Note : This material is extracted from a doctoral thesis, Language Tangle, submitted to the University of Newcastle, NSW. The excerpt below contains an introduction, some organizing hypotheses, a summary of chapters and the final conclusions. The content made available here is provisional and subject to review. The thesis itself, which runs to several hundred pages, is still under examination and cannot yet appropriately be put into the public domain. All content remains strictly copyright to Thor May.

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Language Tangle -

Predicting and Facilitating Outcomes in Language Education

by Thor May

a) Introduction

The purpose of this thesis is explore the predictability of outcomes in language education, and the viability of facilitating those outcomes. No attempt is made to provide a statistical model for prediction, although the variables identified would certainly have to be part of any such model. The value of the thesis will lie in assembling the multiplicity of variables involved and showing how they relate to one another. The study attempts to provide a balanced overview of the process of language education (primarily second language education), drawing upon contemporary research, as well as the writer's experience over a thirty year period in seven countries.

In order to focus the issues in question some hypotheses, expressed below, were engaged as crude tools. In standard scientific research the concept of an hypothesis is to provide a testable question which is replicable by later researchers. Excepting for the critical factor, contaminating variables are eliminated or neutralized. A narrow conclusion can be stated with some certainty, and this is said to add to accepted knowledge. Something like this paradigm is frequently embraced in social sciences, particularly the notion of dealing with a very narrow issue. Typically however, there is a failure to neutralize, or even to properly identify, contaminating variables. Not surprisingly, social science studies have yielded very few certain conclusions, and those conclusions which are accepted by a body of opinion in one generation are prone to being severely discounted in succeeding periods. Nothing illustrates this pattern of cyclical fashions in accepted wisdom so well as language education.

In the present study, the issues dealt with are global, and intervening effects are both multiple and mutually modifying. That is, in language education we are dealing with an emergent ecosystem which modifies and is modified by its cultural environment. Therefore the hypotheses with which we begin should not be understood, nor be evaluated by the criteria of positivist science in the sense intended by, for example Karl Popper (Thornton 2005). They are not testable in any definitive way because the variables cannot be constrained. Nor are these hypotheses directed to sparking a paradigm shift in the sense employed by Thomas Kuhn (1962, from Pajares). The value of the hypotheses used here is that they will help us to frame broad questions. In examining those issues we will be led to some understanding of the many factors affecting outcomes in language education. It is quite likely that various readers traversing the matters raised in the thesis will arrive at different conclusions from the writer. That is certainly not the goal of normal science, but it is a valid result here. Decisions about language education will always come down to individual judgements. The important thing is that those judgements should be as widely informed as possible.

b) Hypotheses

1. All language education has a range of stakeholders in addition to the actual language learner. It is recognized that language learning outcomes are partly a product of input by all of these interests, but not necessarily within the control of any of them.

2. It is hypothesized that language learning outcomes are not computable as a simple linear product of visible inputs by all stakeholders since the intentions and incentives applying to each party may be in conflict, and may even be contradictory within individuals.

3. It is further hypothesized that environmental, cultural and systemic factors which are beyond the conscious control of any or all stakeholders, may at times be better predictors of language education outcomes than the intentions of stakeholders.

4. It is further hypothesized that actions and procedures which facilitate outcomes within any of the parameters above may inhibit outcomes at another level (for example, a system which seems to management to promote economic productivity may in fact be counter-educational for students, and hence unproductive for them).

c) Synopsis of Chapters

Chapter 1 looks at the ecology of languages on a global scale. It notes a decimation in the number of languages over recent centuries and considers some consequences of this trend. Characteristics of communities involved in language change are considered. Some agents of language propagation and displacement are identified, linguists amongst them. The issue of whether languages are irreplaceable is deconstructed. Individual perceptions of language change are contrasted, and the question of how to handle threatened cultural and linguistic groups is considered sympathetically. The global ecology of languages is important for the subject of this thesis because it sets the broad agenda for what is desirable and possible in language education. It also establishes an historical perspective on the actually very recent phenomenon of mass language education.

Chapter 2 deals with competition between languages which emerges out of the functions of language domains and language registers. This is crucial in language education because until a language can claim some linguistic real estate in the daily activities of a speaker it has a very poor prognosis for development or survival. The root cause of failure in foreign language education in mainly monolingual countries can usually be traced to the absence of any useable domain. The role of code blending in mediating the introduction of a new language is explored, and the demonization of code blending in formal education noted. The chapter draws extensively upon a pilot sociolinguistic study which was conducted in Fiji in 1987-89. The study was notable for illustrating the role that linguistic research can play in setting the parameters for language planning by national and educational authorities. Until the actual scope of language domains and language registers are mapped in a community, language policy declarations are likely to be futile. That is, what people are really doing with their known languages is a fair predictor of what success foreign or second language education is likely to enjoy.

Chapter 3 analyzes the political dimensions within which all language programs must operate. Modern states are social constructs which depend heavily upon the linguistic resources of their members. Language policy is therefore a high stakes undertaking attracting the intervention of those who wish to exercise political power. The nature of political power itself is examined since politicians control many of the resources which can affect language learning outcomes. This chapter gives substance to the political element by focusing on two Australian instances of political influence on language education. The first instance is an attempt by a political 'think tank' to influence the style and substance of language teaching in Australian schools. This attempt is shown to be based on unreliable premises and misinformation. It constitutes an important and by no means unique example of how a manufactured climate of opinion can lead to a misallocation of language resources. The second instance is a report by this writer from recent history on the context of language and literacy teaching in Australian TAFES. These TAFES have majority responsibility for adult migrant English programs in Australia. The report, which was submitted to a Senate inquiry of the Australian parliament, demonstrates that in mass education processes, the objectives of language students and their teachers are often overridden by the agendas of other stakeholders in the education business.

Chapter 4 explores the interface between institutional administration and classroom activity. This is the point at which all the external agendas and opinions concerning language education meet and often clash with student and teacher objectives. The incentives affecting each group of stakeholders are often not complimentary with real language acquisition by students, yet students are seen to be at the bottom of the power hierarchy. The medial role of teachers draws their loyalties in two directions, with the ascent of managerialism forcing them to consider contracting authorities rather than students as the 'clients'. 'Free' and 'user pays' philosophies of educational service provision are examined in some detail because of the impact these competing models have on student outcomes. The economic metric of 'productivity' is considered in educational contexts since productivity is the ultimate measure by which non-educators claim to evaluate learning. It is shown that productivity for funding controllers, for administrators, for teachers and for students must be scaled by different and sometimes incompatible criteria. In a hierarchy of productivity scales, student productivity should take precedence but is rarely allowed to. Finally, the writer attempts a listing of what he considers to be some important elements in teacher productivity.

Chapter 5 is a long but still only partial examination of the very large issue of curriculums. Language curriculums or syllabuses are supposed to give detailed expression to the means by which students can acquire language skills. In fact, curriculums are extremely various and often subverted. National curriculums frequently give detailed expression to the political and managerial ambitions of parties who have little to do with real language teaching. Local curriculums can range from the non-existent, to language school manifestoes, to checklists by teachers of what they plan to cover in a semester of work. Bureaucratisation has a special role in curriculum structure. Bureaucrats by nature seek to maximize predictability, yet complete predictability in a learning context is not possible, and may not be desirable. The chapter gives some attention to literacy since language learning in formal contexts is heavily affected by the level and nature of student literacy. Moreover, funding bodies often establish programs which do not really distinguish between basic literacy teaching and foreign/second language teaching (especially in immigrant contexts).

A large part of chapter 5 is taken up with two case studies drawn from the Australian system. The first examines, and heavily criticizes the National Reporting System which claimed not to be a curriculum, but in fact set a fairly rigid framework (backed by funding sanctions) to the kind of curriculums which would be allowable for teaching English as a second language to immigrants. The NRS was an attempt to micro-manage language education outcomes based on a philosophy of 'competency' based training (CBT). The whole notion of competency based training is therefore deconstructed. The second case study is based on the author's own experience with the introduction of a CBT program into the Australian Adult Migrant Education Service. An underlying aim of the CBT program was, laudably enough, continuous evaluation and a well-planned approach to outcomes. The writer realized from the outset that the design and philosophy of the program precluded these desired outcomes and would be harmful to real language teaching and learning. His written critique, and the punitive management reaction were an object demonstration of how non-educational agendas compete with effective language teaching processes.

Chapter 6 is principally concerned with evaluating the formal outcomes of language education. Although much important life learning comes from taking a leap in the dark, a dominant property of mass education is to boost the reputation of learning vicariously from authority. The evaluation of this learning is hence less concerned with real life performance (of language in this case) than with declarative repetition. There is often a major mismatch between formal evaluation and language performance, leaving scope for practices which shade into corruption. Because certification in a high stakes environment is often more important than real performance, this element of corruption is a major feature of language education worldwide and it is dealt with some detail, with the writer drawing upon personal East Asian experience and documented reports. Classroom outcomes are a product of learning styles, teaching styles and content, all of which are touched upon here, but dealt with in more detail in other chapters. The chapter sources dilemmas involved in actually evaluating language performance in the probabilistic nature of natural language. Standardized evaluation tools are essentially designed to test declarative knowledge in a categorical way, yet the cognitive production of language is an autonomic process (not a set of declarative facts), and its decoding is based on best estimates within pragmatic contexts.

Chapter 6 also briefly considers the consequences of social inequality in the acquisition and certification of second or foreign language skills. Personal wealth or its absence is seen to be both a disincentive and a motivation to master language under particular cultural conditions. Related to this, regional and national characteristics play an important part in the structure of foreign language education. The writer largely draws upon his experience in East Asian contexts, while recognizing that other environments might encourage rather different conclusions. In spite of massive evaluation fraud the general trajectory of foreign language learning in East Asia is towards increasing national competence, while (immigrants apart) the overall profile of foreign language learning in monolingual Anglo cultures is one of failure. 'Failure' plays a central and often devastating role in the psychology of language learning, so this chapter also examines its many meanings and proposes a tentative solution. It is noted that failure in gaming contexts is widely interpreted as a spur to effort, while failure within the context of 'work' or 'school' is a serious disincentive to further learning.

Chapter 7 is about the principal agents of formal language education, the teachers. Official statistics in many countries only fractionally identify the true body of teachers. While national institutions may employ qualified individuals, large classes, rigid test driven curriculums and minimal student exposure to the target language frequently doom their efforts to professional failure. The bulk of organized language teaching occurs in private academies by individuals who are often not even trained teachers (especially in the case of English). Worldwide, teacher education itself is fraught with uncertain objectives, conflicting theories, a general perception of low standards, and conflict between teacher employing bodies and the training institutions. The prevalence of unscrupulous operators in the private language education market spills over into a boom in dubious certification programs for foreign language teachers, notably for English language teachers. The chapter notes that the generally well-intentioned and non-predatory natures of individuals who choose to be teachers are quickly oppressed in an industry where there is generally no career structure, little professional respect, low incomes and constant insecurity. Given this environment, the rational choice for entrants is to select the minimal training that will secure employment. A rational defensive posture by insecure teachers is lie a little creatively about what actually happens in their classrooms. For these reasons, true teacher behaviour remains one of the most opaque sets of variables in the study.

Chapter 8 discusses the role of information technology in language education outcomes. While the prognosis for general teacher competence may be gloomy, it is in the nature of technological innovation to promise revolutionary solutions. There has been a long history of unfulfilled promises for technology in language teaching (e.g. the audiolingual movement), but the sheer variety and intrusion of information technology into daily living is heavily impacting both private and public language learning. The chapter notes nevertheless that language teachers as a group, as well as a large proportion of students, tend to be rather incompetent with technology until it is modified for mass consumer use. The chapter takes a critical look at the conditions under which technology can be genuinely useful to learning. It notes that some of the qualities which mark great teachers are also needed in technological solutions. Further, technology can benefit students as a mediating tool, rendering the teacher as advisor, as has traditionally been the case in craft training, rather than teacher as the traditional didactic schoolmaster and ringmaster. The balance of this chapter is taken up with an extensive, though not exhaustive review of the many kinds of technology which have a potential to modify or even transform language teaching and learning. Especially interesting in mass education contexts is the potential of some technology, with careful research and application, to systematize and remove the emotional stigma from the ongoing assessment of student learning.

Chapter 9 examines language students themselves. The study begins with noting the intrinsic diversity of abilities, interests, needs and potentials amongst the students facing any language teacher, and her dilemma in being forced to reduce this diversity to a single metric of performance measurement for formal evaluation. This perspective is fundamentally different to that of the 'trainer' who sees his task as presenting a single curriculum block to an undifferentiated assembly of 'trainees'. For the purpose of extracting useful generalizations in the thesis, there is some value in considering students from a variety of perspectives.

Firstly, gender differences are noted, especially the tendency of cultures to reinforce biological tendencies with strong social roles. This pattern usually favours women both as language students and language teachers. Age is an important variable in language learning, less for biological reasons than for the different cultural roles and time available to children and adults. Further, children are overwhelmingly conscripted learners, while adults at least nominally choose their activities. General intelligence is known not to correlate strongly with language learning ability, but the appropriate teaching methodologies in mass education for students with high IQs, and those more challenged can be quite different. Memory is critical to language learning, so its use and deployment is not only noted here but is also the subject of a separate chapter. Personality factors affect language learning too, not as a predictor of outcomes but as an indicator that different learning styles can lead to language competence. Student literacy levels have an origin in many variables, but the language teacher quickly learns that a literacy problem can cripple or distort the whole range of foreign language skills. Cultural adaptability does affect language learning potential, but effective stratagems may vary from cultural integration to cultural compartmentalization (a Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde syndrome).

Motivation is the most studied of all student language learning variables, yet on close examination proves to be an extremely diffuse and fluctuating phenomenon whose characteristics are not at all special to language learning. Student expectations play a large part in language learning success, and the management of those expectations is one of the marks of a good teacher. Student status defines the relationship with the teacher and administrations. It obviously varies greatly between child and adult learners, but in either case there are consequences for learning outcomes. The learning mode for students ranges from mass institutional exercises (usual for children and young adults) to private or individualized learning (more typical of adults). To some extent technology is blurring this divide. Mass institutional learning poses special problems which are especially serious for language acquisition. The most important resources available to students anywhere are overwhelmingly their inner personal qualities. Good students have learned languages under terrible conditions for millennia. The impact of technology resources is quite variable, and the value of books rather ambiguous, given that most students confine their reading experience to very mediocre textbooks. When students can exercise choice within language programs, their performance is usually enhanced. Such choice can be related to student self-perceptions of power, both in selecting for a course, and in taking responsibility for classroom learning. Finally, students can be broadly differentiated by location, within and without institutions, by internal and external modes of study, between national cultures, between rich and poor environments, and above all by the parochial or internationalist conditions of their mental states (which can be as impermeable as any physical border).

Chapter 10 is about physical activity in learning, and is framed as a piece of genuine action research. That is, the focus of the study here shifts from generalizations about language learning and teaching to the specifics of classroom activity. It is important to ground the thesis research in this way because the problems which concern teachers and students on a daily basis are located explicitly in the classroom. The chapter explores questions of posture and space in language learning classrooms, particularly whether we learn better sitting down or standing up. The perhaps surprising conclusion is that standing can have a significant effect on language learning outcomes. Principles of learning and moving are outlined. The history of physical movement in study is found to trace back to pre-biblical times. A Korean case study is presented of “failed” tertiary students who learn to learn on their feet. The section is a practical guide for teachers who wish to experiment with physical movement and location in their own ESL/EFL classrooms. It carries an implicit warning that even the best curriculums with sympathetic administrations and good teachers can come undone when the basic physical propensities of human bodies are ignored.

Chapter 11 turns inwards, to the essential role of memory in language learning and language production. It is noted that memory has received curiously little recognition from linguists, applied or theoretical (as opposed to psychologists), and is rarely discussed in linguistics classes. Similarly, teacher trainees do not often receive any sophisticated introduction to memory. However, every facet of both language use and teaching critically depends upon memory processes. The neglect may be related to the official rejection of "rote" memorization in Western education systems. East Asians have no such inhibitions. Where memory is ignored or misunderstood, language learning outcomes will be greatly handicapped. Countering academic neglect, some of the more practical developments in mnemonic research have come from the people behind commercial products like Super Memo ( Piotr Wozniak).

The chapter analyzes memory functions into a) memory creation, b) memory storage, and c) memory recall, and puts them into a matrix against the memory modes of the human senses. The role of short term memory is related to learning, especially to the problem of maintaining student attention to salient language points in a classroom. Theories of declarative and procedural memory are discussed. It turns out that the core problem of classroom language teaching is largely the unsolved one of developing autonomic language skills in procedural memory, whereas the bulk of traditional language teaching and evaluation focuses on declarative knowledge. Earlier theories of episodic and semantic memory are partially related to declarative and procedural memory. Ausubel's (1967) theory of subsumption - the pruning away of specific experience to form generalizations - is still of value to teacher understanding. Since formal language education is a giant simulation machine, Thalheimer's (2003) analysis of the general properties of simulations is especially useful. It relates directly to the principle of spaced recall, first articulated by Sebastian Leitner (1870), and largely ignored to the cost of effective teaching ever since, except in flashcard programs. Mnemonic techniques are very old, yet inexplicably they too are rarely taught by or to language teachers. Some are outlined in the chapter. The whole issue of memory chemistry, closely related to genetics and diet, is one that language teachers should remain abreast of and communicate in an understandable way to their students. Finally the chapter provides a teacher centred analysis of factors that make for a) teachability, and b) learnability. Whereas teachability relates to organizational ease for the teacher, learnability is largely a matter of creating an optimal mnemonic environment for students.

Chapter 12 confronts the problem of language difficulty for students (and teachers). Although difficulties can be broadly predicted, for example from the cognate distance between languages, actual problems are a very individual thing, sometimes arising when least expected, and sometimes failing to materialize and hence rendering pre-emptive explanation by a teacher redundant. This is one reason that so-called contrastive linguistics never fulfilled the promise it seemed to hold out for language teaching a generation ago. Nevertheless, perceived difficulty is important to language learning outcomes since it creates an aversive environment which may forestall further learning.

This study proposes a concept of cultural 'linguistic latency' which posits that a reserve of latent knowledge about a second language in the community may render it easier to learn for beginners than an utterly unknown language. For example, the Korean child beginning English may find that her mother has some latent knowledge, and that many helpful human and media resources are within reach. An Australian child beginning Korean on the other hand would be much more isolated. The chapter explores Korean as an example of a language particularly difficult for English speaking foreigners, for both linguistic and sociological reasons. In fact, few outsiders master it. Expatriate Anglo professionals are cited as indifferent language learners worldwide, while poor 'guest' or illegal workers from the 3rd World are sometimes far more successful. The power relationships are instructive. Finally, there is an analysis of problems faced by teachers of English as a foreign language as they seek to choose suitable materials for student levels. There is no easy formula, but a few suggestions are made. An organizing checklist is offered of some of the more common conceptual and syntactic puzzles students encounter. Teachers are often unclear themselves about these. The checklist is not presented as a teaching program, but as a point of first reference when issues arise.

Chapter 13 discusses the role of grammar in foreign language teaching. There are historical and practical reasons for this special attention. Objectively, phonology, lexis and other matters are quite as important to the learner, but that is not how the general public sees it. It is therefore necessary to deal with grammar as a pedagogical roadblock in the sociology of language learning and teaching. This section questions the role of grammar in language teaching and learning. Firstly it identifies the constituencies in academic language teaching, and their often conflicting notions of language programs. Several kinds of learners are discussed, with particular attention to the large group who are uncomfortable with any technical analysis, including formal grammars. Some conventional ideas about what a natural language grammar actually is are challenged. The consequences of a connectionist view of language processing are briefly explored. The power of collocation sets is identified as a key to language acquisition. Language is set in the broader cognitive context of memory processes and patterns of generalization. Pedagogical grammars are viewed as forced external generalizations with little organic presence in memory, but some suggestions are made about how to make use of them. Actual student language memory, as well as teacher self-insight into L1 are both contrasted with the idealized patterns assumed by academic language programs. Finally, the stubborn problem of average teacher behaviour is set against the real ways in which people appear to use grammars and learn languages.

Chapter 14 brings the thesis to a conclusion. It briefly traces the role that the original organizing hypotheses have played in drawing such a wide field of inquiry together. Although most of the chapters could be considered in isolation as discussions of particular issues, their interface yields a number of insights which this short chapter tries to draw out. When it comes to mass language education, if there is one ring of power to bind all others, it is formal evaluation with the imprimatur of certification which is so important in modern cultures. The conclusion is therefore inescapable that if formal evaluation is not to be destructive to true language acquisition, it must be harnessed and shaped from the outset as an instrument of language learning.

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Chapter 14 : Summary and Analysis of Language Learning Outcomes

Chapter 1 established that multiple language learning is as old as human history, but probably decreasing as an unremarked informal feature of growing up in traditional communities. Language teaching on the other hand, at least to massed groups of learners, is a quite new phenomenon in human history. It has replaced an unhurried process of code blending with forced outcomes based on concepts of code purity.

As the initial hypothesis proposed, all language education now has a range of stakeholders in addition to the actual language learner. Succeeding chapters demonstrated that language learning outcomes are partly a product of input by all of these interests, but not necessarily within the control of any of them. Not only is there often a mutual ignorance of competing incentives and pressures at different levels, but the local variables often remain opaque to players themselves as they work on tasks from day to day without any overriding perspective. It follows from this that language learning outcomes are not computable as a simple linear product of visible inputs by all stakeholders.

Chapter 2 hinted that linguistic surveys of actual language behaviour could help provide some of the perspective essential for useful language policy and planning. For example, with objective research, linguists would be well placed to predict where environmental, cultural and systemic factors which were beyond the conscious control of any or all stakeholders, could at times be better predictors of language education outcomes than the intentions of stakeholders.

Chapters 3 to 6 helped to illustrate that actions and procedures which facilitate outcomes within any of the parameters important to one set of stakeholders may inhibit outcomes at another level (for example, a system which seems to management to promote economic productivity may in fact be counter-educational for students, and hence unproductive for them).

Chapters 7 to 13 were grounded in the characteristics, needs, resources and potentials of teachers and learners themselves. In the end, regardless of diverted resources and competing interests, it is the personal achievements of language learners which determine if the whole enterprise has been worthwhile.

Putting It All Together

The purpose of this embracing thesis has been to juxtapose variables from a very wide field of activity, and to determine if what looks like a vast 'language tangle' on casual acquaintance can yield insights which will help to bring some order and enhanced achievement to the huge industry of mass foreign language education. Readers will form their own opinions. For this researcher, the following conclusions seem to emerge.

1. Language learning outcomes for global language performance are maximally constrained by the learner's metric of evaluation. That is, learner's will best acquire that which they think most worthwhile (whether it be a certification game, or the ability to buy tomatoes in the market).

2. The evaluation metric for the learner can be :

a) communicative feedback;

b) emotional feedback;

c) formal evaluation (FE).

3. Public institutions only recognize formal evaluation.

4. Therefore institutional programs will normally be driven by processes of formal evaluation. Communicative feedback and emotional feedback may indirectly contribute to FE but will not be allowed to govern it.

5. The constituents of FE will determine the ultimate usefulness of formal language learning (as distinct from private language learning) for real world global communication.

6. FE may be diverted from contributing to skills in real world global communication by :

a) external societal and cultural factors;

b) political factors;

c) administrative factors;

d) teacher limitations of time, knowledge, resources, motivation and ability.

e) lack of student commitment to the processes of FE.

7. FE will best contribute to skills in real world global communication if it is extensive rather than intensive. That is, it should be distributed over time, and over many language activities of reception and production.

8. FE should be continuous and incremental in the learning process if it is to maintain a role of balanced incentive for the student.

9. In mass education, unaided teacher resources have generally been insufficient to maintain continuous extensive FE.

10. Existing paradigms for continuous extensive FE have generally been unable to overcome the diversions to language skill acquisition outlined in (6) above.

11. A major goal of applied linguistics research for pedagogy (at this stage in its history) should be :

a) directed at finding technical and systemic mechanisms to provide continuous, extensive FE in language learning;

b) such mechanisms must be practically useable under classroom conditions by teachers with minimal theoretical knowledge;

c) such mechanisms must contribute to rather than distract from actual learning;

d) such mechanisms must be perceived by students and teachers to be aids rather than threats;

e) such mechanisms must prioritize learning and minimize administration, in terms of both content and time.

13. The role, psychology and training of language teachers worldwide needs extensive review and research. There needs to be a proper accounting of the kinds of people who actually become language teachers, short or long term, and programs devised to make the best use of their real abilities. The process needs to be separated as far as possible from the personal career interests and agendas of academics who tend to monopolize training courses.

14. The popularization of communications and computing technology is transforming individualized learning. Subject to certain conditions, mass language education may also increasingly be tailored to individual needs, and usable automated feedback to students may become increasingly available. The misuse of technology, often by some logic of economic constraint or administrative (as opposed to student) productivity, can also impose damaging demands for conformity in the learning process.

15. A basic requirement for the extensive use of technology as a learning and evaluation tool in mass language education will be the reliable validation of student activity at every stage. Examples might be a) voice print or biometric IDs to confirm real student participation in online activities; b) telephone task evaluation by semi-skilled English speakers

16. Since FE is inseparable from mass language education, and will continue to shape both teaching and learning, FE must be explicitly designed so that its washback has an optimal effect on language acquisition.

17. The role of conscious declarative grammar (pedagogic grammar) is to assist with comprehensible input for given tasks. That is, it should serve as a pragmatic but secondary tool when needed, rather than as a central FE performance metric.

18. Both FE and teaching need to take account to the characteristics of human memory. For example, the implicit performance learning of valid language structures is likely to result from the memorable and cohesive input of meaningful 'language events' rather than unrelated, trivial, fragmentary exercises.

19. FE should assist rather than be antagonistic to the natural patterns of human learning. For example, since listening precedes production, early FE can be listening based (from teacher, video, MP3 etc.). Listening responses can be designed to be less damaging to self-esteem than actual inhibited language production. Fortunately listening is much easier to validate for large groups than speech :

a) listening tasks from one to many are viable;

b) listening tasks from computer to human are technically viable;

20. Pair listening and pair FE can work with translation/interpreting tasks. Translation/interpreting tasks from the early stages of acquisition will develop neural pathways that facilitate language switching. e.g. S1 gives instructions from a card in Korean, requiring English recitation of directions by S2. S2 acts out the directions to find positions on a game board (snakes & ladders style) which contains further English performance instructions. S2 translates the performance instructions into Korean for S1 (e.g. 'wave three times'), who then has to retranslate into English and perform the instructions.

21. Historically, multilingualism has grown organically from code blending, with a gradually acquired capacity to mix more and more of L2 into the blend. Formal language education is based on a concept of code purity. This has not proved a very effective path to acquisition for most people. Cognitive developments in the code purity approach also leads to crossover blocks in performance. Therefore, experiment with blending.

22. Community wide projects in L2 can enhance broad success rates in L2. e.g. National broadcasting 'daily phrases' in Maori has substantially raised community awareness and sympathy for that language. The 'book flood' project in Fijian schools, which offered extensive English reading in allocated time blocks, but without actual teacher instruction, raised the performance level of students in English. Community wide projects have the potential to lower community resistance to the actual use of the target language in real situations, as opposed to confining it to classroom simulation.

23. The major, unsolved conundrum in mass language education is a) how to effectively teach language skills to elicit procedural, as opposed to declarative understanding and performance from large numbers of students, and b) how to evaluate procedural, as opposed to declarative skills in a continuous, extensive manner which enhances rather than inhibits true language acquisition.

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References

Ausubel, D.P. (1968). Educational psychology: a cognitive view . New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Leitner, Sebastian (1870) "So Lernt Man Lernen." , spaced memory learning system, described in a patent application (1999) by Cerego Cayman Inc.

Pajares, Frank (undated ) An outline of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn ; Emory University, Atlanta

Thalheimer W., ( 2003 ) How simulation-type questions can replace expensive multimedia simulations , University of Wisconsin

Thornton, Stephen (2005) Carl Popper ; Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

Wozniak, Piotr (Supermemo software) http://www.supermemo.com