Focus on form (FonF), also called form-focused instruction, is an approach to
language education
Language education refers to the processes and practices of teaching a second language, second or foreign language. Its study reflects interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary approaches, usually including some applied linguistics. There are f ...
in which learners are made aware of linguistic forms – such as individual words and conjugations – in the context of a communicative activity. It is contrasted with ''focus on forms'', in which forms are studied in isolation, and ''focus on
meaning'', in which no attention is paid to forms at all. For instruction to qualify as ''focus on form'' and not as ''focus on forms'', the learner must be aware of the meaning and use of the language features before the form is brought to their attention. ''Focus on form'' was proposed by
Michael Long in 1988.
[. This paper was originally presented at the European-North-American Symposium on Needed Research in Foreign Language Education, Bellagio, Italy, in 1988.]
Background
The concept of ''focus on form'' was motivated by the lack of support for the efficacy of ''focus on forms'' on the one hand, and clear advantages demonstrated by instructed language learning over uninstructed learning on the other.
The research conflicting with ''focus on forms'' has been wide-ranging;
[.] learners typically acquire language features in
sequences
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is call ...
, not all at once, and most of the stages the learners'
interlanguage
An interlanguage is an idiolect developed by a learner of a second language (L2) which preserves some features of their first language (L1) and can overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics give an interlangu ...
s pass through will exhibit non-native-like language forms. Furthermore, the progression of these stages is not clean; learners may use language features correctly in some situations but not in others, or they may exhibit
U-shaped learning, in which native-like use may temporarily revert to non-native-like use. None of these findings sit well with the idea that students will learn exactly what you teach them, when you teach it.
In a review of the literature comparing instructed with uninstructed language learning, Long found a clear advantage for instructed learning in both the rate of learning and the ultimate level reached.
An important finding that supported Long's view came from
French language immersion
Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in Bilingual education, bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including maths, science, or social studies. The languages ...
programs in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
; even after students had years of meaning-focused lessons filled with comprehensible input, their spoken language remained far from native-like, with many grammatical errors. This is despite the fact that they could speak fluently and had native-like listening abilities.
[.]
Notes
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{{SLA topics
Language-teaching methodology
Second-language acquisition