LaDeLi Centre for Research in Language Development throughout the Lifespan Second Language Acquisition Research (SLA) and Teacher Education: what should the relationship be? Florence Myles

Introduction Point of view of an SLA researcher Questions set: Should language educators take SLA knowledge at face value? Is there a need for an SLA and pedagogy interface? Where does teacher development stand in such a dialogue? LaDeLi

Should language educators take SLA knowledge at face value? Role of educators: to teach effectively Purpose of SLA research: to understand learning mechanisms Where do the two meet? Different skill sets: understanding how learners learn does not equate understanding how to teach, and knowing how to teach does not mean understanding how learners learn; however: Teaching needs to facilitate learning A better understanding of learning processes can facilitate teaching – but not all SLA research is useful LaDeLi

Need for SLA/pedagogy interface? Yes! But it needs to be a two-way dialogue: Important for teachers to understand how learners learn Important for SLA researchers to understand the classroom context and its constraints, and the needs of teachers

Two examples Developmental stages (Ellis 1994) SLA research has shown that in their acquisition of linguistic structures, learners go through stages which are resistant to explicit teaching. For example, in their acquisition of questions: Single words/formulae + intonation, e.g. unanalysed What’s that? Cinema? Declarative word order, e.g. You like this? The boys throw the shoes? Fronting (the question word is at the beginning of the sentence), e.g. Where the little children are? Inversion in questions only with auxiliaries and verb to be, e.g. What is your address? Where I can draw them? Inversion in all questions, e.g. How do you say [proche] Complex questions (negative questions; question tags; embedded questions)

Implications for teaching? Minimal and indirect: You cannot teach questions following this order, as these learner productions are not target-like However: the teacher can tell from these productions what stage a learner has reached, and avoid structures that are too far beyond that stage The teacher knows that the ‘errors’ produced by learners are not because they are not paying attention, but because they are not developmentally ready yet The benefit is better understanding of learning processes

Example 2: formulaic language With beginner learners who have not yet developed a sophisticated grammatical system in the L2, to get them to speak and use the language, teachers have to rely on ready-made chunks of language, practised in very typical classroom routines (phrase-book style), e.g. What’s your name? My name is Peter Where do you live? I live in London When’s your birthday? My birthday is on 12th of May How old are you? I am 15 etc…. These questions are grammatically complex (inversion; wh-fronting), and well beyond the productive capabilities of beginner learners (i.e. they can memorize those chunks, but they cannot yet work out how the different words in them work together). They cannot yet modify e.g. reference, or extract elements of those chunks to use productively elsewhere

Implications for teaching? These chunks are very useful to give beginners entry into communication before their linguistic system is sophisticated enough However, do they help learning or not? Research evidence shows that they do, as long as learners are encouraged to experiment with them (e.g. change the person What’s his/her name? How old is he?) In fact, learners who are good at memorizing these chunks are also the learners who make the most progress, as they seem to use them to work out the rules of grammar. Useful for teachers to know the role of these chunks in the learning process, and what can help learners use them productively (Myles et al. 1998; 1999; Myles 2004)

Where does teacher development stand in such a dialogue? Not all SLA research is relevant Much is very technical, and not easily applicable to a classroom context But it is important to understand aspects of the learning process, e.g. Stages of development learners have to go through and which cannot easily be bypassed The role of errors: they are a sign of development beyond rote learning and should not be seen as ‘bad’ The role of formulaic language: it can help, but…

Conclusion: two way dialogue Some SLA research IS useful and relevant But SLA researchers need to be much more aware of the classroom context and its constraints SLA researchers need to disseminate their research in non- technical jargon Teachers need to tell researchers what issues they are facing e.g. in the teaching of specific linguistic structures

Conclusion This is starting to happen but we haven’t got it right yet E.g. RiPL network (Research in Primary Languages www.ripl.uk) E.g. new journal from CUP Languages, Society & Policy (http://www.meits.org/languages-society-policy) E.g. articles in The Conversation (http://theconversation.com/uk) I am very keen to learn how we can do this better! Our overarching goal is to promote and make more efficient the learning of foreign languages, whether we are SLA researchers or teachers