Introduction

For many students who are learning a foreign language, there may be little opportunity to access the language outside of the classroom. This is usually because they are learning this language in an environment where it isn’t commonly spoken and because there are no links to the language in their family background. For other students, the language they are learning may be part of their cultural heritage, meaning they have had some previous exposure to it through family members. In recent years, with the development of technology, communication across space and cultures is now possible in a way that it wasn’t in the past. Yet, even so, it will often be necessary for the teacher to facilitate these opportunities in order for students to be able to take advantage of them. This chapter focuses, then, on how the teacher can create an optimal environment for language learning. It is exactly because of the reduced opportunities for learners to access the language outside of the classroom that what happens in the classroom assumes even greater importance.

The Importance of Input

To learn a language, students need input. By input we mean language that is available to them, anything that they can see (read) or hear. This input is necessary because it constitutes the data that they process for language learning (Reference Ellis and ShintaniEllis & Shintani, 2014). Reference GassGass (1997, p. 1) claims that input is ‘the single most important concept of language acquisition’. The premise is that no learning can take place without access to language input.

Students don’t just need any quantity of input – they need large amounts of it. There is wide acknowledgement of this in the research literature. In his list of ten principles of effective instructed language learning, Reference EllisEllis (2005, p. 38) includes input:

Similarly, Reference LightbownLightbown (2014) notes that the learner, in order to gain proficiency, requires thousands of hours of exposure and engagement. Children learning their first language have precisely these conditions for acquisition. Estimates are that by the age of 4, a child has had tens of thousands of hours of exposure to their first language! It is not hard to see that by comparison, the learner in the language classroom is at a disadvantage.

In the school environment the time allocated to learning a language may be similar to that of any other subject (or in some schools, even less). Content is determined by curriculum priorities and tradition, rather than by a consideration of what would be best from a pedagogical point of view (Reference SternStern, 1985). So, in other words, decisions about the time allocated to language learning are not typically made according to what learners might need in order to obtain a reasonable level of proficiency, much less what they might need to become fluent speakers. In a review of studies, Reference Collins and MuñozCollins and Muñoz (2016) suggest that it is still typical for foreign languages in many contexts to be taught in brief lessons several times a week and that outside of these lessons, learners may rarely be exposed to the language (Reference LightbownLightbown, 2014). Allowing only a couple of hours per week for language learning has been termed the ‘drip-feed’ approach (Reference SternStern, 1985), yet it remains the reality for many. This is concerning, because it is widely accepted that there is a strong relationship between the amount of exposure to language, and learning outcomes. Insufficient time is likely to impact negatively on language learning success.

The reason that the amount of input in language learning is so important is that it is believed that learning takes place incrementally as learners are exposed to input over and over again. Each time a learner is exposed to a word, or a linguistic item in input, a connection is potentially reinforced in the learner’s developing language system. To give a simple example, a beginner learner of English will often hear the phrase ‘how are you?’ so that, before long, when they hear the word ‘how …’ in a context when they are being greeted by someone, they will know that ‘are you?’ will most likely follow. When this happens, the words in this phrase have been ‘chunked’ or associated together in their developing language system enough for them to be able to anticipate it. This process is explained by a ‘usage-based’ theory of language learning, that is, the more language is used, the more automatic it becomes. This is a theory that is also used to describe how learning in general takes place, not just language learning.

Another important reason for exposing learners to lots of language input is that comprehension of language precedes production. Comprehension provides the main source of learning required for language production (Reference Keenan, MacWhinney, Dechert and RaupachKeenan & MacWhinney, 1987). In other words, learning vocabulary items or new aspects of grammar does not start with the production of these forms, but rather with attending to them and understanding them in language input. In fact, for some learners, there is an initial reluctance to produce language, documented in the research literature (Reference Saville-TroikeSaville-Troike, 1988) as a ‘silent period’, that is, a time when they acquire language through input only, and are not ready to engage in language output.

We talked to Margaret, a teacher of French to Year 11 students. She felt that there is not always enough emphasis on the importance of exposing students to language input. With reference to an in-service course she had been involved in, she said:

Nation’s Four Strands

Reference NationNation (2007)

argues that a well-balanced language course should consist of four roughly equal strands:

As we have mentioned, according to Paul Reference NationNation (2007), exposure to meaning-focused input should make up approximately one quarter of a teaching programme. Meaning-focused input refers to spoken or written input where the learner attends to the message or ideas being communicated (i.e. attends to what is being expressed rather than just to how it is being expressed). Nation has written this as a general guide for all language learning contexts; it could be argued, perhaps, that there should be a greater emphasis on input (receptive ability in a language) and less emphasis on output (productive ability) at beginning stages of language learning. This would be the case especially in environments where there is little access to the language outside of the classroom and because, as we have seen, it is from learning to comprehend input that students will build up the language resources that they need for producing language output.

Maximising Target Language Input in the Language Classroom: Teacher Talk

In order to ‘drive’ language learning, one very important and powerful way that teachers may maximise learner exposure to input is through teacher talk. That is, they will use the target language as much as possible in the classroom. In this way, the language becomes the medium as well as the object of instruction (Reference EllisEllis, 2005).

For some, it might seem that this is not possible, especially with younger or beginner learners. Linda, a highly experienced teacher of both French and Spanish, explains how initially she would use the target language in the classroom only with her more proficient Year 11 learners, those who had been learning the language for 2 to 3 years. She explains what happened when she tried to use the target language in the classroom with her juniors:

However, Linda later explains what happened when, thanks to the learning that she did during an in-service course she was attending, she was encouraged to use target language with her junior students.

This is a good example of how Linda’s lower expectations, that is, thinking that they were not capable of using the target language much, had initially limited her students. In Chapter 1, we discussed how powerful high school teacher expectations can be in enabling students to succeed (Reference Rubie-DaviesRubie-Davies, 2007, Reference Tomlinson2014). Linda explains that it was through using ‘formulaic expressions’ or formulaic language with her students that she was able to sustain the practice of using the target language in the classroom. Once her students had learnt to understand this formulaic language, they had the ‘tools’ that they needed in order to be able to understand when she spoke in the target language. Formulaic language is language that is used repeatedly or a lot in everyday communication. It can consist of short phrases as well as single words. For example, some of the formulaic language that Jessica and Nicole used in their French and Spanish classrooms (as we will see in Examples 3.1 and 3.2) were:

These formulaic expressions were associated with the classroom routines that these teachers had established in their classrooms as a way of managing the learning context. The learners heard these expressions repeatedly. They also heard them in a context that helped them understand them, because they were familiar with the procedures and processes that were typical of their classroom, and so they knew what to expect. Using formulaic language for classroom routines, therefore, is a very powerful way in which learners can be exposed to input. This is further demonstrated in Examples 3.1 and 3.2.

In Example 3.2, taken from Nicole’s Year 10 classroom, we see another type of formulaic expression, that is, a language chunk that can be used to combine with other phrases to communicate a wide range of meanings. Nicole uses the phrase ‘vamos a… ’ in many different ways:

It is obvious that the phrase ‘vamos a’ is one that is often used in Spanish and thus very useful for beginner learners to understand (and learn to use). From this short extract we can see that Nicole’s students hear this ‘chunk’ used repeatedly and in a context that helps them to understand it. At the beginning of a lesson, due to the routines that they have learnt to be familiar with, Nicole’s students will expect her to be telling them about their goals for the lesson. This will help them consolidate the meaning of ‘vamos a …’ Researchers also believe that, through being exposed to such formulaic language, students can ‘extract patterns’ from language and learn how the structure or grammar of the language works (N. Reference EllisEllis, 1996). For example, students might just learn ‘vamos a empezar’/‘we are going to start’, as a ‘chunk’ at first. Later, as they hear other examples of phrases with ‘vamos’ (‘vamos a continuar’/‘vamos a practicar’) they might learn that ‘vamos’ is followed by ‘a’ plus a verb, and they might understand this incidentally without needing it to be pointed out to them, and even begin to use ‘vamos’ themselves with other verbs to communicate their own meanings.

Tania, a teacher of Japanese, working with Year 9 beginner learners in their first year of learning Japanese, speaks about how exposing her students to formulaic language had powerful consequences for their language learning:

For some teachers, the idea of using only the target language with beginner language learners may still seem daunting. Jessica, teaching French to beginner learners, was asked what advice she might have for a teacher who was afraid or reluctant to do so. She replied:

Other Sources of Input in the Classroom

It is perhaps reassuring to realise that teachers cannot be the sole source of input! Learners need greater amounts of input than can be provided by their teacher, and they also need to be exposed to different varieties of language (see below). One effective way of giving learners exposure to large amounts of written input in the target language is to help them access books. Reference Elley and MangubhaiElley and Mangubhai (1981) set up an extensive reading programme for their learners of English in Fiji. They called it a ‘book flood’ and gave them copious amounts of books to read for pleasure. They found that these students improved both their reading and their listening comprehension.

Additional opportunities for learners to access language input through aural or visual media include: listening to radio, music, or other audio media, watching films or TV, and accessing social media and other online material. There may also be opportunities in the community for learners to be exposed to the target language.

Some of the opportunities we have referred to may expose learners to authentic language material. By this we mean written or spoken language that is not intended for learners, but rather for those who already speak the language and, in particular, those for whom it is a first language. Examples might be: listening to a commentary on a football match in Spain or watching the tour de France on French television. This may also expose students to different varieties of the language, and also allow them to hear different accents, as well as giving them opportunities to listen to other people using the language who, like them, have learnt it as a second language. Giving learners access to this type of material is important because it is ‘real’; it is the sort of language they are likely to come across in contexts where the language is used and, also, because doing so is usually very motivating and interesting for learners.

Supporting the Learner to Understand

We have tended to focus thus far in this chapter on the challenge for the teacher in providing the learner with large amounts of language input. However, it is important to consider that the learner also will be challenged as they try to make sense of unfamiliar input in the language they are learning. This is not a bad thing because research tells us that one of the aspects of learning that promotes engagement on the part of the learner is ‘environmental challenge’, a concept which was introduced in Chapter 1 (Reference Shernoff, Ruzek and SinhaShernoff et al., 2017, p. 204). Some of the aspects of environmental challenge that are associated with student engagement are lesson demands (Reference Goetz, Ludtke, Nett, Keller and LipnevichGoetz et al., 2013) and high expectations for student accomplishment (Reference Rubie-Davies, Peterson, Sibley and RosenthalRubie-Davies et al., 2015), features that appear to have been typical of the classrooms of the teachers we have referred to in this chapter. However, Reference Shernoff, Ruzek and SinhaShernoff et al. (2017) maintain that environmental challenge must be combined with environmental support. In other words, high expectations have to be accompanied by initiatives to scaffold the learner to success. We will now consider ways in which learners may be helped to understand target language input that they are exposed to in the classroom. In other words: how can teachers help to make input comprehensible for students?

Earlier in this chapter, Tania, a teacher of Japanese to beginner learners, talked about ‘flooding’ learners with the target language. However, we will all have had the experience of hearing or reading totally incomprehensible input in a foreign language and it would seem obvious that unless we are given some help or clues in making a connection between what we hear or read and what it means, we will not learn. This, then, is the challenge for the teacher: how to ‘manage’ the input so that it is accessible for the level of the learner. It does not, of course, mean that the learner must understand all language input, but that they need to be able to make some links between what they hear (or read) and what it means.

In the following example, Jessica, a very experienced teacher of French, introduces a new classroom activity to her students who are in their first year of learning the language. As you read this extract, notice the strategies that Jessica uses to help guarantee that her input is comprehensible for her learners.

One of the key principles guiding the strategies that Jessica uses here is that of redundancy. Jessica gives more information than is necessary for comprehension, but this extra, redundant, information (repetitions, reformulations, examples, translations) helps make this target input more comprehensible. Here we see Jessica providing support for her learners face-to-face. She could also have used gesture or whole-body cues/movement. In online learning contexts (see Chapter 7), learners can make use of a wide range of multimodal resources delivered digitally to support comprehension, often accompanied by emoji or images (tweets, texts, chats, email).

It is most probable, although we can’t be sure unless we ask her, that Jessica also used another common way of making her input comprehensible: she used grammar and vocabulary that was adapted to the proficiency level of her learners. In terms of vocabulary, this would most likely be vocabulary that occurred with high frequency in the language. In terms of grammar, Jessica probably used utterances that were shorter and structures that were less complex. Research shows that teachers tend to adjust their language so that it is appropriate to the level of their students naturally, although there is some evidence to suggest that not everyone is equally good at doing this (Reference Ellis and ShintaniEllis & Shintani, 2014).

Other ways in which teachers may make what they say comprehensible are:

• Adjusting speed: slowing speech down and making greater use of pauses

• Adjusting volume: speaking more loudly and as clearly and distinctly as possible.(Reference Ellis and ShintaniEllis & Shintani, 2014)

Engaging Students with Input

So far in this chapter we have been primarily focused on the ‘how’ of input, now we need to look at the very important aspect of ‘what’ input. We will start with the notion of topic.

In research on student engagement,

three features have been found to be important: interest,

concentration, and enjoyment

(Reference ShernoffShernoff, 2013; Reference Shernoff, Ruzek and SinhaShernoff et al., 2017). It would seem obvious that teachers need to choose topics that they know will motivate their students to attend to the language they hear or read (see Chapter 2). Margaret, the teacher of Year 11 students of French, had her students listen as she talked about herself and her life as a 6-year-old, even bringing in some of her worn toys from that period of her life. One student said about this lesson:

In talking about her approach to teaching, Margaret recalled her own experience as a language learner. She talked about how motivating it was for her to read stories in French.

Many students respond to well to games. When these and other activities are designed so that all instructions and materials can only be accessed in the target language, a natural need is created for students to engage with and work to understand what they hear. This type of learning opportunity is likely to lead to learning (Reference Laufer and HulstijnLaufer & Hulstijn, 2001) and to foster concentration and enjoyment, as we discussed in Chapter 2.

Earlier on in this chapter we focused on the importance of teacher talk in the classroom being in the target language as much as possible. In the research on teacher talk, one focus is on the types of questions that teachers ask in class. Often teachers ask ‘display’ questions, that is, they require students to give an answer that the teacher already anticipates. An example is the question that Jessica asks when describing the activity that her students are going to do: ‘Qu’est-ce que c’est un jeu?’ (what is a ‘jeu’?) She knows what the word means, but is asking the question to draw their attention to the word ‘jeu’ and to establish whether they know it. Researchers (e.g. Reference LeeLee, 2006) claim that teachers need to ask genuine (also known as referential) questions, as well as ‘display’ questions, because these are how questions are more typically used in everyday conversation. They need to give students the opportunity to be language users, not just language learners. In other words, they need to give learners opportunities to use language the way that it is used in the real world. We can see this in Example 3.4, an extract from Shona’s classroom, where she talks to her student, at the beginning of the lesson, about the apple that she is eating. When teachers use the target language to relate to their students in this way, they form and strengthen relationships with them. We saw in Chapter 1 that positive relationships are an important aspect of providing learners with the type of support that they need to learn (Reference Shernoff, Ruzek and SinhaShernoff et al., 2017). There is also evidence that genuine or referential questions are more likely to lead to the type of language output that helps students learn (see Chapter 4).

The fact of being able to ‘function’ successfully in a classroom where the target language is spoken can be very motivating and energising for students. This is something that Jessica refers to. She concludes a discussion about the challenges of using teacher talk or target language in the classroom with a strong endorsement of its effectiveness:

Input + 1

We have stressed the importance of comprehensible input. In this section we argue that input also needs to present a challenge for the language learner. The formula ‘i + 1’ represents this notion (Reference KrashenKrashen, 1985). Students need access to input that is just beyond their easy comprehension (in other words, ‘plus 1’). That is, input that is within their reach for understanding, but which requires them to ‘work’ or to struggle a little in order to comprehend what they hear or read. In this way, they will make new connections between language input and what this input means and/or how it is structured to convey this meaning. If students are exposed only to language they are familiar with and can understand easily, then they will not be challenged to progress further in their language learning. However, Paul Reference NationNation (2006) suggests that, in order for learners to be likely to ‘pick up’, independently, without teacher assistance, new language as they read or listen to challenging input, only a small amount of language should be unfamiliar. In every hundred words there should be one or two unfamiliar words, and no more than five. In other words, ninety-five to ninety-eight per cent of words should already be familiar.

In the classroom, the experienced teacher can provide help to facilitate comprehension in order to, as mentioned earlier, support learners to cope with challenge. In the extract below, Nicole provides her learners with input + 1, but also is careful to ‘scaffold’ this activity to facilitate their learning.

Just prior to the extract shown in Example 3.5, Nicole has had her students of Spanish watch a video that shows people purchasing items in a market in Mexico. Watching this video is part of a larger activity that the students are preparing for, which is to compare the differences between supermarkets and markets. The language that they will listen to as they watch the video is challenging for Nicole’s students, who are in their second year of studying Spanish (Year 10). Notice the ‘work’ that Nicole has her students undertake as they are exposed to this challenging input and how she helps them by breaking the challenge into manageable components for them.

After listening to the sound only the first time, the students then watch the video, at the same time listening for new words they don’t know to add to their list. This second time they are also thinking about how markets might be similar to or different from supermarkets as they listen. So each time the learners listen to/watch this video they are given a goal which guides their listening/viewing.

Determining whether input is ‘linguistically rich’ for a given group of students will of course require some knowledge of their proficiency. Where students in a class vary greatly in proficiency, using differentiated instruction to cater for all needs is important (Reference TomlinsonTomlinson, 2014). In fact, in Chapters 1 and 2, we discussed how one of the indicators of a positive classroom environment is having learning activities that match students’ needs. Sometimes, it may be appropriate for all students to work at the same task but for different students to have varying degrees of scaffolding to successfully complete it. For example, in the listening task described above, lower proficiency students, new to the language, could be given some of the words they will hear along with images, so that they only need circle the words they hear rather than have to write them down.

We have stressed the importance of comprehensible input while also acknowledging that it is not enough just to ensure that input is comprehensible: it also needs to be comprehended. In other words, the teacher needs not only to provide the conditions for learning, learning needs to occur! In order for learning to take place, the learner needs to notice and pay attention to the language that they are being exposed to. In particular, they need to notice what words mean, how they sound, what they collocate with (i.e., what words tend to occur with others), how they change and when – the patterns of language that are new to them. Of course, it is the role of the teacher, too, to help students ‘notice’. In Chapter 5 we will return to this idea again. In this chapter we argue that having students notice and pay attention to aspects of language is necessary; in Chapter 5 we will discuss in some detail how this might happen and give examples.

Maximising Input Outside the Classroom

Earlier in this chapter we referred to the fact that the second language learner is often disadvantaged in comparison to the first language learner because they have so much less exposure to the target language. Certainly, this is the case if the only access that the learner has to the language is while they are in the classroom. Increasingly, however, especially with advances in technology (see Chapter 7), the learner has ways of accessing target language input outside of the classroom. We asked a number of teachers for suggestions of ways in which they thought that learners could access target language output outside of the classroom.

Jessica comments:

James, also a teacher of beginner learners of French, explains how he attempts to give his students opportunities outside of the classroom:

Shona comments that her Year 11 students in their third year of learning Japanese watch anime in Japanese with English subtitles. Another teacher of Japanese, the only teacher of Japanese in her school, and teaching students from Years 8 to 13 (i.e. aged 12 to 18 years), describes an anime club set up by her students of Japanese that runs regularly on a Friday during lunchtime. For her the benefit of this exposure to the language is that students will pick up incidentally

on different expressions in Japanese:

This teacher also describes a school intranet where she can give students access to different types of language input in Japanese.

Exposing learners to a wide range of different types of input is also important because it allows learners to see how varied language is and how much it changes according to who is involved, what is being talked about, and in what context the language is being used. Referring to the idea we discussed previously, that is, that comprehension precedes output, students need to be aware of and understand these variations in language use before they themselves can use language in these different ways.

The Teacher as Language Learner

Some teachers may feel that they cannot use the target language in the classroom because, while they may have expertise in teaching languages, they may not themselves be highly proficient speakers of the language they are teaching. In the following interview extract, a teacher contrasts her proficiency

in Mandarin with that in French.

It is interesting that this teacher makes the point that proficiency in the target language does not, by itself, ensure the best learning conditions for students. The teacher needs skill and determination to know how to structure and use input for students to be able to learn from it. Another advantage for teachers (like this one) who are not so proficient in the language they are teaching is that they can better identify with the experience of language learning, and even model the example of ‘an effective language learner’. What is crucial is that they see themselves as ongoing learners of the language they are teaching.

‘Translanguaging’ in the Language Classroom

There has been a lot of focus on the use of the target language in the classroom in this chapter. However, it would be wrong to conclude that a teacher must never use the students’ first or other languages. Jessica refers to how helpful using the first language can be (in her classroom the L1 of almost all students is English), especially at the beginning stages of language learning.

However, rather than talking about teachers using the students’ ‘L1’, it is better to use the term ‘translanguaging’, given that, in many classrooms, there are learners from different language backgrounds, many of them speaking more than one language. Translanguaging refers to the process where two or more languages are used to make meaning or gain knowledge and understanding (Reference Martínez-AlvarezMartínez-Alvarez, 2017). Teachers can ‘translanguage’ or use any of the languages that learners are familiar with, including the target language, in a number of ways to help language and literacy learning (Reference Hornberger and LinkHornberger & Link, 2012). For example, the teacher may give an explanation about language or make a comparison between the target language and another language (see Chapter 5). There is evidence to suggest that learners can perform at a higher level when they use a language they are proficient in (Reference Alegria de la Colina and del Pilar García MayoAlegria de la Colina & Del Pilar Garcia Mayo, 2009), and also that they may be less anxious (Reference AuerbachAuerbach, 1993). Denying learners the right to translanguage may be seen as a rejection of the language(s) they know (Reference CookCook, 2001) and a denial of their right to be treated as individuals and with respect (Reference EdstromEdstrom, 2006).

The Expanded Learning Space

An underlying message of this chapter, perhaps, is that creating a rich language learning environment is a significant challenge for the teacher of foreign languages. For teachers who are working in immersion, content-based learning, study abroad, and other learning contexts, it will not be so difficult to ensure that their students have access to input and a rich learning environment. However, many teachers work in a ‘drip feed’ context where the time for language learning is a limited number of hours per week. For them it can be important to remember that people have, for centuries, been successfully learning foreign languages, working with constraints similar to those that may be facing them. For them, too, the advice of one researcher who has had a long career working in the context of second language teaching in Canada, may be helpful. Patsy Reference LightbownLightbown (2014) suggests that teachers who are faced with the ‘drip feed’ context may need to embrace an aim that is more realistic for their students in terms of language learning outcomes. Rather than a focus on fluency or high degrees of proficiency, they may want to ensure that their learners have:

• a positive attitude to language learning; and

• the ability to use what little language they do know to understand and make themselves understood.

Lightbown argues that when working in contexts where there is reduced time, it is important for teachers to help learners to continue to learn outside of the classroom. Reference Collins and MuñozCollins and Muñoz (2016) take this idea even further and refer to the notion of an ‘expanded learning space’. In other words, the learner can be helped to see that the classroom is only one place where learning can take place and that they need to take responsibility for ongoing learning outside of this space. Of course, technology can play an important role here for the learner, and we will investigate this further in Chapter 7. Teachers could also encourage their learners to see themselves as lifelong learners of a language or, indeed, of any languages. In other words, language learning is not limited in terms of space, nor in terms of time.