English Language Teaching in its Social Context

~ (1985)~ (1FOCUS ON FORM 187focus and/or negative evidence, and which can be left to the care of “natural processes”(White 1987). Other possibilities include studies motivated by implicational markednessrelationships designed to determine the principles governing maximal generalizability ofinstruction (see, e.g. Eckman et ul. 1988). Similarly, one can envisage studies inspired bycurrent models of UG designed to test the claimed potential of certain structures to triggerinstantaneous (re-)setting of a parameter. An example would be Chomsky’s (1 98 1) workon the pro-drop parameter, and the claimed triggering effects of expletives with it and thereas dummy subjects (Hyams 1983; Hilles 1986). Finally, further theoretically motivatedwork, like that of Pienemann (1 984) and Pienemann and Johnston (1 987), is clearly neededon the timing of instruction. Research of these and other kinds will establish the validity andscope of focus on form as a design feature in language teaching methodology.ReferencesAllwright, R. L. (1977) “Language learning through communication practice.” EL7 Docs76/ 3.2-14.Breen, M.P. (1987) “Contemporary paradigms in syllabus design.” Language Teaching20/2.8 1-92, and 20/3.157-174.Chaudron, C. (1988) Second Language Classrooms. Research on Teaching and Learning. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.Chomsky, N. (1981) Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Comrie, B. and Keenan, E.L. (1979) “Noun phrase accessibility revisited”. Language55.649-664.Corder, S.P. (1967) “The significance of learners’ errors.” International Review .f AppliedLinguistics 5.161-170.Crookes, G. (1986) Task classtf;cation: a cross-disciplinary review (Technical Report 4.) Honolulu:Center for Second Language Classroom Research, Social Science Research Institute,University of Hawaii at Manoa.Crookes, G. and Long, M.H. (1987) “Task-based language teaching. A brief report”. ModernEnglishTeaching (Part 1) 8.26-28 + 61, and (Part 2) 9.20-23.Dinsmore, D. (1985) “Waiting for Godot in the EFL classroom.” ELTJournal 39.225-234.Dulay, M. and Bert, H. (1973) ‘Should we teach children syntax?’ Languuge Learning24/2.245-258.Eckman, F.R., Bell, L. and Nelson, D. (1988) “On the generalization of relative clauseinstruction in the acquisition of English as a second language.” Applied Linguistics9/ 1.1-20.Ellis, R. (1984) “The role of instruction in second language acquisition.” Language Learning inFormal and Informal Contexts ed. by D.M. Singleton and D.G. Little, 19-37. Dublin:IRAAL.Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.989) “Are classroom and naturalistic acquisition the same? A study of the classroomacquisition of German word order rules.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition11 /3.305-328.Felix, S. W. (198 1) “The effect of formal instruction on second language acquisition.” LanguageLearning 31 / 1.87-1 12.Gass, S.M. (1982)“From theory to practice.” On TESOL ’81 ed. by M. Hines andW. Rutherford,129-139. Washington, DC: TESOL.Gass, S.M. and Ard, J. (1980) “L2 data: their relevance for language universals.” TESOLQuarterly 14 /4.44345 2.