Form and Meaning in LanguageTeaching Methodology
WILLIAM T. LITTLEWOOD
INTRODUCTION: THE GOAL
THE METHODOLOGY
WHEN WE COMMUNICATE IN OUR MOTHER
For many of us who were taught a foreign
language through a structure-oriented approach, the ability to focus on meaning during performance may not have developed at
all during classroom learning. Our formal
course may have left us with a large corpus of
"pre-communicative" knowledge and skills.
However, the activation of this knowledge as a
means of communication may have occurred
only later, probably during a prolonged
period of residence abroad. The methodological progression which we followed was
thus: 1) the acquisition of pre-communicative
knowledge and skills in the classroom; 2) the
activation of this knowledge later, in the foreign environment.
tongue, we generally pay less conscious attention to the actual language forms we use than
to the meanings we wish to convey. At this
higher level of meaning most of our conscious
choices take place, while the lower-level
choices of linguistic fonn occur more or less
automatically. 1
There are occasions, of course, when these
lower-level processes occur less automatically
than at other times. For example, when we try
to express a complex meaning or find ourselves in an unfamiliar social situation, we
may need to search consciously for the most
effective or appropriate words. As we accumulate greater communicative skill and
social experience, these occasions become less
likely to arise in the course of our everyday
affairs.
Foreign language learning can be viewed
from the same perspective. At first, when a
learner needs to communicate through the
foreign language, he must search consciously
for words in most of the situations he encounters. One reason for this is that many of the
lower-level processes are not sufficiently automatic to unfold without his conscious control.
Another is that communicative needs often
arise for which he does not yet have forms
available. Gradually, however, if he gains
adequate experience, he increases the range
of situations in which he can perform without
consciously attending to the linguistic
medium. He becomes more capable of devoting his conscious decision-making processes to
the level of meaning and of letting the lowerlevel linguistic operations take care of themselves. As this happens, he develops greater
efficiency as a communicator of meanings.
For those who follow it through to its completion, such a progression may be as efficient
a way as any other of acquiring, ultimately, a
high level of communicative competence in
the foreign language. Unfortunately, for
those who leave the progression before the opportunities for activation have taken place,
success in terms of communicative ability may
be very low. Since a large percentage of
school learners fall into this category, they
need much earlier opportunities to link the
language they have learned with the communication of meanings. Our teaching methodology needs to provide learning activities
which not only: 1) help learners to acquire the
forms of the linguistic system, but also 2) help
learners to link these forms as closely as possible with the meanings which they communicate; and 3) help learners to progress as far as
possible towards the point where they can
produce language forms while focusing not on
the forms themselves, but on the meanings to
be communicated.
442
FROM FOCUS ON FORM TO FOCUS ON
MEANING
"Focus on form" and "focus on meaning"
are not mutually exclusive alternatives but a
matter of varying emphasis. Thus, even while
a learner practices producing predetermined
language structures, he may also be aware. to
a greater or lesser degree, of the meanings
which they could convey in a communication
situation. Likewise, even if he is concentrating primarily on a message that he must convey to a partner, a learner may also pay attention to the formal correctness of the language
he uses. Therefore. when we view learning activities from this perspective. we should not
think of a sudden leap. but in terms of a
gradual continuum. This extends from activities where the primary focus is on the language forms to be acquired, to activities
where the primary focus is on the meanings
which these forms communicate. Any learning activity can be located along this continuum. according to the proportionate
orientation towards forms and meanings that
it produces in the learners. Also, different sections of the continuum can be taken as a basis
for classifying activities in relationship to the
communicative goal and, more important,
for helping us to provide learners with a
gradual progression towards meaningoriented language activity. This progression
may be viewed in two complementary ways: 1)
a particular structure may be used by learners
first in comparatively structure-oriented activities which enable them to focus on the language operations involved. later in activities
which are more meaning-oriented ("communicative"); 2) the progression may be
viewed more globally-as learners advance.
they may be involved in a greater total proportion of activities where the main focus is
on the communication of meanings.
In the remaining sections of this article. I
will illustrate the previous discussion by giving
examples of activities from various points
along the continuum. For the sake of convenience, I will group the activities into four
main categories and order them according to
the increasing importance attached to meaning: 1) focus on form; 2) focus on form (plus
meaning); 3) focus on meaning (plus form);
4) focus on meaning. We should remember.
William T. Littlewood
however. that we are dealing with a continuum, so that there is a large degree of arbitrariness about any division into categories.
We could divide it into more or fewer parts, if
we wished.
We should also remember that the basis for
the categorization is the extent to which the
learners focus on form and meaning during
an activity. This depends ultimately not on
any objective methodological classification
but on the individual learners themselves. For
example, during a session of question-andanswer activity, some students may only be
concerned about replying to the teacher with
correct language forms, while others may be
equally or more concerned with the meanings
they are communicating. The matter may
even depend on largely uncodifiable factors,
such as how the teacher reacts to what the students say: if they feel that he is interested in
the meanings they are expressing as well as
the forms they are using, they are more likely
to have a similar orientation themselves. The
nature of an activity cannot therefore be determined on objective grounds, such as the
presence or absence of new information. The
crucial factor is the learner's psychological
orientation. We can influence this, but not
directly control it, through the way we structure the activities and the kind of feedback we
provide.!
FOCUS ON FORM
At one extreme of the continuum, we have
activities in which the learner is required to
carry out formal operations with linguistic
structures, without paying special attention to
the messages which these structures might
convey in a communication situation.
Examples are textbook exercises in which students are asked to supply correct morphological forms (e.g., of verbs or articles) or to
change the tense (e.g.• present into perfect) or
number (e.g.. singular into plural). In
"mechanical" drills, too. the learner is expected to manipulate structural patterns:
Stimulus:Jean aime la limonade.
Response: Il l'aime beaucoup.
Stimulus:Jean aime les bonbons.
Response: Jlles aime beaucoup.
443
Form and Meaning in Language Teaching
In activities such as these, the learners may
or may not be aware of the meaning of the
language they are using. In any case, this
awareness is not the most important factor
and may not be necessary for carrying out the
linguistic operations. There is certainly no
question of the learners' responses performing
a communicative function, either real or
simulated.
FOCUS ON FORM (PLUS MEANING)
The drill presented above can be adapted
and contextualized so that the items appear as
part of a conversation between friends:
Stimulus: Tu aimes fa limonade?
Response: Mais oui, je l'aime bien.
Stimulus: Tu aimes les bonbons?
Response: Mais oui, je les aime bien.
To the extent that this contextualization
has any psychological reality for the students
(this will vary with individuals, of course),
they are now not only practicing certain structures. They are also practicing certain com·
municative functions, in this case questions
and answers. Thus, even though the actual
operations are still of the same structural nature as before, the learners are helped to link
the linguistic forms with the functional meanings they might convey in a real communication situation. This takes us a step farther
along the continuum towards "focus on
meaning."
The link with meaning becomes stronger
when the learner is also required to make his
response reflect an aspect of nonlinguistic
reality." Thus, in the example just discussed,
he may be asked to respond with either Mais
oui, je l'aime bien or Non, je ne l'aime pas,
according to his own likes and dislikes. Alternately, learners may be required to make
their response agree with visual cues provided
by the teacher or textbook. In both cases, the
learners can no longer respond with reference
to linguistic cues alone, but must practice
adapting their language to meanings derived
from the real world. This practice is, of
course, also the type that occurs in much
question-and-answer activity between teacher
and class, where the nonlinguistic source of
meanings is usually the students' knowledge,
visual aids, or the classroom situation.
A further stage in linking the language
practice with interpersonal communication is
when we free it from dependence on the
teacher and stimulate the learners to interact
with each other. This locates the practice
in a realistic and symmetrical communicative relationship. For example, after the
learners have mastered the language forms
above through teacher-directed activity, they
may be given cues which enable them to interact in pairs. In this case, the first learner may
have verbal or visual cues which indicate what
he should ask, while the second replies either
in accordance with his own preferences or on
the basis of a second set of cues.
FOCUS ON MEANING (PLUS FORM)
With the types of language practice discussed so far, we have seen how learners are
encouraged to pay attention to the meaning
of the language they are practicing and thus
to perceive its potential function in a real
communication situation. However, the
learners themselves are still not involved in a
real communication situation. They are not
engaged in performing communicative acts in
the sense of needing to convey specific meanings for a specific purpose. Their purpose is
still, primarily, to produce acceptable language forms rather than to communicate
messages.
The next stage along our continuum is
when we build a communicative purpose into
the activity, so that the language use takes
place not for its own sake alone, but also as a
means towards achieving some nonlinguistic
end. For this, we need to explore techniques
for creating: 1) an information gap; and, 2) a
reason for overcoming it. Three such techniques will be described in this section.
1. The questionnaire is one of the simplest
techniques for providing learners with a communicative purpose for language practice. It
would be a suitable basis for practicing the
language discussed in the previous section.
Thus, each learner is equipped with a questionnaire sheet on which various items (including le cafe, fa limonade, etc.) are listed
down the left-hand side. The names of other
learners are written aCl'05S the top. Working in
pairs, learners must discover the likes and dislikes of others in the class. The same activity
444
could also, of course, be adapted so that
learners worked in groups or even as a class.
2. Identifying pictures also allows for a
variety of language practice. For example, on
the blackboard or screen there may be six pictures of a street scene. The pictures contain
the same items but differ in distinctive ways,
such as the color and position of the cars and
the number of people. The teacher or a student selects a duplicate copy of just one of the
pictures. The other student(s) must identify
which picture it is by asking appropriate questions. In this case, these would be questions
with de quelle couleur, ou, and combien. The
nature of the distinctive features determines
what language is necessary. Again, the organization of the activity can be varied to suit
work in pairs, groups, or as a class.
3. Obtaining missing information can provide a similar stimulus for the "communicative" use of specific language forms. In order
to produce suitable materials, the teacher
needs tabulated information such as a football league table or a table of distances. On
each copy, he deletes some of the items of information. However, he deletes different
items from each copy, so that the learners can
obtain their missing information from each
other. The nature of the information determines what language is necessary.
Through techniques such as these, a dimension of communicative purpose can be
added to language practice in the classroom.
This is a comparatively new area of languageteaching methodology, which we can expect
to advance considerably in years to come. It is
also one in which, as yet, comparatively few
"set formulae" exist, so that everything depends on the ingenuity of individual teachers
and on their readiness to share their ideas
with others. 4
FOCUS ON MEANING
In the activities discussed in the previous
section, learners were required to use language for the communication of meanings in
order to perform a specific task. However, the
situations were structured in such a way that
the teacher could predict and specify the language that the learners needed to use. In this
way, the activities also had much in common
William T. Littlewood
with the more structure-oriented ones discussed earlier.
A further stage along the continuum from
"focus on form" to performance with "focus
on meaning" is when the students are no
longer aware of practicing predetermined
language. Rather, they are required to start
from an individual communicative intention
and find language forms which will express it.
In other words, the activity becomes more
creative and the language less predictable.
What is now most important is not so much
what language students use, as that they find
some language which will convey their messages effectively. In order to encourage this
focus on the exchange of meanings, the
teacher may often decide to withhold grammatical correction, at least until after the
activity.
At this stage the well-established "conversation session" is of great importance as a context for meaning-oriented language use. In
addition, numerous new techniques are being
devised. As in the activities discussed in the
previous section, their underlying principle is
that a communicative need is created for the
students, in the form of an information gap or
problem that has to be overcome. For
example:
1) The teacher distributes a set of about six
pictures which, together, make up a story.
Each of six learners within a group (or six
groups within a class) possesses one of the pictures and has to describe it to the others. Together, the group or class must discuss the
pictures. Without seeing each other's pictures, they must reconstruct the original
story.
2) One learner forms a pattern from a
number of shapes, or a scene from a number
of cut-out objects. Across a screen, he must
attempt to communicate with his partner so
that the latter can reproduce the same pattern or scene. The more distinctive the shapes
or objects are, the easier the task will be. It is
also made easier if the teacher provides a
background to which the learners can refer,
such as numbered squares or the skeleton outline of a scene. This background provides the
equivalent of the "shared knowledge" which
facilitates communication in everyday
situations.
Form and Meanzng,n Language Teaching
3) Maps, too, provide a convenient source
of shared knowledge as a background for
communication tasks. For example, one
learner has a map on which some important
buildings are marked. His partner has a map
on which they are not all marked. The latter
must obtain directions to various buildings,
until his own map is complete.
4) In problem-solving activities, learners
have to go beyond the exchange of information. They also have to use language to analyze this information and reach decisions. For
example, each learner in a group may be
asked to select the picture of an object. Together, the group must devise a story in which
each object performs an important function.
Alternately, the problem may be of a more
realistic kind. For example, groups of learners
may have to agree on a half-day tour of a
local town which would be suitable for a party
of foreign visitors.
In activities such as these, the constraints of
a practical purpose and the unpredictability
of the students' communicative needs encourage the "focus on meaning" which constitutes
the end of the continuum and the goal of language learning. As with the techniques discussed in the previous section, we can expect
NOTES
'On the nature of linguistic fluency, see for example
Richard Leeson, Fluency in Language Teaching
(London: Longman, 1975).
2Factors which make an activity more or less "communicative" are discussed in William T. Littlewood. "Defining 'Communication' in Foreign Language Teaching,"
Linguistische Berichte, No. 52 (1977), pp. 83·91. The
underlying difference between my own account and that
of Christina Bratt Paulston (e.g., in "The Sequencing of
Structural Pattern Drills," TESOL Quarterly, 5 (1971),
pp. 197·208) is that my own emphasizes the learner's
psychological orientation during performance, rather
than objective factors such as the presence or absence of
445
our repertoire to widen considerably in the
future."
CONCLUSION
The main aim of this brief article has been
to outline and illustrate a particular perspective from which language-learning activities
can be viewed. The crucial variable is the
tent to which learners must focus on the communication of meanings through the language they have learned. By manipulating
this variable (and its counterpart: focus on
linguistic form), teachers can help their students to reach the point where the production
of language forms is subordinate to the meanings they wish to convey.
The continuum described in this article is
not to be equated with a simple progression
from the most easy to the most difficult.
There may be very difficult activities where
students have to focus on linguistic form, and
very easy activities in which learners have to
convey meanings for a purpose. It is generally
true, however, that for any given set of linguistic forms, the ability to produce them
fluently while focusing on the meanings they
convey represents the more advanced stage of
communicative ability.
ex-
new information. The latter is one among several factors
which combine to determine the nature of an activity, as
it is experienced by the learner.
'On this topic, see the discussion of "meaningful
drills" in Julian Dakin, The Language Laboratory and
Language Learning (London: Longman, 1973).
'Useful sources of practical ideas are Donn Byrne &
SheIagh Rixon, Communication Games (Windsor: National Foundation for Educational Research, 1979); Developing Communication Skills, ed. Elizabeth Joiner &
Patricia Westphal (Rowley, MA: Newbury House. 1978).
Various types of communication activity are discussed together with their underlying rationale in William T.
Littlewood, Communicative Language Teaching (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1980).
"For sources of ideas; see the references under footnote
4.