Why does Stern, the author of the book Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching think that we regard the use of the term ‘language acquisition’ as of no theoretical significance and treat it as purely stylistic alternative to ‘language learning’?
Because Stern thinks that “language acquisition” equals with language learning. Stern uses psychological approach to viewing language learning. He said that our thinking on learning is inevitably influenced by the psychological knowledge that is part of the common understanding of human behaviour in our culture. No doubt, such psychological terms as ‘remembering’, ‘forgetting’, ‘skill’, ‘motivation’, ‘frustration’, ‘inhibitions’ and so on will form part of our language learning. In this book, the author was always mentioning language learning and had never mentioned “language acquisition”. He thinks all language learning is conscious and goes through such processes as remembering, forgetting, skill, motivation and so on.