Second Language Acquisition and Second ... - Stephen Krashen

situations in which early production is valued and in which acquisition opportunities
are lacking--foreign language learning situations. Also, first language influence
errors seem to give way over time (Taylor, 1975). Using the first language, like the
use of routines and patterns, is thus a way of performing without acquired
competence. While both of these methods are "unnatural", in a sense, when students
are in a situation where early production is absolutely necessary, one certainly
cannot object to the use of this mode.
The use of routines and patterns, and the use of the first language as a substitute
utterance initiator, while useful in early production emergency situations, have real
disadvantages for long-term utilization. Effective use of routines and patterns
depends on having a "line" ready when a situation arises. The situation may not
come up, or worse yet, you may not have a line for every situation. Also, a wellformed,
appropriate question may encourage an involved answer (using a yes/no
question might be a better strategy). Relying on the use of the first language to
initiate utterances is also limited: elsewhere I have argued that the Monitor is fairly
limited with respect to what sorts of "repairs" it can perform--it does fairly well with
simple, bound morphology, but has a difficult time with more complex rules, such
as those involving word order changes or subtle semantic rules. Since it is up to the
Monitor to make the utterance conform to the second language surface structure,
this may be a forbidding task where the two languages differ in more than bound
morphology. Also, as mentioned earlier, Monitor use is highly restricted for most
people.
What can be done in the fluency section? While the student speech produced will
have some effect on acquisition of fellow students (see discussion above on the
"foreign student peer group"), the main goal of the fluency section, as I see it, is to
aid in performance. The rapid acquisition of essential routines and patterns for
performers who need them, help in appropriate word choice, and practice in the use
of communication strategies (avoidance of structures that have not yet been
acquired) may be helpful for students in a second language situation where early
production is important. Such a section is less important for foreign language
students, who can enjoy
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