Basic terminology

L1 interference

Thinking about teaching

spontaneous production controlled production

Learners can know something (they are well aware of it

when they are making sentences carefully and attentively)

BUT

not know it when they are producing language spontaneously

Students are careless – they know, they just don’t care

But everyone goes through these stages

Students need to go through a process which

involves making mistakes before they can produce

appropriate forms spontaneously and without

conscious attention

Improvisation

Understanding the rule

+

Applying it upon request while paying attention

consolidation

Producing spontaneously

To make sure students can respond appropriately in a test

OR

To make X a part of their usable repertoire

to eliminate errors

OR

to develop enhanced performance and confidence

Instructions facilitate learning

Noticing and recognizing facilitate learning

Awareness of personal Inter Language (IL)

facilitates learning

Instructions facilitate learning

Noticing and recognizing facilitate learning

Awareness of personal Inter Language (IL) facilitate

learning

Learners: recognize what it is that is to be learnt

Teachers:

Make the target language item salient

Provide useful lists and rules

Encourage rote learning

Identify for the students where L1 transference might be

advantageous

Learners: form hypotheses about the target language

Teachers:

Provide appropriate input (which helps learners formulate

rules for themselves)

Provide rules of thumb

Supply carefully chosen examples

Ask students to find their own examples

Provide exercises (which require use of the rules).

This is true not only for grammar but also for lexis –

patterns, collocations, relationships between words

Learners:

Find things out for themselves

Begin to develop systems without even being aware they are

doing so

Teachers:

cannot directly affect this

encouraging learners to analyze and look for patterns.

1. Recognition

2. System building

3. Exploration

1. Learning new words and patterns

2. Making better use of the language they already have

3. Generalizing from what they know to what they don’t

know

4. Using alternative means of achieving a given end (body

language, synonyms, intonation)

BUT

– We need to get meanings across in a way that can be

readily and easily processed by a listener.

- We need to have a form of English which can be readily

processed by a wide range of other users, an

internationally negotiable meaning system

- We use English to present ourselves and are judged on

the basis of the language we use and the way we use it.

Our students have a constant dilemma:

Speed and Fluency

OR

Accuracy

Basic message (with speed and fluency)

Concern for reader/listener (readily comprehensible)

Presentation of self (as they wish to be seen)

Improvisation

Understanding the rule

+

Applying it upon request while

paying attention

consolidation

Producing spontaneously

Learning is of little use unless what is learnt becomes a

part of the learner’s spontaneous language production

Our role is to encourage students to discover language for

themselves.

We need to provide learners with plenty of opportunities

to use the language, so they can gradually begin to put

into practice what they have learnt

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