FOCUS ON FORM IN TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING: RECASTS, TASK COMPLEXITY, AND L2 LEARNING (original) (raw)

Focus on form in task-based language teaching

Language policy and pedagogy: Essays in honor of A. …, 2000

Given adequate opportunities, older children, adolescents and adults can and do learn much of an L2 grammar incidentally, while 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 attention to language as object. In classroom settings, this is best achieved not by a return 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, learners' attention is briefly shifted to linguistic code features, in context, when students experience problems as they work on communicative tasks, 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. Option 1: Focus on forms Option 1 is today considered the traditional approach, although it has not always been viewed that way. Course design starts with the language to be taught. The teacher or textbook writer divides the L2 into segments of various kinds (phonemes, words, collocations, morphemes, sentence patterns, notions, functions, tones, stress and intonation patterns, and so on), and presents these to the learner in models, initially one item at a time, in a sequence determined by (rather vague, usually intuitive) notions of frequency, valency, or (the all-purpose and questionbegging) "difficulty". Eventually, it is the learner's job to synthesize the parts for use in communication, which is why Wilkins (1976) called this the synthetic approach to syllabus design. It is not just the syllabus that is synthetic in this approach, however. Learners are typically encouraged to master each linguistic item in synthetic syllabuses one at a time, to native speaker levels using synthetic materials, methodology and pedagogy. Synthetic syllabi (lexical, structural, and notional-functional, for example), are accompanied by synthetic "methods" (Grammar Translation, ALM, AudioVisual Method, Silent Way, Noisy Method, TPR, etc.), and by the synthetic classroom devices and practices commonly associated with them (e.g., explicit

The Contribution of SLA Theories and Research to Teaching Language

1991

Some of the areas in which second language acquisition (SLA) theories and research have contributed to language teaching are highlighted. It is noted that while results of SLA research may have contributed to understanding of language learning, insights from such research may have little direct effect on classroom instruction. One explanation is that the SLA research agenda is not necessarily that of a second-language-teaching (SLT) research. This paper culls from the SLA research literature six areas in which SLA and SLT research findings have had or could have impact on teachers' awareness: comprehensible input, focus on form, correction of speaking errors, pronunciatioa, speech act sets, learning strategies, and factors influencing language learners. It is concluded that a knowledge of SLA research findings helps to inform teachers' decisions, even if these findings are not directly applicable to the classroom, while some of the concepts and tools developed in the process of research on SLA may be directly useful to teachers in conducting needs assessment. Contains 55 references.

How to Incorporate Language Form, Function, and Structure in the SIOP Model Lessons

International journal of English language teaching, 2022

The paper looks at the current practice of CBI (Content-Based Instruction) and the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model as dominant methodological approaches of teaching a foreign or second language (FL/SL) and proposes some useful teaching strategies for the development of L2 skills not only in the public school system of the USA but for similar teaching environments in other countries where English is a medium of instruction of at least a few content subjects. The paper specifically addresses the difficulties many in-service and novice teachers experience during the SIOP lesson planning to come up with meaningful language teaching objectives in order to facilitate learning of both content and all four basic language skills such as reading, writing, listening, and speaking (Bautista & Castañeda, 2011, Bigelow & Ranney, 2005, among others). The main proposal of the paper on how to advance these skills is informed by the best practices of teaching and learning that follow English Language Development (ELD) standards of certain states and International TESOL standards. With these guiding documents and teaching principles drawn from a variety of reputable sources, the paper offers some hands-on strategies and teaching scenarios that could potentially enhance the focus on linguistic form, function, and structure during content lessons to facilitate L2 learning, and this focus includes word decomposition skills that are instrumental in vocabulary learning and complex syntactic structures such as passives during teaching Social Studies and Math lessons. The paper will be useful for both inservice teachers and teacher candidates who are preparing to deliver sheltered courses of various subjects in schools such as Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, and so on. The paper also touches on the division of labor between content teachers and ELS professionals on how they need to collaborate to be able to better serve L2 learners at the various stages of L2 skill development.

Learner Language Analytic Methods and Pedagogical Implications

Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 2011

Her main research interests are the second language acquisition of English, and its application to pedagogy, academic writing and TESOL program evaluation. Her research is informed by a wide experience teaching ESL, Second Language Acquisition, academic writing and Linguistics in a range of educational contexts, including schools and universities. She has published both nationally and internationally. Methods for analysing interlanguage have long aimed to capture learner language in its own right. By surveying the cognitive methods of Error Analysis, Obligatory Occasion Analysis and Frequency Analysis, this paper traces reformulations to attain this goal. The paper then focuses on Emergence Analysis, which fine-tunes learner language analysis by measuring the 'onset' of spoken grammar as hypothesised in Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann, 1998, 2005a). Since doubts have been expressed regarding the emergence approach's rigour and pedagogical relevance, a study is presented which aims to provide a more in-depth and wide-ranging account of the 'onset' of. English grammar. Having sketched and amplified Processability Theory's predictions, the paper applies emergence analysis to the longitudinal development of two adolescent ESL learners. As well as exemplifying the rigour of the emergence procedures, the results show overall support for the more comprehensive predictions. The paper concludes that learner language analysis does not have a deficit emphasis on transition to the target language, as claimed by Firth and Wagner (1997, 2007). Indeed, such methods have a role in assessing developmental readiness in a learner-oriented approach to grammar teaching.

L2 input and characteristics of instructional techniques in early foreign language classrooms

L2 input and characteristics of instructional techniques in early foreign language classrooms, 2021

Linguistic input is considered one of the most important prerequisites for the acquisition of a foreign language. In recent decades, theoretical approaches within a cognitive-interactionist framework (Long, 2015) have identified various aspects of L2 input and characteristics of instruction that predict learners’ L2 outcomes. Teaching principles relate (1) to characteristics of communicative activities in which the L2 is embedded and encountered by the learners, and (2) to the quality of L2 input, L2 interactions and learners’ L2 output (Ellis & Shintani, 2014). They are in line with task-based and content-based L2 teaching approaches. This chapter starts out with the theoretical underpinnings to L2 instructional principles (Gass et al., 2020, Kormos, 2011, Leow, 2015, Truscott & Sharwood Smith, 2019). Based on two graphical illustrations on characteristics and processes in ISLA and internal knowledge construction, it introduces the roles of sensory input and individual perception, the internal meaning-making process, prior knowledge and selective attention. Consequences of this type of information processing for instruction are discussed with respect to the instigation of noticing, salience, cognitive activation and depth of processing. The second part of the paper gives an overview of characteristics of teachers’ linguistic behavior which includes how teachers modify verbal input in the L2 both lexically, structurally and prosodically, how they shape communicative interactions in terms of authenticity, negotiation of meaning, feedback and focus on form, and how they create opportunities for productive L2 output of the learners. Linguistic input is typically supported by different types of non-verbal scaffolding techniques and is embedded in communicative-instructional activities that have the potential to facilitate L2 acquisition. Especially scaffolding techniques which foster comprehensible input are crucial in early stages of SLA. Instructional characteristics of activities comprise autonomous action-oriented problem-solving (construction of knowledge), the activation of learners’ prior experiences, the stimulation of multiple senses, and a positive learning environment. The goal of these instructional principles is to pro-vide comprehensibility and cognitive stimulation during the L2 acquisition process, induce wide-spread neural activity and ultimately facilitate long-term retention. All of these principles are derived from the above mentioned theoretical framework and operationalized as ‘teaching techniques’ in the Teacher Input Observation Scheme (TIOS, Kersten et al., 2018) which serves as a structuring matrix for the second part of the paper. Techniques are defined as “description of how a communicative behavior or activity is carried out in the classroom at a given moment as the actual point of contact with the learner/s”. This operationalization has specific measurement implications for research studies as it provides a systematic basis of multidimensional categories of L2 teaching techniques. In terms of teaching practice, the classification of these techniques allows for L2 classroom observation, teacher training and teachers’ self-evaluation. The paper closes with empirical and practical examples on the effect of such teaching techniques in preschool and primary school classrooms. The TIOS can be downloaded at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340096869\_Teacher\_Input\_Observation\_Scheme\_TIOS\_and\_Manual. Revised version, to appear in: Special Issue on 'Teaching English to Young Learners' (Cirocki, A. & Wilden, E., eds.), The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 2021 (2). (under review)

An Analysis of the Task-Based Syllabus

The task-based syllabus is the best model for providing a flexible framework for the promotion of L2 and the communicative use of language while recognizing the individuality of the learner. It provides opportunities for the real use of language while tasks relevant to learners needs and interests intrinsically motivate learners. This paper examines the theories that have influenced the task-based syllabus and looks at both its strength and weaknesses, identifying language learning contexts where it is best suited while showing that it is in-line with SLA research findings that propose that language learners do not acquire language one form at a time but rather through more complicated cognitive processes.