studies and papers already
made by renowned linguists, it will also try to account for the experiences the
student/investigator has had during his period of pre-training and proffessional training,
along with his short experience as an elementary teacher and tutor.

From these experiences the student/investigator will try to establish the differences between
L1 acquisition and the actual work teachers in high school have to do concerning L2
teaching, which is easily confused by some teachers as SLA.

The outcomes of the workshops presented by the student/investigator as valid measurement

instrument, will be discussed and compared against the ideas of the early named renowned
linguists.

41

4.4 Measurement instrument

The instruments used for measuring the students competence during the workshops were:

A. Simple gap filling exercises. (see annex A)

B. Short texts.(see annex B)
C. Simple questions related to the texts.(see annex C)
D. Matching exercises.(see annex D)
E. And a simple poster which read a set of typical questions students have for the
teacher.

This poster was meant for both workshops, the entirely English spoken class and the
Spanish/English spoken class, as a way to, at least, give the students a way to ask in the
target language.

These questions were;

1) How do you say ______? , This is the most common question learners have. Most
people, not only students, have the erroneous assumption that they are learning English
by asking how do you say a word in English, passing over that the vocabulary is
constructed in a gradual way and that vocabulary will construct by itself once you are
familiar with the basic structures of tenses.

42

2) How do you pronounce _________? This is less often asked, only some students are
willing to ask this question knowing that once the teacher gives them the answer, he/she
is going to make them repeat the pronunciation, and we know most students, if not all,
are very relunctant to speak aloud in front of their mates, even in their own language.

3) Whats the meaning of _________? Or What does _________ mean? Another

typical question is asking the meaning of an specific word. Here is where some teachers
debate if you must give the translation of the word or try to give an explanation of the
word in the target language, in our case English, for students to get the meaning without
translating, therefore not letting L1 interfere with the process of SLA.

From the accounting during the workshops given completely in English it is fair to say
that sometimes as a teacher you can explain several words such as verbs, adjectives,
nouns, etc.. that are easy to mimic such as hot, cold, tired, sleepy, jump, write,
etc...Some of these words can be explained using plain English, but sometimes trying to
explain the meaning of a word in Enlgish just makes it more difficult for the student to

understand it.

Sure teachers can use several techniques in order to make the students get the meaning
of the word such as mimic, drawings, pictures, matching the word with pictures, realia
etc...as stated before, this works most of the time, but sometimes the words we need to
explain are more conceptual and abstract therefore cannot be mimicked. There are not
drawings or pictures that can easily describe the meaning for some conceptual and
abstract words especially when they are not common verbs or adjetives such as hot,
43

cold, tired, jump, write, etc...sometimes

the words are describing more abstract

feelings or actions such as grudge, envy, lust, etc...sure some teachers may have their
way to explain some words but according to the research during the workshops
sometimes when you try to explain a simple concept in English using English, just
makes it worse. It brings up the anxiety filter. That can be dangerous for the students
will feel lost just trying to understand a simple concept by not understanding the
explanation of it, and sometimes translation and exemplification of the word in another
sentence is more useful than trying to explain everything in English, especially when
the subjects have no basic understanding of the target language.

The workshops planning that was presented to both schools UTPs chiefs, is presented
in the annexes chapter (see annex E) as a way to show that the contents covered in the
workshop were the ones the curriculum demanded, and this gave little space to actually
reafirm, or teach, basic knowledge and comprehension onto students.

44

4.5 Validation of the instrument

The instruments used for measuring the students competence, were the ones that have been
used by teachers all over the country. These instruments are validated even by the books
used by teachers.

As mentioned before the instruments for measuring the students competence in English
were:

A. Simple gap filling exercises. (see annex A)

B. Short texts.(see annex B)
C. Simple questions related to the texts.(see annex C)
D. Matching exercises.(see annex D)

The measurements instruments posted in this investigation are just a few among the many
instruments that can be used for measuring the competence in the target language. The ones
mentioned above are the most common used by teachers in public high schools.

Chapter
V

RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Results.
46

From the part of the workshops imparted at the C.E.I.A. Las Americas high school, the
investigation accounts for the failure of them, meaning that the workshops never succeded
in terms of attendance, eventhough the interest of the students in the workshop was evident
when it came to sign in for the workshop.

Reasons for the absentism to the workshop can be several, but they can be summed up as a
lack of compromise on the part of the students. English for them was not as important as
the workshop intended to make them see.

Accounting for the other educational institution, A-21 high school, the workshop was a
complete success in terms of attendance. From the two groups signed in the average
attendance was 90% in every class.

The workshop was given once a week for both groups. The duration of the class was about
a chronological hour more or less, always a little bit more.

Every group consisted of a total of ten students. The premise of the workshop was to
reinforce the contents they were seeing in regular classes.

The contents revisited during the workshop were:

47

Passive voice

First conditional

Regarding for the first content reviewed in the workshop, Passive voice, the group were an
entire English spoken class was given was a bit difficult. The students felt an inmediate
anxiety feeling towards the workshop, and they showed to the teacher. This means that the
possitive disposition towards the workshop changed completely to a negative attitude and
rather disappointing feeling when they found out that the workshop was going to be
completely in English. Even after the explanation in Spanish on the part of the teacher of
what the workshop was trying to accomplish, the students insisted on having the workshop
in Spanish, for they accounted that their understanding on the subject was almost null.

Even so the teacher made a deal with the students on having a 70% English - 30% Spanish
class. This did not have the effect wanted for the students argument was that they did not
understand the content because they did not understand the basics.

This forced the teacher to a 50% English 50% Spanish class, trying to introduce as many
examples as possible in English as it was allowed by the rythm of the class.

For this reason the explanations were given completely in Spanish, trying to make sure that
they understand what the content was about and what it was used for instead on focusing on
very strict grammar rules concerning structures and sentence formation.
48

The same principle was obviously aplied to the other group which started as a 50% English
50% Spanish class from the begining.

After four classes or so, the students not only showed a sound understanding about the
contents but they were also showing a basic proficiency in terms of basic gramar
components such as pronouns, nouns, and verb conjugation. Having this basic information
may not sound as an incredible advance in a class, but for students who have no
understanding of the basci components of the language is a huge step towards a better
comprehension on what the contents seeing in class were.

5.2 Analysis.

After re-visiting a couple of theories about L1 and L2 acquisition/learning, we can agree

that human beings acquire language in one way, when we have comprehensible input.

Off course the process may be different in some aspects depending on the subject, but
broadly speaking we acquire language the same way.
This accounts for the acquiring process especially when we talk about children, but in the
case of conciously learning a L2, the process of acquiring may be the same in some aspects,
it is not entirely the same.

49

We have to take this into the scenario of a public high school. Here students have already
mastered the mother tongue, ergo, the acquiring process has been, so to speak, completed.
This does not mean that the acquiring process cannot be acomplish is just that regarding our
subjects the acquiring process is a little difficult to establish.

Knowing this and considering that most teachers do an acceptable job in the classroom in
order for students to acquiere or learn the second language, something is happening with
our students. Something that accounts for a lack of basic comprehension in the target
language. How can this be if the program of English starts at 5 th primary grade, this means
that an average student from public any school has had English classes for 8 years afeter
graduating from high school, and even so their competence on the language is almost zero.

The 2010 SIMCE of English, show very alarming results in terms of basic comprehension
and proficiency. The results from the 2010 SIMCE of English are as follow.

Resultados Nacionales
Informacin general
Estudiantes Evaluados: 207.996, que corresponden a 90,5% de la matrcula en 3 Medio.
Establecimientos Evaluados: 2.607, que corresponden a 99,5% de la matrcula en 3 Medio.

Puntajes promedio

50

En la siguiente tabla se muestran los puntajes promedio nacionales obtenidos por los
estudiantes de 3 Medio en la prueba SIMCE Ingls.

Tabla I Puntajes promedio nacionales prueba SIMCE Ingls 2010

Prueba SIMCE Ingls

Puntaje promedio nacional 2010

Comprensin Auditiva

48

Comprensin de Lectura

51

Total

99

Porcentaje de estudiantes que logra certificacin

A continuacin se presenta el porcentaje, a nivel nacional, de estudiantes de 3 Medio que
poseen las habilidades necesarias para certificarse en el Nivel A2, segn el Marco Comn
Europeo para el Aprendizaje de Idiomas, CEF.

Porcentaje de estudiantes a nivel nacional que logra certificacin: 11%

Graphics showing the percentage of students

11%

with and without certification.

89%

51

Source: http://www.educarchile.cl/Portal.Base/Web/VerContenido.aspx?ID=208390

Students

from

better

socio-economic

situation showed better results.

52

Source: http://www.educarchile.cl/Portal.Base/Web/VerContenido.aspx?ID=208390

53

Students from private schools obtain the best

results.

Source: http://www.educarchile.cl/Portal.Base/Web/VerContenido.aspx?ID=208390

54

Students who start English classes earlier showed

better results.

Source: http://www.educarchile.cl/Portal.Base/Web/VerContenido.aspx?ID=208390

55

All these results accounts for the failure of the policies implemented into the English
program along with the lack of motivation on the part of the students in taking the subject
of English as a tool for their future. It also accounts for the wide gap between private
educational institutions and the public ones, a gap that can be shortened by just taking
public education in Chile more seriously.

5.3 - Discussion

After revisiting some of the most accepted and renowned theories about L1 and L2
acquisition and learning we can conclude that there is not one absolute way we can teach
our high school students in order for them to learn a second language, in our case

English, but we have to be certain that after understanding that the two processes, learning
and acquiring, are different, some methiodologies are not quiete correct when we have so
little time and resources for teaching a second language, especially when the subjects are
not suscribing the importance of learning a second language in terms of opportunities.

True thing that this investigation is not going to find an absolute solution about the problem
at hand, the low results we see in students from public high schools when it comes to test
their competence regarding basics in English, but it may help to find ways of balancing the
contents in order for the students to attain a basic proficiency in the language, a proficiency
that will in time allow students to build their English in a more natural way without having
to go back to basics everytime they need or want to learn new content.
56

57

Chapter
VI

CONCLUSION

Accounting the results of the workshops the investigation led to the following conclusions:
For the entire English spoken class, a minimum level of difficult was maintained. Even this
58

scenario claimed for the majority of students to go back to a Spanish/English spoken class
for they were unable to keep up with the actual explanations about how to use the tenses
and the contents they had to see in classes.
Taking under consideration the results shown by the workshops

Every theory is in itself a contribution.

There are though, some misguided ideas.

Every theory about SLA is in itself a contribution to the learnig process of acquiring a L2,
even so this does not mean that one theory is said to be the solution for the methodological
problem. In this sense some theories lack of consideration to some factors that appear to be
imperative when acquiring a L2, and it is here where some theories emmerge as more likely
to be acuratte with what really happens during the acquisition process os a L2 in public
high schools, especially in our country.

59

Chapter
VII

ANNEXES

60

In this section the investigation will show some plannings, worksheets, short texts and
tests. This material along with the books used by teachers are the tools teachers have in
order to explain, exemplify, and hopefully make students acquire somehow the contents.

7.1 Plannings

Here we have a sample of an average planning from one of the classes given at the A-21
high school.

61

PLANIFICACION
CURRICULAR I SEMESTRE 2011
SECTOR O SUBSECTOR: Ingls

UNIDAD: Advice and support

NIVEL: NM3
PLAN
GENERAL_X__
DIFERENCIADO___

OBJETIVO(S) FUNDAMENTAL(ES):
- Comprender el uso del Primer condicional.
- Comprender el uso de algunos conectores.
- Encontrar el significado de informacin especifica a travs de la extraccin de la idea principal en u texto.
- Inferir el significado de palabras.
OBJETIVO(S) FUNDAMENTAL(ES) TRANSVERSAL(ES)
SEMANA

1
.

CONTENIDO
S
First
conditional

APRENDIZAJ
E ESPERADO

ACTIVIDADES

To familiarize
the students with the
usages of the first
condicional.

Begining: The
introduction of the
subject. Short
explanation what the first
condicional is used for.
Explanatory chart for the
parts of the 1st
condicional
Development:
Handing out a worksheet
with different types of
excercises for the 1st
conditional. This paper
will also contain an
explanation,in spanish,
about the usage and
structure of the first
conditional.
The worksheet
will be resolve in class
and in a cooperative
class between students
and teacher. After this, a
new wroksheet with new
excersices will be given
to the students, this time
letting them resolve the
sheet by themselves

INDICADORES
DE EVALUACION

MATERIA
LS

Observacin
directa.

rd

Whiteboa

Workshee
t with the
structure of the
first conditional.
The same
worksheet
contains
exercises
explaining the
affirmative form
of the 1st
conditional.

63

7.2 -Portafolio
Here we have a sample of the types of work done in classes.
All these worksheet are posted as valid worksheet types not only because they have
been used by teachers all over the country for many years, they are also validated by the
books used by teachers according to the program. These books are from very renowned
publishers, in fact, some of these exercises are based on exercises from some of those
books.

Liceo A-21
NM3

Annex

Teacher: Mr. Roberto Cifuentes G.

First conditional

El uso del first condicional: Usamos el first conditional cuando la

posibilidad de una situacin lleva a un posible resultado, por ejemplo: If
it rains, I will not go (si llueve, no ir) la condicin esta en la parte de la
oracin que contiene la palabra IF, la parte de la oracin que contiene
el WILL es el resultado, si es que la condicin (en este caso de que
llueva) se cumple.

FIRST CONDITIONAL STRUCTURE

If+Subject+present simple, Subj+Will+verb in infinitive(first

column)

1. If you ___________(look) in the fridge, you ___________(find) some cold

drinks.
2. If Macarena ___________(save) all her money, She ___________(be able
to go) on holiday to Las Vegas.
3. Ronald _______(die) if we __________(not get) help soon!
4. If there __________(be) no gas in the tank, the car ___________(start).
5. I ___________(lend) you my umbrella if it ___________(rain).
6. The sea level ________(rise) if the planet __________(get) hotter.
7. If you ___________(eat) your sandwiches now, you _________(not have)
anything for lunch!
8. You ___________(be) safe in an accident if you ________(wear) your
seatbelt.
9. If you _____(not study), you _______(fail) the test.
10. I ____________(not come) with you if you ____________(not bring)
Constanza to the party.!
Note: As you can see, the if clause and the will clause are
interchangeable, this means that the sentence can begin with the if clause
or the will clause without changing the meaning of the sentence.
65

E.g. If you study hard, you will pass. = You will pass if you study hard.
You will get respect if you are respectful. = If you are respectful, you
will get respect.
Note: Notice that when the sentence begins with the
if clause a comma (,) is needed, this is not the case when
the sentence begins with the will clause.

66

Annex

Liceo A-21
English department
NM3
Teacher: Mr. Roberto Cifuentes G.

Have you ever heard about Global dimming?

Sure

you

have

heard

about

global

warming, but what about global dimming?

This phenomenon has starting to gain
force due to the research done by a British
scientist (Gerry Stanhill) in the late 50s. His
research data was compared 40 years later
(1990) and they show that the amount of solar radiation has decreased at 1
2% per year.
Global dimming is primarily caused by the particles being sent to the
lower atmosphere, dust, gases, pollution in general, these particles tend to mix
with the clouds and sometimes they form clouds of their own. This makes a
thick blanket, that in the case of clouds retain droplets which reflects the solar
rays back to space preventing them from entering the earth and causing less
rain, therefore long periods of drought.
Another bad aspect about global dimming is that vegetation need solar
radiation in order to achieve photosynthesis, and since theyre not getting
much of it plants do not have the necessary energy to process the carbon
dioxide into organic compounds, this has had an enormous impact in the chain
food.
The silver lining is that this phenomenon helps to keep away the global
warming effect, since the earth is actually cooling, but if you think again,
humans and every kind of life form on earth need the sun in order to survive.

67

Annex
C
I. - Read the text again, and answer the questions bellow using
the first conditional structure.
E.g. What will happen with global dimming if we stop causing
pollution?
A: If we stop producing pollution, we will prevent global dimming.
a)
b)
c)
d)

What will happen with global warming if global dimming continues?

How will be the chain food affected if global dimming continues?
What will happen with vegetation if global dimming continues?
What will happen with the rains if global dimming continues?

68

Liceo A-21
NM3
Teacher: Mr. Roberto Cifuentes G.

Annex
D

I. Match the sentences in column A with the ones in column B

COLUMN A
1. If she says no again
2. If we dont hurry
3. We will not have a party at the end of the year
4. If you need help
5. I will not say
6. I will lend you some money
7. They wont come
COLUMN B
__ If we dont properly invite them
__ If we dont save enough money
__ If they ask me
__ If you need some cash
__ I will help you, you just have to ask
__ We wont get there in time
__ I will not invite her anymore
II. Complete the sentences with the words given bellow in order
for the sentence to make sense.
WILL FIND - MISBEHAVES HAVE TO GET DONT HURRY - DOESNT
STUDY DO BE HAVE - WILL

1. If we ______ our homework now, we will have free time later.

2. I will talk to him if he _________
3. What will you do if you ________ a wallet on the street?
4. If you _________ to succeed, you ____________ work very hard
5. If Carla ___________ , she will ________ very bad marks.
6. You wont _____ there on time if you ___________
7 If I _______ time, I _______ go.

Liceo A-21
NM3

69

Teacher: Mr.Roberto Cifuentes G.

I CHOOSE the right endings from the box to complete the sentences about the
postman.
+
the dog will probably bite him.
+
if he has some letters for that house.
+
hell be all right.
+
if he doesnt have to go in.
+
he wont have to go in.
1 If the postman goes into the garden,
____________________________________________
2 If he doesnt go in,
___________________________________________________________
3 But hell have to go in
________________________________________________________
4 If there isnt any
letter,_______________________________________________________
5 The postman will be pleased
__________________________________________________
II USE the words from the box to complete the sentences about Tom and his
mother.

Gets
Will
Stop
bed! Get down at once or Ill be
Wont
angry.
You wont watch your
Doesnt
Allow
favourite TV show if you dont
Watch
stop!
Stops
1 Toms mother ______________ be angry if tom ___________________ get down.
Tom, dont jump on my

2 But if he __________________down she __________________________ be angry.

3 She says he wont ____________ his favourite programme if he doesnt
_______________
4 Of course, she will __________ him to watch his favourite programme if he
________now.
5 Shes often angry when Tom does things like that.

70

Annex

English workshop

The evolution of the self.

Workshop duration:
Beginning date:
End date:
Location:
Supervisor teacher:
Teacher in charge: Roberto Cifuentes G.
Duration of the class:
Number of students:

71

Anne

Foreword
This workshop presents itself as an opportunity to continue with the learning
process in students of 3rd grade, since theres never enough time in the classroom to
go through all the content in a unit.

This present workshop is to be considered reinforcement for those who

choose to sign for it. For obvious reasons this workshop will count with a limited
quota, and since the idea is to reinforce those who are in disadvantage in relation to
those who apparently have a more accurate proficiency in the language, the first
students will have the preference, and the latter will be given more advanced tasks.
In fact the advanced students can play a more significant role for they can be placed
as monitors for the rest of the class, in this case workshop, giving them the
opportunity not only to learn something new, but actually finding a way of bonding,
in a more meaningful level, to the content they already know.

72

About the workshop

Anne

The workshop will consist of X number of practical classes

The objective of the workshop is to reinforce what third graders study during
their regular English classes.

The contents of the regular English class will be reviewed in the workshop in
order to get a better understanding of the contents studied in class.

To attain a better foundation of the English language will be the surreptitious

objective of the workshop, from where students, hopefully, will be able to
continue bulding their knowledge, knowing that they have a better baseboard
to start with.

At the end of the process the students will render a short test for the record.

73

Workshop planning
Class 1: Starting.

Anne
Anne

1. Introduction to the workshop.

What the workshop is about.
Setting the main objectives of the workshop.

2. Setting the main topics the workshop will cover.

Reviewing Unit 1(Advice and support)

This will work as reinforcement of the first unit of the book. The content will be taken
from another point of view, keeping, broadly speaking, the vocabulary, the grammar,
etc. of the unit.

Invigorating the English topics that have been studied during the regular English
class.

In this way, the workshop will be an attempt to widen the topic, and put the same
content the unit gives in different situations.

3. Setting work mode.

Establishing, in accordance with the students, the most suitable work mode.

4. Setting work groups.

Setting work groups according to the level of English.

5. Setting monitors.
Setting advanced students as monitors.

Class 2: I was, I am, I will...

In order to have a clear vision of where Im going, I need to know

where I come from, what I was, and who I am now. In this sense the
workshop will review tenses (past, present and future) in order to get a clear
understanding about them.

To state this, evolution of oneself will be the tool well use. E.g. When I was five
years old, I wanted to be a doctor, in time, that change, now I hate hospitals, and I
think Im very good at music, so will study music theory.

74

Anne
PAST

PRESENT

(State who you were)

FUTURE
(State who you are)

(State who you will be)

I was

I am

I will
I liked

I like

going to
I used to

I am use to

I wanted

I want

I will be

am

EVOLUTION
OF THE
SELF

Anne
Complete the chart below with your experiences, using the corresponding tense for each story.
Follow the example below.

76

NAM

Roberto Cifuentes.

PAST

When I was 5 years old I wanted to be a doctor. I used to know a lot about the body.

PRES

Now, I think I wouldnt study medicine because I hate hospitals. In time Ive realized that I

ENT
FUTU

love music, so I wan to study music theory.

If everything goes well, I will be a successful musician.

RE

77

Chapter
VIII

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bloomfield, Leonard

1933. Language. New York: Henry Holt.

Chompsky, Noam

Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, The Hague: Mouton, 1964.

Syntactic Structures, London: Mouton, 1957

Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1965

Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1965

The Sound Pattern of English (with Morris Halle), New York: Harper & Row,
1968.

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Reflections on Language, New York: Pantheon Books, 1975.

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Krashen, Stephen

Krashen, S.D. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition.

Oxford

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Krashen, S.D. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. New
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Krashen, S.D. (1996). 'The case for narrow listening.' System 24(1): 97-100.

Krashen, S.D. (2003). Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use.

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Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching (Paperback ); Oxford University

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IX

WEBGRAPHY

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o www.sdkrashen.com/
o

http://www.educarchile.cl/Portal.Base/Web/VerContenido.aspx?ID=208390

o http://www.chomsky.info/
o http://books.google.cl/books?id=MBfUFEkdHsC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=h+h+stern+work&source=bl&
ots=hh431f4cU-&sig=3zy6gpmYx-azumv0-kfVZNwDXnE&hl=es&ei=LYgTtuyBaTk0QHH39HkBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&
ved=0CEgQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=h%20h%20stern%20work&f=false
o

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