Creativity in the Language Classroom: Towards a "Vichian" Approach in Second Language Teaching

Abstract

The science of linguistics has witnessed the spread of a deep dissatisfaction in the last two decades with what might be called rationalist models of language. This is due, in large part, to the everygrowing realization that there is much more to human language than its abstract, organizational structure-often conceptualized as existing on a universal cognitive platform that is not subject to alteration fromexternal forces such as acts. Indeed, this was the point made persuasively by Hymes in 1972 when he proposed the concept of communicative to combat the prevalent trend that had become fossilized in the sixties (i.e., in the heyday of Chomskyan generativism) to limit the purview of linguistics to the study of so-called linguistic, or grammatical competence.' Hymes showed, in fact, that the principles of structural organization are not at all independent from performance variables, and that language form is consistently shaped by the context in which it is embedded. Hymes' proposal was immediately and enthusiastically adopted by the language teaching profession at large which had, by that time, become completely disenchanted with structure-focused approaches and syllabuses. But after nearly two decades of syllabuses and functional approaches, a kind of endemic dissatisfaction still seems to linger on, despite significant progress having been made in the development of the learner's skills. Part of this dissatisfaction is due, no doubt, to the high expectations and demands that both teachers and learners make on themselves, often forgetting the limitations that inhere in classroom learning environments; but a significant part is due, in our view, to the constricted view of language learning implied by the concept of competence as it has been developed in second language teaching. Indeed, the focus on developing either linguistic or competence-or formal and active skills, as Rivers calls them2---