Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 5; September 03

Facilitating the acquisition process

Paul Bress, UK, takes the mystery out of what language teachers need to do

Have you noticed how living in a foreign country is absolutely no guarantee of L2 acquisition? This is because a number of people who live overseas are effectively 'ghettoised'. In these ghettos there may be very limited potential for speaking the L2. In addition to this, there might be a degree of psychological resistance to speaking the language of the country where one is living.

Whether a teacher is teaching in the country of the target language or not, he/she would do well to consider ways of facilitating the L2 acquisition process. This means, effectively, providing the best conditions for understanding and producing the target language.

In the chart below I have noted what I think are the most basic things that teachers need to do to facilitate this acquisition process. I have also indicated the reason why I think each course of action is necessary.

How teachers can help the acquisition process

• Choose reading 'texts' that are useful/interesting/relevant (and/or ask students to bring texts in, which the teacher should vet before using in class). Why? Students benefit from exposure to the written word.
• Ask students what particular 'bits of language' mean in context (making sure that they have a good chance to guess them.). Why? This is how we make sense of what we read.
• Have conversations without any predetermined agenda (during which you 'explain' bits of language you use, and write them on the board). Why? Acquisition develops through practising unstructured speaking – and through understanding what bits of language mean in a (spoken) context.
• Get students to practise 'adjacency pairs' (without being analytical about them). An example of an adjacency pair is: A: “Sorry”/ B: ”'S'all right”). Why? There's a degree of mimicry in language acquisition. Students simply need to say some things in particular contexts.
• Set up a private correspondence with each student, using, for example, the pigeon hole in your staff room. Use this for communication only, not for formal accuracy work. Why? Writing (with a communicative intent) speeds up the acquisition process.

A natural corollary of what I have been writing about is a criticism of many things that teachers traditionally do in the classroom. Three activities whose value I question are:

• Asking concept questions
• Designing syllabuses
• 'drilling'

And in each case I would level the same criticism:

1. They don't mimic the language acquisition process.
2. They don't encourage authentic communication.
3. The teacher is imposing too much rigidity and control for there to be much value for students.

Of course, you always have the problem of 'face validity' in proposals such as the one above. In other words, what will the students make of it? And, of course, the teacher needs conviction. I think it's certainly worth seeing how students react to it. I predict that most will enjoy this new approach and will feel they are learning a lot from it. They will also be exercising more control (while less pressure is exerted on the teacher). And, most importantly, I think that you will be doing all that is necessary to help students acquire the L2.

If language teaching began to take on the form described above, this would need to be reflected in the teacher training process. For example, much more time would need to be dedicated to how we can help students to understand language in context. Meanwhile, components like syllabus design might even completely disappear.

[ If Paul's proposals fire you, then maybe you should read Diego Garcia's letter in this issue and go on from there to the Barcelona Dogme site that he recommends. Paul Bress is not a lonely voice crying entirely in the wilderness! ]