Focus-on-Form-and-Focus-on-Forms

FocusonFormandFocusonFormsThemaindifferencebetweentraditionallanguageteachingapproaches(i.e.GrammarTranslation,Audiolinguilism)andmodernteachingapproaches(i.e.CommunicativeLanguageTeaching,Task-basedLanguageTeaching)isthattheformerattachesmuchimportancetolanguagegrammar,thecorrectformoflanguage,whilethelatterprimarilyfocusesonmeaning,therealcommunication.Questionsariseonhowtobalancegrammarteachingandcommunicativeteaching.Somepeopleproposethatthereshouldbenointerruptionincommunication;grammarcanbetaughtthroughcorrectivefeedback(DoughtyandVarela,1998).Theothersholdthatgrammarshouldbetaughtseparatelybyteachersandintegratedbylearnersthroughcommunicativeactivities(DeKeyser,1998).ThetwodifferentviewsaredefinedbyLong(1998)as‘focusonform’(FOF)and‘focusonforms’(FOFS).AccordingtoShortall(2007),hestudiedteachingmethodologiesintermsofteachingapproachandgrammarpositions.Inteaching,themethodologiescanbegenerallydividedintotwocategories:deductivevs.inductive.Inadeductiveteachingclassroom,theteacherpresentstherulesofgrammarandaskslearnerstopracticethroughpracticeanddrills.Inductiveteachingapproachinspireslearnersto‘acquirerulessubconsciously’bydoingalotofexercisesandpracticeratherthantogivelearnerstheexplicitrules.Accordingtothistheory,traditionalapproachescanbeconsideredasdeductivewhilecommunicativeapproachesinductive.Intermsofgrammarpositions,Long(1998)proposedtwotypesofgrammarteachinginstructions:‘focusonform’(FOF)and‘focusonforms’(FOFS).FOFrefersto‘drawingstudents’attentiontolinguisticelements(words,collocations,grammaticalstructures,pragmaticpatterns,andsoon),incontext,astheyariseincidentallyinlessonswhoseoverridingfocusisonmeaning,orcommunication’(Long1991:45-46).FOFisananalyticandstudent-centeredapproach.Init,pedagogicaltasksareemployedtopromotelearners’communicativeabilities.Incompletingtasks,learnersareexposedtothelanguageitemswhicharedesignedtobenoticeable.Long(1998:23-25)illustratedhowFOFhelpsstudentstolearnaforeignlanguageinthreesteps:first,learnerswillencounterthenewitemswhendoingtasks.Second,teachersmayinterruptandcorrectstudents’errorsastheyoccurintheconversations.Thelastiscalled‘recast’,or‘correctivereformulations’that‘preserve’students’originalmeaning(Long1998:23).InFOFSapproach,thetargetlanguageisdividedintoseveral‘models’,i.e.collocations,morphemes,sentencepatternsandpresentthesegrammaritemsoneatatime(Long:1998).Learnersaregiventhesemodelsbytheteacherandhaveto‘synthesizethepiecesforuseincommunication’(Long1998:16),whichiscalled‘syntheticapproach’(Wilkin,1976).FOFSincludesthreeparts:‘syntheticsyllabi(lexical,structural,notional-functional,etc),‘syntheticmethod(GrammarTranslation,AudiolingualMethod,SilentWayetc.)andclassroompracticesanddevices(explicitgrammarrules,repetitionofmodels,andmemorizationofshortdialogues)’(Long,1998:16).TherearesomemajorproblemsofFOFS.First,thisapproachcannotsatisfystudents’needsforitignoreslearners’learningobjectives,interestandlearningstyles.Second,basedontextbooks,whoselanguageisusuallyartificialanddifferentfromauthenticlanguageusedinreallife,FOFSwilleasilyleadtoincompetenceofcommunication.Third,FOFSisavery‘dry’approachbecausestudentslearnthecorrectuseoflanguageitemsbydoingmanyexercisesanditignoresthat‘SLAisnotaprocessofaccumulatingentities.’(Long1998,ch2:16)Sheen(2002)proposedthatthesetwoapproacheshaveanessentialdifference.Inbothfirstandsecondlanguageacquisitionprocesses,peopleareexposedto‘comprehensibleinputarisingfromnaturalinteraction’.(Sheen2002:303)FOF‘derivesfromassumeddegreeofsimilaritybetweenfirstandsecondlanguageacquisition’(Sheen2002:303).FOFSderivesfromtheideathattheprocessoflanguagelearningissimilarto‘cognitiveprocess’,itshouldcharacterizeas‘learningofaskill’.Sheenalsoproposedthreestagesoflearningbasedonthisapproach:first,topresentexplicitgrammaticalrulesinvariousways.Second,toasklearnerstopracticethegivenrulesthroughbothcommunicativeandnon-communicativeactivities.Third,toprovideopportunitiesforstudentstopracticecommunicativeusageofthesegrammarrules.AsatypicalapproachofFOFS,GrammarTranslation(GT)putsmuchemphasisongrammarteaching,whichgreatlyimprovesreadingandwriting.However,sentencetranslationmaynotbehelpfulinrealworldcommunicationsbecausetheyareusuallymeaningless.DifferentfromGT,Task-basedLanguageTeaching(TBLT)primarilyfocusesonmeaningandshiftsitsfocusongrammaritemswhenquestionsariseincommunications.FOFandFOFSdrawacleardifferencebetweenfocusongrammarandfocusonmeaninginforeignlanguageteaching.Thesetwotermscanguideteacherstoformulatemanywaysofimprovingtheirteachingmethods.Reference：[1]DeKeyser,R.M.Beyondfocusonform:CognitiveperspectivesonlearningandpracticingsecondlanguagegrammarinC[M].DoughtyandJ.Williams(eds.).FocusonForminClassroomSLA.CUP:CambridgeUniversityPress，1998.[2]Doughty,C.andE.Varela.CommunicativeFocusonForminC[J].DoughtyandJ.Williams(eds.).FocusonForminClassroomSLA.CUP:CambridgeUniversityPress，1998.[3]Long,M.Focusonform:AdesignfeatureinlanguageteachingmethodologyinK[J].deBot,R.Ginsberg,andC.Kramsch(eds.).ForeignLanguageResearchinCross-culturalPerspecti