The Principles of Foreign Language Learning and Teaching?

Human language is such a phenomenon that one may instinctively be tempted to explore the available possibilities of mastering it for varied purposes. When we deal with the issues of leaning and teaching, we being, teachers should explicitly realize as to how this complex process occurs both on the part of learning and teaching.

Why is it necessary for a Teacher to understand the Principles of Foreign Language Learning and Teaching? When this question is viewed from the research perspectives, it is clear that many research studies have been carried out into this filed and unearthed remarkable facts and facets concerning additional language learning and teaching process which at present has become one of the crucial issues in the field of education in many countries in the world. As far as the principles of foreign language are concerned, it is worth discussing how people learn a language and the factors affecting this process from the point of pedagogical view. We do know that some learners become successful in language learning while others do fail due to number of reasons. Pienemann (1984a, 1984b) says that there are constraints on learning which affect its teachability and learnabiltiy.

As has been confirmed by a number of SLA research studies, motivation appears to play a significant role. i.e. motivation is the key factor which affects one’s success in learning a language. This means the thoughts and feelings we have which make us want to do something, or continue to want to do something, or continue to want to do and turn our wishes into actions. This mental drive influence why we decide to do something, how long we need to do it and how long we are prepared to work to achieve it. In this way, we find that many factors influence our motivation to learn a language. Now we shall look at some of them.

Factors which affect motivation.
1. The usefulness to us of knowing the language well. E.g. to find a job, tofollow a course.
2. Our interest in the target language culture.
3. Feeling good about the learning the language.
4. Encouragement from others.
5. Our interest in the language process; the interest and relevant to us of aparticular course, its content, classroom activities, the teacher’s presentation, teaching methods etc
6. Physical condition. This refers to the classroom environment.

In this attempt, it is incumbent upon the L2 teacher to have a clear overview of what has been done in the SLA research to date. It should be noted here that a fair number of research studies on various aspects relating to SLA have been carried out by many recent researchers who seem to broadly realized that they should work in co-operation with teachers to help them solve, at least to a certain degree, their multifarious questions/problems they encounter everyday in the contest of teaching and learning process. It is true if teachers are better equipped with knowledge and more effective techniques, the learners are very much benefited in many ways. Therefore, as has been mentioned by Lightbown (1985), SLA research tells us how to teach and how not to teach. When this question is viewed from language pedagogy, it is seen that this issue is very significant on the part of teacher because this is where the teacher can become fully aware of some factors about acquisition and how can they be applicable to his/her classroom teaching. At this juncture, it is further important to remind that teacher needs to be careful when he/she attempts to apply them directly to their classroom situations because of the SLA research has been (a) premature, (b) based on research which extremely narrow in scope, (c) based on over interpretations of the data, (d) based largely on intuition, or (e) all of the above. (Lightbown 1985 p.180).

However, it is worth considering the mostly agreed-upon generalizations, which have been drawn from many researches up to date. They will be of immense use to the teacher who may be provided with a rich body of information in respect of some popular ideas about learning and how have the research studies responded them.

1.Adults and adolescents can ‘acquire’ a second language. Research evidence shows that the acquisition process is similar for both children and adults except native-like pronunciation, which is thought to have physiologically determined critical period for acquisition of it.

2.The learner creates a systematic interlanguage which is often characterized by some systematic errors as the child learning the same language as the first language, as well as others which appear to be based on the learner’s own native language.It is said that the inerlanguage(the learner’s developing second language knowledge) systems are influenced by a number of factors. The role of the learner’s mother tongue is one of the most controversial areas of research.

3.There are predictable sequences in acquisition such that certain structures have to be acquired before others can be integrated.This explains that learners cannot acquire what they are not ‘ready’ to acquire-even though they sometimes temporarily give the appearance of having acquired it.

4.Practice does not make perfect.This suggests that having practiced a particular form or pattern does not mean that the form or pattern is permanently established. Learners seem to forget forms and structures which they had practiced previously.

5.Knowing a language rule does not mean one will be able to use it in communicative interaction.This explains that being able to use a rule does not mean that one will be ableto state it explicitly.

6.Isolated explicit error correction is usually ineffective in changing language behavior.It is reported that most errors that learners make are not isolated phenomena but part of a system. In order to make a lasting change in language behavior, there must be a change in language knowledge.

7.For most adult learners, acquisition stops – ‘fossilizes’- before the learner has achieved native-like mastery of the target language. It has been found that this happens when the learner has satisfied the need for communication and /or integration in the target language community, but this appears to be a complicated are, and the reasons for fossilization are very difficult to determine with any certainty.

8. One cannot achieve native-like (or near-native) command of a second language in one hour or a day.A number of research studies have been proved that learners should be exposed to a greater number of hours at least to reach a proficiency in the target language.

9. The learner's task is enormous because language is enormously complex.This is true in the sense that no teacher, linguist or text book writer cannot make the task easy previously before it comes into contact with the learner. the learner has to go far beyond what the teacher, or linguist describes or the text book contains.

10. A learner's ability to understand a language in a meaningful context exceeds his/her ability to comprehend decontextualized language and to produce language of comparable complexity and accuracy.This tells us something about the relationship between comprehension and production. It has been found that learners sometimes give every impression of fluency and communicative competence when they speak, but manifest serious deficiencies when asked to comprehend language which they encounter outside a helpful context (Fillmore and McLaughlin)
Next we need to pay attention to Brown, H.D (2000) who states that a teacher begins the quest for an understanding of the principles of foreign language learning and teaching by asking the following questions. Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

These questions provide a general idea to teacher concerning certain important issues in teaching so that they should be considered here briefly.

Who? Who does the learning and teaching? Their background, intellectual capacities, personalities etc.

What? What must learner learn? What is language? What is communication? What are linguistic differences between the first and second?

How? How does learning take place? How can a person ensure success in language learning?When? When does second language learning take place?

Where? Are the learners attempting to acquire the second language within the cultural and linguistic milieu of the second language that is, in a “second” language situation in the technical sense of the term or are they forcing on a “foreign” language context?

Why? Finally, why are learners attempting to acquire the second language? What are their purposes? Are they motivated by the achievement of a successful career etc?

Lastly, it is very important for a teacher to be acquainted with “The Most Wanted List in Language Teaching” Pica, T (1994)

1.In what ways does knowing one language help or hinder the learning of a second?

2.What is more helpful to learning: Comprehension or production?

3.Should students drill and practice new forms and structures?

4.How effective is group work as an aid to learning?

5.What can be done to encourage participation among students who seldom ask questions or initiate interaction?

6.How much attention should be given to explicit grammar instruction?

7.To what extent does error correction assist the learners?

8.How necessary to learning another language is the learner’s cultural integration?

9.Why do some students have less accurate pronunciation than others, and what can be done about this?

10.What can be done for learners who seem to have reached a plateau in their learning?

Although we can not get direct answers to any of the questions mentioned above, it is true that the research discussed under each question provides a rich body of information for teacher who can not only become aware of how learners of different socio-cultural background have responded to them but also can adopt his/her teaching strategies to suit their learners in more efficient ways.

When talking about applications of research findings to teaching, Lightbown mentions that we need to be very careful in making specific recommendations about language teaching on the basis of research in language acquisition. She mentions that the generalizations drawn from the research give us some idea on how to teach and how not to teach. Thus, we are convinced about some important issues such as the ineffectiveness of error correction, the nonlinear nature of language acquisition, the adults are capable of ‘child like’ acquisition, knowing a language rule does not mean one will be able to use it in communicative interaction and the kinds of certain forms or structures should be taught and so on. It is seen that SLA research has brought some explanatory support to communicative LT. She stresses that teaching will come from teachers whose experience tells then which approach works better than the other. If teachers come to teaching with some knowledge of the results of SLA research, they will have much more realistic expectations about what can be accomplished. Teachers who are aware of SLA research findings will get to know the following;

1. Some particular areas where even very advanced learners will have difficulties.

2. Will expect adults and adolescents to discover some underlying patterns without teaching them directly.

3. May be aware of errors that the students make and how to or how not to correct them.

4. Can understand that students can acquire some complex structures without explanation.

She finally states that the role of SLA research is for preparing or renewing teachers’ knowledge and skills as teachers. It is a part of teacher education rather than teacher training and SLA research can offer no formulas, no recipes, but it is an essential component of teacher education because it can give teachers appropriate expectations for themselves and their students.

When it comes to classroom practice, it is the teacher who has to stimulate, encourage, observe, and assess the real-live learners. As Brown (2000:289) elaborates that “we all are practitioners and we all are theorists. We are all charged with developing a broadly based conceptualization of the process of language learning and teaching”. So, First, it is very necessary for us to internalize essential theoretical foundation learning. Then, we need to find out who our learners are, what to teach them, how to teach and finally one should be a risk taker by oneself. This means a good language teacher should develop intuition. Further, we need to be mindful of SLA and should access to as many literature, research studies, claims published, done or made in respect of this field with an inquiring mind as to how learners respond to learning situations available in and outside the classroom, how they should be motivated, the types of mistakes or errors they make, their learning preferences and styles or why they fail to master L2 and so on. Then we also can join the community of theory builders of SLA who may contribute to make a better theory that makes learning task easier, effective and result-oriented for all nationalities who wish to live with better understanding of one another in peace and harmony in our planet earth.