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Task-based language teaching (TBLT) and instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) have much in common in terms of theory, research, and educational relevance. The distinguishing characteristic between the two is that TBLT adopts communicative tasks as the central unit for instruction and assessment, whereas ISLA comprises a broader range of instructional activities and assessment practices. In this presentation, I focus on two of the conference themes: Instruction and Outcomes. With respect to Instruction, I draw attention to the pedagogical timing of form-focused instruction (FFI) and corrective feedback. I discuss relevant studies within ISLA and TBLT and argue that TBLT is particularly well-suited to investigating questions about the timing of FFI. In discussing Outcomes, I consider differences in how outcomes are measured in TBLT (i.e. performance) and ISLA (i.e. development) and the different aspects of language examined within each, for example, accuracy, implicit/explicit knowledge in ISLA and complexity, accuracy and fluency in TBLT. I discuss underlying similarities between fluency and implicit knowledge, how they are measured, and propose research to investigate the pedagogical timing of FFI in relation to fluency development. I conclude with a brief discussion of the need for a balance between theoretically and pedagogically motivated research within ISLA and TBLT.

Les apprenants de la langue anglaise, surtout ceux qui résident hors des grandes villes d'Amérique du Nord, sont intégrés dans des classes ordinaires, souvent sans soutien linguistique ciblé. L'enseignement centré sur la forme (ECF) est une approche de l'enseignement des langues dans laquelle l'attention de l'apprenant est centrée sur la forme de la langue au cours d'activités basées sur le sens. Bien que l’ECF se soit révélé bénéfique pour le développement de la précision linguistique dans divers contextes, son efficacité pour les élèves du secondaire dans les classes ordinaires n'a pas fait l’objet d’études expérimentales. Dans la présente étude, 18 participants inscrits à un cours d'études sociales du secondaire ont reçu un ECF relativement à deux structures linguistiques — passif et présent simple — pendant 10 à 15 heures sur une période de 15 semaines. Un plan de recherche en série chronologique a permis de comparer les résultats des élèves à trois prétests préalables à l'intervention avec leurs progrès à mi-parcours et immédiatement après l’intervention. À chaque séance de test, les élèves devaient effectuer six tâches linguistiques visant à mesurer la connaissance réceptive (tâches de jugement de la grammaire orale et écrite) et productive (tâches de production orale et écrite) des deux structures. La performance globale du groupe immédiatement après l'enseignement indique une amélioration limitée, des gains significatifs étant observés sur deux des mesures linguistiques seulement. Les résultats sont analysés au regard des défis que pose la prise en charge simultanée de la langue et du contenu.

One of the challenges facing second and foreign language (L2) teachers and learners in primary and secondary school settings is the limited amount of time available. There is disagreement about how to meet this challenge. In this paper we argue against two ‘common sense’ recommendations for increasing instructional time – start as early as possible and use only the L2 (avoiding the use of the first language (L1)) in the classroom. We propose two better ways to increase the instructional time: provide periods of intensive instruction later in the curriculum and integrate the teaching of language and content. Studies in schools settings around the world have failed to find long-term advantages for an early start or exclusive use of the L2 in the classroom. Nevertheless, many language educators and policy makers continue to adopt these practices, basing their choice on their own intuitions and public opinion rather than on evidence from research.

This paper reports on an investigation of how second language (L2) learners' grammaticality judgment task (GJT) performance varies according to time constraints, task modality, and task stimulus in relation to two target features. One hundred and twenty EFL students were asked to judge items as grammatical or ungrammatical on four computer-based GJTs -- two differing along the timed/untimed dimension and two differing along the aural/written dimension. Each GJT consists of 60 items (30 grammatical and 30 ungrammatical) focusing on two grammatical features in English, the passive voice and the past progressive, which were hypothesized to differ in terms of their learning difficulty. The results indicated that time constraints, task modality and task stimulus played a significant role in affecting L2 learners’ GJT performance. Furthermore, although the learners performed better on the past progressive items, their GJT performance indicated similar patterns in relation to task design features across both target structures.

This study reports on a year-long intervention based on comprehension practice of input-rich materials. It was inspired by an innovative program in Canada in which primary school francophone children learned English as a second language (ESL) through simultaneous reading and listening. In our study the participants are a class of 10- to 11-year-old students (N = 28) who spent 60% of their EFL instruction time at school in a reading-while-listening program. The program involved independent simultaneous reading and listening practice using graded readers and storybooks of their own choice. The goals were to examine how students experienced the reading/listening sessions and to compare learners’ perceptions of the program, as well as their linguistic gains, with that of a comparison group who received only teacherled instruction. Instruments included oral and written language tests, self-reported data, and observations. Results indicate that students in the intervention group showed more positive attitudes toward English language learning and progressed at least as much as the students in the comparison group, in spite of having had much less teacherled instruction time than the latter. Resume: Cette etude fait le point sur une intervention d’une annee axee sur des exercices de comprehension d’un contenu riche en information. Elle a ete inspiree par un programme canadien innovateur dans lequel des eleves francophones du primaire apprennent l’anglais langue seconde (ALS) en s’exercant simultanement a la lecture et a la comprehension orale. Les participants de cette etude sont des eleves de 10 au 11 ans (n = 28) d’un meme groupeclasse ayant passe 60 % de leur temps d’apprentissage en ALS dans un programme « lecture et ecoute simultanees ». Le programme consiste, pour les eleves, a s’exercer individuellement a la lecture et a l’ecoute simultanees, au moyen d’albums et de livres de lecture graduee de leur choix. Les objectifs de l’etude etaient d’examiner l’experience vecue par les eleves lors des seances de lecture et d’ecoute, et de comparer leur perception du programme, de meme que leurs gains linguistiques, avec ceux d’un groupe temoin n’ayant ete expose qu’a des cours magistraux. Les donnees ont ete obtenues par des tests linguistiques oraux et ecrits, les declarations des sujets et des observations. Les resultats montrent que les eleves du groupe d’intervention manifestent une attitude plus favorable a l’egard de l’apprentissage de la langue anglaise, et qu’ils progressent au moins autant que les eleves du groupe temoin meme s’ils ont recu beaucoup moins d’heures d’enseignement.

This study investigates the relationship between foreign language aptitude and the learning of two English structures defined as easy or difficult to learn. Using a quasiexperimental design, 66 secondary-level learners of English as a foreign language from three intact classes were provided with four hours of instruction on thepassive(a difficult structure) and thepast progressive(an easy structure). Language aptitude was measured using the LLAMA Aptitude Test (Meara, 2005). Language outcomes were measured with a written grammaticality judgment and an oral production task. The results revealed that one of the aptitude components, grammatical inferencing, contributed to learners’ gains on thepassivebut not thepast progressiveon the written measure. Another component of aptitude, associative memory, contributed to learners’ gains on thepast progressiveon the oral measure. The results provide support for the claim that different components of aptitude contribute to the learning of difficult and easy L2 structures in different ways. There is also support for the proposal that different components of aptitude may be involved at different stages of language acquisition (Skehan, 2002).

This study builds on research investigating the construct validity of elicited imitation (EI) as a measure of implicit second language (L2) grammatical knowledge. It differs from previous studies in that the EI task focuses on a single grammatical feature and time on task is strictly controlled. Seventy-three EFL learners and 20 native English speakers completed the EI and four other tests hypothesized as measures of implicit or explicit L2 knowledge. Factor analytic results indicated that learners’ EI scores loaded on the factor labeled implicit L2 knowledge, confirming previous findings. Results from other tests and methodological issues concerning EI design and use suggest that the construct validation of EI as a measure of implicit L2 grammatical knowledge awaits further investigation.

This study investigated the views of teachers and learners regarding the timing of grammatical instruction, conceptualized as a distinction between isolated and integrated form-focused instruction (FFI) proposed by Spada and Lightbown (2008). Both types of FFI are described as taking place in primarily meaning-based communicative classrooms. They differ in that isolated FFI occurs separately from communicative activities, whereas integrated FFI occurs during communicative activities. Using this theoretical distinction, the researchers developed teacher and learner questionnaires and validated them as measures of both constructs supported by factor analysis. The questionnaires were administered to explore the views of teachers and learners in two contexts, ESL in Canada and EFL in Brazil. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the questionnaire data indicate a distinct preference for integrated FFI across groups (i.e., teachers and learners) and contexts (i.e., EFL and ESL). At the same time teachers and learners also acknowledged the value of isolated FFI. These views recognizing the important roles played by both integrated and isolated FFI are consistent with those discussed in the instructed second language acquisition literature. Teachers and learners also drew attention to contextual and individual differences that may have an impact on decisions about the timing of grammatical instruction.

In this study we compared the effects of two types of form-focused instruction (FFI) on second language (L2) learning and their potential contributions to the development of different types of L2 knowledge. Both types of instruction were pre-emptive in nature, that is planned and teacher generated. In Integrated FFI attention to form was embedded within communicative practice; in Isolated FFI it was separated from communicative practice. Two groups of adult learners of English as a second language (ESL) received 12 hours of Integrated or Isolated FFI on the ‘passive’ construction. Learners’ progress on a written grammar test and an oral communication task indicated no significant differences between the instructional groups over time. However, some advantages were observed for Integrated FFI on the oral production task and for Isolated FFI on the written grammar test. The results are discussed in relation to instructed second language acquisition (SLA) research an transfer appropriate processing theory.

There has been considerable debate about the relevance and applicability of SLA theory and research for L2 pedagogy. There are those who maintain that SLA must be applicable to L2 pedagogy: a view based on the argument that because SLA is a subfield of applied linguistics, it should have direct relevance to L2 teaching. Others take the view that not all areas of SLA research need to be relevant to L2 pedagogy – only the more ‘applied’ areas. While I would agree that much of the work in SLA should be applicable to L2 pedagogy, particularly research on instructed SLA, my presentation takes a different perspective on the SLA/L2 pedagogy interface. It focuses onmisapplicationsof SLA theory and research to L2 pedagogy. I argue that the applicability of SLA research for L2 instruction requires a careful consideration of context and that specific SLA constructs – even those considered to be important within instructed SLA – may not have directrelevanceto L2 pedagogy. Three areas of SLA research that I will discuss with respect to misapplication and relevance are: the role of instruction in SLA, the role of age in SLA, and the nature of and distinction between implicit and explicit L2 knowledge.

This study is an investigation of the extent to which francophone learners of English as a second language (ESL) are aware of the differences between French and English question formation and how such awareness relates to their L2 performance. Three tasks were administered to 58 grades 5 and 6 francophone ESL learners. In a grammaticality judgement task, learners were asked to judge the grammaticality of English Wh– and yes/no questions. In a scrambled questions task, participants were instructed to create questions with sets of words written on individual cards. Some of the participants were also interviewed. Students’ own grammaticality judgement and scrambled questions tasks were used as stimuli for the interviews. On the grammaticality judgement task, questions in which the subject was a pronoun were judged more accurately than questions in which the subject was a noun. The most frequent non-target question forms that learners produced on the scrambled questions task were those in which a word (e.g. auxiliary do) was ‘fronted’ (placed at the beginning of a declarative sentence). The interview indicated that most students had a poor understanding of differences between English and French questions. Correlation analyses showed a positive relationship between students’ awareness of L1–L2 differences and their ability to correctly judge and form questions in English.

In 1997 I published a paper in Language Teaching entitled ‘Form-focused instruction and second language acquisition: A review of classroom and laboratory research’. The paper reviewed the results of studies investigating the effects of form-focused instruction (FFI) on second language (L2) learning. It was organized around seven questions, including: whether FFI is beneficial to L2 learning; whether particular types of FFI are more beneficial; whether there is an optimal time to provide FFI; and whether different language features benefit more from FFI. In this paper I revisit these questions and reflect on how research on FFI and L2 learning has evolved over the past twelve years.

A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of explicit and implicit instruction on the acquisition of simple and complex grammatical features in English. The target features in the 41 studies contributing to the meta-analysis were categorized as simple or complex based on the number of criteria applied to arrive at the correct target form (Hulstijn & de Graaff, 1994). The instructional treatments were classified as explicit or implicit following Norris and Ortega (2000). The results indicate larger effect sizes for explicit over implicit instruction for simple and complex features. The findings also suggest that explicit instruction positively contributes to learners’ controlled knowledge and spontaneous use of complex and simple forms.

In this paper, we report on the process of developing and validating a questionnaire to explore second language learners’ preferences for two types of form-focused instruction (FFI): isolated and integrated FFI. Three types of evidence regarding the validity of the questionnaire were collected: content, reliability and construct. Content validity was obtained from expert judges and Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure the internal consistency reliability of the isolated and integrated FFI scales. A principal components analysis was used to assess the construct validity of isolated and integrated FFI. The results indicated that the questionnaire was both a valid and reliable measure of isolated and integrated FFI. We conclude by discussing some of the ways in which the questionnaire has evolved since its use in this study, how it has been used in related research and plans for its implementation in future studies.

There is increasing consensus that form-focused instruction helps learners in communicative or content-based instruction to learn features of the target language that they may not acquire without guidance. The subject of this article is the role of instruction that is provided in separate (isolated) activities or within the context of communicative activities (integrated). Research suggests that both types of instruction can be beneficial, depending on the language feature to be learned, as well as characteristics of the learner and the learning conditions. For example, isolated lessons may be necessary to help learners who share the same first language (L1) overcome problems related to L1 influence on their interlanguage; integrated instruction may be best for helping learners develop the kind of fluency and automaticity that are needed for communication outside the classroom. The evidence suggests that teachers and students see the benefits of both types of instruction. Explanations for the effectiveness of each type of instruction are drawn from theoretical work in second language acquisition and cognitive psychology as well as from empirical research.

Foreword Joanne Dresner Preface MaryAnn Christison, Donna Christian, Patricia A. Duff, and Nina Spada Acknowledgments Part I. Overview of English grammar instruction Chapter 1. An overview of teaching grammar in ELT Marianne Celce-Murcia Part II. Focus on form in second language acquisition Chapter 2. Focus on form: Addressing grammatical accuracy in an occupation-specific language program Antonella Valeo Chapter 3. Teaching English grammar in context: The timing of form-focused intervention Junko Hondo Chapter 4. Form-focused instruction and learner investment: Case study of a high school student in Japan Yasuyo Tomita Chapter 5: The influence of pretask instructions and pretask planning on focus on form during Korean EFL task-based interaction Sujung Park Part III. The use of technology in teaching grammar Chapter 6. The role of corpus research in the design of advanced level grammar instruction Michael J. McCarthy Chapter 7. Corpus-based lexicogrammatical approach to grammar instruction: Its use and effects in EFL and ESL contexts Dilin Liu and Ping Jiang Chapter 8. Creating corpus-based vocabulary lists for two verb tenses: A lexicogrammar approach Keith S. Folse Part IV. Instructional design and grammar Chapter 9. Putting (functional) grammar to work in content-based English for academic purposes instruction Patricia A. Duff, Alfredo A. Ferreira, and Sandra Zappa-Hollman Chapter 10. Integrating grammar in adult TESOL classrooms Anne Burns and Simon Borg Chapter 11. Teacher and learner preferences for integrated and isolated form-focused instruction Nina Spada and Marilia dos Santos Lima Chapter 12. Form-focused approaches to learning, teaching, and researching grammar Rod Ellis Epilogue Kathleen M. Bailey About the Contributors Index

In this article, I explore some of the epistemological, technical, and ethical challenges in doing research on instructed second language (L2) learning in Canadian school settings. I examine these challenges from the viewpoint of classroom research that has been influenced by cognitive-interactionist theories of learning. This includes my own classroom research program and similar programs developed by other Canadian researchers across a variety of school-based L2 curricula. I examine epistemological challenges in terms of the ecological validity of doing research in classrooms versus laboratories and the value of sequencing descriptive phases prior to experimental components of a research cycle. I also discuss the extent to which different research contexts and goals can influence epistemological choice. In addition, I consider technical challenges in relation to doing research in intact classrooms and to the conditions necessary for the development of sustained research programs in schools. Lastly, I address ethical challenges: the relevance of research for pedagogical practice and suggestions about how to support researchers and teachers in making these links more meaningful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a historical overview and comparison of intensive English (IE) and intensive French (IF) programs in Canada. Comparisons are made in terms of the total time allotted to the intensive period, the selection of students, the number and types of schools offering the programs, the models of delivery, and the type of pedagogy and curricula. The programs are also compared in terms of learning outcomes, follow-up programs, and teacher preparation/qualifications. Reasons for the success of both programs are given and discussed in relation to the rationales for their existence. In general, the programs appear to be very similar; major differences present in IF include the compacting of the regular curriculum, the role of reading and writing, the emphasis on both accuracy and fluency, and the use of more cognitively demanding tasks.

Students in transitional bilingual education programmes, like students in immersion programmes, are expected to learn subject matter through their second language (L2) and to improve their knowledge of that language while using it for subject matter learning. Concern has been expressed about how well students cope with complex subject matter taught in a language they do not yet know well (e.g. Cummins & Swain, 1986). Inuit students in northern Quebec, Canada, receive their first schooling (Kindergarten to Grade 2) in Inuktitut, their home language (L1). After that, their education is entirely in their L2 (English or French) except for a brief daily period of language and culture instruction in Inuktitut. In this study, we observed primary and secondary classrooms in which students received instruction in their L2, interviewed teachers about students' knowledge and use of L1 and L2, and examined the students' ability to understand and produce written and oral samples in their L2. This paper includes findin...

Some researchers suggest that recasts are effective in showing learners how their current interlanguage differs from the target (Long & Robinson, 1998). Others have argued that recasts are ambiguous and may be perceived by the learner as confirmation of meaning rather than feedback on form (Lyster, 1998a). We review research on the effectiveness of recasts in first and second language acquisition, paying particular attention to how recasts have been defined and how their impact has been assessed in observational and experimental studies. We conclude that recasts appear to be most effective in contexts where it is clear to the learner that the recast is a reaction to the accuracy of the form, not the content, of the original utterance.

While L2 vocabulary acquisition research is no longer ‘a neglected area’ (Meara, 1980), a lack of progress remains on some basic questions. One concerns the number of times a word must be encountered in order to be learned. Even using similar learning criteria, estimates range from six (Saragi, Nation, & Meister, 1978) to 20 (Herman, Anderson, Pearson, & Nagy, 1987). Another question concerns the types of contexts that are conducive to learning. Some studies have reported that rich, informative contexts are the most conducive to acquisition (Schouten-van Parreren, 1989), others that rich contexts divert attention from the lexical level and produce little acquisition (Mondria & Wit-De Boer, 1991). These phenomena were investigated in a vocabulary acquisition study with Quebec school-aged ESL learners at five levels of proficiency. First, learners read a text and were tested on its new vocabulary. Then, learned and unlearned words were compared for frequency of occurrence and level of contextual support. Frequency needs were found to be related to learner level, and contextual richness was unrelated to learning.

In this paper we report on the extent to which learners can make explicit L1 rules which appear to influence their L2 performance. The learners were 11–12-year-old francophone students learning English in intensive communicative ESL classes in Quebec. In previous research we had found that their knowledge and use of English questions and adverbs, while systematic, was not target-like. In question forms, the pattern in their interlanguage reflected the French constraint which allows subject-auxiliary inversion with pronouns and prohibits it with nouns. Regarding adverb placement, students accepted sentences with both SAVO (ungrammatical in French) and SVAO (grammatical in French but ungrammatical in English). In this study, students from the same population were asked to judge the grammaticality of sentences and to explain their judgements. The results confirmed the patterns previously observed. That is, students' performance on adverbs and questions showed clear influence of transfer from French. However,...

Teachers and researchers alike are aware of the challenges and complexities involved in providing effective feedback on error to second language (L2) learners in classroom settings. Any account of these challenges and complexities should ai m to pr ovide hel pful and reliable i nformation supported by research relevant to classroom practice. John Truscott fails to do this in his paper, presenting instead a critique that is, for the most part, impressionistic and unsubstantiated by research. If Truscott had argued that it is difficult to k now when, how, and what to correct in classroom L2 teaching, then we would have little to disagree with. However, he argues instead that because it is difficult, and because its effectiveness cannot always be demonstrated, `error correction' s hould be abandoned. W e will d isagree with Truscott's recommendations and argue that a growing body of classroom research provides evidence that corrective f eedback is pragmatically f easible, potentially ef fective, an d, in som e cases , necessary. This research includes descriptive and experimental studies of form-focused instruction and feedback on error – studies which Truscott has either failed to include in his review or misrepresented and dismissed in his discussion.

The researchers pretested 150 francophone children (age 11–12 years) with a variety of measures (including oral production, a preference task, and scrambled questions) designed to probe their knowledge and use of English questions. Each child’s developmental stage (in terms of the stages of acquisition of English questions proposed by Pienemann, Johnston, & Brindley, 1988) was determined. In oral production, most students were at stage 2 of the 5-stage sequence. Over the next 2 weeks, they participated in classroom activities that exposed them to hundreds of English questions, mostly consistent with stage 4 and stage 5. These focussed activities were guided by their regular classroom teachers and integrated into the communicative activities that were typical of their English as a second language (ESL) program. The focussed activities accounted for about 1 hour out of a 4- or 5-hour day in these intensive ESL classes. Following this intervention, the children were posttested, using essentially the same measures used on the pretest. Contrary to the predictions of Pienemann’s (1985) teachability hypothesis, learners who were at stage 3 prior to the focussed activities did not progress more in their use of questions in the oral production task than students at stage 2 at the time of the pretest. However, on other tasks, there was evidence that all students had some knowledge of stage 4 and stage 5 questions. Further analysis showed that students tended to accept higher stage questions (with inversion of subject and verb) if the subjects were pronouns, but not if they were nouns. This pattern is consistent with that of French, their first language (L1). The study adds to the literature that shows an interaction between developmental sequences and L1 influence and also suggests that explicit instruction, including contrastive metalinguistic information, may be needed to help students move beyond apparently stable interlanguage patterns.

De nombreuses commissions scolaires au Quebec offrent des cours intensifs d'anglais, langue seconde, dans des ecoles de langue francaise. Dans la plupart de celles-ci,les eleves participent au cours d'anglais pendant toute la journee, durant cinq mois d'une annee scolaire. Durant les cinq autres mois de l'annee, ils achevent le programme d'etudes des autres matieres propres a leur niveau. Dans l'ecole « speciale » decrite dans ce rapport, tous les eleves sont en sixieme annee, et tous suivent le cours intensif. Ils participent a une variete d'interactions communicatives, tant a l'interieur qu'a l'exterieur de la salle de classe, durant toute l'annee scolaire. Notre evaluation de la performance en anglais n'a releve aucune difference entre celle des eleves ayant suivi le cours d'anglais en automne et celle des eleves qui l'ont suivi en hiver. Une comparaison suggere que l'anglais « ambiant» dans l'ecole speciale permet aux eleves de cette ecole d'atteindre un plus haut niveau d'anglais que celui atteint par des eleves ayant suivi leur cours intensif dans une ecole ou ils utilisent l'anglais seulement a l'interieur de la salle de classe.

Patsy M. Lightbown is a pioneer in the field of classroom research (CR) on second language (L2) learning and teaching. Keywords: esl/efl; language in the classroom; research methods in applied linguistics; second language acquisition

This paper is a report on a quasi-experimental study designed to investigate contributions of form-focused instruction and corrective feedback to the development of interrogative constructions in the oral performance of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners. The subjects were young francophone learners of English (age 10–12) receiving intensive ESL instruction. Their accuracy and developmental progress in the use of interrogative structures was measured prior to a 2-week period of instructional treatment. Immediate and delayed posttests were administered after the instruction. The language produced by the instructors while teaching interrogative structures was examined in relation to the learners' oral performance. Similar analyses were carried out with a comparison group. The results support the hypothesis that form-focused instruction and corrective feedback provided within the context of communicative interaction can contribute positively to second language development in both the short and long term.

Les AA. etudient les effets a long terme d'un cours intensif d'anglais L 2 (mis en oeuvre dans le primaire, classes de 8 eme et 7 eme ) sur les competences de communication (volubilite et exactitude) et l'attitude envers cette langue et son enseignement de 60 eleves de seconde (30, groupe experimental, 30, groupes de controle)

The developing oral English of approximately 100 second language learners (four intact classes) was examined in this study. The learners were native speakers of French (aged 10–12 years) who had received a 5-month intensive ESL course in either grade 5 or grade 6 in elementary schools in Quebec. A large corpus of classroom observation data was also analyzed.Substantial between-class differences were found in the accuracy with which students used such English structures as progressive -ing and adjective–noun order in noun phrases. There was some evidence that these differences (which were not correlated with performance on listening comprehension tests) were due to differences in teachers' form-focused instruction. These findings are discussed in terms of current competing views of the role of form-focused instruction in second language learning.

Since the introduction of communicative language teaching (CLT) in the late 1970s, there have been different definitions and interpretations of the communicative approach to second language (L2) instruction. Not surprisingly, this has resulted in several misconceptions of CLT and how it is implemented in the L2 classroom. While most descriptions of CLT emphasize the communication of messages and meaning, there is disagreement as to whether CLT should include a focus on the analysis and practice of language forms. There is also some debate (and confusion) as to whether the inclusion of literacy skills, use of the first language (L1), and vocabulary instruction is compatible with the principles and practice of CLT. These differences in interpretation and implementation of CLT are sufficiently problematic to suggest that CLT has become a rather vacuous term. Indeed, some have argued that, as a label for a language teaching method, CLT has lost its relevance to L2 teaching. In this chapter, I will describe some of the developments in CLT theory, research, and practice that point to the conclusion that a balance needs to be struck within CLT—one that allows for the integration of more direct instruction of language (including grammatical, lexical, and socio-pragmatic features) with communicative skills.

This quasi-experimental study investigated the potential benefits of two corrective feedback techniques (recasts and prompts) for learners of different proficiency levels. Sixty-four students in three intact grade 6 intensive English as a second language classes in the Montreal area were assigned to the two experimental conditions—one received corrective feedback in the form of recasts and the other in the form of prompts—and a control group. The instructional intervention, which was spread over a period of 4 weeks, targeted third-person possessive determiners his and her, a difficult aspect of English grammar for these Francophone learners of English. Participants' knowledge of the target structure was tested immediately before the experimental intervention, once immediately after it ended, and again 4 weeks later through written and oral tasks. All three groups benefited from the instructional intervention, with both experimental groups benefiting the most. Results also indicated that, overall, prompts were more effective than recasts and that the effectiveness of recasts depended on the learners' proficiency. In particular, high-proficiency learners benefited equally from both prompts and recasts, whereas low-proficiency learners benefited significantly more from prompts than recasts.This study is based on the first author's Ph.D. research (Ammar, 2003). We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the participating teachers and students. We thank Patsy Lightbown, Roy Lyster, Pavel Trofimovich, and the anonymous SSLA reviewers for their valuable input and feedback on earlier versions of this paper.

The papers in this issue were presented at a colloquium on The Role of Instruction in Second Language Acquisition held at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, in July 1991. Participants in the Colloquium were the following:Birgit Harley, OISE, University of TorontoPatsy M. Lightbown, Concordia UniversityMichael Long, University of HawaiiManfred Pienemann, Sydney UniversityBonnie Schwartz, University of DurhamMichael Sharwood Smith, Utrecht UniversityNina Spada, McGill UniversityBill VanPatten, University of IllinoisLydia White, McGill UniversityThe Colloquium was sponsored by Concordia University and McGill University as well as by research grants from the government of Quebec through its Fonds pour la formation de chercheurs et l'aide à la recherche and from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.