Form-Focused Instruction in Communicative Language Teaching: Implications for Grammar Textbooks

Abstract

This article examines a number of adult ESL grammar textbooks via an authordesigned checklist to analyze how well they incorporate the findings from research in communicative language teaching (CLT) and in form1ocused instruction (FFI). It concludes that although afew textbooks incorporate some of the research findings in CLT and FFI, they are not necessarily those chosen by the teaching institutions. The Need for New GrammarIt has long been accepted by practitioners and academics alike that communicative language teaching (CLT) is the preferred way ESL should be taught (Savignon, 1991). Research in several CLT programs has, however, continually uncovered serious limitations in the exclusive CLT model. Studies done in the 1980s and 1990s showed that French immersion in Canada, one of the best examples of true CLT as it exists today (Krashen, 1985), consistently produced students who did not develop native-like abilities in written or oral production or sociolinguistic skills even after six or seven years of instruction (Genesse, 1987;Harley, 1991;Harley & Swain, 1984;Lapkin, Swain, & Cummins, 1983;Lyster, 1994;Swain, 1985;Swain & Lapkin, 1982). Similarly, research in CLT-based intensive ESL programs in Quebec (Spada & Lightbown, 1989) and New Brunswick (Lightbown, 1992) has also found that although the fluency of students in the CLT programs differs significantly from that of their counterparts in more traditional programs, there is often a lack of grammatical accuracy (Lightbown, 1991(Lightbown, , 1992Lightbown & Spada, 1990). These findings suggest that some form of grammatical instruction needs to be included in CLT programs.This grammatical instruction, known as form-focused instruction 1 (FFI), was originally designed to be instruction "that overtly draws students' attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning or communication" (Long, 1991, pp. 45-46). Recently, however, some researchers have questioned this exclusively reactive approach to FFI and have suggested that more isolated proactive teaching is necessary for some students to learn some forms (see Spada, 1997 for a review). Further, the issue of how explicit the FFI needs to be to have learners notice the gap between their language production and that of native speakers TESL CANADA JOURNAUREVUE TESL DU CANADA VOL. 18, NO.1, WINTER 2000 47 is largely unclear (Schmidt, 1990). Research does suggest, however, that explicit teaching and/or feedback may be required to learn many, but not all, aspects of a second language (Spada, 1997). Regardless of which approach is favored, it is clear that the grammar teaching must not be done in isolation, but should be incorporated into CLT. This is necessary as research into both CLT and FFI suggests that learners need both communication to obtain high levels of fluency and form-oriented instruction to reduce errors (Long, 1990(Long, , 1991Savignon;Spada, 1997). Issues in Grammar TextbooksTraditionally, authors and textbook publishers have designed ESL gr...

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