FOCUS ON MEANING, LANGUAGE AND FORM : A THREE WAY DISTINCTION.

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FOCUS ON MEANING, LANGUAGE AND FORM A THREE
WAY DISTINCTION. Dave Willis dave_at_willis-
elt.co.uk www.willis- elt.co.uk
TESOL ARABIA 2008
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Fluency Accuracy
Accuracy/
Fluency
Conformity
Appropriacy
Meaning
Form
Language
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Three reasons why we cant teach grammar 1
Its too complex. 2 Theres too much of it. 3
Thats not how learners learn.
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Lanas Story Lana daddy horsey Man up Horsey
poo Daddy poo bag Lana daddy home
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Grandpa, that water not for drinkin. It for
puttin in a hole.
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MEANING Focus on meaning involves all three of
Halidays macro-functions - IDEATIONAL
(getting the message across) -
TEXTUAL (making the message readily
accessible) - INTERPERSONAL (taking account of
the receiver and presentation of
self)
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Why do we need grammar? 1 To express some
complex notions. 2 To be receiver friendly.
(Textual) 3 For precision. (Textual) 4 For
presentation of self. (Interpersonal) 5 To
respect the receiver. (Interpersonal)
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• FOCUS ON FORM
• (CONFORMITY)
• A focus on one or two forms, specified by the
  teacher.
• Learners language production is controlled by
  the teacher.
• The success of the procedure is judged in terms
  of whether or not learners do produce the target
  forms with an acceptable level of accuracy.

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FOCUS ON LANGUAGE (ACCURACY/AUTONOMOUS LEARNING)
Learners pause in the course of a
meaning-focused activity to think for themselves
how best to express what they want to say, or a
teacher takes part in an interaction and acts as
a facilitator by rephrasing or clarifying
learners language. AND
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Success is judged subjectively by the learners
according to whether or not they achieve their
communicative goals.
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How strict were your parents? Work in groups.
Talk about your childhood. Whose parents were the
strictest? Whose parents were the most
easy-going? (With thanks to Tim Marchand,
Smiths School of English, Kyoto, Japan)
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1. Were your parents were strict or easy- going?
2. Did they allow you to stay out late at night?
3. Did they let you go on holiday on your own?
4. Did they make you help about the house?
5. Did you have to wash the car?
6. What other jobs did they make you do?
7. When you went out did you always have to tell
   them where you were going?
8. Did you always have to do your homework before
   supper?

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My Dad is a quiet man really, so he didn't really
make me do much at home. He sometimes asked me to
wash his car or cut the grass, but I was never
forced to do it, and I could usually get some
pocket money for it as well. I think my Mum was
also pretty easy-going she let me stay out late
with my friends. As long as she knew where I was,
she wouldn't mind so much what I did. 
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My father was definitely stricter than my Mum. If
I had been in trouble at school, it was always
left up to him to tell me off. But I wouldn't say
that my Mum was easy-going exactly. She would sit
me down sometimes and make me do my homework in
front of her, or force me to eat my greens,
things like that. I guess I was just more scared
of my father.
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QUESTIONNAIRE Priming Mining
Rehearsal Focus on meaning/fluency. Focus on
language. (Autonomous learning)
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TASK ? PLANNING ? REPORT The TASK is
predominantly ideational. There is a strong focus
on meaning, on getting the message across. At the
REPORT stage learners are more concerned with
explicitness and precision (textual) and the
presentation of self (interpersonal). SO. During
PLANNING there is a strong autonomous focus on
language.
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LISTENING SCRIPT Review Extension Focus on
meaning. Discussion promotes focus on language
(autonomous learning).
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QUESTIONNAIRE Priming Mining Rehearsal TASK
? PLANNING ? REPORT LISTENING SCRIPT Review
Extension FOCUS ON FORM
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Focus on form. Think about your schooldays 1
List three things you had to do. 2 List three
things you werent allowed to do. 3 List three
things you were supposed to do but didnt.
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1. Do you think your parents were strict or
   easy-going?
2. Did they let you go on holiday on your own?
3. When you went out did you always have to tell
   them where you were going?
4. Did your parents make you help about the house
5. What jobs did they make you do?
6. Did you have to wash the car?

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• Do you think your parents were or
  -?
• Did they go on holiday on your own?
• When you went out did you always tell
  them where you were going?
• Did your parents help about the
• house
• What jobs did they do?
• Did you wash the car?

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• think you do parents your strict easy-going or
  were
• let you holiday on go they did own your on
• help house about the make your you parents did
• Etc.

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Complete these to make true sentences 1 When I
was a child my parents made me . 2 They let me
. 3 I was forced to . 4 I was allowed to . 5 I
was supposed to .
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A focus on form destabilises the learners
system makes forms salient and facilitates
acquisition in the future. enhances motivation
by providing specific learning aims.
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Autonomous learning/focus on language
maximises learning opportunities. encourages
learners to incorporate new forms in their
language. promotes genuine learning. AND
Without autonomous learning no one could
possibly learn a language. The systems are too
complex and too numerous for conscious learning.
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A final look at a three way distinction
Meaning Language Form
Autonomous learning Fluency
Conformity
Appropriacy/ Accuracy
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Doing Task-based Teaching Dave and Jane Willis
2007 OUP dave_at_willis-elt.co.uk www.willis-elt.co
.uk