Curtin University, Perth

Title: The Importance of Focus-on-Form in Communicative Language Teaching

Abstract

Long (1991) claimed that L2 acquisition is best promoted when learners are led to attend to form in a context where they are trying to express their meaning intentions. He coined the term Focus on Form to refer to “the occasional shifts in learners’ attention from meaning to a linguistic form that can occur while the overriding focus remains on communicating”. It is clear from this definition that Long viewed “Focus on Form” as a process feature of the interaction that occurs during the performance of a communicative task, a view that Long (2015) has subsequently affirmed.  However, Doughty & Williams (1998) broadened the definition of Focus on Form to include various types of form-focused instruction that involve form-function mapping (e.g. Input Processing Instruction and Consciousness-Raising Tasks). I will discuss whether the term is best kept to refer to the process features of classroom interaction or whether a wider definition is needed (see Ellis, 2015). I will also outline the variety of proactive and reactive techniques that teachers can use to direct students’ attention to form in whole-class meaning-centred interaction and argue the advantages of addressing form in this way rather than through traditional explicit instruction. Finally, I will present the results of some research that testifies to the effectiveness of Focus on Form in helping learners achieve greater linguistic accuracy.

Bio

Rod Ellis is currently a Research Professor in the School of Education, Curtin University in Perth Australia. He is also a professor at Anaheim University, a visiting professor at Shanghai International Studies University as part of China’s Chang Jiang Scholars Program and an Emeritus Professor of the University of Auckland.  He has recently been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. His published work includes articles and books on second language acquisition, language teaching and teacher education. His latest book is Becoming and Being an Applied Linguist (John Benjamins).  Other recent publications include are Language Teaching Research and Language Pedagogy in 2012, (Wiley-Blackwell), (with Natsuko Shintani) Exploring Language Pedagogy and Second Language Acquisition Research I n 2014 (Routledge) and Understanding Second Language Acquisition 2nd Edition in 2015 (Oxford University Press). He has also published several English language textbooks, including Impact Grammar (Pearson: Longman).  He has held university positions in six different countries and has also conducted numerous consultancies and seminars throughout the world.