Similarities and Common Denominators in Second Language Acquisition Approaches

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,7, Humboldt-University of Berlin (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: HS Second Language Acquisition, language: English, abstract: Until today, there is no unified theory, which fully explains second language acquisition, even if some attempts of writing comprehensible theories have been made. This research paper outlines the history of Second Language Acquistion, providing an overview of some of the most influential learning theories, such as the Natural Approach, Behaviorism, Error Analysis, Morpheme Studies, Krashen's Monitor Model, Universal Grammar and The Competition Model. The aim of the paper is to help the reader to better understand recent developments, find out if and to which extent theories have influenced each other, and to disclose similarities that go beyond the respective disciplinary boundaries. How much more do we know today about how languages are learned than we did over fifty or one hundred years ago?