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Second Language Learning and Language Teaching
Fourth Edition Vivian Cook Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Vivian Cook
ISBN(s): 9780340958766, 0340958766
Edition: Fourth
File Details: PDF, 1.11 MB
Year: 2008
Language: english
Second Language Learning
and Language Teaching
This page intentionally left blank
Second Language Learning
and Language Teaching
Fourth Edition

Vivian Cook
First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Arnold.
This fourth edition published in 2008 by
Hodder Education, an Hachette UK Company,
338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.

www.hoddereducation.com

© 2008 Vivian Cook

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Note to teachers x

1 Background to second language acquisition research

and language teaching 1
1.1 The scope of this book 1
1.2 Common assumptions of language teaching 2
1.3 What is second language acquisition research? 6
1.4 What a teacher can expect from SLA research 8
1.5 Some background ideas of SLA research 11
Discussion topics 16
Further reading 17
Glosses on language teaching methods 17

2 Learning and teaching different types of grammar 18

2.1 What is grammar? 18
2.2 Structure words, morphemes and sequences of
acquisition 23
2.3 The processability model 28
2.4 Principles and parameters grammar 33
2.5 L2 learning of grammar and L2 teaching 36
2.6 The role of explicit grammar in language teaching 39
Discussion topics 43
Further reading 44
Some grammatical terms 44

3 Learning and teaching vocabulary 46

3.1 Word frequency 46
3.2 Knowledge of words 49
3.3 One word-store or two in the L2 user’s mind? 52
3.4 Types of meaning 53
3.5 Strategies for understanding and learning vocabulary 57
3.6 Vocabulary and teaching 62
vi Contents

Discussion topics 65
Further reading 65
Answers to Box 3.1 65

4 Acquiring and teaching pronunciation 67

4.1 Phonemes and second language acquisition 69
4.2 Learning syllable structure 73
4.3 General ideas about phonology learning 75
4.4 Choosing a model for teaching pronunciation 78
4.5 Learning and teaching pronunciation 80
4.6 Learning and teaching intonation 82
Discussion topics 85
Further reading 86

5 Acquiring and teaching a new writing system 87

5.1 Writing systems 87
5.2 Spelling 90
5.3 Punctuation 95
5.4 The writing system and language teaching 98
Discussion topics 103
Further reading 103
Answer to Box 5.1 103
Answer to Box 5.8 103

6 Strategies for communicating and learning 105

6.1 Communication strategies 106
6.2 Learning strategies: how do learners vary in their
approaches to L2 learning? 113
Discussion topics 119
Further reading 120
Answers to Box 6.1 120

7 Listening and reading processes 121

7.1 Meaning and reading 121
7.2 Listening processes 125
Discussion topics 133
Further reading 134
 Contents vii

8 Individual differences in L2 users and L2 learners 135

8.1 Motivation for L2 learning 136
8.2 Attitudes 140
8.3 Aptitude: are some people better at learning
a second language than others? 144
8.4 Age: are young L2 learners better than old learners? 147
8.5 Are other personality traits important to L2 learning? 150
Discussion topics 153
Further reading 154

9 Classroom interaction and Conversation Analysis 155

9.1 Language and interaction inside the classroom 155
9.2 Language input and language learning 161
9.3 Describing conversation 165
Discussion topics 168
Further reading 169

10 The L2 user and the native speaker 170

10.1 The L2 user versus the native speaker in language teaching 170
10.2 Codeswitching by second language users 174
10.3 Using the first language in the classroom 180
10.4 Are native speakers better language teachers? 185
10.5 International languages: English as lingua franca (ELF) 189
Discussion topics 193
Further reading 193

11 The goals of language teaching 194

11.1 The different roles of second languages in people’s lives 195
11.2 Language and groups of speakers 201
11.3 The goals of language teaching 205
Discussion topics 212
Further reading 213

12 General models of L2 learning 214

12.1 Universal Grammar 214
12.2 Processing models 218
12.3 The socio-educational model 222
12.4 The interaction approach 224
viii Contents

12.5 Sociocultural SLA theory 228

12.6 Multi-competence – the L2 user approach 231
12.7 General issues 233
Discussion topics 234
Further reading 234

13 Second language learning and language teaching styles 235

13.1 The academic style 237
13.2 The audio-lingual style 242
13.3 The communicative style 247
13.4 The task-based learning style 257
13.5 The mainstream EFL style 263
13.6 Other styles 266
13.7 Conclusions 270
Discussion topics 271
Further reading 272

List of coursebooks mentioned 273

References 277
Index 295
Acknowledgements
The motto of this book, as before, comes from Otto Jespersen (1904): ‘The really
important thing is less the destruction of bad old methods than a positive indica-
tion of the new ways to be followed if we are to have thoroughly efficient teach-
ing in modern languages.’ The new edition has benefited from the feedback of
students, colleagues and readers. Without the musical influence of EST, Polar Bear
and Miles Davis, it would never have been finished.
Vivian Cook
January 2008
Note to teachers
This book provides an introduction to the application of second language acqui-
sition (SLA) research to language teaching suitable for language teachers, student
teachers and students on MA courses in applied linguistics, TESOL, methodology
of modern language teaching, and so on. It presupposes no previous background
and provides explanations and glossaries of important terms. Most sections of
each chapter start with focusing questions and keywords and end with summaries
of the area and of its application, as well as presenting discussion topics and fur-
ther reading.
The scope of the book ranges from particular aspects of language and language
teaching to broader contexts of second language acquisition and general ideas of
language teaching. After the general background in Chapter 1, the next four chap-
ters look at how people learn particular aspects of the second language: grammar
in Chapter 2, vocabulary in Chapter 3, pronunciation in Chapter 4, and the writ-
ing system in Chapter 5. The next three chapters treat learners as individuals,
dealing with learners’ strategies in Chapter 6, listening and reading processes in
Chapter 7, and individual differences in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 examines the char-
acteristics of language teaching in classrooms. The remaining chapters adopt a
wider perspective. Chapter 10 looks at the nature of the L2 user and the native
speaker, Chapter 11 at goals of language teaching, and Chapter 12 at models of
second language acquisition. The final Chapter 13 discusses different styles of lan-
guage teaching and looks for their foundations in SLA research.
From my own teaching of this material I have found that the teaching sequence
needs to vary to suit the interests and experience of the particular students on a
course. For some it is better to start with the factual language materials in
Chapters 2–5; those with more theoretical interests may start with the general
models of second language acquisition in Chapter 12; students with less experi-
ence of teaching may need to start with sections of Chapter 13, which provide a
quick background in teaching methods of the twentieth century; others may want
to concentrate on the more controversial society-related issues of Chapters 10 and
11. Apart from the introductory Chapter 1, the chapters can stand alone and do
not depend on previous chapters, though cross-references are made when neces-
sary and a glossary of all key terms is given online.
The writing of the fourth edition has been guided largely by feedback from stu-
dents, teachers and colleagues at Newcastle University. The broad framework and
approach of the third edition have been maintained. An additional feature has
been added, namely links to the website. For some time my website SLA Topics
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/index.htm) has offered a wide range
of materials for SLA research. Recently, a portal has been created for users of this
book which can be found at www.hodderplus.com/linguistics. This site contains sup-
port materials, notes, questionnaires, a glossary of keywords, samples of research
techniques, further reading and lists of other related sites. The various question-
naires, summaries, data, and so on provided in the chapters are available online
and can be downloaded and printed, usually as Microsoft® Word files. Links to a
specific page on the website are indicated in the book by the mouse symbol. The
links to other people’s sites mentioned in the text are included on a single page of
useful links on the website.
Background to second
language acquisition research
and language teaching
1
Language is at the centre of human life. We use it to express our love or our
hatred, to achieve our goals and further our careers, to gain artistic satisfaction or
simple pleasure, to pray or to blaspheme. Through language we plan our lives and
remember our past; we exchange ideas and experiences; we form our social and
individual identities. Language is the most unique thing about human beings. As
Cicero said in 55 BC, ‘The one thing in which we are especially superior to beasts
is that we speak to each other.’
Some people are able to do some or all of this in more than one language.
Knowing another language may mean: getting a job; a chance to get educated; the
ability to take a fuller part in the life of one’s own country or the opportunity to
emigrate to another; an expansion of one’s literary and cultural horizons; the
expression of one’s political opinions or religious beliefs; the chance to talk to peo-
ple on a foreign holiday. A second language affects people’s careers and possible
futures, their lives and their very identities. In a world where probably more peo-
ple speak two languages than one, the acquisition and use of second languages are
vital to the everyday lives of millions; monolinguals are becoming almost an
endangered species. Helping people acquire second languages more effectively is
an important task for the twenty-first century.

1.1 The scope of this book

The main aim of this book is to communicate to those concerned with language
teaching some of the ideas about how people acquire second languages that emerge
from second language acquisition (SLA) research, and to make suggestions of how
these might benefit language teaching. It is not a guide to SLA research methodol-
ogy itself, or to the merits and failings of particular SLA research techniques, which
are covered in other books, such as Second Language Learning Theories (Myles and
Mitchell, 2004). Nor is it an overall guide to the methods and techniques of lan-
guage teaching; only to those which are related to an SLA research perspective. It is
intended for language teachers and trainee teachers. Most of the time it tries not to
take sides in reporting the various issues; inevitably my own interest in the multi-
competence approach is hard to conceal.
Much of the discussion concerns the L2 learning and teaching of English, mainly
because this is the chief language that has been investigated in SLA research. English
is used here, however, as a source of examples rather than forming the subject mat-
ter itself. The teaching and learning of other modern languages are discussed when
appropriate. It should be remembered that the English language is often in a unique
situation, being the only language that can be used almost anywhere on the globe
2 Background

between people who are non-native speakers. Most sections of each chapter start
with focusing questions and a display of defining keywords, and end with discus-
sion topics and further reading.
Contact with the language teaching classroom is maintained in this book chiefly
through the discussion of published coursebooks and syllabuses, usually for teach-
ing English. Even if good teachers use books only as a jumping-off point, they can
provide a window into many classrooms. The books and syllabuses cited are taken
from countries ranging from Germany to Japan to Cuba, though inevitably the bias
is towards coursebooks published in England for reasons of accessibility. Since many
modern language teaching coursebooks are depressingly similar in orientation, the
examples of less familiar approaches have often been taken from older coursebooks.
This book talks about only a fraction of the SLA research on a given topic, often
presenting only one or two of the possible approaches. It concentrates on those
based on ideas about language, that is, applied linguistics, rather than those com-
ing from psychology or education. Nevertheless it covers more areas of SLA
research than most books that link SLA research to language teaching, for exam-
ple, taking in pronunciation, vocabulary and writing, among other areas. It uses
ideas from the wealth of research produced in the past twenty years or so, rather
than just the most recent. Sometimes it has to go beyond the strict borders of SLA
research itself to include topics such as the position of English in the world and
the power of native speakers over their language.
The book is linked to an extensive website: www.hoddereducation.com/viviancook.
This contains pages for this book, such as questionnaires, displays, language data,
summaries, lists of links, and so on, as well as a great deal of other SLA informa-
tion not specific to the book. The pages can be downloaded and printed. The main
entry point is the index. The mouse symbol in the book indicates that there is a
particular aspect available online; the more general pages are not signalled every
time they might be useful.

1.2 Common assumptions of language teaching

Focusing question

● Answer the questionnaire in Box 1.1 to find out your assumptions about
language teaching.

Keywords

first language: chronologically the first language that a child learns

second language: ‘A language acquired by a person in addition to his mother
tongue’ (UNESCO)
native speaker: a person who still speaks the language they learnt in childhood,
often seen as monolingual
Glosses on names of teaching methods are provided at the end of the chapter.
Explanations of keywords throughout the book are available in the keyword
glossary on the website.
 Common assumptions of language teaching 3

Box 1.1 Assumptions of language teaching

Tick the extent to which you agree or disagree with these assumptions
Neither
agree
Strongly nor Strongly
agree Agree disagree Disagree Disagree
1 Students learn ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
best through
spoken, not
written language.
2 Teachers and ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
students should
use the second
language rather
than the first
language in the
classroom.
3 Teachers should ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
avoid explicit
discussion of
grammar.
4 The aim of ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
language
teaching is to
make students
like native
speakers.

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, a revolution took place that
affected much of the language teaching used in the twentieth century. The revolt
was primarily against the stultifying methods of grammatical explanation and
translation of texts which were then popular. (In this chapter we will use ‘method’
in the traditional way to describe a particular way of teaching, with its own tech-
niques and tasks; Chapter 13 replaces this with the word ‘style’.) In its place, the
pioneers of the new language teaching, such as Henry Sweet and Otto Jespersen,
emphasized the spoken language and the naturalness of language learning, and
insisted on the importance of using the second language in the classroom rather
than the first (Howatt, 2004). These beliefs are largely still with us today, either
explicitly instilled into teachers or just taken for granted. The questionnaire in
Box 1.1 tests the extent to which the reader actually believes in four of these com-
mon assumptions.
If you agreed with most of the statements in Box 1.1, then you share the com-
mon assumptions of teachers over the past 120 years. Let us consider them in
more detail.
4 Background

Assumption 1: The basis for teaching is the spoken, not the

written language
One of the keynotes of the nineteenth-century revolution in teaching was the
emphasis on the spoken language, partly because many of its advocates were pho-
neticians. The English curriculum in Cuba, for example, insists on ‘The principle
of the primacy of spoken language’ (Cuban Ministry of Education, 1999). The
teaching methods within which speech was most dominant were the audio-lin-
gual and audio-visual methods, which insisted on presenting spoken language
from tape before the students encountered the written form. Later methods have
continued to emphasize the spoken language. Communication in the commu-
nicative method is usually through speech rather than writing. The total physical
response method uses spoken, not written, commands, and storytelling, not story
reading. Even in the recent task-based learning approach, Ellis (2003: 6) points
out: ‘The literature on tasks, both research-based or pedagogic, assumes that tasks
are directed at oral skills, particularly speaking.’ The amount of teaching time that
teachers pay to pronunciation far outweighs that given to spelling.
The importance of speech has been reinforced by many linguists who claim that
speech is the primary form of language, and that writing depends on speech. Few
teaching methods in the twentieth century saw speech and writing as being
equally important. The problem with accepting this assumption, as we see in
Chapter 5, is that written language has distinct characteristics of its own, which
are not just pale reflections of the spoken language. To quote Michael Halliday
(1985: 91), ‘writing is not speech written down, nor is speech writing that is read
aloud’. Vital as the spoken language may be, it should not divert attention from
those aspects of writing that are crucial for students. Spelling mistakes, for
instance, probably count more against an L2 user in everyday life than a foreign
accent.

Assumption 2: Teachers and students should use the

second language rather than the first language in the
classroom
The emphasis on the second language in the classroom was also part of the revolt
against the older methods by the late nineteenth-century methodologists, most
famously through the direct method and the Berlitz method, with their rejection
of translation as a teaching technique. In the 1990s the use of the first language in
the classroom was still seen as undesirable, whether in England – ‘The natural use
of the target language for virtually all communication is a sure sign of a good
modern language course’ (DES, 1990: 58) – or in Japan – ‘The majority of an
English class will be conducted in English’ (MEXT, 2003). This advice is echoed in
almost every teaching manual: ‘the need to have them practising English (rather
than their own language) remains paramount’ (Harmer, 1998: 129). One argu-
ment for avoiding the first language is that children learning their first language
do not have a second language available, which is irrelevant in itself – infants do
not play golf, but we teach it to adults. Another argument is that students should
keep the two languages separate in their minds rather than linking them; this
adopts a compartmentalized view of the languages in the same mind, which is not
supported by SLA research, as we see everywhere in this book. Nevertheless, many
English classes justifiably avoid the first language for practical reasons, whether
 Common assumptions of language teaching 5

because of the mixed languages of the students or because of the teacher’s igno-
rance of the students’ first language.

Assumption 3: Teachers should avoid explicit discussion of

grammar
The ban on explicit teaching of grammar to students also formed part of the rejec-
tion of the old-style methods. Grammar could be practised through drills or incor-
porated within communicative exercises, but should not be explained to students.
While grammatical rules could be demonstrated though substitution tables or sit-
uational cues, actual rules should not be mentioned. The old arguments against
grammatical explanation were, on the one hand, the question of conscious under-
standing – knowing some aspect of language consciously is no guarantee that you
can use it in speech – and, on the other, the time involved – speaking by con-
sciously using all the grammatical rules means each sentence may take several
minutes to produce, as those of us who learnt Latin by this method will bear
witness. Chapter 2 describes how grammar has recently made something of a
comeback.

Assumption 4: The aim of language teaching is to make

students like native speakers
One of the assumptions that is most taken for granted is that the model for lan-
guage teaching is the native speaker. Virtually all teachers, students and bilinguals
have assumed that success is measured by how close a learner gets to a native
speaker, in grammar, vocabulary and particularly pronunciation. David Stern
(1983: 341) puts it clearly: ‘The native speaker’s “competence” or “proficiency” or
“knowledge of the language” is a necessary point of reference for the second lan-
guage proficiency concept used in language teaching.’ Coursebooks are based on
native language speakers; examinations compare students with the native
speaker. Passing for a native is the ultimate test of success. Like all the best
assumptions, people so take this for granted that they can be mortally offended if
it is brought out into the open and they are asked, ‘Why do you want to be a
native speaker in any case?’ No other possibility than the native speaker is enter-
tained.
As we shall see, many of these background assumptions are questioned by SLA
research and have sometimes led to undesirable consequences. Assumption 1, that
students learn best through spoken language, leads to undervaluing the features spe-
cific to written language, as we see in Chapter 6. Assumption 2, that the L1 should be
minimized in the classroom, goes against the integrity of the L2 user’s mind, to be
discussed later in this chapter and in Chapter 10. Assumption 3, on not teaching
grammar, explicitly implies a particular model of grammar and learning, rather than
the many alternatives shown in Chapter 2. The native speaker assumption 4 has
come under increasing attack in recent years, as described in Chapter 10, on the
grounds that a native speaker goal is not appropriate for all circumstances and is
unattainable for the vast majority of students. Nevertheless, even if for the most part
these assumptions are unstated, they continue to be part of the basis of language
teaching, however the winds of fashion blow.
6 Background

1.3 What is second language acquisition research?

Focusing questions

● Who do you know who is good at languages? Why do you think this is so?
● Do you think that everybody learns a second language in roughly the same
way?

Keywords

Contrastive Analysis: this research method compared the descriptions of two

languages in grammar or pronunciation to discover the differences between
them; these were then seen as difficulties for the students that needed to be
overcome
Error Analysis (EA): this method studied the language produced by L2 learners
to establish its peculiarities, which it tried to explain in terms of the first lan-
guage and other sources

As this book is based on SLA research, the obvious question is: what is SLA
research? People have been interested in the acquisition of second languages since
at least the ancient Greeks, but the discipline itself only came into being around
1970, gathering together language teachers, psychologists and linguists. Its roots
were in the 1950s studies of Contrastive Analysis, which compared the first and
second languages to predict students’ difficulties, and in the 1960s Chomskyan
models of first language acquisition, which saw children as creators of their own
languages. Together these led to SLA research concentrating on the learner as the
central element in the learning situation.
In the early days much attention focused on the language the learner produced.
The technique of Error Analysis looked at the differences between the learner’s
speech and that of native speakers (Corder, 1981); it tried to establish what learner
speech was actually like. The next wave of research tried to establish stages of devel-
opment for the learner’s language, say, the sequence for acquiring grammatical
items like ‘to’, ‘the’ and ‘-ing’, to be discussed in Chapter 2. Now people started to
get interested in the qualities that learners brought to second language acquisition
and the choices they made when learning and using the language. And they started
to pay attention to the whole context in which the learner is placed, whether the
temporary context of the conversation or the more permanent situation in their
own society or the society whose language they are learning.
Nowadays SLA research is an extremely rich and diverse subject, drawing on
aspects of linguistics, psychology, sociology and education. Hence it has many
aspects and theories that are often incompatible. Most introductory books on sec-
ond language acquisition will attest to the great interest that SLA researchers have
in grammar. Yet many researchers are concerned exclusively with phonology or
vocabulary, with their own specialist books and conferences. And still other
groups are concerned with how Vygotsky’s ideas link to modern language teach-
ing, or how discourse and Conversation Analysis are relevant to second language
 What is second language acquisition research? 7

acquisition. Much teaching-oriented SLA research now takes place at the interface
between cognitive psychology and educational research, called ‘usage-based
learning’ by Michael Tomasello (2003), leading to task-based learning. Though
some SLA research is intended to be applied to teaching, most is either ‘pure’
study of second language acquisition for its own sake, or uses second language
acquisition as a testing ground for linguistic theories.
The present book tries to be eclectic in presenting a variety of areas and
approaches that seem relevant for language teaching rather than a single unified
approach. Here are some ‘facts’ that SLA research has discovered; some of them
will be explained and applied in later chapters; others are still a mystery:

● English-speaking primary school children who are taught Italian for one hour a week
learn to read better in English than other children.
Such a small exposure to a second language as one hour a week can have use-
ful effects on other aspects of the child’s mind and is potentially an important
reason for teaching children another language. Language teaching affects more
than the language in a person’s mind.
● People who speak a second language are more creative and flexible at problem solving
than monolinguals (e.g. Einstein, Nabokov).
Research clearly shows L2 users have an advantage in several cognitive areas;
they think differently and perceive the world differently. This benefit is dis-
cussed in Chapter 10.
● Ten days after a road accident, a bilingual Moroccan could speak French but not
Arabic; the next day Arabic but not French; the next day she went back to fluent
French and poor Arabic; three months later she could speak both.
The relationship between the two languages in the brain is now starting to be
understood by neurolinguists, yet the diversity of effects from brain injury is still
largely inexplicable. The effects on language are different in almost every bilingual
patient; some aphasics recover the first language they learnt, some the language
they were using at the time of injury, some the language they use most, and so on.
● Bengali-speaking children in Tower Hamlets in London go through stages in learning
verb inflections; at 5 they know only ‘-ing’ (walking); at 7 they also know /t/ ‘walked’,
/d/ ‘played’ and ‘ate’ (irregular past tenses); at 9 they still lack ‘hit’ (zero past).
Learners all seem to go through similar stages of development of a second lan-
guage, whether in grammar or pronunciation, as we see in other chapters. This
has been confirmed in almost all studies looking at the sequence of acquisition.
Yet, as in this case, we are still not always sure of the reason for the sequence.
● The timing of the voicing of /t⬃d/ sounds in ‘ten/den’ is different in French people
who speak English, and French people who do not.
The knowledge of the first language is affected in subtle ways by the second lan-
guage that you know, so that there are many giveaways to the fact that you speak
other languages, whether in grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary. L2 users no
longer have the same knowledge of their first language as the monolingual
native speaker.
● L2 learners rapidly learn the appropriate pronunciations for their own gender, for
instance, that men tend to pronounce the ‘-ing’ ending of the English continuous form
‘going’ as ‘-in’, but women tend to use ‘-ing’.
People quickly pick up elements that are important to their identity in the second
language, say, men’s versus women’s speech – even if the teacher is probably
8 Background

unaware of what is being conveyed. A second language is a complex new addition

to one’s roles in the world.
● Remembering a fish tank they have been shown, Chinese people who also speak
English will remember the fish more than the plants to a greater extent than Chinese
monolinguals.
Different cultures think in different ways. Our cultural attitudes may be
changed by the language we are acquiring; in this case, the Chinese attention
to ‘background’ plants is altered by impact with the English attention to ‘fore-
ground’ fish.

1.4 What a teacher can expect from SLA research

Focusing questions

● How do you think SLA research could help your teaching?

● Have you seen it applied to language teaching before?
● Who do you think should decide what happens in the classroom – the gov-
ernment, the head teacher, the teacher, the students, the parents, or some-
one else?

Let us take three examples of the contribution SLA research can make to language
teaching: understanding the students’ contribution to learning, understanding
how teaching methods and techniques work, and understanding the overall goals
of language teaching.

Understanding the students’ contribution to learning

All successful teaching depends on learning; there is no point in providing enter-
taining, lively, well-constructed language lessons if students do not learn from
them. The proof of the teaching is in the learning. One crucial factor in L2 learn-
ing is what the students bring with them into the classroom. With the exception
of young bilingual children, L2 learners have fully formed personalities and minds
when they start learning the second language, and these have profound effects on
their ways of learning and on how successful they are. SLA research, for example,
has established that the students’ diverse motivations for learning the second lan-
guage affect them powerfully, as we see in Chapter 8. Some students see learning
the second language as extending the repertoire of what they can do; others see it
as a threat.
The different ways in which students tackle learning also affect their success.
What is happening in the class is not equally productive for all the students
because their minds work in different ways. The differences between individuals do
not disappear when they come through the classroom door. Students base what
they do on their previous experience of learning and using language. They do not
start from scratch without any background or predisposition to learn language in
one way or another. Students also have much in common by virtue of possessing
the same human minds. For instance, SLA research predicts that, however
 What a teacher can expect from SLA research 9

advanced they are, students will find that their memory works less well in the new
language, whether they are trying to remember a phone number or the contents of
an article. SLA research helps in understanding how apparently similar students
react differently to the same teaching technique, while revealing the problems that
all students share.

Understanding how teaching methods and techniques work

Teaching methods usually incorporate a view of L2 learning, whether implicitly
or explicitly. Grammar-translation teaching, for example, emphasizes explana-
tions of grammatical points because this fits in with its view that L2 learning is the
acquisition of conscious knowledge. Communicative teaching methods require
the students to talk to each other because they see L2 learning as growing out of
the give-and-take of communication. For the most part, teaching methods have
developed these ideas of learning independently from SLA research. They are not
based, for example, on research into how learners use grammatical explanations
or how they learn by talking to each other. More information about how learners
actually learn helps the teacher to make any method more effective and can put
the teacher’s hunches on a firmer basis.
The reasons why a teaching technique works or does not work depend on many
factors. A teacher who wants to use a particular technique will benefit by knowing
what it implies in terms of language learning and language processing, the type of
student for whom it is most appropriate, and the ways in which it fits into the
classroom situation. Suppose the teacher wants to use a task in which the students
spontaneously exchange information. This implies that students are learning by
communicating, that they are prepared to speak out in the classroom and that the
educational context allows for learning from fellow students rather than from the
teacher alone. SLA research has something to say about all of these, as we shall see.

Understanding the goals of language teaching

The reasons why the second language is being taught depend on overall educa-
tional goals, which vary from one country to another and from one period to
another. One avowed goal of language teaching is to help people to think better –
brain training and logical thinking. Others are appreciation of serious literature;
the student’s increased self-awareness and maturity; the appreciation of other cul-
tures and races; communication with people in other countries, and so on. Many
of these have been explored in particular SLA research. For example, the goal of
brain training is supported by evidence that people who know two languages
think more flexibly than monolinguals (Landry, 1974). This information is vital
when considering the viability and implementation of communicative goals for a
particular group of students. SLA research can help define the goals of language
teaching, assess how achievable they may be, and contribute to their achieve-
ment. These issues are debated in Chapter 11.
SLA research is a scientific discipline that tries to describe how people learn and
use another language. It cannot decide issues that are outside its domain. While it
may contribute to the understanding of teaching goals, it is itself neutral between
them. It is not for the teacher, the methodologist or any other outsider to dictate
whether a language should be taught for communication, for brain training, or
whatever purpose, but for the society or the individual student to decide. One
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