© 1997 by Oxford University Press
Articles |
Combining form and meaning
Taught EFL in Austria, Thailand, Brunei, and Spain, and is currently a lecturer at the University of York, Norwegian Study Centre. He has an RSA Diploma in TEFL, an MSC in Teaching English from Aston University and a DPhil from the University of York. His current research is applying CA methodology to the analysis of L2 classroom interaction.
One of the most controversial areas of L2 pedagogy concerns the extent to which classroom teaching should focus on form and accuracy, or meaning and fluency. This article illustrates the problems inherent in an extreme focus on either of these alternatives. It is argued that current language teaching theory views a ‘dual’, simultaneous focus on form and accuracy as well as meaning and fluency as highly desirable. However, evidence is lacking as to whether and how such a dual focus can be achieved in practice. There follows an account of a search of a database of L2 lesson transcripts for such evidence, followed by an analysis of the features of an authentic example of dual focus.