User:Languaglot/sandbox/Automatic Language Growth

Automatic Language Growth (ALG) is an approach to second language teaching that attempts to replicate the processes of early childhood first and second-language acquisition with the aim of having adults effortlessly learn new languages to near-native or native-like levels of fluency. It rejects the hypothesis of a critical period or maturational constraints on second language acquisition, arguing that the observed decline in second language attainment with age is not the result of a loss of ability but actually the result of using abilities gained with maturity to consciously study and practice language that interfere with acquisition and ultimate attainment. It claims that if adults "learn languages like children", implicitly by listening to comprehensible input with understandable experiences, without conscious study or practice, they can achieve the same level of results as those who learned a second language in infancy or early childhood.

ALG was developed starting in the mid-1980s by American linguist J. Marvin Brown, who based it on the natural approach but extended the length of the silent period to hundreds of hours. Like the natural approach and other comprehension approaches, ALG emphasizes understanding of language, but focuses on creating interesting and memorable experiences or happenings as the source of comprehensible input in the target language.

As a theory, ALG aims to be "a real science of language acquisition" that avoids reification of constructs in favor of developing models based on the actual physical workings of the brain.

Assessment
For language assessment, comparison to native speaker: "Our point of reference or comparison is the native speaker, not other students."

ALGie equation

$$y=C(1-e^{-kstux/N})$$

Techniques
TPR

J. Marvin Brown
Perceptual control theory

Reception
Some students of the AUA Thai Program have complained of a lack of interaction in class because of the focus on input of the approach.