education rather than any preferred, singular teaching method or uniform
progression of SLA.”The relation between AL and language teaching con-
tinues to be complex. Celeste Kinginger feels that she“has to believe that
there is a role for AL in language teaching, if only as a catalyst for change
when the surrounding circumstances permit”.
7.3.1 Vocabulary acquisition
A small but very active group of researchers has done extensive research on
vocabulary. The research on vocabulary has exploded as Paul Meara found
out when he wanted to continue his very useful bibliographies on vocabu-
lary (www.lognostics.co.uk/varga): they have grown exponentially and it is
basically impossible now to try to be complete. Research on vocabulary
serves as an intersection between areas such as reading and literacy and AL,
and as such is a strong connection point betweenfields.
Paul Nation notes that:
there has been an enormous revival in attention to vocabulary. Over 30
per cent of the vocabulary research in the last 100 years has appeared in
the last ten years. In spite of this, AL theory has little to say about
vocabulary and grammar dominates.Norbert Schmitt mentions that traditional linguistics theory did not
focus on vocabulary, and adds that there is still no overall theory of voca-
bulary acquisition. But the newer usage based theories do provide useful
guidance on the role of frequency of input on vocabulary acquisition. How-
ever, he points out that research has shown, at least in L2 contexts, that the
frequency of input (and often the saliency as well) is not enough to
ensure acquisition of the large amounts of vocabulary necessary to use a
language well. Thus, vocabulary needs to be taught in a principled way, with
some explicit instruction, while maximizing exposure both in and outside
the classroom (e.g. by extensive reading). Part of this approach includes the
move from single word learning to learning formulaic sequences or what
Smiskova-Gustafsson (2013) calls Conventional Ways of Saying Things
(CWOSTS). Also, the use of corpus analysis can be a useful guide in the
principled selection of words to be learned, rather than relying solely on a
teacher’s intuition.
7.3.2 Task-based language teaching (TBLT)
While task-based learning is seen as a major development in language
teaching, the research it is supposedly based on is not seen as very strong
generally. Albert Weideman comments that task complexity cannot be
defined and that the way a task is used in teaching is much more relevant.
Martin Bygate comments:
84 Trends II