Effect Of Affective Filter On The Output Process Of Second Language Acquisition

Affective variables have long been within the concern of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers, especially in the 1970s when Humanism was once again the focus of linguistic research and language teaching profession. More and more linguists and language teachers began to lay particular emphasis on the learner's individual differences, which made the effect of affective variables on language acquisition process inevitably one of the most important research fields of SLA. In the early eighties, American linguist Krashen proposed the 'Affective Filter Hypothesis' in his famous 'Monitor Model'. He believes that people acquire a language once the 'comprehensible input' penetrates the affective filter and reaches the learner's innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD). Krashen's 'Affective Filter Hypothesis' was widely accepted, and language teachers and SLA researchers thus set out to explore further and deeper in affective variables. Meanwhile, many researchers are also interested in the learner's output performances. It is, however, regrettable that researches on the affective filter have almost been limited to the receptive stage of language acquisition, i.e. the input process, and researchers who are interested in output performances have always been confined to studying the function of output in the acquisition process so far, while the joint field of affective filter and production performances to research on the effect of affective filter on the output performances has seldom attracted researchers' attention.This thesis intends to hold some discussion in the untouched field of studying effect of affective filter on the output process of SLA, in which American language educator Stevick should be regarded as the forerunner. In response to Krashen's 'Affective Filter Hypothesis', Stevick proposed that there exists an 'output filter' which affects theoutput stage of acquisition process. Krashen agrees to Stevick's viewpoint, but he insists that 'affective filter' and 'output filter' should be distinguished from one another because 'output filter' exists in the output stage where acquisition is already completed, and thus brings no influences to language acquisition.Krashen bases his viewpoint on the inference that comprehension equals acquisition to which the author does not agree. On the contrary, the author believes that comprehension should by no means be regarded equal to acquisition. When the comprehensible input penetrates the affective filter, gets to the LAD, and is transformed into intake, acquisition is not completed. Rather, intake needs to once again penetrate the affective filter and get eventually transformed into output performances, by which real acquisition is signified. In other words, output is a very importance part of the acquisition process instead of merely the result of acquisition; and 'affective filter' is in fact a twofold mechanism working on both input and output processes.The author has not only managed to theoretically testify her standpoint from various aspects, but also devised and conducted an empirical study on the dialect acquisition of some college students who come from totally different dialect regions from Changsha, and have been living in this city for at least two years. The results of this study have not only provided empirical evidence to support viewpoints of this thesis, but as well enriched empirical literatures of this research field, which have been seldom available by now. At the same time, some feasible suggestions are proposed for pedagogic improvement in lowering the student's affective filter in the output process.