Abstract
Second language teaching practicioners have tried to a greater or lesser extent in the past to apply the insights of linguistic theories to teaching methodology and curriculum design. A diverse range of sub·disciplines within the global field of linguistics, such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, discourse theory and pragmatics are generally considered to be relevant. This gives evidence of the widely-held view that second language acquisition is an extremely complex phenomenon of a multi-faceted nature. (See the Appendix to this paper for a list of some recent works within the general field of second-language learning and teaching.) The purpose of this paper is to review the issues that are generally acknowledged to be relevant to theories of second language acquisition, to outline the riature of second language classroom research, and in particular to deal with the insights that the Universal Grammar approach can provide as regards the development of the second language grammar of learners. The Universal Grammar perspective of second language acquisition will then be discussed with respect to its implications for teaching practice, and more specifically for the role of grammar in instruction and input.
Highlights
Second language teaching practicioners have tried to a greater or lesser extent in the past to apply the insights of linguistic theories to teaching methodology and curriculum design
These three broad properties of language profiency have subsequently been considered for the purpose of developing theories of second language acquisition, in addition to numerous other considerations concerning the process of second language learning
He views the process of second language acquisition as a predictive one, posing the question: What are the chances that learners will acquire a second language, given that the proposed conditions obtain, The range of conditions which he formulates relates to the aspects considered by Ellis, as outlined above
Summary
Second language teaching practicioners have tried to a greater or lesser extent in the past to apply the insights of linguistic theories to teaching methodology and curriculum design. There is general agreement on the characterisation of language proficiency required for communication as proposed by Canale and Swain (1980) They identify three interacting factors of language proficiericy (or competence as they refer to it), namely (i) grammatical competence, which entails the mastery of formal structural properties of language; (ii) sociolinguistic competence, which entails the ability to use appropriate utterances with respect to both meaning and form; and (iii) discourse competence, which entails the ability to construct a coherent and cohesive spoken or written text. Spolsky (1989) outlines a framework for a general theory of second language learning that consists of a set of preference conditions which may combine in a more general classification of factors He views the process of second language acquisition as a predictive one, posing the question: What are the chances that learners will acquire a second language, given that the proposed conditions obtain, The range of conditions which he formulates relates to the aspects considered by Ellis, as outlined above. The matters of concern for st:cond language classroom research are reviewed
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