Instruction and L2 Acquisition

One of the goals of SLA is to improve language teaching. To this end some researchers have studied what impact teaching has on L2 learning. 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. The second draws on the research into individual learner differences. The third branch looks at strategy training.

    1.       Form-focused Instruction

Traditionally, language pedagogy has emphasized form-focused instruction. The Grammar Translation Method and the Audiolingual Method both involve attempts to teach learners grammar, differing only in how this is to be accomplished. More recently, however, language pedagogy has emphasized the need to provide learners with real communicative experiences. 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. This brief review of the pedagogical background suggests that there are two key questions : (1) Does form-focused instruction work (i.e. do learners learn what they have been taught)? and, assuming a positive answer to (1), (2) What kind of form-focused instructionworks best?

a.       Does form-focused instruction work

It is not possible to teach learners all the rules of the grammar of a language. This is a distinct possibility given that some grammatical structures seem to be implicated with each other. An intriguing possibility, therefore, is that if learners can discover that the target language permits a marked function they will be able to generalize this knowledge to the unmarked functions. Teaching learners a relatively marked function, such as indirect object, does appear to trigger acquisition of the unmarked direct object and subject functions. However, it is not clear if such effects are durable nor is it clear whether this trigering effect applies to other grammatical structures.

b.      What kind of form-focused instruction work best?

To illustrate this we will consider a number of options in form-focused instruction. The first concerns the distinction between input-based and production-based practice. Some theories of SLA see interlanguage as driven by input rather than output. An interesting question – from both a pedagogical and a theoretical standpoint – is whether instruction that emphasizes input-processing works better than instruction that emphasizes output production.

 

The second issue, concerns consciousness-raising. This term refers to attempts to make learners aware of the existence of specific linguistic features in the target language. One way in which this can be done is by supplying the learner with positive evidence.

    2.       Learner-instruction Matching

A distinct possibility, however, is that the same instructional option is not equally effective for all L2 learners. Individual differences to do with such factors as learning style and language aptitude are likely to influence which options work best. Learners vary in the particular types of ability they are strong in. Some learners are good at segmenting sounds in the speech they hear but are less effective at identifying the grammatical functions of words in sentences. Other learners are the opposite. Learners with differing kinds of ability may be able to achieve similar levels of success providing that the type of instructions enables them to maximize their strengths. There is some evidence to suggest that this is the case.

    3.       Strategy Training

Teaching learners specific grammatical structures constitutes an attempt to intervene directly in interlanguage develpment. An alternative approach is to intervene more indirectly by identifying strategies that are likely to promote acquisition and providing training in them.

The idea of strategy training is attractive because it provides a way of helping learners to become autonomous (i.e. of enabling them to take responsibility for their own learning). The main problem is that not enough is known about which strategies and which combination of strategies work best for L2 acquisition.