论第二语言习得理论的二律背反

第二语言习得研究经过近40年的不断探索和发展,建立起了自己作为一门独立学科的理论体系。在这个理论体系中,有两大学派格外令人瞩目:第二语言习得先天论和第二语言习得环境论。它们以不同的理论为基础,从不同的角度揭示第二语言习得的本质和过程。先天论从人的生物属性出发,探讨影响语言习得、包括第二语言习得的各种先天因素;环境论则从语言习得的环境着手,研究促进和制约人们习得第二语言的各种环境变量。尽管它们的理论视角不同,得出的结论也大相径庭,但都为第二语言习得的研究和发展做出了十分有益的贡献,其研究成果对于我国外语教学改革具有积极的指导和借鉴作用。

On the Twin Paradox of Second Language Acquisition Theories

Over the past four decades a number of different theories of second language acquisition have been proposed in an effort to provide explanations as to how language learning takes place and to identify the variables responsible for second language acquisition. Among them are two prominent schools, nativism and environmentalism, each accounting for language acquisition from a different or even opposite perspective. The doctrine of environmentalism holds that all knowledge including that of language, comes from experience. Environmentalism, in this sense, is opposite to nativism, which holds that at least some knowledge is not acquired through interaction with the environment, but is genetically transmitted and innate. This paper aims to discuss the two schools of theories and assess their implications for applied linguistics and for foreign/second language teaching.