Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
(TESOL)
Current Perspectives on Teaching the Four Skills
Author(s): Eli Hinkel
Source: TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Mar., 2006), pp. 109-131
Published by: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)
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on
CurrentPerspectives
TeachingtheFour Skills
EUHINKEL
SeattleUniversity
UnitedStates
Seattle,Washington,
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109
themescan be identified:
the declineof methods,the
overarching
the
of
both
and
skillsin L2 learning,
significance
bottom-up top-down
to
of
new
about
the
applications
knowledge
Englishlanguage L2
of
skillsin context.
and
the
and
pedagogy,
teaching integrated multiple
the
hallmarks
of
The overview
four
which
are
with
these
trends,
begins
in
instruction
in
current
all
skills.1
Recent
L2
developments
pedagogy
ofL2
are thenhighlighted
to theteaching
as theypertainspecifically
and
speaking,
listening,
reading, writing.
FOUR THEMES IN CURRENT L2 PEDAGOGY
on
current
Severalcrucialfactors
havecombined
toshift
perspectives
on
both
the
decline
of
a
L2 teaching:
methods,
(a)
(b) growing
emphasis
and
aboutEnglish,
and top-down
skills,(c) newknowledge
bottom-up
have
in
These
factors
and
skills
context.
(d) integrated multiple
taught
and curriculum
had a profoundinfluenceon classroominstruction
in
learner
all
skills
and
across
L2
proficiency
development practically
levels.
Decline of Methods
Recognition
oftheessentialrolesoftheteacherand thelearnerand oftheneed
for situationallyrelevantlanguagepedagogyhas broughtabout thedeclineof
withtheirspecific
and prescribed
setsofclassroom
methods,
procedures.
philosophies
a smallnumber
ofresearchers
andmethodAsearlyas themid-1980s,
the
worldwide
about
to
voice
ologistsbegan
growing
apprehension
of
the
enormous
of
method
to
diversity
applicability anyparticular
have
learners
andlearning
needs.Sincethattime,manyL2 professionals
andinapplias overly
cometoseespecific
methods
teaching
prescriptive
contexts
cableindivergent
2001;Kumaravadivelu,
(e.g.,Brown,
learning
skillscan occupya
communicative
2003,2005).Forexample,although
in
interact
theirL2,forEFL
ESL
who
need
to
for
students
highpriority
to
a
reduced
valuerelative
in
have
learners,
may
communicatingEnglish
The
for
entrance
exams
or
tests
for
securing
employment.
preparing
and
forcurricular
intheresponsibility
pasttwodecadeshaveseena shift
1The 25th
issuesof TESOL Quarterly
reflectedthe general trendof treatingthe
anniversary
foundationallanguageskillsseparately.A broad overviewsuch as thisone maywellrepresentan
innovationin itselfto evincethe maturationof L2 teachingas a disciplineas wellthe influential
models (discussedin the sectionIntegratedand Multiple
expansionof integratedinstructional
SkillsTaught in Context).
110
TESOL QUARTERLY
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Bottom-Upand Top-DownSkills
Based on recentresearch
on theroleofcognitionin L2 learning,L2 pedagogy
theimportance
in practically
all skillshas cometorecognize
ofbothaccuracyand
and
skills
and
both
(discussedin the
top-downlanguage
fluency
bottom-up
sectionson teachingspeaking,listening,
and
reading,
writing).
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111
oflanguage
The findings
ofcorpusanalyseshaveidentified
variations
and acrossseveraltypesofgenres,
featuresin spokenor written
registers
suchas academicorjournalisticprose,as wellas formalor conversational
speech.These analysesof real-life
languagein use havedelvedinto,for
example, the frequenciesand patternsof syntactic,morphological,
or discoursalfeaturesthattendto occurin particular
lexical,pragmatic,
typesof text(see Conrad,2005,fora detailedoverview).
have
ofcorpusanalysesfindings
to L2 teaching,however,
Applications
not been withoutcontroversy.
Some languagecorporaare specifically
created and analyzedwith the intentto benefitL2 instructionand
of learning.For example,studiesof vocabulary
improvethe efficiency
coursesacrosssuch
university
frequenciesand rangesin introductory
and biologyare veryusefulin
diversedisciplinesas economics,history,
boundor professional
L2 learners(e.g.,Hazenberg
teachingacademically
& Hulstijn,1996; Nation,1990, 2001). Other analysesof Englishlanfocusedon theempiricalstudyoflanguage
guage corporaare primarily
to obtaindetaileddescriptions
ofitsproperties
thatcan be appliedto the
of languagetheories.Some prominentexpertsin L2 teachrefinement
havequestionedthevalueofapplyingcorpusfindings
ingand linguistics
to L2 teaching.For instance,accordingto Widdowson(1990, 2000,
who in effect
2003) and Cook (1997, 1998), learnersin EFL settings,
withnativespeakersofEnglish,do not
havefewopportunities
to interact
need to be particularly
concernedwiththe frequenciesof linguistic
featuresin nativespeakercorpora.These authorsalso argue that,in
are too cultureboundand narrowly
specific
manycases,corpusfindings
to a particularvarietyof Englishto be usefulforlearnerswho have no
the issuesof difficulty,
access to thatcultureor variety.
Furthermore,
relevance,and pedagogicalsequencinghave to
usefulness,
learnability,
be takeninto account in corpus-basedL2 teachingand instructional
materials(e.g., Aston,1995; fora discussion,see also Conrad,2005).
can make
thatcorpusfindings
believe,however,
ManyL2 methodologists
thelanguage
and efficient
L2 teachingfarmoreeffective
byidentifying
featuresthatlearnersmustknowto achievetheirlearninggoals (e.g.,
Byrd,2005; Byrd& Reid, 1998; Conrad,2000).
112
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113
ofcontent-based
theimplementation
ESL and EFL situations
worldwide,
and impractical
be
and task-based
instruction
may simplyinappropriate
cannot
FL
or
For
L2
Swan,
2005;
Ur,
1996).
proficiency
example,
(e.g.,
be developed when learningis limitedto 1-3 hours of classroom
& Spada, 1990).
instruction
and input(e.g.,Lightbown,
2000;Lightbown
or math,
such
as
science
in
content
instruction
when
areas,
Additionally,
to
teachersoftenfinditdifficult
is carriedout in Englishin EFL settings,
and learners
maintainexpertisein bothEnglishand thesubjectmatter,
oftenconcentrateonlyon school
whoneed to prepareforexaminations
in
much
interest
without
learningthe language.In task-based,
subjects
multiskill
withits focus on the developmentof language
instruction,
issuesof contentor linguistic
accuracyare of secondaryimporfluency,
modelforschooling
ofthetask-based
theusefulness
tance,thuslimiting
and academicpreparation(see Richards& Rodgers,2001; Widdowson,
1990,2003). Based on theirexperience,however,
manyL2 teachersand
curriculumdesignersbelieve that integratedFL/L2 instructioncan
increase learners' opportunitiesfor L2 purposefulcommunication,
real-lifelanguageuse, and diversetypesof contextualized
interaction,
all ofwhichhavethegoal ofdeveloping
discourseand linguistic
features,
and skills(fordetaileddiscussion,see,
students'language proficiency
e.g.,Ellis,2003; Fotos,2001,2002; Snow,2005).
of
The remainderof thisarticledelvesintoa moredetailedoverview
the prevailingcurrentsin the teachingof the L2 foundationalskills:
divisionhas the
Thistraditional
reading,and writing.
speaking,listening,
sole purpose of easing the reader's navigationthroughthe article's
contents,and some generallyacceptedwaysto integratetheteachingof
L2 skillswillbe addressedas a matterof course.
TESOL QUARTERLY
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lexicogrammatical
repertoireformeaningful
accuracy,and a sufficient
to takeplace.
communication
In the 1990s, many researchersconcluded that exposure to and
communicativeinteractionin an L2 enables learners to attain L2
speakingfluency.However,the extentof fluencydevelopmentwas not
and lexicalaccuracyin oral production
matchedby learners'syntactic
&
1990;
Schmidt,1993;Swain,1991). These and
(e.g.,Lightbown Spada,
thatalthough,forexample,immersion
demonstrated
other
studies
many
learnerscan speak fluentlyand with ease, their speech contained
errors.
numerousgrammatical,
lexical,and pragmalinguistic
to
and task-based
Withincommunicative
approaches teaching,various
in
modifications
L2
speaking pedagogy have been
methodological
an
of
that
permit integration fluencyand accuracyfoci (e.g.,
proposed
For
instance,accordingto Ellis (2003), the task-based
Fotos, 2002).
of
L2
speakingskillshas built-inopportunitiesfor online
teaching
in more accurateand complexuses of language.
result
that
planning
Ellisexplainsthatcarefully
designedtaskscan fosterthedevelopmentof
and descriptions
can be
variousaspectsofL2 oralproduction:Narratives
for
debates
and
in fluency-focused
effective
teaching,and,
example,
lexical
can
increased
and
tasks
grammatical
promote
problem-solving
in learnerlanguageuse. Anotheradvantageofusingtasksin
complexity
learners
is thatrehearsal(or taskrepetition)affords
L2 oral instruction
to accommodatethe competingcognitivedemandsof
an opportunity
For example,advanceplanand linguistic
complexity.
fluency,
accuracy,
thatis,whatto sayand
content
and
rehearsals
of
and
formulation,
ning
in
howto sayit,lead to substantial
improvements theamountofspoken
discourseand in grammatical,lexical, and articulatory
accuracy.In
contextualized
uses
ofspecific
and task-based
content-based
instruction,
the
and
can
be
to
connect
structures
vocabulary
emphasized
grammar
a
activities
and
matter
(for thoroughoverview,
languagelearning
subject
see Snow,2005).
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115
betweennormative
speakersof Englishratherthanbetweennativeand
nonnativespeakers (e.g., Canagarajah,2005; Jenkins,2000, and this
issue). Thus, today,L2 pronunciationpedagogyhas the objectiveof
ratherthandrasticaccent
helpinglearnersachieveoverallintelligibility
modification(e.g., McKay,2002). To thisend, teachinghas to address
of specificsounds),
theissuesof segmentaiclarity(e.g., thearticulation
wordstressand prosody,and the lengthand the timingof pauses.The
currentapproachto teachingpronunciation
is generallybased on three
Pronunciation
and
intonationare taughtin
criteria:
(a)
principled
contextand in conjunctionwith speakingskills,(b) instructionin
pronunciationservesbroader communicativepurposes,and (c) the
teachingof pronunciationand intonationis based on realisticrather
thanidealisticlanguagemodels (e.g., Chun,2002).
Speaking and PragmalingisticSkills
TESOL QUARTERLY
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TEACHING LISTENING
Duringthe 1970s,listeningpedagogylargelyemphasizedthedevelopment of learners' abilities to identifywords,sentence boundaries,
individualsounds,and sound combinations,thatis, botcontractions,
tom-uplinguisticprocessing.The 1980ssawa shiftfromtheviewof L2
linguisticto a schema-basedview,and listenlisteningas predominantly
moved
awayfromits focus on the linguisticaspectsof
ing pedagogy
to
the
activationof learners'top-downknowledge.In
comprehension
aural
comprehensionhingeson listeners'abilities
top-downprocessing,
to activatetheirknowledge-based
schemata,such as culturalconstructs,
discourse
and
clues,
pragmaticconventions(e.g.,Celcetopicfamiliarity,
Rost
& Ross,1991). In thepracticeof
Murcia,1995;Mendelsohn,1994;
neither
L2
however,
teaching listening,
approach- a focuson bottom-up
- provedto be a resoundingsuccess:Learners
or top-downprocessing
who relyon linguisticprocessingoftenfailto activatehigherorderL2
schemata,and thosewho correctly
applyschema-basedknowledgetend
to neglectthe linguisticinput(e.g., Tsui & Fullilove,1998;Vandergrift,
2004).
Advancesin the studiesof spokencorporaand conversation
analysis
have illuminatedthe complexityof oral discourseand language.The
findingsof these analyseshave made it evidentthat,in manycases,
can be of limited
employingauthenticlanguagein listeninginstruction
ofconstraints,
suchas thefastpace ofspeech,
benefitbecauseofa variety
ofspokengrammarand lexicon(e.g.,incomplete
specificcharacteristics
CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS
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117
TESOL QUARTERLY
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and
contentoftaskscan be easilycontrolledin regardto theirlinguistic
and
schematicvariables,suchas frequentoccurrencesoftargetsyntactic
task(also referred
in thecontextofa meaning-focused
lexicalstructures
wordsand phrases,
to as enriched
input), such as grammarconstructions,
Academic
tasks
and note-taking
or conversational
listening
expressions.
are an age-oldtechniqueforteachingmore advancedlearners.Taped
(or live) listeningselections,suchas academiclectures,can be designed
to concentrateon specifictopicsand contentswithdirectedgrammar
and vocabularyloads, and culturaland discourseschemata,integrated
and speakingpractice.
withreading,writing,
TeachingListeningand TeachingStrategies
in
and schematicconsiderations
In the 1990s,in additionto linguistic
learners
L2 listening,a numberof studiesidentifiedthe difficulties
experiencewhen coping withcomprehensionproblemsand making
Researchershave also been interestedin the metacognitive
inferences.
ofsuccessful
and cognitive
L2 listeners(e.g.,Rost& Ross,1991;
strategies
The
oftheseinvestigations
haveled L2
1999,2004).
findings
Vandergrift,
the
and
advocate
of
to
teaching metacognitive cognitive
listening
experts
The mostimporforL2 listeningcomprehension.
strategies
specifically
is thatstrategies
are under
tantdifference
betweenskillsand strategies
learners'consciouscontrol,and listenerscan be taughtto compensate
missedlinguisticor schematicinput,or
forincompleteunderstanding,
clues (see Rost,2005,fora discussion).
misidentified
Thus, currentL2 listeningpedagogy includes the modeling of
and strategy
trainingin tandemwithteaching
strategies
metacognitive
is moreeffective
A consistent
use ofmetacognitive
L2 listening.
strategies
in improving
learners'L2 listeningcomprehensionthanworkon listenstrate2004). The keymetacognitive
ing skillsalone (e.g., Vandergrift,
in
instruction
include
L2
listening
planningfor
gies widelyadopted
the
self-monitoring comprehension
processes,evaluatingcomlistening,
difficulties
and
(e.g., see Rost,
identifying
comprehension
prehension,
and
Learners
at
intermediate
levelsof
for
a
2005,
discussion).
beginning
from
instruction
that
concentrates
on
benefit
bottom-up
may
proficiency
trainand top-downlisteningprocesses,togetherwithselectivestrategy
of
an
addition
more
advanced
For
learners,
cognitivestrategies,
ing.
such as discourseorganization,inferencing,
elaboration,and summation,also representan effective
approach to teachinglistening(Rost,
Rost
&
Ross,1991).
2001;
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119
TEACHING L2 READING
Recentresearchhas sheda greatdeal oflighton theprocessesand the
L2 readingentailsboth
learningof L2 reading.Similarto L2 listening,
bottom-upand top-downcognitiveprocessing,and in the 1980s,the
prevalentapproachto teachingsoughtto activatelearners'LI reading
schemataand priorknowledgeto fosterthedevelopmentof L2 reading
skills.Overtime,however,
ithas becomeevidentthat,despitemanyyears
of schoolingand exposure to L2 reading and text,not all learners
of
overview
succeedin becomingproficient
L2 readers.In hisimportant
topreadingresearch,Eskey(1988) examineswhathe called "a strongly
downbias" (p. 95) in L2 readingpedagogyand neglectoflearners'weak
linguisticprocessingskills.Eskey's analysisexplainsthatL2 readersare
distinctfromthose who read in their Lis and that
fundamentally
essential"knowledgeof the language of the text"(p. 96) is required
beforelearnerscan successfully
processthe L2 readingschema.The
primacyof the bottom-upprocessingin L2 readingand the need for
notedbyParan (1996),
teachingthelanguagein L2 readingare similarly
Birch(2002), and Koda (2005), whoviewthe top-downreadingskillsas
additiveor compensatory
once fluentbottom-up
processingis achieved.
TESOL QUARTERLY
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skillsdevelopsignificantly
fasterwhenLI and
readers'word-processing
are similar(as in Englishand Spanish).
L2 orthographies
The findingsof L2 readingresearchon the keyrole of bottom-up
processing,word recognitionfluency,and the recognitionof the
ofwordsand phraseshaveled to substantive
structure
morphophonemic
instruction
to youngand adultL2 learners
shiftsin readingand literacy
NationalLiteracyStrategy
alike.For example,in 1999,the far-reaching
in theUnitedKingdomintroducedworkon phonics,wordrecognition,
and graphicknowledgepriorto sentenceand textlevelsof instruction.
In teacher education,currentmethodologytextbooksreflectthe
on teachingL2 reading,literacy,
and writing
changein theperspectives
Such
influential
also
section
the
(see
TeachingWriting).
publicationsas
thosebyCelce-Murcia(2001), Carterand Nunan (2001), McKay(1993),
Nunan (1999, 2003), and Wallace (1992) containat leasta chapteron
in topreadingskillsusuallyfollowedbyinstruction
teachingbottom-up
LI
For
that
cautions
downand strategic
reading. example,Ediger(2001)
In
not
transfer
to
an
the
case
of
skills
do
L2.
readily
young
reading
school-ageand olderlearnersalike,teachersneed to beginwithworkon
thevisualappearanceofwords(e.g.,a sight-word
p. 157), soundapproach,
the
and
the developletterrelationships
p. 157),
(e.g.,
look-say
approach,
mentofwordrecognitionfluencybeforedelvingintotop-downskillsin
Wallace (2001) reviewsresearchon
bothreadingand writing.
Similarly,
to
decode
words as a prerequisiteto
the
learner's
ability
fostering
the
conclusions
of
various
Based
on
studies,Wallaceexplains
reading.
thata stronglink exists"betweenphonemicawareness,the abilityto
and rapidly,
and readingachievement"(p.
processwordsautomatically
In
book
for
Birch
her
teachers,
(2002) advocatesteaching
23).
practical
thenmovingforward
to
L2 readingbybeginningwithprocessingletters,
and vocabularylearnthe Englishspellingsystem,morphophonemics,
ing. Accordingto Birch,althoughboth bottom-upand top-downprocessingskillsare necessaryto learn to read in an L2, the reading
mustbe in place beforetop-downinstruction
can benefit
fundamentals
learners.
Readingand Vocabulary
In other venues, the foundations-first
perspectiveon L2 reading
to
views
on
extends
also
today's
teachingand learningvocabupedagogy
out in thepasttwodecades
amounts
of
research
carried
Enormous
lary.
havebeen devotedto the role ofvocabularyin L2 readingas wellas to
vocabularylearningand acquisition.Althoughin the 1970s and 1980s
the teachingand learningof vocabularywas consideredto be largely
secondaryto theteachingofotherL2 skills,at presenta greatdeal more
CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS
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121
TESOL QUARTERLY
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Extensive
isbasedon theprinciples
andmethodologists.
reading
adopted
itcanbe appealin LI readingand literacy
instruction,
and,intuitively,
for
ingbecauseof itsemphasison readinglargeamountsof material
out
that
In
"the
fact,
(2005)
Eskey
points
relationship
enjoyment.
andreciprocal"
iswelldocumented
between
readingandvocabulary
(p.
567), and the moreone reads,the largerhis or her languagebase
and
becomes.The goalofextensive
readingis toreadrelatively
quickly
than
to
focus
on
the
details.
ideas
rather
It
is
to understand
general
that
extensive
can
learners
with
reading provide
recognized
generally
thedevelopment
and facilitate
of
exposureto newand old vocabulary
Accord2005;
1997;
Nation,
2001).
Eskey,
(e.g.,Coady,
readingfluency
of extensive
readingis
ing to Hu and Nation(2000), theusefulness
of
unknown
which
should
not
exceed1
on
the
words,
density
contingent
shouldrecuratfairly
50wordsoftext.Also,vocabulary
forevery
regular
Forlessproficient
to promoteretention.
intervals
learners,
gradedor
loadsmaybe theoptimal
readerswithcontrolled
vocabulary
simplified
teachers
dislike
As
even
choice,
gradedreadingmaterials.
thoughmany
for
"Without
a
second
Nation(2005)mentions,
readers,
reading
graded
struggle
againstan overlanguagelearnerwouldbe one continuous
level"
(p. 588).
whelming
vocabulary
TEACHING L2 WRITING
ofL2 writing
in the1980smuchin theteaching
wasbased
Although
a
number
in
the
two
of
onLI writing
research,
publications
past decades,
differences
thatexistbetween
haveemergedto addresstheimportant
in one'sLI andin one'sL2 (e.g.,Hinkel,2002;McKay
towrite
learning
of 72 studies,
Silva
& Wong,1996;Silva,1993).Basedon hissynthesis
differences
exist
between
all
concludes
that
(1993)
significant
practically
He
that
the
needs
of
of
LI
and
L2
writing. emphasizes
learning
aspects
LI
distinct
fromthoseof basicor proficient
are crucially
L2 writers
and thatL2 writing
writers
pedagogyrequiresspecialand systematic
account
thecultural,
andlinguistic
that
take
into
rhetorical,
approaches
Hinkel's
LI and L2 writers.
between
differences
(2002) largeSimilarly,
ofLI andL2 textshowedthatevenafter
scaleempirical
yearsof
analysis
text
writers'
continues
to
differ
ESL and composition
L2
training,
in
of
novice
LI
writers
to
most
from
that
regard
linguistic
significantly
Evenadvancedand trained
continue
features.
andrhetorical
L2 writers
that
limitedlexicaland syntactic
to havea severely
repertoire enables
to the mostcommon
themto produceonlysimpletextrestricted
in conversational
features
encountered
dislanguage
predominantly
course(Hinkel,2003).
CURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS
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123
TESOL QUARTERLY
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to
Alongtheselines,the currentapproachesforteachingL2 writing
are
based
on
the
children
that
learners
similarly
premise
school-age
in spellingand in letterand word
need to attainfundamental
proficiency
followedbya focuson thesyntactic
parsingofmorphemes,
recognition,
Celce-Murcia
&
and
sentences
Olshtain,
2000). Duringthe
(e.g.,
phrases,
of
learners'
more
writing
development,
subsequentstages
complextasks
forexample,
are introducedto include emotive(or personal)writing,
thattell about personalexperiences,lettersto friends,and
narratives
diaries.Then instructionbegins to advance to school-basedwriting,
withreadingas wellas withgrammarand vocabulary
usuallyintegrated
learning(Adger,Snow,& Christian,2002; Birch,2005; Schleppegrell,
2004).
Integratedand Content-BasedTeachingof Writing
in L2 writing,
Much of the currentintegratedinstruction
grammar,
and vocabularytakesplace in conjunctionwithreading,content-based,
to improvethe overallqualityof L2 prose
instruction
and form-focused
&
(e.g., Cope, Kalantzis,1993; Hedgcock,2005; Williams,2005). For
example,to promotelearners'noticingof howparticulargrammarand
textand discourse,teacherscan
lexisare employedin authenticwritten
selectreadingsfroma widearrayofgenres,suchas narrative,
exposition,
or argumentation.
Based on readingcontent,practicein textanalysis
can become a usefulspringboardfor an instructional
focus on the
structures
and
uses
of
contextualized
grammar
specific
vocabulary.
instructioncan address the featuresof writtenregisterby
Similarly,
bringinglearners'attentionto the situationalvariablesof languagein
context,such as e-mailmessages,news reports,or writtenacademic
prose, and their attendantlinguisticand discoursefeatures(CelceCURRENT PERSPECTIVES ON TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS
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125
Murcia& Olshtain,2000;Hinkel,2002,2003,2004;Larsen-Freeman,
& DeCarrico,
2002;Nattinger
1992).
Another
withreadintegrated
together
writing
approachto teaching
in
of
and
is
rooted
the
foundations
the
functional
linguistics
ing
systemic
in
for
the
uses
of
texts
written
that
examines
genretheory
language
instrucGenre-based
academic
and
particular,
mostly
specific,
purposes.
while
tionseeksto enableL2 learnersto analyzeacademicdiscourse
to
the
socioculand
to
academic
that
adheres
reading
produce
writing
turalnormsof a particular
academic(or professional)
genre(e.g.,
Christie,
1993,2000;Martin,
1998;Cope & Kalantzis,
1992).However,
hasnotbeen
use ofa genre-centered
contexts
approachin educational
and
their
without
believe
that
linguistic
controversy.
Manyexperts
genres
or evenirrelevant
features
defined,
unstable,
maybe subjective,
vaguely
to diversetypesofESL/EFLlearners(fordetaileddiscussion,
see,e.g.,
Silva& Brice,2004;Widdowson,
2003).
A FINAL WORD
TESOL
In partdue to itscomparatively
shorthistory
as a discipline,
and
in
new
venues
continues
tobe a dynamic
one
which
field,
perspecIn thepasttwodecadesor so,toa greatextent,
tivesarestillunfolding.
in theteaching
ofL2 skillshavebeendriven
theinnovations
by(a) new
about
the
learner
and
the
knowledge
Englishlanguage,(b) a greater
and
and top-down
balancein theteaching
ofbothbottom-up
L2 skills,
for
The
a
of
instructional
models.
(c) proliferationintegrated
purposes
and
whichpeoplelearnEnglishtodayhavealsoevolvedfroma cultural
The
communication.
educationalenterprise
to thatof international
the
what
of
of
new
about
the
how
and
L2
teaching
growth
knowledge
and learningare certainto continueand willprobablyremainas
ofTESOL'sdisciplinary
maturation.
hallmarks
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For theirinsightful
and helpfulcommentson earlydraftsof thisarticle,I expressmy
of California,Los Angeles,
sincere gratitudeto Marianne Celce-Murcia,University
of San Francisco,Sandra Fotos, Senshu University,
Sandra McKay,State University
whosesuggestionsforrevisionswereinstrumental
and Ken Benoit,SeattleUniversity,
in fine-tuning
the finalversion.Additionally,Suresh Canagarajah and two anonymous reviewersprovidedveryusefulfeedbackand commentsthathelped develop
the finalversion.
126
TESOL QUARTERLY
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THE AUTHOR
Eli Hinkel has taughtESL and applied linguistics,as well as trainedteachers,for
more than 20 years and has published numerous books and articleson learning
second culture,and second language grammar,writing,and pragmatics.She is also
the editorof LawrenceErlbaum's ESL and Applied LinguisticsProfessionalSeries.
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TESOL QUARTERLY
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131