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This is part of a paper about my teaching style written in 2003 for my Master of Applied Linguistics Program at the University of Southern Queensland. I've divided my paper into 5 parts:
Second Language Acquisition
The nature of language learning
The theory of language learning that has the biggest impact on my teaching, is a promising account of second language acquisition (SLA) presented by Skehan (1998). This is not a "model of learning, or a model of
performance, but a set of principles which can relate the two" (Skehan, 1998, p.88).
Skehan suggests that language learners use two systems: one rule-based and one exemplar-based. These are interwoven in 3 learner stages and a task based approach is utilized to "contrive the movement through all three stages" (Skehan, 1998, p.91).
A. Rule and exemplar systems
The rule-based system consists of rules and individual words. It allows for greater flexibility than the exemplar-based system in that language learners can generate creative utterances. Using the rule-based system requires a lot of work and slows down communication (Skehan, 1998).
The exemplar-based system consists of memorized phrases. Using this system allows for quicker communication, but it is less adaptable. As a result, learners can not create new meanings using the exemplar-based system. (Skehan, 1998).
Language users access both systems according to Robinson who found that "rule-based knowledge...and implicit memory-based knowledge interact in decision making" (Robinson, 1987, p.242). Skehan (1998), drawing on work from Bates et al. (1988), Nelson (1991) and Carr and Curren (1994), argues that the two systems are blended in the following stages: lexicalization, syntactilization, and relexicalization (p.90).
B. Learners' Stages
First, in the lexicalization stage, learners use "contextually coded exemplars" (Skehan, 1998, p.90). Then, in the syntactilization stage, learners gain the benefits of the rule-based system. Finally, in the relexicalization stage, learners create new examplars using the rules from the syntactilization stage. Movement through the three stages ensures that learners will have access to both rule-based knowledge and memory-based knowledge.
To facilitate movement through the three stages, Skehan (1998) calls for
a task-based approach in which "meaning primacy and communicational pressure make for exemplar-based learning" (p.91). In addition, "there should be continual pressure on learners to analyze the linguistic units they are using, so that they can access this same material as a rule-based system" (Skehan, 1998, p.91).
As a result, my teaching consists of unrehearsed communicative tasks. In addition to exemplar-based communication, unrehearsed tasks force students beyond the lexicalization stage and into the syntactilization stage as they find that the exemplar-based system can not express all the necessary meanings required for a given task. Students rely in part on the rule-based system in order to accomplish the communicative tasks, and grammar and vocabulary exercises encourage rule-based learning. Task repetition and language recycling give students access to the relexicalization stage as some of the novel utterances created using the rule-based system become accessible
through the exemplar-based system after repeated use in communicative tasks.