A maximum-efficiency model for the teaching of L2 grammar in a foreign-language, non-intensive
context |
|
Waldemar
Marton (Poznañ College of Modern Languages) |
For over a decade now, since the
publication of Long’s (1991) seminal article, the problem of learning and
teaching L2 grammar has been widely researched and discussed under the guise of
focus on form. Yet, in spite of a plethora of publications, conferences
and discussions devoted to this topic, all the teaching suggestions and
pedagogical recommendations presented so far have been fragmentary in nature
and have not resulted in the development of a comprehensive, holistic model of
teaching L2 grammar. This paper is an attempt at the development of such a
pedagogical model.
This model is meant only for a
certain typical language-teaching context, characterized by three important
features: first, the object of instruction is a foreign, rather than second,
language; second, learners are adolescents or adults; third, language teaching
is of a non-intensive nature, usually involving from two to four 50-minute
class periods per week, extended over a long period of time (usually from four
to six years). Precisely this organizational format obtains in most secondary
schools in Europe and in many high schools in the US.
The model presented here is based on
relevant, classroom-oriented SLA research and it incorporates a selection of
research-motivated procedures suggested by the particular researchers. It is based
on three theoretical assumptions and it consists of six organizing
principles (or general teaching strategies) and five executive
principles, which make up an orderly sequence of recommended pedagogical
procedures. The three underlying assumptions state that (1) second language
learning is not like first language acquisition, (2) second language learning
in our particular context is best seen as the acquisition of a complex skill
and, accordingly, can be analyzed in terms of John Anderson’s skill acquisition
theory, (3) the best approach in this particular context involves a focus on
formS (in terms of Long’s distinction) first and a focus on form
later.
The organizing principles claim that
(1) L2 grammar is to be taught deliberately and systematically, (2) the
teaching of grammatical structures must always involve their forms, meanings
and functions, (3) the primary goal of grammar teaching is related to the use
of the targeted structures in planned (in contradistinction to unplanned or
spontaneous) discourse, (4) teaching L2 grammatical structures is not supposed
to respect developmental sequences and orders as revealed so far by SLA
research, (5) learners’ L1 should be systematically taken advantage of in the
process of L2 grammar teaching, (6) the grammar teaching process should consist
of a logically arranged sequence of classroom procedures and activities.
The executive principles specify the
particular stages in the grammar-teaching sequence and can be described as
follows: (1) the first stage should emphasize the noticing of the target
structure and the establishing of the form-meaning relationship, (2) the second
stage should involve the proceduralization of relevant declarative knowledge
through various types of production practice, (3) the third stage should
involve the automatization of proceduralized knowledge through comprehension
and production practice, (4) providing learners with corrective feedback is an
essential feature of all the stages in the teaching sequence, (5) systematic
revision of the learnt items is an indispensable feature of the model.
It is believed that this model can
be of substantial assistance for language teachers and can serve as a basis for
their own experimentation with grammar-teaching procedures.