SOME CONCLUSIONS FROM SLA THEORY AND RESEARCH

The belief that a precise focus on a particular form leads to learning and
automatization no longer carries much credibility in linguistics or psychology (Brumfit
and Johnson 1979; Ellis 198!" #nstead$ the contemporary %ie& of language
de%elopment is that learning is constrained by internal processes" 'earners do not
simply ac(uire the language to &hich they are e)posed$ ho&e%er carefully that
e)posure may be orchestrated by the teacher" #t is not simply a matter of con%erting
input to output"
'earners do$ ho&e%er$ use the language they e)perience to ma*e inferences$
hypotheses and generalizations about the language system as a &hole" #n other
&ords$ &e can be sure that learners &ill ma*e use of the language they e)perience$
but &e cannot be sure how they &ill ma*e use of it" These processes are hidden"
They are not amenable to teacher control" But the teacher cannot ignore the impact
of such processes or the learner+s contribution to learning"
,'- research (Ellis 198$ 199.! has established that teaching does not and cannot
determine the &ay the learner+s language &ill de%elop" The processes by &hich the
learner operates are /natural+ processes" Teachers and learners cannot simply
/choose+ &hat is to be learned" To a large e)tent the syllabus is /built in+ to the
learner"
'earners often go through a de%elopmental se(uence &hich does not go directly to
the target form$ but in%ol%es a number of errors on the &ay" -nd these errors are not
simply the result of first language interference" They are often common to learners
from a &ide %ariety of '1 bac*grounds" 0inally there is %ariability in language
performance ('ightbo&n 198!" 'earners seem to ha%e control of a particular system
under some circumstances" The notion of learning is$ then$ a %ery comple) one" #t is
certainly not a smooth progression 1 the elements of the target language do not
simply slot into place in a predictable order"
#nstruction does ha%e an effect on learning" This is indirect and non2immediate$
though" ,o it is important to pro%ide instruction for learners$ but one should not
e)pect to see the immediate and specific impact of any particular /bit+ of instruction
on any particular /bit+ of language" #nstructed learners$ that is$ ma*e faster progress
than uninstructed learners and reach higher le%els of ultimate attainment" But they
do this in their o&n &ay$ follo&ing their o&n de%elopmental se(uence$ not a
se(uence imposed by a teacher ('ong 1988!"