Innovation in Language Learning

In recent times, many techniques have found their way into language education, primarily to enhance / facilitate learner’s noticing of gramatical systems. Textual enhancement, input enhancement, consciousness raising are just some of them. These techniques have been used to increase perceptual salience. The guiding philosophy is that the greater the saliency of the input, the higher the chances of learners noticing it.  One weakness in grammar teaching is the fact that features are taught in isolation allowing learners to a belief each feature is totally independent of other contending forces.  The present researcher subscribes to languages as a system of systems. Linguistic features in a system, e.g., the event system, are organized with care towards presenting a  coherent textual message. In doing so, the features allow one member or another to specify a certain event with greater pragmatic coherence. There is thus an interplay of attributes of the features to convey intended messages. To teach a system as a whole and allow learners to watch the juxtaposition of one while eclipsing the use of the other members of the system can be a daunting task. To overcome this, the researcher has created a template for each system wherein learners based on the textual input in the left column figure out what features have been incorporated and other underused in the text and subsequently fill in this information in the columns on the right. Prolonged exposure leaves an indelible mark on learners acquisition. The researcher will share this technique and the impact it has created on ESL learners during the presentation.