1 Second Language Acquisition Theories for Thai Students

Owing to the endless development of the world’s communication technology, languages have become an essential tool for people from different countries. As a result, over the past few decades, people have paid attention to language learning. Many a language such as English, Japanese, Chinese, French, etc. is taught and studied widely in schools as well as in universities. In order to enhance second language learners to be able to perform their language competence effectively, at least a second language acquisition theory is necessary for school teachers and university lecturers to employ. As a matter of fact, there are a number of learning theories proposed by scholars. Some focus on human behaviors, and others are in relation to learning approaches that can be applied to develop learners ’ cognition. Therefore, it is crucial for each teacher to determine which theory is the most appropriate for his/her students. As I am one of university instructors who teaches English to those whose native language is Thai, I have always realized the importance of second language acquisition theories used along with teaching approaches. In this article, the theories of Jerome Bruner, Stephen Krashen and B.F. Skinner are introduced in brief in order to be one of alternative selections for any other teacher related to the area of language teaching. Jerome S.Bruner, a famous psychologist born in New York, proposes a theory of the active learning process which is employed by many academic educators in both schools and colleges. Bruner (1996) states