2 — 
Language skills

"One language sets you in a corridor for life. two languages open every door along the way"
—
Frank Smith

One of the benefits of Formal Instruction is that it offers a context for Focus on Form (FonF), which involves making students aware of the grammatical forms of language which they are already able to use communicatively. Long (1991) describes FonF as a context which “overtly draws students’ attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning or communication”. The same researcher found such formal instruction to be at an advantage regarding rate of learning, as well as the ultimate level that was obtained.

Gass (2013) discusses two instances where language instruction, when compared with naturalistic learning, has produced unique results. The first comes from Pavesi (1986), who compared Italian learners of English from both learning contexts. Results suggested that those who had received formal instruction used a greater number of marked Relative Clause types (e.g. objects of comparative relative clause), as well as pronouns copies (e.g. “the boy who the dog is biting him” rather than “the boy who the dog is biting the boy”), suggesting that the formal context provides a richness that the informal one does not. The second instance comes from Lightbown (1983), who investigated French learners of English and found a tendency towards overuse OF errors (e.g. overusing the –ing form instead of the correct simple tense) even when there was little exposure to the form in the input.

Research has also found that input alone is insufficient for language learning with regards to vocabulary (Laufer, 2005) and pragmatics (Kasper &Rose, 2002), and that in order to develop these skills, both formal and informal learning is imperative.

But what can you do to get the most out of your language classroom? Here are some top tips:

Make sure you’re in a class that’s suited to your level. A class that’s too difficult can make you miss out on learning and be demotivating, while one that’s too easy won’t help you to improve.

Take every opportunity to submit work to your teacher. Don’t just go through the motions: put your all into your assignments, and even undertake some extra work if your teacher is willing to correct it.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. To paraphrase Confucius, a student who asks a question may be a fool for a minute, but the one that doesn’t will be a fool for life. Students usually don’t have that many language classes each week, so leave your nervousness at the door, and make sure you get the most out of each one.

Don’t be afraid to use the language, even if it means there will be errors. Many language learners can feel anxious or nervous when using the target language. It’s important to remember that it’s ok to make mistakes, and that that’s what your teacher is there to help you with. This is part of learning the language, and it is from these mistakes that you can learn and improve.

Revision, revision, revision. Formal Instruction is your opportunity to develop a good base in the language, so study as much and as often as you can. You don’t want to be speaking to a native somewhere down the line, trying to remember how to conjugate such and such a verb. Practice it now in order to help you in the future!

RESEARCH INSIGHT: communicative pressure
Are you putting yourself in situations where there is pressure to communicate?
Are you taking note of the feedback that you are getting?
Interaction is a hypothesis about second language acquisition involving a number of mechanisms. Input (exposure – listening and reading) plus output (production – speaking and writing) plus feedback arising in the interaction. For Gass (2013, pp. 348 – 349, citing Gass, 2003, p. 224) interaction research: “…takes as its starting point the assumption that language learning is stimulated by communicative pressure…”.

"One language sets you in a corridor for life. two languages open every door along the way"
—
Frank Smith

 Student Videos

1 — What kind of things do you do to get the most out of your FI class? What about when you took classes while being on your exchange abroad? What were the differences?

2 — What is your idea of an ideal FI classroom? What would it need to be like for you to get everything out of it that you would like to?

3 — How do you progress with your foreign languages OUTSIDE the classroom?

 Expert Videos

Joan Carles Mora

— Universitat de Barcelona

"First of all, try and use as much of the language as you can during class time, but also it’s very important to try and seek as much exposure to the L2 outside the classroom."

"One idea, for example, is to watch films which are captioned, so films subtitled in the L2. Especially series might prove to be more helpful as there tends to be a lot of dialogue in them, and that’s a good way for preparing for the type of interactions that might happen while abroad and that will probably make communication more effective."

 Advice

Try to put into practice what you learn in your language classroom as much as possible outside the classroom too.
To practice your oral skills, try and do a language exchange- even if there aren’t many target language speakers where you live, you can do one over Skype.
For your literacy skills, make sure to read as much as you can, whether it’s a news articles each day or a full book over a few weeks. This will also help you increase your vocabulary!

 Activities

 Listening inside the classroom

 Listening outside the classroom

 Reading inside the classroom

 Reading outside the classroom

 Speaking inside the classroom

 Speaking outside the classroom

 Writing inside the classroom

 Writing outside the classroom

 Further info

— Gass, S.M., 2013. Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.

— Kasper, G. and Roever, C., 2005. Pragmatics in second language learning. Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning, 1, pp.317-334.

— Laufer, B., 2005. Focus on form in second language vocabulary learning. Eurosla yearbook, 5(1), pp.223-250.

— Lightbown, P., 1983. Exploring relationships between developmental and instructional sequences in L2 acquisition. Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition, 217243.

— Long, M.H., 1991. Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective, 2(1), pp.39-52.

— Pavesi, M., 1986. Markedness, discoursal modes, and relative clause formation in a formal and an informal context. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 8(01), pp.38-55.