LINGUISTICS - Language Teaching Methodology and Second Language Acquisition - J. Mihaljevic Djigunovic, M.

Medved
Krajnovic

LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY AND SECOND

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
J. Mihaljevic Djigunovic and M. Medved Krajnovic
Department of English, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Keywords: Teaching grammar, teaching vocabulary, teaching literature, language
learning skills, language for specific purposes, syllabus design, classroom interaction,
aptitude, attitude, motivation, anxiety, communicative competence, strategies,
interlanguage, contrastive analysis, error analysis, the age factor, crosslinguistic
interaction, variation, fossilization, input and interaction, generativism, interactionism,
emergentism.

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Contents

1. Introduction
2. Language Teaching Methodology
2.1. Historical overview of foreign language teaching (FLT) methods
2.2. The present
2.3. Content of language teaching
2.4. Teaching language skills
2.5. Syllabus design
2.6. Materials development
2.7. Language assessment
2.8. The language classroom
2.9. The language learner
2.10. Language teacher competences
3. Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
3.1. SLA: definition and goals
3.2 Historical overview of SLA research
3.3. Current research issues
3.4. The current state of SLA theories and research methods
Glossary
Bibliography
Biographical Sketches
Summary

The first part of the article focuses on language teaching. After a historical overview of
foreign language teaching methods, the key issues in language teaching are outlined. A
special section is devoted to communicative language teaching, the current approach to
foreign language teaching, and two important aspects that reflect tendencies in modern
language pedagogy: learner-centeredness and use of information technology (IT). This
is followed by sections on the content that is actually taught (e.g. pronunciation,
grammar etc.), on teaching the four foreign language skills, role and types of language
syllabi and teaching materials, and the issue of language assessment. The rest of the first
part looks at language teaching from different perspectives: those of the language
learner, the context of learning (the language classroom) and the language teacher.

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Krajnovic

The second part of the article is devoted to second language acquisition (SLA).
Following the definition and the goals of this new discipline within applied linguistics,
the authors offer an overview of its development throughout its relatively short history
that traces it back to the times of contrastive analysis and error analysis. The section on
current research issues offers also an insight into recent interests and foci of second
language acquisition experts. The last section focuses on SLA research methodology
and current SLA theories.
1. Introduction

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Foreign language teaching (FLT) and second language acquisition (SLA) are two
subfields of applied linguistics that are quite different in historical and research terms.
For a large part of its long history FLT relied mostly on intuitive approaches of both
theoreticians and practitioners. Nowadays, language teaching draws heavily on insights
that are validated by the research into the teaching process in all its complexity. The
content of language teaching (e.g. vocabulary, grammar), its aims (e.g. communicative
competence), its protagonists (e.g. learners, teacher) as well as elements of the process
itself (e.g. language learning and acquisition, classroom interaction) have each
contributed to and benefited from a number of disciplines that focus, exclusively or in
part, on this imortant human activity. With a recent insistence on learner and the
learning process, FLT is slowly beginning to be informed by SLA, a discipline that
studies language learning as a uniquely human, cognitive process and can potentially
offer a better understanding of the very nature of the human mind and intelligence.
Although SLA researchers generally consider applied aspects of their research to be of
secondary importance, the revelance of their findings in such areas as age constraints,
crosslinguistics interaction, and the role of input etc. is undeniable.
It may be fair to say that FLT and SLA can contribute much to a better global
understanding of the human nature and to a further development of intercultural
communication.
2. Language teaching methodology

2.1. Historical overview of foreign language teaching (FLT) methods

Language teaching methodology has gone a long way from being based on dogmatic
beliefs about the only good way of teaching to being based on insights into processes of
second language acquisition and the dynamics of the language classroom itself.
First conceptualizations of language teaching were based on teaching Latin. From the
sixteenth century onwards European vernacular languages came to be studied as foreign
languages (FLs) too. Once they became school subjects they were taught in the same
way as Latin by the grammar-translation method.
The grammar-translation method was the dominant method for many centuries and was
best exemplified by the formal teaching of the classical languages (Latin and Greek).
Language analysis, memorizing paradigms and complex grammar rules in order to be
able to read and translate literary texts and to learn to write similar texts were supposed

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to train the mind of the student. The FL was hardly ever used in class and no language
communication skills were developed.

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By the end of the nineteenth century opposition to the grammar-translation method

became very strong and got articulated in a number of new methods. Their common
philosophy was based on the belief that a language is learned by direct association of
foreign words with the objects and actions they denote and not through the mother
tongue. The new methods were called by the common term - the direct method.
Insistence on the FL as the medium of instruction and the development of phonetics as a
discipline at the time stimulated the importance of pronunciation. Grammar was taught
inductively, which made the student an active participant of the teaching process. It was
also taught functionally, that is the choice of the grammar structures taught depended on
what was used most frequently in speech. Speaking preceded reading, and reading was
dealt with so as to encourage guessing meaning from context. Some experts consider
that having the student active was the most important advantage of the method. A
number of modifications on the direct method throughout time kept it alive for a long
time.
Originating in the United States, the reading method was based on the pragmatic
assessment of what could really be mastered during the short, usually two-year period
that learners on average spent learning FLs. Language teaching experts concluded that
the most a learner could be expected to do was develop an ability to read and understand
texts in the FL without having to translate. They believed that mastering the reading
comprehension skill to a certain extent would enable learners to go on learning by
themselves. However, the method was mostly used in language courses that were too
short to equip learners with enough language competence to manage authentic reading
texts.
With the rapid development of technnology, social changes and new communication
needs in the 1920s and 1930s, the oral skills took precedence over written skills. The
method that appeared at the time 'the audio-lingual method' - was based on and
inspired by insights developed by structural linguists (e.g. L. Bloomfield) and
behaviorists (e.g. B. F. Skinner). A descriptive approach to language combined with the
belief that language learning was a culturally and socially determined activity of habit
formation. This resulted in new ideas about teaching FLs stressing the primacy of
speech over writing, the supreme authority of the native speaker, the importance of
teaching the language itself rather than about the language, the need to keep in mind that
languages are different and to look at language learning as habit formation. Some
teaching experts at the time made the visual element (mostly in the form of picture)
prominent, using it as the carrier of meaning and context. This trend led to the
development of the audio-visual method. Another structuralism-based method was
prominent in some parts of Europe for a couple of decades. It was the audio-visualglobal structural (AVGS) method developed by Petar Guberina of Zagreb and Paul
Rivenc of Saint-Cloud. This method was based on the assumption that a foreign
language is best acquired when it is presented via global language structures (chunks of
language) by simultaneous auditive and visual stimuli.
However, with Chomskyan ideas about language and the emerging importance of

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cognitive psychology a new method appeared the cognitive code learning. Rejecting
the passive recipient stance of behaviorism, proponents of the new approach insisted
that language learning implied rule governed creativity. The process of learning was
supposed to be a matter of problem solving through seeking the rules that show how the
language functions. This implied that the learner was an active participant in the process
and had control over it. Although cognitive code learning is not recognized as an
especially prominent language teaching method, it is important as a reaction to an era in
language teaching that was marked by the great impact of audio-lingualism, and as the
possible cause of another reaction the so-called alternative methods of the 1970s that
were humanistically-oriented.

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Humanistic approaches stressed the impact of affective factors such as attitudes,

motivation or language anxiety. Several methods based on humanistic tenets gained
popularity during the 1970s. Community language learning (CLL) (or counsellinglearning) is based on the work of Charles Curran, who insisted on group cohesiveness
and trust between teacher and learners as garantees of the desirable emotional climate in
which learners would not be defensive but receptive to learning. Gattegno's silent way is
based on the belief that teaching should be learner-centred and subordinated to learning
because the inner state of the learner is of paramount importance. The method makes
use of colored rods that are to help teacher speak very little and let learners speak
increasingly a lot.
Suggestopedia is based on the idea of holistic learning. It can be achieved, according to
the method's founder Lozanov, if learners are brought to a state of deep relaxation. This
can be reached by rhythmic breathing and listening to FL texts against and synchronized
to special music that activates relevant parts of the left hemisphere of the brain. Asher's
total physical response is based on insights from first language acquisition. It involves
starting with a latent period that precedes speaking. During this period learners are
exposed to great amounts of comprehensible input and evidence their comprehension by
performing commands issued by teacher.
The natural approach was designed by Krashen and Terrell in the early 1980s. The
method reflects what is sometimes called second language acquisition tradition and is
based on Krashen's monitor theory. Among the fundamental tenets of the theory is the
principle that the only valuable knowledge of a language can be obtained through
acquisition, an unconscious process that is the same as first language acquisition. Since
negative feelings can interfere with acquisition and can present themseleves as an
affective filter, they can cause serious problems and teaching should take this into
account. Within the natural approach teacher should provide learners with
comprehensible input that is fine-tuned to a level a little above the learners' current
level of competence. The focus of classroom activities should be on meaning, not form,
and classroom atmosphere should be positive so as to keep the affective filter low.
2.2. The present
2.2.1. Communicative language teaching (CLT)
CLT refers to a number of approaches that are based on the belief that language is not

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Krajnovic

just a system of rules but a resource for creating meaning. A distinction is made
between knowing language rules and being able to use them effectively and
appropriately in communication. This has led to the belief that the aim of FLT should be
to allow learners to be able to use the FL for communication with others. Syllabi were
proposed that suggested that the main purpose of the classroom should be to develop the
learner's communicative ability. In the beginning the insistence on meaning instead of
form ousted grammar teaching from the classroom. The early advocates of CLT
believed that focus on meaning would make possible automatic acquisition of structures
too. Later proponents of CLT came to see value in form-focused activities as well.
Second language research and, in particular, insights from studies on learning styles
suggested learner-centredness as one of the key concepts.

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According to Brown (2001) CLT, as it is conceived and practiced today, can be

described as based on the following tenets: classroom goals reflect the main aim of
language teaching communicative competence; teaching should promote authentic,
pragmatic use of language; both fluency and accuracy are developed; learners are
prepared to use language productively and receptively; language teaching should make
learners aware of learning styles and strategies so that they become autonomous
learners; teachers take on the role of facilitators.
2.2.2. Task-based language learning

Task-based language learning represents a new approach to language learning that, in

many ways, stands on the opposite end of form-based language learning. It is informed
by SLA research that points to the fact that language learning is influenced by natural
developmental processes which make the assumed direct link between input and intake
improbable. In contrast to form-focused approaches to language learning relying on
accummulation of discrete language items which learners master through practice and
thus make them available for spontaneous language production, task-based learning
specifies the language learning process in terms of communicative tasks, activities that
focus on meaning rather than form, that will help learners to, first of all, develop a
meaning system while the language system will be developed as a result and
consequence of language use. Thanks to their inner ability to find ways of expressing
meaning learners are able to adjust the language input they are exposed to to fit their
communicative purpose. Within this framework language use directs the study of
language forms, which has only a subsidiary role. The basic principles of task-based
learning include organizing the syllabus in terms of tasks that reflect the outcomes of
language use, and relating form and meaning through tasks based on language use in
order for language learning to be effective. Research on how language learning occurs
through tasks has not yet come up with unanimous conclusions. Factors such as timing,
learners' understanding of the aim of the task and previous experience with the topic
have been highlighted as relevant. Still, a general concensus has been reached on the
need for using a form in a meaningful way before it can be internalized by learners.
2.2.3. Computer-assisted language learning (CALL)
Developments in our understanding of the language learning process that resulted in
communicative approaches to FLT went hand in hand with research on the effects of

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modern technology on language learning. The benefits of CALL have been looked into
in a number of studies. Investigations that have attempted to compare CALL classes
with conventional classes have not come up with significant insights because it is not
always easy to find teaching activities that could be considered as comparable variables,
since different tasks are usually done in CALL classes and conventional classes. A more
promising research avenue is reflected in studies that look into how CALL can enhance
the effects of teaching at the language and skills levels.

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CALL has been confirmed as having a great motivational value. It enables shy learners
to practice by speaking up and not feeling anxious as they, for instance, do speechrecognition activities on the computer by themselves. Among the greatest benefits of
CALL are the opportunities learners get for immediate feedback and the fact that they
can work at their own pace and beyond the classroom. The plethora of information
available to learners on the Internet requires help from teachers in organizing learning
from it. Access to authentic materials on the Internet, opportunities to perform in
authentic tasks, e.g. through writing e-mails to key-pals, are very stimulating for FL
learners.
2.3. Content of language teaching
2.3.1. Pronunciation

Teaching pronunciation includes teaching sounds, stress and rhythm, and intonation.
Achieving the native speaker (NS) level is considered by many as not quite possible or
even desirable: some learners feel that they would be giving up their identity if they had
a NS accent. Difficulties in mastering foreign pronunciation can be attributed to sounds
that are non-existent in learners' L1, to sounds that exist in L1 but as allophones, and to
interference from L1 at the stress or intonation levels. Perception of correct
pronunciation is the first necessary step. Activities such as explanation of pronunciation
rules, imitation drills, comparison of learners' pronunciation with NSs' etc. can help
learners master native-like pronunciation. It is still an open issue whether and how
pronunciation should be taught. It is generally considered that, although pronunciation
can be picked up intuitively, it is still useful to teach it explicitly, since there is some
evidence that explicit training can improve it. Normally, the standard accent of a Fl is
taught. However, when several standards exist, social and pragmatic criteria prevail and
usually the standard is chosen according to which speakers are to be the likey
interlocutors of learners. Some aspects of pronunciation (e.g. stress and rhythm) are best
taught as part of teaching other language aspects (e.g. vocabulary). The sound-symbol
correspondence is usually mastered through learning the alphabet of the FL and, in case
of some languages, a host of extra rules about different combinations of sound-symbol
correspondences. Pronunciation error correction is considered to be necessary in case of
errors causing incomprehension.
2.3.2. Grammar
The two basic types of grammar, formal and functional, are reflected in the two
approaches to teaching grammar. Until the 1970s the formal approach prevailed
resulting in a belief that grammatical structures and lexical units should first get

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internalised through practice and this will enable learners to communicate. During the
1970s, this bottom-up approach was replaced by a focus on language use stressed in the
newly emerged communicative approach in FLT: learners should first master the rules
of verbal interaction, that is learners should learn how to communicate first, and this
will lead to a natural development of form mastery. In contemporary FLT the two
approaches are usually combined. Within a structurally oriented approach grammar is
focused on, but is taught through communicative tasks and in a communicative way.
The initial form-focused tasks are extended to include a focus on the communicative
purpose that particular structures may serve. As a reaction from SLA researchers about
grammatical structures not being acquired linearly, modern FLT sprirals the syllabus
and learners deal with the same structure more than once and in increasingly complex
ways. Within a communicatively oriented approach, the starting point is learners'
understanding of content which, then, leads on to their being able to perform
communicative tasks. Focus on form is brought in only when there are grammar-related
problems. After the initial noticing phase learners engage in activities that focus on
particular problematic grammar points.
Other approaches to teaching grammar also exist. Input processing and consiousnessraising stimulate learners to become aware of grammatical structures through tasks that
require them to induce grammatical rules themselves through collaborative work with
other learners. In this particular approach the stress is on learner awareness of the
grammatical structure and not on producing it. In contrast, some experts insist on the
productive phase, since they believe that grammatical structures need to be internalized
through practice so that they are later available for automatic use by learners, whose
attention is left free to focus on communication. Some experts suggest that successful
mastery of grammar implies mastery of form, which is achieved through practicing at
the production level, through mastery of meaning, achieved through associative
learning, and mastery of appropriate use, which is achieved through raising sensitivity
to context. In the contemporary approach to teaching grammar feedback on accuracy of
grammatical structures used is an issue still widely debated. The options discussed
range from encouraging learners to make errors freely so that teachers correct them to
eliciting self-repair.
2.3.3. Vocabulary

In FLT, vocabulary acquisition can be assisted in direct and indirect ways. When
teachers supply word lists or semantic networks of words they employ direct ways of
teaching vocabulary. Indirect ways imply exposing learners to vocabulary in context of
texts, either oral or written. It is generally accepted now that vocabulary teaching needs
to foster and integrate different levels at which a word needs to be processed in order to
be acquired: the phonological, graphological, grammatical, and semantic levels.
Recently, the teaching of vocabulary has to a large extent been informed by vocabulary
acquisition studies. Some researchers advocate implicit learning approaches, which
imply that vocabulary is mainly acquired unconsciously or with a certain extent of
consciousness of a word being new. Others are proponents of explicit learning and
stress that learners learn vocabulary by taking an active part in the process and using
different language learning strategies, such as inferential and metacognitive strategies.
There seems to be an agreement among teaching experts that different kinds of

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LINGUISTICS - Language Teaching Methodology and Second Language Acquisition - J. Mihaljevic Djigunovic, M. Medved
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vocabulary knowledge and different proficiency levels may be related to different

vocabulary learning strategies.
Recently, syllabus designers have been able to make use of word frequency counts and
word patterns obtained from a number of contemporary lexical corpora. Within the
lexical approach developed by Lewis, teachers are advised to focus on teaching lexicogrammatical patterns as language chunks and take usefulness to the learner as a more
important criterion than frequency.

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Bibliography

Brown H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, 480 pp.
Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. [The book offers a good overview of FLT issues from the point of view
of basic principles of language teaching. References to research as well as practical teaching activities
abound]

Doughty C. J. And M. H. Long (eds.) (2003). The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, 888 pp.
Blackwell Publishing Ltd. [An excellent in-depth account of all major concerns of the second language
acquisition field]
Ellis R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition, 824 pp. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [A
seminal book that gives an exhaustive account of relevant issues in the field second language acquisition
mainly from the research point of view]
Gass S. M. and L. Selinker (1994). Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, 357 pp.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [A good introduction to second language acquisition phenomena]
Kaplan R. B. (ed.) (2002). The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics, 641 pp. Oxford: Oxford
University Press [Offers a comprehensive survey of current trends and future directions in FLT and
related disciplines within the field of applied linguistics]
Larsen-Freman D. and M. H. Long (1991). An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research,
398 pp. London and New York: Longman. [One of the first comprehensive surveys of the history of
second language acquisition research issues and research methodology]
Nunan D. (1998). Language Teaching Methodology, 268 pp. London: International Books Distributors
Ltd. [A good resource book on FLT based on relevant insights from linguistics, psychology and
classroom-based research]
Singleton D. and L. Ryan (2004). Language Acquisition: The Age Factor, 2nd Edition, 289 pp.
Multilingual Matters Ltd. [An excellent account of the age related issues in language learning, and their
theoretical and educational dimension]
Stern H. H. (1983). Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching, 582 pp. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. [A landmark book on foreign language teaching theory. Offers a highly comprehensive picture of
the field]
Ur P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Practice and theory, 375 pp. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press [The book presents a highly creative approach to training foreign language teachers.

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LINGUISTICS - Language Teaching Methodology and Second Language Acquisition - J. Mihaljevic Djigunovic, M. Medved
Krajnovic

Integrates theory and practice in an original way. Offers thought-provoking, ready-to-use ideas for raising
awareness of the language teaching process]
Biographical Sketches
Jelena Mihaljevic Djigunovic holds a PhD in applied linguistics and works as a teacher educator at
Zagreb University. She is head of TEFL Section in Zagreb University' English Department. Her major
research interests include motivation in FL learning, learning strategies, early FL learning and FL anxiety.
Professor Mihaljevic Djigunovic has authored two books: one on the influence of affective learner factors
(Role of Affective Factors in Foreign Language Learning) and one on the effect of FL anxiety on
language learning (Foreign Language Anxiety) Besides a number of textbooks for learning English as a
FL she has published over 70 articles on the impact of individual difference variables on language
learning.

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Marta Medved Krajnovic holds an MA in applied linguistics and a PhD in SLA. She is assisstant
professor in the TEFL Section of the University of Zagreb English Department. Her major research
interests include early second language acquisition in natural and institutionalized context,
psycholinguistic and educational aspects of childhood bilingualism and crosslinguistic interaction. In the
area of applied linguistics she is mainly interested in the testing and evaluation of second language
learners communicative competence.

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