Plan the second language course situationally rather than grammatically¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article recommends organizing an adult second language course around real-life situations in which speakers of the target language actually find themselves, rather than around a grammatical syllabus. It reports that "Planning a second language course situationally rather than grammatically... proved to be sufficient for significant target language improvement," for example introducing people before asking them to interview each other rather than presenting a lesson on the present tense before one on the past tense. Teachers may require students to develop reports, make interviews, and produce dialogues and skits.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Careful planning so that students have some contact with and participation in the target language every day.

Constraints¶

• The recommendation derives from limited experimental research with thirty adult multi-national students over fifteen weeks.

Target Learners¶

• adult second language students
• immigrant learners of English

Target Learning Goals¶

• target language improvement in structural and communication skills

Affordances¶

• First Second Language Acquisition Similarity

Related Strategies¶

• Use situational communication exercises, normal speech, ad hoc grammar explanations, and echo-expansion correction
• Have students verbally share personal life and reading experiences with others in exploratory dialogues

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Gallagher, W. K. (1976). Facilitating the Immigrant's Learning a Second Language in the Classroom. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED136593