Linguistics and Foreign Language Teaching

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Chapter 11

• Linguistics and Foreign Language Teaching

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• Applied linguistics its broad interpretation vs
  narrow interpretation
• Linguistics theoretical linguistics vs
  descriptive linguistics
• Language teaching language teaching theories,
  approaches, and methods vs language teaching
  practices
• Theoretical views of language explicitly or
  implicitly inform the approaches and methods
  adopted in language teaching.
• Linguistics, as the science of language, should
  be of fundamental importance for teachers of
  language.

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• According to McDonough, a teacher who is able to
  explain some linguistic features would have a
  stronger position than one who handles the
  argument by using authority its like that,
  its an exception, or its less formal.

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Two Pairs of Interchangeable and Distinctive
Terms

• Second language vs foreign language
• Language learning vs language acquisition

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1. Linguistics and language learning

• Many language learning theories are proposed
  based on certain linguistic theories.
• e.g. mechanic drill practices and structuralism
  syntactic rule learning and TG
• In fact, knowledge in linguistics lies at the
  root of understanding what language learners can
  learn, how they actually learn and what they
  learn ultimately.

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• As Ellis (1994) points out, whereas much of the
  earlier second language acquisition work
  focused on the linguistic and, in particular, the
  grammatical-properties of learner language and
  was psycholinguistic in orientation, later work
  has also attended to the pragmatic aspects of
  learner language and, increasingly, has adopted a
  sociolinguistic perspective.

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• Although certain language learners (e.g.,
  advanced learners and students majoring a foreign
  language) certainly benefit from a knowledge of
  linguistics, it is not sensible to recommend the
  majority of language learners to study
  linguistics while they are still struggling with
  the task of learning the language itself.

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1.1 Grammar

• Do we teach grammar?
• How do we teach grammar?
• As a compromise between the purely form-focused
  approaches and the purely meaning-focused
  approaches, a recent movement called FOCUS ON
  FORM seems to take a more balanced view on the
  role of grammar in language learning.

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Focus on Form

• Although language learning should generally be
  meaning-focused and communication-oriented, it is
  still necessary and beneficial to focus on form
  occasionally.
• Focus on form often consists of an occasional
  shift of attention to linguistic code featuresby
  the teacher and/or one or more studentstriggered
  by perceived problems with comprehension or
  production.

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Problems of Focus on Form

• Two variables concerning the amenability of
  language elements to focus on form are the
  relevance of Universal Grammar (UG) and the
  complexity of language structures.

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Problems Related to UG

• According to the advocates of focus on form, if
  an L2 structure is part of UG, the amenability is
  high otherwise, the amenability is low.

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• The problem is that no one knows for sure what
  exactly is part of UG. It is here that the study
  of linguistics comes into play.
• The study of UG, which is often considered as the
  theory for the sake of theory, is now needed in
  language learning research in the most practical
  sense.

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• The study of UG has attracted considerable
  attention from many second language acquisition
  researchers because knowledge of linguistic
  universals may help to shape L2 acquisition in a
  number of ways.
• For example, it can provide explanations for
  developmental sequences and language transfer.

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Problems Related to Structural Complexity

• It can be assumed that less complex structures
  have higher amenability, but complexity is hard
  to define.
• Complexity is not any easier to tackle. Formally
  simple structures can be functionally complex and
  formally complex items are not necessarily
  functionally complex.
• Again we resort to linguistics in order to have a
  better understanding of the complexity of
  language structures.

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Grammar-based teaching

• Grammar has its due value in language learning.
  The problem is we do not know enough about
  grammar, or even we do not agree on what grammar
  is. One reason is that there is no reliable model
  of grammar available at present. A call for a
  satisfactory model of grammar does involve
  linguistics.

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1.2 Input

• Language learning can take place when the learner
  has enough access to input in the target
  language.
• This input may come in written or spoken form.
• In the case of spoken input, it may occur in the
  context of interaction or in the context of
  non-reciprocal discourse .

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• Views diverge greatly as to what kind of input
  should be provided for language learners.
• Authentic input vs modified input
• Comprehensible input (Krashen) i1
• Premodified input
• Interactively modified input tends to do a
  better job

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Problems Concerning Input

• One of the most obvious problems concerning input
  is the lack of linguistic analysis of different
  types of input. We do not know the exact
  linguistic differences between different types of
  input.
• Linguistically, how is authentic input different
  from non-authentic input?
• How can we know the modified input is i1, not
  i2, or i0?
• How should we modify input? Through linguistic
  means or what? If linguistically, what are the
  criteria?

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• Even if we have evidence that a certain type
  of input is desirable, the next step is to
  examine its linguistic features so that we can
  create or look for similar materials. This is
  another area in language learning where
  linguistic studies can make due contribution.

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1.3 Interlanguageoutput

• The type of language constructed by second or
  foreign language learners who are still in the
  process of learning a language is often referred
  to as INTERLANGUAGE.
• It is often understood as a language system
  between the target language and the learners
  native language.

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• Interlanguage is a dynamic language system, which
  is constantly moving from the departure level to
  the native-like level.
• Research on interlanguage can be done in two
  ways
• (1) investigating the psychological, biological
  or neurological mechanisms involved in the
  production of interlanguage
• (2) investigating the linguistic features of
  interlanguage.

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• Concerning the linguistic features of
  interlanguage, the following questions can be
  asked
• (1) Linguistically, how is interlanguage in
  general different from the target language or the
  native language?
• (2) In what way is lower level interlanguage
  different from higher level interlanguage?
• (3) How is the interlanguage system used to
  convey meaning?

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Constructivism

• Language (or any knowledge) is socially
  constructed.
• Learners learn language by cooperating,
  negotiating and performing all kinds of tasks.
• In other words, they construct language in
  certain social and cultural contexts.

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2. Linguistics and Language Teaching

• Linguistic theories influence our general
  orientation in approaches to language teaching.
• E.g. audiolingualism and structuralism
• communicative approach and
  functionalism
• Linguistic knowledge helps teachers to better
  explain the specific language items they teach.

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2.1 Discourse-based view

• What is discourse?
• Discourse encompasses the use of spoken,
  written and signed language and
  multimodal/multimedia forms of communication.
  Although early linguistic approaches judged the
  unit of discourse to be larger than the sentence,
  phenomena of interest can range from silence, to
  a single utterance (such as "ok"), to a novel, a
  set of newspaper articles or a conversation.

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• Linguistic patterns exist across stretches of
  text.
• These patterns of language extend beyond words,
  clauses and sentences, which have been the
  traditional concern of language teaching.

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• Focuses on complete spoken and written texts and
  on the social and cultural contexts in which such
  language operates.
• Accordingly, it aims at developing discourse
  competence, similar to the well-known concept of
  communicative competence.

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Communicative competence

• Dell Hymes
• What a learners knows about how a language is
  used in particular situations for effective and
  appropriate communication.
• Includes knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary,
  knowledge of rules of speaking, knowledge of how
  to use and respond to different types of speech
  acts and social conventions, and knowledge of how
  to use language appropriately.

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• It is believed that language learning will
  successfully take place when language learners
  know how and when to use the language in various
  settings and when they have successfully cognized
  various forms of competence such as grammatical
  competence (lexis, morphology, syntax and
  phonology) and pragmatic competence (e.g., speech
  acts).

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• In the case of foreign/second language learning,
  language learners are encouraged to deal with
  accomplishing actions, which are thought to help
  them acquire the target language.
• The COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) and
  TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING (TBLT) are the best
  known examples of such a theory. In the CLT or
  TBLT classroom, students are expected to learn by
  performing tasks.

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TBLT

• Two broad types of tasks real-world tasks and
  pedagogical tasks.
• A real-world task is very close to something we
  do in daily life or work. E.g. a discussion of
  what to bring for a picnic
• Pedagogical tasks are those activities that
  students do in the classroom but that may not
  take place in real life. E.g. a discussion of the
  differences between two quite similar pictures
• Both kinds contain information gap, and hence
  communicative in nature.

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Drawbacks of TBLT

• Overemphasizes the role of external factors in
  the process of language acquisition and gives
  little importance to internal learning processes.
  
• Similar to the behaviouristic view of language
  acquisition in that environmental factors and
  input are at the very centre in attempting to
  explicate the acquisition process.
• Overstresses the role of knowledge of competence
  and functions in acquiring a language, and hence
  fails to notice universal principles that guide
  language acquisition.

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2.2 Universal Grammar (UG)

• Noam Chomsky
• A native speaker possesses a kind of linguistic
  competence.
• The child is born with knowledge of some
  linguistic universals.
• While acquiring his mother tongue, he compares
  his innate language system with that of his
  native language and modifies his grammar.

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• Input is poor and deficient in two ways.
• (1) It is degenerate because it is damaged by
  performance features such as slips, hesitations
  or false starts. Accordingly, the input is not an
  adequate base for language learning.
• (2) It is devoid of grammar corrections. It does
  not normally contain negative evidence, the
  knowledge from which the learner could exercise
  what is not possible in a given language.

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• Although UG was not originally proposed to
  account for second language acquisition, many
  researchers are working on its implication for
  language learning and teaching.

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Drawbacks

• UGs primary aim is to account for how language
  works, not acquisition.
• UG is only concerned with the core grammar of
  language (syntax).
• The communication function is discarded in UG.
• Chomsky is concerned only with competence, but
  there can be little likelihood of SLA researchers
  carrying out empirical research.

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3. Syllabus Design

• A syllabus is a description of the contents of a
  course of instruction, the order and the ways in
  which they are to be taught.
• A bridge between language teaching theory and
  language teaching practice.
• Translates theoretical understanding of language
  teaching and sets up an operable framework for
  language teaching.
• The most important part of syllabus design is
  selecting and sequencing language items.

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3.1 Syllabus vs Curriculum

• A syllabus is a specification of what takes
  place in the classroom, which usually contains
  the aims and contents of teaching and sometimes
  contains suggestions of methodology. A
  curriculum, however, provides (1) general
  statements about the rationale about language and
  its learning and teaching, (2) detailed
  specification of aims, objectives and targets,
  and (3) implementation of a program. In some
  sense, a syllabus is part of a curriculum.

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• Another difference worth noticing is that
  syllabus is often used to refer to something
  similar to a language teaching approach, whereas
  curriculum refers to a specific document of a
  language program developed for a particular
  country or region. Syllabus design is more of a
  pedagogical nature whereas curriculum development
  is an educational planning issue.

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3.2 Theoretical Views Behind Syllabus Design

• In most cases, the process of syllabus design
  in foreign language teaching mainly includes
  selecting and grading what is to be taught. A
  process of selection must be undertaken since
  learning the whole system of a foreign language
  is neither possible nor necessary.

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• Selection involves two sub-processes first,
  the restriction of the language to a particular
  dialect and register second, the selection from
  within the register of the items that are to be
  taught according to criteria such as frequency of
  occurrence, learnability and classroom needs. The
  whole process of selection must be applied at all
  levels of language, such as phonology, grammar,
  lexis, contexts.

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• As to what should be selected in the actual
  process of syllabus design, it to a large extent
  depends on the syllabus designers understanding
  of language. If he or she adheres to a structural
  view of language, he or she will probably select
  what he or she sees as the kernel elements of the
  structural system. If he or she adheres to a
  functional view of language, he or she will
  probably select the most frequently occurring
  functions and notions of language.

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• After a list of language items have been
  selected, the next process is to put them into
  the most appropriate order for practical teaching
  purposes. This process is often referred to as
  grading, which is subdivided into two distinct
  operations. The first operation, known as
  staging, is to arrange the items into blocks of
  the right size for the various years, terms,
  months, weeks, days and classes of the teaching
  course. The second operation, known as
  sequencing, tackles the problem of sequence in
  which the items in the blocks are to be taught.

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• Such practical matters might appear to have
  nothing to do with linguistics, but in fact,
  linguistics has important contribution to make.
  In the first place, linguistics provides both the
  description of an L2 and an understanding of how
  the components make us the whole of the language
  system. Secondly, reference back to linguistic
  categories will ensure that, in the planning of a
  teaching program, all aspects of language that
  need to be taught are included. This does not
  imply that phonology, graphology, lexis, grammar
  and context need to be taught as separate levels
  these are linguistic categories, concepts for the
  description of language, not teaching procedures.

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3.3 Types of syllabus

• In theory, a language teaching syllabus can be
  designed in many different ways, depending on the
  designers views of language and language
  teaching and learning.
• Structural syllabus
• Situational syllabus
• Communicative syllabus
• Task-based syllabus

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Structural Syllabus

• Based on structuralism, a structural syllabus is
  a grammar-oriented syllabus with a selection of
  language items and structures. The vocabulary and
  grammatical rules included are carefully ordered
  according to such factors as frequency,
  complexity and usefulness.
• The underlying assumptions are that language is a
  system consisting of a set of grammatical rules,
  that language learning means learning these rules
  and then applying them to practical use and that
  a language is best learned through item-by-item
  introduction.

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Structural Syllabus

• The structural syllabus has been used for many
  years, and still dominates some language
  programs. Its major drawback is that it
  concentrates only on the grammatical forms and
  the meanings of individual words, whereas the
  meaning of the whole sentence is thought to be
  self-evident. Students are not taught how to use
  these sentences appropriately in real situations.
  As a result, students trained by a structural
  syllabus often prove to be communicatively
  incompetent.

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Situational Syllabus

• Without a strong linguistic basis, the
  situational syllabus is based on the view that
  language is used for communication. Its aim is to
  specify the situations in which the target
  language is used.
• The selection and organization of language items
  are based on situations. Grammatical forms and
  sentence patterns are introduced and practiced,
  but they are knitted in dialogues entitled At
  the Airport, At the Supermarket, At the Bank
  and so on.

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Situational Syllabus

• In class an aural-oral method is adopted, i. e.,
  new materials are read and written by the
  learners. This method may still be
  teacher-centred, but compared with the
  grammar-translation method there is more
  participation on the learners part. The teacher
  can make use of pictures, real objects, and the
  postures of the participants to involve students
  in dialogues and role playing.

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Situational Syllabus

• Advantages
• setting out to meet the learners direct
  communicative needs
• Disadvantage
• relying on whatever linguistic description is
  available essentially grammatical
  pseudo-functional not truly authentic
  situations not systematic.

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Communicative Syllabus

• A COMMUNICATIE SYLLABUS aims at the learners
  communicative competence. Based on a
  notional-functional syllabus, it teaches the
  language needed to express and understand
  different kinds of functions, and emphasizes the
  process of communication.

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• Yalden lists ten components of a communicative
  syllabus
• as detailed a consideration as possible of the
  purposes for which the learners wish to acquire
  the target language
• some idea of the setting in which they will want
  to use the target language
• the socially defined role the learners will
  assume in the target language, as well as the
  roles of their interlocutors
• The communicative events in which the learners
  will participate everyday situations, vocational
  or professional situations, academic situations,
  and so on
• the language functions involved in these events,
  or what the learner will need to be able to do
  with or through the language
• the notions involved, or that the learner will
  need to be able to talk about
• the skill involved in the knitting together of
  discourse discourse and rhetorical skills
• the variety or varieties of the target language
  that will be needed, and the levels in the spoken
  and written language which the learners will need
  to reach
• the grammatical content that will be needed
• the lexical content that will be needed.

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• It is supposed that these ten components take
  into account everything required to assure
  communication. A communicative syllabus should
  take into consideration most of these factors, if
  not all. Since which component receives the most
  emphasis is flexible, there is a variety of
  communicative syllabus types, from the
  structural-functional to the fully communicative.

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Task-Based Syllabus

• Task-based syllabuses are more concerned with the
  classroom processes which stimulate learning than
  with the language knowledge or skill that
  students are supposed to master. These syllabuses
  consist of a list of specification of the tasks
  and activities that the learners will engage in
  in class in the target language.

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• As TBLT evolved and developed, different
  researchers have defined TASK from different
  perspectives.

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• Longs definition
• A task is a piece of work undertaken for oneself
  or for others, freely or for some reward. Thus
  examples of tasks include painting a fence,
  dressing a child In other words, by task is
  meant the hundred and one things people do in
  everyday life, at work, at play and in between.

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• Prahues definition
• A task is an activity which required learners to
  arrive at an outcome from given information
  through some process of thought and which allowed
  teachers to control and regulate that process.
• According to this definition, when students do a
  task, they are provided with some information and
  required to process this information in order to
  arrive at an outcome. However, it is not clear
  what kind of outcome the students are supposed to
  arrive at.

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• Nunans definition
• A task is a piece of classroom work which
  involves learners in comprehending, manipulating,
  producing or interacting in the target language
  while their attention is principally focused on
  meaning rather than on form.

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• One obvious difference among these definitions is
  that for Long, tasks are those things we do in
  the real world, whereas for Prabhu and Nunan,
  tasks are the activities we so in the classroom.
  This is probably the reason why later researchers
  define two broad kinds of tasks real-world tasks
  and pedagogical tasks. Real-world tasks are the
  one hundred and one things we do in life or work,
  pedagogical tasks are the things students are
  asked to do in the classroom.

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• It is worth nothing that these definitions are
  not contradictory. Rather we think they are
  supplementary, each emphasizing certain aspects.
  On the one hand, if we are talking about language
  learning tasks, they cannot be a hundred percent
  real. After all, most activities in the classroom
  are designed with a purpose of learning and
  practicing the language in question. On the other
  hand, pedagogical tasks can be designed in such a
  way that they have a varying degree of
  resemblance to real-world things.
• In later definitions, it seems that the
  distinction between real and non-real features is
  intentionally blurred, though authenticity is
  always emphasized as a key feature of tasks.

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• According to Skehan, a task is an activity in
  which
• meaning is primary,
• learners are not given other peoples meaning to
  regurgitate,
• there is some sort of relationship to comparable
  real-world activities,
• task completion has some priority, and
• the assessment of the task is in terms of
  outcomes.
• Anything that is in line with these (or most of
  these) criteria can be called a task. Thus it can
  be real, half-real or non-real.

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• One of the latest definitions available in the
  literature is given by Bygate, Skehan Swain
  (2001). According to these researchers, a task is
  an activity which requires learners to use
  language, with emphasis on meaning, to attain an
  objective. This definition is very close to what
  Willis (1996) provides, tasks are always
  activities where the target language is used by
  the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in
  order to achieve an outcome.

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• The essence of a task is that it is an activity
  in which students use the target language to do
  something, usually with a non-linguistic purpose.

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• Six principles concerning TBLT
• A task should have a clear purpose.
• A task should have some degree of resemblance to
  real-world events.
• A task should involve information seeking,
  processing and conveying.
• A task should involve students in some modes of
  doing things.
• A task should involve the meaning-focused use of
  language.
• A task should end with a tangible product.

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• The final product have several aspects of
  significance (1) it indicates the task has (or
  has not) been completed (2) it partially
  indicates how successfully the students have
  completed the tasks (3) it can be shared with
  other groups of students (4) it can be put in
  the students portfolio as leaning achievement.

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• Although we emphasize that a task should have a
  final product, we do not mean TBLT is a
  product-oriented approach of language teaching.
  On the contrary, TBLT is a process-oriented
  approach (Numan, 1988). It attaches more
  attention to how students learn than what they
  learn. It advocates experiential learning by
  asking students to experience and explore
  language in the process of using language to do
  things.

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Components of a syllabus

• Aims/goals general statements
• Objectives/targets/requirements specific
  statements
• Non-language outcomes confidence, motivation,
  interest, etc.
• Learning strategies, thinking skills,
  interpersonal skills, etc.
• Implementation approaches, methods, principles,
  suggestions, textbooks, etc.
• Assessment/evaluation

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Current trends

• Co-existence of the old and the new
• Emphasis on the learning process
• Inclusion of non-linguistic objectives
• Emergence of the multi-syllabus

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4. Contrastive Analysis

• A way of comparing L1 and L2 to determine
  potential errors for the purpose of isolating
  what needs to be learned and what not.
• Its goal is to predict what areas will be easy to
  learn and what will be difficult.
• Associated in its early days with behaviorism and
  structuralism.

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4.1 Main assumptions

• Language is a habit and LL involves establishment
  of a new set of habits.
• L1 interferes with L2.
• Errors in L2 can be accounted for by differences
  between L1 and L2.
• Transfer occurs from L2 to L2, so similarities
  can be ignored.

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• Therefore,
• Need for careful analysis of similarities and
  differences between L1 and L2.
• Teachers should focus on areas of negative
  transfer.

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4.2 Drawbacks

• Overemphasis on linguistic contrasts but lack of
  psychological considerations.
• Cannot predict all errors while some predicted
  errors do not occur.

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5. Error Analysis

• S. Pit Corder
• Many errors made by L2 learners were caused by
  factors other than L1 interference.
• Errors are not just to be seen as something to be
  eradicated.

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5.1 Error and mistake

• Error learners lack of knowledge/ competence
• Mistake learners failure to perform their
  competence

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5.2 Interlingual vs. intralingual

• Interlingual errors (transfer errors) misuse of
  an item because of L1 influence.
• Intralingual errors (developmental errors)
  within L2 (e.g. overgeneralization)

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5.3 Procedure of error analysis

• Recognition
• Description
• Explanation

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5.4 Problems

• Rely on errors to study how L2 is learned
  inadequate.
• Difficult to determine what an error is There
  are so many people live around here.
• Over-stresses production error but fails to
  account for error avoidance learner avoids a
  certain word or structure.

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6. Corpus

• Language corpora make it possible for materials
  developers to select authentic, natural and
  typical language.
• The two most important factors in a corpus are
  the size and types of texts selected.
• Usually the uses that will be made of the corpus
  decide the number and type of texts in a corpus.

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6.1 Types

• General
• Specialized
• Sample
• Monitor

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6.2 Uses

• Frequency
• Context and co-text
• Grammatical
• Collocation and phraseology
• pragmatics