Showing papers by "David Nunan published in 1987"
TL;DR: The authors investigated the extent to which genuine communication is evident in communicative language classes, and whether strategies can be developed to encourage such communication in the classroom, and found that genuine communication was evident in most classes.
Abstract: The paper investigates communicative language teaching as it is manifested in the classroom. The purpose of the studies reported on in the body of the paper was to determine the extent to which genuine communication is evident in communicative language classes, and whether strategies can be developed to encourage such communication.
387 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1987
22 citations
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that instruction can lead learners to acquire correct structures in the long run; it can speed up the rate of acquisition; and instructed learners can progress further toward native-like competence than natural acquirers (although the evidence for this third assertion is weaker than that for the first two).
Abstract: M The field of second language acquisition (SLA) research has been one of ferment in recent years. Questions addressed by SLA researchers which are of interest to language teachers and applied linguists include the following: Why do learners fail to learn certain morphosyntactic items which have been explicitly (and often repeatedly) taught? Is there any evidence that teaching linguistic structures results in those structures being learned? If not, is there any evidence that instruction makes a difference? Studies addressing these questions are documented in some detail in Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982), Hyltenstam and Pienemann (1985), and Ellis (1985). From the research, it seems that certain morphosyntactic items are impervious to instruction because they are generally graded and taught according to linguistic rather than psycholinguistic criteria of simplicity and difficulty (Pienemann, 1985). On the question of whether explicit instruction in morphosyntax can result in learning, some say no (e.g., Ellis, 1985), some say yes, if it is timed right (e.g., Pienemann, 1985), while others say perhaps (Long, in press). In an exhaustive review of the literature, Long (1983) concluded that while there was little evidence on the ability of instruction to alter the "natural order" of development, instruction is potentially beneficial in at least three ways: (a) It can lead learners to acquire correct structures in the long run; (b) it can speed up the rate of acquisition; and (c) instructed learners can progress further toward native-like competence than natural acquirers (although the evidence for this third assertion is weaker than that for the first two). Acquisition studies, including those which take a "communicative" line (see, for example, the task-based approach of Long & Crookes, 1986), use as their yardstick measures which are tied to morphosyntax. This is because morphosyntax is the only factor in language proficiency which
4 citations