Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

Foreign Language Teaching and Learning
Aleidine J. Moeller and Theresa Catalano
1. Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, USA
Abstract
Foreign language teaching and learning have changed from teacher-centered to learner/learning-centered environments. 
Relying on language theories, research findings, and experiences, educators developed teaching strategies and learn-
ing environments that engaged learners in interactive communicative language tasks. A shift in foreign language peda-
gogy from a specific foreign language method to the measurement of language performance/competency has resulted 
in a change in the role of the teacher from one of authority/expert to that of facilitator/guide and agent of change. Cur-
rent developments point to public pedagogy, social media, and action research as additional ways to foster intercultural 
competence and language learning.
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(2015)
formational grammar, regarded language acquisition as an in-
ternal thinking–learning process. Chomsky claimed that chil-
dren are biologically programmed for language and have an 
innate ability to discover for themselves the underlying rules 
of a language system. Chomsky’s ideas led to the demise of 
structural linguistics, behaviorist psychology, and the ALM 
approach to language learning.
An alternative theoretical position emerged centered on 
the role of the linguistic environment in combination with 
the child’s innate capacities in acquiring language. This posi-
tion (interactionist) viewed language development as the re-
sult of a complex interplay between innate language capacities 
of the learner and the learner’s environment. Unlike the inna-
tist position (e.g., Chomsky, 1959), the interactionists claimed 
that language had to be modified to the ability of the learner. 
According to Long (1985), language input was made compre-
hensible by simplifying the input, by using linguistic and ex-
tralinguistic cues, and by modifying the interactional struc-
ture of the conversation. Long maintained that speakers adjust 
their language as they interact or negotiate meaning with oth-
ers. Through negotiation of meaning, interactions are changed 
and redirected, leading to enhanced comprehensibility. Long 
proposed that learners, in order to acquire language, cannot 
simply listen to input, rather they must be active co-construc-
tive participants who interact and negotiate the type of input 
they receive.
Each of these theories of language acquisition addresses a 
different aspect of a learner’s ability to acquire a language. Be-
haviorist explanations explain systematic aspects, whereas in-
natist explanations explain the acquisition of complex gram-
mar. Interactionist explanations assist in understanding how 
learners relate form and meaning in language, how they inter-
act in conversation, and how they use language appropriately.
More recently, researchers have identified nine contem
-
porary language learning theories: Universal Grammar, Au-
tonomous Induction, Associative-Cognitive CREED, Skill Ac-
quisition, Input Processing, Processability, Concept- Oriented 
Approach, Interaction Framework, and Vygotskian Sociocul-
tural Theory (VanPatten and Williams, 2008). Some of these 
theories share a linguistic view of language cognition, others 
view it from a psychological point of view and in the case of 
Sociocultural Theory, a social approach is taken. The Universal 
Grammar (UG) and Autonomous Induction theory share the 
linguistic view that learners have innate knowledge of gram-
matical structures that is not learned through mere exposure 
to input. They believe that linguistic knowledge is predeter-
mined and is independent from experience. Learning is be-
lieved to occur incidentally by deduction from innate abstract 
knowledge.
The psychological view of language cognition is rep-
resented by the following theories: Associative-Cognitive 
CREED, Skill Acquisition theory, Input Process theory, Pro-
cessability theory, Concept-Oriented Approach, and the Inter-
action Framework. While these approaches share a psycholog-
ical view of cognition, there are some distinct differences. The 
Associative -Cognitive CREED, Input Processing, Processabil-
ity, and Concept-Oriented theories view language acquisition 
as implicit and language learning is presented as an inciden-
tal and a subconscious learning process. However, according 
to the Skill Acquisition theory there is a conscious processing 
in language acquisition that requires explicit instruction in or-
der for deliberate learning to occur. 
The most prevalent and most widely held theory, the So-
ciocultural Theory (SCT) proposed by Vygotsky, views cog-
nition as a social faculty. According to this theory, participa-
tion in culturally organized activities is essential for learning 
to occur. Active engagement in social dialogue is important. 
Learning is regarded as intentional, goal-directed, and mean-
ingful and is not a passive or incidental process but is always 
conscious and intentional. According to Ellis and Larsen- Free-
man (2006) learning from exposure comes about “as part of 
a communicatively rich human social environment” (p. 577). 
This is discussed in more detail later in this article.