CHAPTER 9

 CHAPTER 9

INSTRUCTION AND L2 ACQUISITION

In this chapter we will consider three branches of this research. The first concerns whether teaching learners grammar has any effect on their interlanguage development. Second, it draws on the research into individual learner differences. The third branch looks at strategies training.

Form Focused Instruction

Recently communicative Language Teaching is premised on the assumption that learners do not need to be taught grammar before they can communicate but will acquire it naturally as part of the process of learning to communicate. In some versions of Communicative Langugae Teaching, then, there is no place at all for the direct teaching of grammar.

Does Form Focused Instruction Work?

The result of the research that was conducted by Teresa Pica, suggest that the effect of instruction may depend on the target structure that is being taught. If the structure is simpe and manifests a straightforward form function relationship, instruction may lead to improve accuracy. If the structure is formally simple and silent but is functionally fairly complex, the instruction may help learners to learn the form but not its use so learners end up making a lot of errors. If the structure lacks saliency and its functionally very complex, instruction has no effect at all.

Teachability hypothesis

Predicts thsat instruction can only promote language acquisition if the interlanguage is close to the point when the structure to be taught is acquired in the natural setting.

  There is no ample evidence that the effects of form focused instruction are not restricted to careful language use but are also evident in free communication.

What Kind of Form Focused Instruction Works Best?

The first concerns the distinction between inputs based and production based practice. Traditionally, grammar teaching has emphasized production.

This figure shows us hat input processing works better than instruction hat emphasize output productions:

(A)                                                                                                       (B)

Input based instruction                                                                     Production based instruction

                                                                                                                            

:Input                                   Intake         L2 Knowledge                                 Output

Consciousness raising: refers to attempts to make learners aware of the existence of specific linguistic features in the target language.

Learner Instruction Matching

A distinct possibility, however is that the same instructional option is not equally effective for all L2 learners. Individually differences to do with such factors as learning style and language aptitudes are likely to influence which options work best.

Strategy Training

Teaching learners specific grammatical structure constitutes an attempts to intervence directly I interlanguage development.

Questions:

1.      If we do learner instruction matching, should we know each of the learners’ differences with such a factor?

2.      Is it still appropriate for us to learn L2 by applying grammar based?