UNIT 10 - EXPOSURE AND FOCUS ON FORM

UNIT 10 – EXPOSURE AND FOCUS ON FORM

What exposure and focus on the form means? First, it is necessary to define what is exposure and what is form in language acquisition. British Council (2019) suggests that exposure refers to the student's contact with the language, people pick up the language automatically.  Aarts (2015), explains that form refers to the structure people use to build grammar blocks.

Exposure is one way to learn a foreign language. People can acquire a new language by hearing or reading while the language is being learned unconsciously. This process is known as the silent period. Bligh (2012) says that the silent period refers to a specific moment when a person acquires a language unconsciously by listening or reading. However, exposure is not enough to learn the target language; it is necessary to focus on the form of a foreign language. The form focus on vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. Interaction is also needed to learn a language.  In addition, to learn a new language, it needs to have a lot of exposure and be surrounded by the language to acquire it. It is important to use the language to communicate with others and notice if they understand the message to have an effective interaction. To pay attention to the meaning of language and the features of it is important to pick up the foreign language.

As conclusion, I could learn that exposure is being in contact with the language you are learning and form is the structure people use for building grammar. Something interesting is that exposure is not enough to acquire a language because it is necessary to focus on the form and interaction of the language. These aspects are important to pick up a foreign language.

The teacher can expose students in the language and focus on the form if they apply these activities.

-          The teacher shows students videos about conversations of real situations such as interviews, speeches, conversations with friends, among others; where students can learn to differentiate between different accents and speed of delivery.

-          The teacher can teach common phrases or expressions to use in a real situation. For instance, when students want to buy something, when they travel abroad, when they want to greet someone and when they want to talk between them in the target language. It is a useful activity to practice interaction in the classroom and in real life.

References

Aarts, B. (11 de 9 de 2015). GRAMMARIANISM. Obtenido de https://grammarianism.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/form-and-function/

Bligh, C. A. (2012, 10 20). Retrieved from http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/755/1/Dr_Caroline%20Bligh_Bilingual%20Learners%20in%20the%20EYs.pdf

Council, B. (2019). Exposure. Obtenido de https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/exposure

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

University, C. (s.f.). Cambridge Dictionary. Obtenido de https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/exposure