Unit 10 · Exposure and focus on form

Exposure means hearing and/or reading a foreign language all around us, without studying it, so that we pick it up automatically; focus on form means paying attention to how the language is pronounced and written and how its grammar and vocabulary are formed and used. Experts believe learners need both — together with interaction — to learn a foreign language successfully.

◆What are exposure and focus on form?

Across the centuries people have studied how foreign languages are learnt. Many experts now believe that one main way we learn a foreign language is by exposureExposure to language means being in contact with language by hearing it or reading it. We can learn another language through exposure to it. We can learn a language without realising we are learning it and without studying it, in the same way that children lea… click to keep open · see glossary to it, i.e. by hearing and/or reading it all around us and without studying it. They say we then pick it up automatically, i.e. learn it without realising. This, of course, is the main way in which children learn their first language (the language they learn as a baby).

Experts also say that to learn a foreign language, particularly as adults, exposure to language is not enough. We also need to focus on formPaying attention to the words/parts of words that make a language structure, or to spelling or pronunciation, e.g. showing learners that the present perfect simple is made up of have + past participle. click to keep open · see glossary: to focus our attention on the form of the foreign language, i.e. notice how it is pronounced and written, and how its grammar and vocabulary are formed and used. They say that to learn language we also need to use language to interact.

◆Key concepts

Have you learnt English more successfully from formal study or just by picking it up?

Research has identified three main ways in which we learn a foreign language. Firstly, experts talk of us acquiring language, or language acquisitionThe process of learning a language naturally by hearing, reading and using it, rather than by studying rules. click to keep open · see glossary. This means the same as picking up language. They say that to learn a foreign language successfully we need lots of exposure to it and that we learn from being surrounded by language. We need to hear and read language which is rich in variety, interesting to us and just difficult enough for us, i.e. just beyond our level, but not too difficult. Acquisition then takes place over a period of time without our realising that we are learning. We listen to and read items of language many times before we begin to use them (silent periodThe time when learners who are beginning to learn a first (or second) language prefer to listen (or read) before producing the language; e.g. babies have a silent period when they listen to their parents before starting to try to speak themselves. click to keep open · see glossary), unconsciously working out (calculating/deducing) their meaning and form.

Secondly, experts believe that to learn language successfully we need to use it in interactionInteraction is two-way communication between listener and speaker, or reader and text. Interactive strategies are the ways used, especially in speaking, to keep people involved and interested in what is said or to keep communication going, e.g. eye contact, us… click to keep open · see glossary with other people. We need to use language to express ourselves and make our meanings clear to them, and to understand them. The person we are talking to will let us know, directly or indirectly, if they have understood us or not. If they have not understood, we need to try again, using other language (paraphrasingSaying or writing something again in different words, e.g. to explain meaning or to avoid a word you do not know. click to keep open · see glossary), until we manage to communicate successfully. It is this process of struggling to make meaning clear which helps learners experiment with language, forcing them to try out structures, chunks and vocabulary they have already learnt, to see if they help them get their message across.

Thirdly, research shows that foreign language learners also need to focus on form. This means that they need to pay attention not just to the meaning of language but also to its formal features, e.g. pronunciation, word order, affixes, spelling, grammatical structures.

Nowadays, it is thought that, depending on our age and learning style, we learn language best by picking it up, by interacting with others and by focusing on form. This suggests that several approaches to language teaching which were commonly used in the past may not be sufficiently helpful to learners, e.g. the Grammar-Translation method which focused only on grammar and translating texts, the Structural Approach which focused only on learning and practising structures, or communicative approaches which just focused on using language fluently in communication. But the research still continues, and we do not yet fully understand how foreign languages are learnt.

◆Key concepts and the language teaching classroom

Read these tips and tick the ones which are most important for you:

• To acquire language, learners need to hear and read a wide variety of language at the right level for them. They need exposure to language both inside and outside the classroom. In the classroom they can listen to recordings of e.g. stories or songs, or they can read e.g. magazine articles — maybe without any accompanying comprehension or language tasks. Outside class, they can also read e.g. graded readers and maybe use the internet to either read or listen to things that interest them — without tasks to complete so that they can just take in the language.
• To acquire language it is not sufficient just to listen to or read language. It has to be language at the right level. This means language that is just a little challenging for learners because it's a little beyond their current level. Teachers can choose recordings and reading materials at the right level of difficulty.
• Learners need time to acquire language. They may need a silent period before they can produce new language and we cannot expect them to learn things immediately. Learning language is a slow process that necessarily involves making mistakes.
• Learners need to use language to interact. In the classroom this can be with classmates or the teacher. This gives them the opportunity to experiment with language and find out how successful their communication is. Pair and group work give the opportunity for interaction, as do problem-solving activities and project work. When they try to communicate, learners will often make mistakes. When classmates don't understand these, the learners will be forced to paraphrase what they have said, which is a valuable learning process.
• Learners can benefit from opportunities to focus on forms of language. There are many ways teachers can help learners notice forms (become aware of particular language), e.g. by presenting new target language to learners, by asking them to find certain grammatical patterns in listening or reading texts, by pointing out useful language after they have completed a task, and also through correction.
• Some learners may like to learn and/or are used to learning in particular ways. This means that teachers should consider learners' age, learning experience and learning styles when deciding how to teach. For example, focusing on form by asking learners to highlight conjunctions in a text may be much more effective with older learners than with younger learners. Correction may be the most suitable way to focus on form with younger learners, but some older learners may dislike being corrected in front of classmates.

✎Follow-up activity

💡Reflect

🔍Discovery activities

✎TKT practice tasks

These multiple-choice tasks are exactly as in the book, but interactive: pick your answers, check your score, and retry anytime. The scoring uses the official answer key from the back of the book.

📖Glossary terms in this unit

Key terms highlighted in this unit — study them on the flashcards page.