GRAMMAR

1. How is this relevant to English teachers?

1.1. Although there are no certainties as regards the processes of language acquisition, it is important for teachers to consider these insights as they suggest a framework to support the building of classroom procedures.

2. Noticing

2.1. Learners pick out specific features of the language and pay attention to them.

2.2. For an item of language to be noticeable:

2.2.1. It occurs frequently

2.2.2. It relates to the learner´s common sense about basic functions of language

2.2.3. Its functions are those to which a learner would be likely to pay attention.

3. Reasoning and Hypothesizing

3.1. Since adult learners tend to analyse language, they are able to see patters, create hypotheses about rules these patterns might demonstrate, and gradually revise them according to new information. They seem to use a set of strategies:

3.1.1. Reasoning deductively

3.1.1.1. They apply known rules to work out the meaning of what they listen ir to formulate their statements.

3.1.2. Analysing contrastively

3.1.2.1. They compare the second language with their first language and work out the similarities and differences.

3.1.3. Translating

3.1.4. Transferring

3.1.4.1. It is what learnerns do when they apply knowledge of one language to understand or produce another.

4. Structuring and Restructuring

4.1. As learners work out new rules, these need to be integrated into their representation of grammar in their minds. This informatoin has to be restructured as the learner moves on in his learning process.

5. Automatizing

5.1. Once a learner can achieve regular and consistent responses to a certain type of input, then it can be said that the language has been automatized.

6. Acquisition involves a number of processes.