WRITTEN ABOUT UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR AND INTERACTION HYPOTHESIS

Universal Grammar vs Interaction Hypothesis

Human language is unique; it is one of the communication systems of the natural world. The structure of this communication system is a consequence of the evolution of the humanity, as well as, from biological evolution, individual learning, and the cultural evolution of language itself. Thus, there are many theories and authors that have tried to define how acquisition of languages actually occurs. As we have said before, we will just focus on two principal theories Universal Grammar hypothesized by Noam Chomsky and Interaction Hypothesis.

The aspects that language may be innate in humans, and the universal features underlying the human languages, have been debated throughout the history by several authors. The innateness hypothesis or Universal Grammar hypothesis postulates the existence in the human brain of a Language Acquisition Device:” system of principles that children are born with that helps them learn language, and accounts for the order in which children learn structures, and the mistakes they make as they learn“.¹ That means, children equipped from birth with the set of linguistic rules that form the “Universal Grammar”, grammatical rules which are common and general in  all languages. Universal grammar specifies the mechanism of language acquisition. That is, the patters and universal structures that every single language has, and how the children during the process of language learning, they use it for evaluating their input.

However, language acquisition is socially learned too and offers open and unlimited communicative potential. This process dependent upon, the child’s development in other areas, (social development). Therefore we argue that second language acquisition involves the role for social contexts and our understanding of the biological evolution of the language faculty. In few words, interaction hypothesis concerns that input alone is not enough; the role of the environment in learning process is essential matter of discourse. We show that cultural transmission can improve linguistic universals, undermining one of the arguments for strong innate constraints on language learning. Certainly, people need a specific context where they can increase their input and output, as well as the adequate spaces to perform and develop their pragmatic competence. 

The contribution made by internal and external factors to second language acquisition involved mental elements that learners use to input into knowledge, that is, strategies to internalize second language knowledge and social situations in which learning takes place and how the learners are exposed into them, entailing to construct an interlanguage (intermediate system located somewhere between the native language and the target language). Hence people need to be exposed, to be in a context where everyone can interact with others, to share ideas, clarifying doubts and learning to improve skills every day. It implies a combination of several different components interrelated with internal and external factors. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.     British Council, Teaching English, Language Acquisition Device.  

    http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/language-acquisition-device 
2.    Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition. 

   http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html