Access to meaning: The anatomy of the language/learning connection

Abstract In this Part II the author examines the most common assumptions about second language acquisition by means of the anatomical model created in Part I. The examination includes a review of the most widely‐used second language acquisition methods, and shows how they owe their basic assumptions to those embodied in the Direct Method — a century‐old approach to teaching second languages. The two most basic assumptions — that people acquire a second language in the same manner as they acquired their first; and that the most appropriate language of instruction is L2 — are shown to be inconsistent with the views of Cummins, Vygotsky, Piaget and Chomsky. Furthermore, when these assumptions are subjected to analysis with the anatomical model they are found potentially to retard and/or delimit both the development of second language proficiency and the learning process of the typical student. The analyses that the model permits provide many clearer explanations for the empirical results generally experienced by students who receive second language instruction through the methods in most common use. Based upon the model, and the resulting analyses, the author outlines some of the principal characteristics that a more effective second language acquisition approach would incorporate. These characteristics appear to be quite consistent with the principles of bilingual instruction.