Focus on Form

Eric Hawkins stated, “While combating linguistic complacency, we are seeking to arm our pupils against fear of the unknown which breeds prejudice and antagonism (157).” This is a good quote that is a vital part of Kuma’s chapter “Fostering language awareness”. When people are knowledgeable about something, they are less likely to judge it. We as teachers need to instill the desire for knowledge in our students about English and other languages in the school. Whole language doesn’t exclude some languages and dialects: it involves every aspect. Teachers also need to acknowledge that learning English is difficult. For every rule there is an exception. This is why language awareness is necessary for language teachers. The difference between speaking English and English Education is that English Education majors learn how the language works, while most English speakers just know how to speak it, not teach it. For English learners to develop an appreciation and knowledge about the language, they need to have control of the issues they learn about.  Teachers should explore issues that interest them and the learners. I make sure to incorporate this into my teaching at the ELI. At the beginning of the semester, I handed out a note card to each of my students and asked them to write down what they wanted to learn about. This allows me to cater to them and their needs.

Activating intuitive heuristics is when a student increases their language awareness by attempting to discover the rules and patterns of the linguistic system. This enhances their capacity to discover the linguistic system by increasing language awareness. When a teacher uses a deductive method of teaching grammar (usually focus on forms), they present students with set rules and expect the students to use the rules in speech and writing after enough practice. This encourages little teacher-student interaction and almost no learner-learner interaction that is necessary to create an environment that is conducive to self-discovery. While thinking of when you learned your L2, what deductive method features did you find helpful and which would you change? Inductive teaching (usually focus on forms) allows students to discover the grammar rules. It avoids explicit description and encourages students to analyze samples provided. Most importantly, it structures interaction.

“Form-focused instruction”, by Brown, commented that many language approaches in the past have learned to one extreme or the other regarding focus on form vs. forms. Teachers and researchers now have a better respect for the place of form-focused instruction in an interactive curriculum. After reading Brown’s chapter, I realized that it is important to have both. I usually lean on the side of focus on form, but it depends on the learners as to which one would be more appropriate. Age, proficiency level, educational background, language skills, style, and needs and goals need to be considered. For example, an adult student who already has developed their BICS would benefit more from focus on forms than a new English learner. However, it is important to take both into consideration.