Curriculum research review series: languages

Summary

This section outlines research on learning, and in particular cognitive science, of relevance to language-teaching pedagogy. It explains the differences between intentional and incidental learning, with a focus on the efficiency of intentional learning in a UK context. It also highlights the importance of teachers’ planning when using the target language in the classroom. In particular, it looks at the target-language debate and emphasises how learners’ use of the target language should be the focus. The section goes on to consider the use of authentic texts in the classroom and issues around error correction. The golden thread through these discussions is that teachers should not leave learning to chance.

Intentional and incidental learning

Second language acquisition is an important area of academic research. Researchers continue to discuss whether non-mother-tongue languages are learned explicitly (with awareness) or implicitly (without awareness). The general consensus is that some of both of these goes on in most situations.

In the classroom, it is useful to think of learning as being ‘intentional’ or ‘incidental’. Intentional learning happens when the learner is aware of the need to learn. They invest effort in it and knowingly gain explicit knowledge. Incidental learning happens when a learner is not aware that they might learn something, but they do. It happens as a by-product of another activity.

Pupils’ ability to learn through incidental learning is linked to their individual differences, for example whether they:

• are more analytical or more engaged in the task than others

• have a better working memory than others, which allows them to attend to information and do something with it

When time is short and there is not a lot of exposure to language, this reduces the chance of learners experiencing the same language (phonics, vocabulary, grammar) often enough to help them learn it. In turn, this reduces the chances of learners noticing and remembering things incidentally.

For most learners, most of the time, in most situations, it is likely to be efficient for teachers to promote intentional learning. There is little evidence in research into second-language acquisition to suggest that learners retain words or structures learned incidentally any better than those they learn intentionally. This conclusion is also supported by the research that contributed to the development of the EIF, specifically the expertise reversal effect, as noted above. For example, Kalyuga states that ‘explicit teaching works best with novice learners’. For advanced learners, ‘enquiry-based approaches can be successful’, although, even then, explicit teaching may be more efficient.

Use of the target language

The role of the target language and its use by both learners and teachers have been the subject of perennial debate. The discussion about intentional and incidental learning as mentioned above has also had a direct impact on the position of the target language in the classroom.

Of course, we want learners to be exposed to the language they are learning. However, we do not want them to be overwhelmed by it in their early stages of language learning to the point that it could demotivate them. The use of the target language by the teacher should not hinder pupils from being able to develop an understanding of the structure of the language. At the same time, using the target language is an essential part of practice and reinforcement, including building familiarity with rhythms, sounds and intonation. But this all needs to be carefully planned and systematic. A balance needs to be achieved.

Teachers’ use of the target language should be carefully planned within the scheme of work. It should support and complement the scheme of work and build systematically on learners’ prior knowledge, reinforced by English when needed. Activities that are led in the target language, if appropriately planned, are likely to help embed knowledge in the long-term memory, support practice and recall, and help pupils to respond to language in meaningful ways.

As learners progress from novice to more proficient in the language, teachers can alter their use of the target language accordingly. That is to say, the earlier learners are in language learning, the greater the care teachers need to take to ensure that learners are not confused or overwhelmed by teachers’ use of overly complex language. A concrete example is the planned use of target language for classroom routines that are clearly understood by learners, as opposed to an attempt to describe more complex grammatical concepts to learners using the target language.

More importantly, learners’ use of the target language should be considered central to pedagogy. Macaro, for example, notes that, although there is some evidence to link teachers’ widespread use of the target language with effective language learning, there is clear evidence that pupils’ use of the target language positively affects learning. For learners to create the meaning they want (rather than relying on formulaic routines), they need both the linguistic capability and the motivation for ‘real’ speech. The classroom should enable pupils to try out the target language. It should help them consolidate their knowledge, while the teacher provides examples of, and monitors, language use. It is important to remember that speed and accuracy often decrease when speech is produced spontaneously.

Authenticity of spoken and written texts

Another perennial debate is around the status of ‘authentic’ spoken and written texts in language classrooms. An authentic text is one lifted, largely unamended, from its native-speaker environment. It could be, for example, an article from a French newspaper or website.

It is not well evidenced that the authenticity of a text alone helps learning or motivation. Texts need to be selected to support the school’s systematic sequencing of vocabulary and grammar. But they can also provide important opportunities for pupils to pursue their own interests and develop their skills in handling new materials. Texts can also support pupils’ developing knowledge of culture within target language communities. All these purposes do not necessarily require a text to be authentic. The important question is whether the texts support the programme of language development. So, adapted authentic texts or entirely bespoke texts created for the classroom are likely to be equally useful for this.

As with using the target language, teachers need to ensure that pupils are not exposed to large amounts of unfamiliar language too early. This could similarly demotivate them and may not maximise opportunities for learning. Research suggests that learners need to know around 95% of words of a text (written or audio) in order to reach an adequate level of comprehension. Teachers need to be skilled in selecting resources (authentic or otherwise) to use in lessons. Resources should be age-appropriate, link to the scheme of work and be sufficiently accessible in view of learners’ levels of language ability.

When selecting texts for listening exercises, teachers need to consider the ‘real-time nature of speech’ (its speed and transitory nature). Initially, it can be useful to use synchronous presentation of texts in audio and written formats if teachers know that pupils are following the text at the same rate as the audio format. This can help segmentation (chopping up the sound stream into words), comprehension and vocabulary learning. They can be useful at all stages of listening as texts get progressively more complex and longer.

Authenticity relates not only to the features of a text being used, but also to the use of the text within the classroom. Teachers should consider situational authenticity (the extent to which the texts resemble those real-life situations) and interactional authenticity (the extent to which the test-takers engage with the task in the same way as they would in real life).

Error correction on written and spoken production

The effectiveness of feedback depends both on teachers and on pupils. Teachers should provide salient, focused and clear feedback. Pupils need to be willing and able to notice and incorporate this feedback.

Discussions and research into error correction continue. There is a concern that error correction in languages could demotivate pupils from attempting more complex writing or speech. This would, therefore, be harmful rather than simply ineffective. There is also debate around whether error correction is a useful editing tool only, or whether pupils use any new knowledge acquired from error correction when producing future language. However, there is broad consensus that error correction, when done in a focused way that is clearly understood by the pupils, can be beneficial for many.

How to correct

There are 3 broad strategies used when correcting both oral and written errors:

• recasting: re-stating what the pupil said, but correcting errors in it

• prompting: where the correction is elicited from the learner themselves

• explanation: where explicit, often metalinguistic, information is given about a rule relating to the cause of the error

Eliciting the correction from the learner prompts them to think about the language they used and to correct the error themselves. Prompting forces the learner to retrieve the language, actively recalling it. It can be particularly effective where the error caused a communication breakdown. Prompting seems more likely to be effective than recasts for most learners, most of the time, for most types of error. Pronunciation is a possible exception, and might best be corrected by a direct recast.

The main disadvantage of teachers recasting incorrect language is that it relies on pupils being able to work out what the error was. Another problem is that not all pupils choose to repeat the teachers’ correction. Even if they do, it is not clear that this uptake actually leads to long-term learning.

There is also some debate over whether self-correction or teacher correction is the best approach to take. The risk with self-correction is that the learner does not know enough to be able to correct their work.

There is some evidence that pupils at the early stages of language learning benefit from rule-based correction rather than recasting phrases. However, pupils who are more proficient or have a higher working memory capacity may benefit from both types of correction. The benefits of recasting likely relate to the differences between novice and expert learners and between incidental and implicit learning, as discussed above. Until pupils are at a more advanced stage in their learning, it is likely that prompting them to think about the language that they are producing and eliciting a response (being explicit about the error) will be more effective than recasting.

Timing of error correction

Bauckham notes that error correction in both spoken and written language is most effective when done immediately.

What to correct

Evidence suggests that focused error correction (when a teacher focuses on one or a few elements of language production for correction) is usually more effective than unfocused error correction (when a teacher corrects every error that a pupil makes).

Attitudes to error correction

Research underlines the need for classrooms to be places where mistakes are understood to be helpful in the learning process, and where making errors and error correction is normalised. It is important that pupils are prepared for the kinds of error correction they might receive either from teachers or from peers.

Based on the above, high-quality languages education may have the following features

• Learning in a language classroom is largely intentional and not left to chance.

• Teachers’ use of the target language is carefully planned, is tailored to pupils’ language ability levels and builds systematically on pupils’ prior knowledge.

• Teachers create opportunities for pupils to practise using the target language, including helping them to apply their knowledge in an unscripted way, which may be slower and more error-prone than planned speech.

• Any authentic texts are well chosen for their linguistic content and level, and teachers plan their use carefully; they do not expose pupils to large amounts of unfamiliar language.

• Error correction is explicit where the focus is on accuracy: pupils are prompted that there has been an error and their own correction is elicited. It may well be focused on a particular aspect of the curriculum at a given time.

• Pupils who are more proficient or have a higher capacity to notice or analyse language or have higher motivation may be able to pick up more language incidentally. For example, this may be through recasting errors, teachers’ use of target language or engaging in authentic materials.