Authenticity and Learning Potential in L2 Classroom Discourse

Discussions of authenticity in L2 classroom discourse treat important linguistic and sociolinguistic dimension of the issue, such as the genuineess of texts, the regional appropriacy of target language varieties, the real-worldliness of classroom roles and pedagogic tasks, and the relevance of each to future student needs. Psycholinguistic dimensions of authenticity tend to be downplayed or ignored, however, as do tensions between some traditional notions of authenticity and learning potential. The relationship between tasks and texts, choices among three kinds of texts–simplified, genuine, and elaborated–need to be considered in the context of fundamental options in language teaching, not only with respect to linguistic veracity and simulational appropriacy, for example, but in ters of learnability, and the text types' potential for provision of positive and negative evidence, and focus on form

Process and Product in ESL Program Evaluation

This paper seeks to make a case for 'process' evaluation of ESL programs. It does not advocate process evaluation alone, however, but rather, as an essential supplement to the usual product evaluation of those programs' most important outcome, ESL development. The process/product distinction is compared with that between formative and summative evaluation (Scriven, 1967), but is not intended to replace it. The two reflect different, not competing, perspectives. The final section outlines the role in process evaluation of classroom-centered research

SLA: Breaking the Siege

After 30 years of steady growth and reasonable productivity, the field of SLA has recently come under attack from several quarters. Critics allege that, among other things, too many SLA researchers (a) focus overly narrowly on learner-internal, cognitive processes, ignoring social context; (b) inhabit an outdated modernist world, oblivious to the post-modernist "enlightenment;" and (c) believe their work has relevance for language teaching, when it has none. While few of the criticisms survive even cursory examination, the fact that they receive so much attention in the literature, including in some supposedly scholarly journals, suggests a number of structural problems in the field, which need to be addressed

Focus on Form in Task-based Language Teaching

Given adequate opportunities, older children, adolescents, and adults can and do leam much of an L2 grammar incidentally, which focusing on meaning, or communication. Research shows, however, that a focus on meaning alone (a) is insufficient to achieve full native-like competence, and (b) can be improved upon, in terms of both rate and ultimate attainment, by periodic anention to language as object. ln crassroom settings, this is best achieved not by a retum to discrete-point grammar teaching, or what I call focus on forms, where classes spend most of their time working on isolated linguistic structures in a sequence predetermined externally by a syllabus designer or textbook writer. Rather during an otherwise meaning-focused lesson, and using a variety of pedagogic procedures, learnens' attention is briefly shifted to linguistic code features, in context, when students experience problems as they work on communicative task, i.e., in a sequence determined by their own internal syllabuses, current processing capacity, and learnability constraints. This is what I call focus on form. Focus on form is one of several methodological principles in Task-Based Language Teaching

Native Speaker/Non-Native Speaker Conversation in the Second Language Classroom

Several recent studies of second lanquage acquisition (SLA) and use have focused on native speaker/non-native speaker (NS-NNS) conversation and its role in the acquisition process. Much of that work has been concerned with ways in which samples of the target lanquaqe are made comprehensible to the learner. This interest has been motivated by claims that it is primarily comprehensible input which feeds the acquisition process, language heard but not understood generally being thought to be of little or no use for this purpose. Other similarly motivated research has been conducted on talk by teachers and students. More recently, some explicit comparisons have been made of NS-NNS conversation inside and outside the SL classroom. The purpose of this paper is briefly to review what has been learned by the research so far, and to suggest implications for SL teaching. The paper is in five sections. First, I summarize the evidence in support of what has become known as "the input hypothesis." Second, I describe ways in which input is made comprehensible to the SL learner. Third, I present some research findings which suggest a crucial characteristic of NS-NNS conversation whose product for the learner is comprehensible input. Fourth, I report some work on ESL teaching which looks at how successful classroom discourse is at providing learners with comprehensible input. Fifth, and last, I suggest some ways in which teaching might be improved in this respect

The Least a Second Language Acquisition Theory Needs ot Explain

Valid descriptions of second language acquisition (SLA) are syntheses of well-attested empirical findings about process and product in interlanguage development related to universals and variance in learners and learning environments. Theories of SLA are attempts at explanation of those findings, an important component of which will be one or more mechanisms to account for change. Description and explanation are two points on a continuum in theory construction, however, not a dichotomy, and while theories differ in scope and so legitimately often relate only to partial descriptions, they need to account for major accepted findings within their domain if they are to be credible. Identification of "accepted findings", therefore, is an important part of theory construction and evaluation. Such findings will be the least a SLA theory needs to explain. Sample accepted findings are proposed, along with some implications for current SLA theories

Does Second Language Instruction Make a Difference? A Review of Research

Does second language instruction promote second language acquisition? Some studies conclude that instruction does not help (or even that it is counter-productive); others find it beneficial. The picture becomes clearer if two distinctions are made. First, researchers may address one or both of two issues: the absolute effect of instruction, on the one hand, and on the other, its relacive utility. Second, studies need to be sub-classified according to whether or not the comparisons they make involve controlling for the total amount of instruction, exposure, or instruction plus exposure, i.e. for the total opportunity to acquire the second language. Observing these distinctions, a review of research findings concludes that there is considerable (although not overwhelming) evidence that instruction is beneficiaL (1) for children as well as adults, (2) for beginning, intermediate and advanced students, (3) on integrative as well as discrete-point tests, and (4) in acquisition-rich as well as acquisition-poor environments. These findings have implications for theories of second language acquisition, such as Krashen's Monitor Theory, which make predictions about second language acquisition with and without instruction, and also for those involved in educational administrationl program design and classroom teaching

Three Approaches to Task-based Syllabus Design

Choice of the unit of analysis in syllabus design is crucial for all aspects of a language teaching program. A variety of units, including word, structure, notion, function, topic and situation, continue to be employed in synthetic, Type A syllabuses. While each is relevant for analyses of the target language and its use, native-like linguistic elements find little support as meaningful acquisition units from a language learner's perspective. Task has more recently appeared as the unit of analysis in three analytic, (primarily) Type B alternatives: procedural, process and task syllabuses. Each of these has certain limitations, too, but when the task syllabus is combined with a focus on form in Task-Based Language Teaching, the task receives more support in SLA research as a viable unit around which to organize language teaching and learning opportunities

Optimal psycholinguistic environments for distance foreign langauge learning

Rational choices among the numerous technological options available for foreign language teaching need to be based, in part, on psycholinguistic considerations. Which technological advances help create an optimal psycholinguistic environment for language learning, and which may be innovative but relatively unhelpful? One potential source of guidance is offered by the ten methodological principles of Task-Based Language Teaching (Long, 1985, and elsewhere), each realizable by a variety of pedagogic procedures. Interest in TBLT derives from several sources, including its responsiveness to learners’ precisely specified communicative needs, the potential it offers for developing functional language proficiency without sacrificing grammatical accuracy, and its attempt to harmonize the way languages are taught with what SLA research has revealed about how they are learned. TBLT’s ten methodological principles are briefly defined and motivated, and illustrations provided of how the principles can inform choices among technological options in the particular case of distance education for the less commonly taught languages

Simplification or elaboration? The Effects of Two Types of Text Modifications on Foreign Language Reading Comprehension

Linguistic simplification of written texts can increase their comprehensibility for non-native speakers, but reduce their utility for language learning in other ways, e.g. through the removal of linguistic items that learners do not know but need to learn. A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that some elaborative modifications observed in oral foreigner talk discourse, where redundancy and explicitness compensate for unknown linguistic items, offer a potential alternative approach to written text modification. 13 reading passages were presented to 483 Japanese college students in one of three forms: native baseline, simplified or elaborated. Comprehension, assessed by 30 multiple-choice test items, was highest among subjects reading the simplified version, but not significantly better than among those reading the elaborated version. The type of modifications to the texts interacted significantly with the kind of task used to assess comprehension: replication, synthesis or inference, suggesting that different kinds of text modification facilitate different levels of comprehension