Krashen's Monitor Model: acquisition versus learning as separate internal rule systems¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 2 studies (1 causal, 1 theoretical), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Krashen's Monitor Model divides classroom activities into acquisition activities, which expose students to comprehensible target language samples, and learning activities, which focus on particular language forms through error correction, drills, and grammar explanation. Performance is initiated by acquired basic competence, while learned Monitor rules can modify output only when there is enough time, as on paper-and-pencil tests. The article retains this acquisition-learning distinction as Krashen's basic insight even while criticizing its absolute conscious/unconscious split.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Learning is restricted to rules that are easy to remember and apply, such as subject-verb agreement; complicated rules like English preposition usage must be acquired.

Constraints¶

• The article argues the model's absolute distinction between conscious and unconscious monitoring is unnatural, requiring two sets of linguistic rules that can never merge.

Target Learners¶

• second language learners in ESL classrooms

Target Learning Objectives¶

• internalizing a second language through meaningful use

Claims¶

• Monitoring significantly improves a second language learner's accuracy on learnable rules (subject-verb agreement, regular past tense) in the most monitored style [+W]
• Monitoring lowers accuracy for unlearnable rules: preposition usage was significantly less accurate in the more monitored style [+W]
• A 1982 bilingual-education teacher-training packet asserts, citing Krashen, that repetitive drill and grammar-focused instruction are ineffective for second language acquisition [+W]

Related Theories¶

• Bruner's account: language acquisition as necessity for thinking and the highest levels of cognitive development
• Horning's theory: for basic writers, academic written English is a second language
• Krashen's Monitor Model: five hypotheses distinguishing subconscious acquisition from conscious language learning
• Krashen's five hypotheses of second language acquisition as principles for bilingual program design
• Labov's monitor model: monitoring as attention paid to speech form on a continuum
• Krashen's input hypothesis and Monitor Model of second language acquisition — the canonical page for this theory
• The Comprehension Hypothesis: comprehensible input as the crucial ingredient of second language acquisition
• Krashen's five hypotheses (acquisition-learning, natural order, monitor, input, affective filter) serve as the principles for second language acquisition in bilingual programs

Examples¶

• Learning activities have a legitimate place in the language syllabus, but remain secondary to acquisition activities
• Adjust delivery to students' proficiency so language input is comprehensible during communicative reading activities

Key Sources¶

• Adamson, Douglas. (1983). Monitoring and the Monitor Model: Labov Versus Krashen. WATESOL Working Papers. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED242194