(Lightbown and Spada 2006)

Discussant: Roma Marian F. Guadana

Many theories have been proposed for the
best way to learn a second language in the
classroom
Teaching methods and materials
What is the best way to promote language
learning in classrooms?
Through research
Quantitative research-descriptive and
variables
Qualitative research-particular about what
is happening in the classroom
Action research-answer specific local
questions
Get it right from the beginning
Just listenand read
Lets talk
Two for one
Teach what is teachable
Get it right in the end
Grammar translation approach
Help students read literature rather than
to develop fluency in the spoken language
Mental exercise
Read and translate
Comprehension questions
Specific grammar rule
Exercise
Audio-lingual instruction
Lead students to actually speak the
language (Brooks 1960; Lado 1964)
Emphasis on oral language
Rarely use the language spontaneously
Avoid beginning learners to speak
Errors could become habits
S1: And uh, in the afternoon, uh, I come home
and uh, uh, I uh, washing my dog.
T1: I wash
S1: My dog
T1: Every day you wash your dog?
S1: No.
S2: Il na pas de chien! (he doesnt have a dog)
S1: Non, mais on peut le dire! (no but we can
say we do!)

T: Repeat after me. Is there any butter in the
refrigerator?
Class: Is there any butter in the refrigerator?
T: Theres very little, Mom.
Class: Theres very little, Mom.
T: Are there any tomatoes in the
refrigerator?
Class: Are there any tomatoes in the
refrigerator?
Preference for structure-based
approaches=adult learners
Learners beliefs about the kind of
instruction that is best can influence their
satisfaction and success
Grammar translation=intensive use of
grammar and vocabulary
Audiolingual approach- used successfully
with highly motivated adult learners in
training programmes for government
personnel in the U.S.
Little classroom research
Communicative language teaching
Fluency vs. Accuracy
Fossilization of errors
Making sure that learners get it right from
the beginning
Difficulty to test hypothesis that a primary
emphasis is on form
There are many parts of the world where
one finds only structure-based approaches
Patsy Lightbown (late 1970s)
Effect of audiolingual instruction on
interlanguage development
French-speaking learners aged 11-16 in
Qubec, Canada
Rote repetition and pattern practice drill

Results showed differences between the
natural order and the relative accuracy
with which learners produce
A regular diet of isolated pattern practice
drills resulted in a developmental
sequence that was different from that of
learners in more natural language
environments
An almost exclusive focus on accuracy and
practice of particular grammatical forms
does not mean that learners will be able to
use the forms correctly outside the
classroom drill setting, nor that they would
continue to use them correctly once other
forms are introduced.

This instruction that depend on repetition
and drill of decontextualized sentences
did not seem to favour the development
of comprehension, fluency, or
communicative abilities either
Sandra Savignon (1972)
Linguistic and communicative skills of 48
college students
French language courses at American
University
Communicative group, culture group,
controlled group
Audiolingual instruction where the focus
was on the practice and manipulation of
grammar forms
Each group had a special hour of different
activities
Communicative group- one hour per week
devoted to communicative tasks

Culture group- an hour devoted to
activities conducted in English for the
awareness of French language and culture
Control group- an hour in the language
laboratory doing grammar and
pronunciation drills
Tests to measure linguistic and
communicative abilities
Significant differences between groups on
the linguistic competence measures
Communicative group scored significantly
higher
Second language programmes that focus
only on accuracy and form do not give
students sufficient opportunity to develop
communication abilities
Learners receiving audio-lingual or
grammar-translation instruction are often
unable to communicate their messages
and intentions effectively in a second
language
Structure-based approaches do not
guarantee that learners develop high
levels of accuracy
Language acquisition takes place when
learners are exposed to comprehensible
input through listening and/or reading
Stephen Krashen (1985, 1989)
The one essential requirement for second
language acquisition is the availability of
comprehensible input
English class at a primary school in a
French-speaking community in New
Brunswick, Canada
Classroom looks like a miniature language
lab
Books, cassette player, large earphones
Students (aged 8-10) select material they
want
They insert cassette, put on their
earphones and open their books
They hear and read English for 30 minutes
Some students are listening with closed
eyes, others read actively, mouthing the
words silently as they follow each line with
a finger
Controversial proposal
Need not drill and practice language in
order to learn it but also that they do not
need to speak
It is enough to hear and understand the
target language
Patsy Lightbown (2002)
Comprehension-based programme and
compared their learning with the regular
ESL programme which was mainly an
audiolingual approach
After 2 years learners in the
comprehension-based programme knew
as much English

Finding reading materials for adults in
early stages of second language
acquisition is challenging
Graded readers specially designed for
adult ESL learners are increasingly
available
Marlise Horst (2005)
Study of vocabulary development among
adult immigrants who were enrolled in an
ESL programme
21 participants with several language
backgrounds and proficiency level
Students took books home and read them
on their own
There was vocabulary growth attributable
to reading, even over this short period
The more students read, the more words
they learned
Substantial vocabulary growth through
reading is possible, but that students must
read a great deal
When we interact in ordinary
conversations, we tend to use mainly the
1,000 or 2,000 most frequent words
Students who have reached an
intermediate level of proficiency may have
few opportunities to learn new words in
everyday conversation
Reading for new vocabulary
Figure out the meaning
TPR by James Asher (1972)
Students participate in activities in which
they hear a series of commands in the
target language
At a more advanced level, they may act
out skits as the teacher provides a
description of events or encounters
Students are not required to say anything
They simply listen and show their
comprehension by their actions
The vocabulary and structures learners are
exposed to are carefully graded and
organized
Students could develop quite advanced
levels of comprehension
For beginners, this kind of active listening
give learners a good start
Considerable knowledge of new language
without nervousness
Determine whether high-frequency
exposure to a particular form in the
instructional input would lead to better
knowledge and use of that form by the
students
Adverb placement
Exposed to literally hundreds of instances
of adverbs in sentences
No teaching nor error correction
Students simply read the passages and
completed a variety of comprehension
activities
Learning was incomplete
French to English and vice versa

Lydia White (1991) argued that although
exposure to language input may provide
learners with positive evidence, it fails to
give them negative evidence
Information of what is grammatical
Information of what is not grammatical
Michael Sharwood Smith (1993)
input enhancement
Variety of things that might draw learners
attention to features in the second
language, thus increasing the chances that
they would be learned
Joanna White (1998)
Acquisition of possessive determiners (his
and her)
French-speaking learners in intensive ESL
classes aged 11-12
Ten hours of exposure to hundreds of
possessive determiners
Package of reading materials and
comprehension activities
Typographical enhancement was added
Notice the possessive determiners
Compared the performance (with and
without typographical enhancement)
Both groups improved in their knowledge
and use of the forms
Students did no learn to choose the
possessive determiner to match the
gender of the possessor
Learners made more progress when they
were given a simple rule and work
together
Bill Van Patten (2004)
Effects of processing instruction
Learners are put in situations where they
cannot comprehend a sentence by
depending solely on context, prior
knowledge, or other clues
They must focus on the language itself
Adult learners of Spanish as a foreign
language
Different linguistic forms
Two groups (processing instruction and
traditional approach)
Processing instruction group received
explicit explanations

Did some activities that drew their
attention to the importance of noticing
that object pronouns could occur before
the verb
Listening and reading exercises
Second group also received explicit
information but focused on
comprehension practice
Production practice, doing exercises to
practise the forms being taught
Learners who had received the
comprehension-based processing
instruction not only did better on
comprehension tasks, they also performed
well on production tasks
Research on comprehension-based
approaches to second language
acquisition shows that learners can make
considerable progress if they have
sustained exposure to language they
understand
Comprehension-based learning may best
be seen as an excellent way to begin
learning and as a valuable supplement to
other kinds of learning for more advanced
learners
Considerable research and experience
challenge the hypothesis that
comprehensible input is enough
Forcing students to rely on specific
linguistic features in order to interpret
meaning increased the chances that they
would be able to use these features in
their own second language production

It is when students have to produce
language that they begin to see limitations
of their interlanguage (Swain, 1985)
If learners are in situations where their
teachers and classmates understand them
without difficulty, they may need
additional help in overcoming those
limitations
Importance of access to both
comprehensible input and conversational
interactions
When learners are given the opportunity
to engage in interaction, they are
compelled to negotiate for meaning to
arrive at mutual understanding
Task-based instruction
S: And what is feed
T: Feed? To feed the dog?
S: Yes, but when I dont have a
T: if you dont have a dog, you skip the
question
T: How are you doing this morning?
S1: Im mad!
S2: why?
T: oh boy. Yeah, why?
S1: Because this morning, my father say no
have job this morning.
T: Your father has no more job this morning?
Or you have no job?
S1: My father
How does negotiations in classrooms
differ from that observed in natural
settings?
How do teacher-centered and student-
centered classrooms differ in terms of
conversational interaction?
Do task types contribute to different kinds
of interactional modifications?
Mid 1990s
Researches that explore the effects of
interaction on second language
production
Michael Longs (1996) interaction
hypothesis
Conversational interaction promotes
second language development
Integrates learner capacities that
contribute to second language learning
Corrective feedback in helping learners
make connections between form and
meaning

Michael Long and Patricia Porter (1985)
Examined the language produced by adult
learners performing a task in pairs
18 participants
12 non-native speakers of Englis (L1
Spanish)
6 native English speakers
Each individual participated in separate
discussions with a speaker from each of
the three levels
Intermediate
Advanced
Native
Compared the speech of the native and
non-native speakers
Learners talked more with other learners
than they did with native speakers
Produced more talk with advanced-level
learners than with intermediate level
partners
Examined number of grammatical and
vocabulary errors and false starts
Learner speech showed no differences
across context
Intermediate-level learners did nor make
any more errors

Called into question the argument that
learners need to be exposed to a native-
speaking model if we are to ensure that
they produce fewer errors
Concluded that although learners cannot
always provide each other with the
accurate grammatical input

They can offer each other genuine
communicative practice that includes
negotiation of meaning
It is precisely this negotiation of meaning
that is essential for language acquisition
George Yule and Doris Macdonald (1990)
Investigated whether the role that
different-level learners play in a two-way
communication task led to differences in
their interactive behavior
A task that required 2 learners to
communicate
Location of different buildings on a map
with a delivery route to get there
Sender and receiver
Challenging by the fact that there were
minor differences between the two maps
Different types of learners were paired
High-proficiency learners=sender
Low-proficiency learners= receiver
The other way around
When low-proficiency learners were in the
sender role, interactions were considerably
longer and more varied
High-proficiency senders tended to act as
if the lower-level receiver had very little
contribution to make in the completion of
the task
Lower-level receivers were almost forced
to play a very passive role and said very
little in order to complete the task
When lower-level learners were in the
sender role, however, much more
negotiation of meaning and a greater
variety of interactions took place
Teachers should sometimes place more
advanced students in less dominant roles
in paired activities with lower-level
learners
Naomi Storch (2002)
Investigated the patterns of pair
intercation over time and whether
differences in the nature of interactions
led to differences in second language
learning
Identified 4 distinct patterns of interaction
Collaborative interaction consisted of two
learners fully engaged with each others
ideas
dominant-dominant interaction was
characterized by an unwillingness on the
part of either learner to engage or agree
with the others contributions
dominant-passive consisted of one
learner who was authoritarian and another
who was willing to yield to the other
speaker
expert-novice interaction consisted of
one learner who was stronger than the
other but actively encouraged at
supported the other

Learners who participated in the
collaborative and expert-novice pairs
maintained more of their L2 knowledge
over time
Support for Vygotskys theory of cognitive
development
When pair work functions collaboratively
and learners are in expert-novice
relationship, they can successfully engage
in the co-construction of knowledge
Alison Mackey (1999)
Asked adult learners of ESL to engage in
different communicative tasks with native
speakers of the target language
Tasks were designed to provide contexts
for learners to produce question forms
Group 1 learners interacted with native
speakers
Group 2 did not engage in conversational
interactions, they just observed
Group 3 included learners and native
speakers who participated in the same
communicative tasks as group 1

The input for group 3 was modified
There was no negotiation of meaning
On a post-test, learners who had engaged
in conversational interactions produced
more advanced question forms than those
in the two other experimental groups
Kim McDonough(2004)
Investigated the use of pair and small
group activities in EFL classes in Thailand
Interactional activities and discussed
environmental problems
Topic was chosen as one that would
generate contexts for the use of
conditional clauses
Learners were audio-recorded
Recorded conversations were examined
Learners were tested on their ability to
produce conditional clauses in a pre-test,
an immediate post-test, and delayed post-
test
Learners who had used more negative
feedback and modified output significantly
improved in the accuracy of their
conditional clauses. Those who made less
use of these features did not.
Students did not perceive pair and group
activities as useful for learning English
Better understanding of how to organize
group and pair work more effectively
It is difficult top draw any conclusions as
to the long-term benefits of
conversational interaction
It is also difficult to relate the findings to
the kind of interactions that take place in
the classroom
Implicit corrective feedback in pair-work
situations is beneficial
Recasts are more salient in pair-work
When the instructional focus is on
expressing meaning through subject-
matter instruction, the teachers recasts
may not be perceived as an attempt to
correct their language form but rather
saying the same thing