rather learning-centeredness. SLA and FLA research has led to more
task and project-oriented approaches and methodologies as well as a
rethinking of aims and competencies to be fostered in language learning.For William Grabe, the most important positive effect is in the move
toward ethical use of tests as a major contribution to teaching:“So much
depends on tests, citizenship, grants, jobs. Test developers need to be aware
of the uses and misuses their tests can be used for.”Elana Shohamy refers to
“tests as power-tools and tests as policy, with tests driving the curriculum.
With that, ethical aspects of testing became important.”William Grabe:
Studies like those conducted by Norris and Ortega (2000) may tell us
something about the advantages of form-focused instruction, but how
does that reach the classroom? And then there are many types of class-
rooms;first world classrooms, third world classrooms, bilingual ones,
monolingual ones, how does that basic research relate to all those different
classrooms?Kathleen Bailey sees the work of Labov and other sociolinguists, that has
led to a better understanding of language varieties and a rejection (at least
among applied linguists) of the notion of standard and non-standard varieties,
as a positive effect on teaching and learning.
The growing awareness that there is not one perfect language teaching
method based on research on learning styles, strategy use and other indi-
vidual differences may be one of the most significant contributions, but it is
also something that“the larger public”will not completely appreciate or
accept, since there will continue to be claims that such and such is the per-
fect way to learn a language in three weeks. With good marketing and
pseudo research it will attract attention, and the disillusion it generates will
rarely become public. Research showing that such magical methods do not
exist is less likely to hit the headlines of popular magazines.
Related to this is the renewed interest that Peter Robinson sees in aptitude
treatment interaction:
There is an increasing sense of the importance of individual differences in
areas such as motivation and aptitude, and of the need to accommodate
them instructionally, and this is perhaps the most important contribution
work in AL can make to education, I feel, and it is a growing area.Linked to this are the moderately positive impressions Jean-Marc Dewaele has:Nothing massive, because there are no miraculous solutions. But the
work on motivation and group dynamics has led to reflection on how to
create a positive foreign language environment. Also, the importance of
authentic use of the FL has strengthened the case for Erasmus exchanges126 The impact of AL research