This workshop discusses principles for language learning with a focus on making production meaningful through personalization. The key principles covered are: 1) The importance of formulaic expressions. 2) The role of pragmatic meaning-making. 3) The benefits of focusing on form. 4) The difference between implicit and explicit knowledge. The workshop argues that making vocabulary learning purposeful and personalized can help address the incidental vocabulary dilemma in textbooks. Learners should be given opportunities to interact in the target language.

1. Purpose, Production and Personalization
Ron Martinez

2. Good morning!

3. What is the purpose of this workshop
series?
• Review rationale for a focus on production.
• Raise awareness that production should be
meaningful (e.g. personalized, purposeful)
• Tie these concepts to underlying theory, with
a bridge to practice.

7. The ‘homework’

8. Quiz time!

9. QUESTION 1

11. QUESTION 2

14. Principle 1 – Importance of formulaic
expressions
“There is now widespread acceptance of the
importance played by formulaic expressions in
language use. […] Traditionally, language
instruction has been directed at developing
rule-based competence (i.e., knowledge of
specific grammatical rules) through the
systematic teaching of pre-selected structures
– what Long (1991) has referred to as a focus-
on-forms approach.” (p. 211)

15. QUESTION 3

17. Principle 2 – Pragmatic Meaning-
Making

18. QUESTION 4

20. Principle 3 – Focus on Form

21. QUESTION 5

23. Principle 4 – Implicit vs. Explicit
Knowledge

24. Key principles for today:
• Principle 1 – Importance of Formulaic
Expressions
• Principle 2 – Pragmatic Meaning-Making
• Principle 3 – Focus on Form
• Principle 4 – Implicit and Explicit Knowledge

26. Key principles for today:
• Principle 1 – Importance of Formulaic
Expressions
• Principle 2 – Pragmatic Meaning-Making
• Principle 3 – Focus on Form
• Principle 4 – Implicit and Explicit Knowledge
• For example...

27. ‘Islands of Reliability’
“Language production may be much less the
result of creative construction processes than
we have thought...” (Dechert, 1983: 184)

28. Do you agree?
“While without grammar very little can be
conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed.” (Wilkins, 1972, p. 111)

30. Key principles for today:
• Principle 1 – Importance of Formulaic
Expressions
• Principle 2 – Pragmatic Meaning-Making
• Principle 3 – Focus on Form
• Principle 4 – Implicit and Explicit Knowledge

34. ‘“Knowing words is the key to understanding
and being understood. The bulk of learning a
new language consists of learning new words.
[…] Grammatical knowledge does not make
for great proficiency in a language.” (Vermeer,
1992, p. 147)

35. But which words? How?

36. 1992...

37. Lexical Acquisition
• Best if it arises from context
• ‘Context’ can mean situation, text, need to
express something – but in all cases ideally
comes from the learner (i.e. ‘noticing’)
• Purpose, production, personalization

38. lexis
planned incidental
mostly in
presentation stage
throughout lesson,
but especially in
freer practice
stages

39. The Incidental Vocabulary Dilemma

40. Myth: “The vocabulary input in
textbooks has been carefully planned.”
Strategic lexical planning is negatively affected
by a number of factors:
• coursebook syllabus scope and sequence
primarily motivated by grammar and topic –
and conventions surrounding these;
• publishers’ deadlines and market sensitivity;
• no ‘vocabulary syllabus’;
• authors’ notions of what is useful.

41. Problems with topic-driven syllabus
• not much ‘stretching’ (Häcker, 2008; Reda, 2003; Schmitt &
Schmitt, under review)
• lexical sets are not effective (Erten & Tekin, 2008; Nation,
2000; Tinkham, 1993; Waring 1997)
• native speakers are not good at judging
important properties of words, such as frequency,
coverage and collocation (Alderson, 2007; Fox, 1987;
Koprowski, 2007)
• predominant selection criteria seem to have
‘salience’ at their core, which can exclude a
number of ‘less obvious’ items.

42. Martinez & Murphy (2011)

44. The solution?
• Well, not “the” solution, but one way to
address the situation: purpose, production,
and pesonalization.
• For example, use you.

48. Key principles for today:
• Principle 1 – Importance of Formulaic
Expressions
• Principle 2 – Pragmatic Meaning-Making
• Principle 3 – Focus on Form
• Principle 4 – Implicit and Explicit Knowledge

49. Key principles for today:
• Principle 1 – Importance of Formulaic
Expressions
• Principle 2 – Pragmatic Meaning-Making
• Principle 3 – Focus on Form
• Principle 4 – Implicit and Explicit Knowledge

51. The solution?
• Well, not “the” solution, but one way to
address the situation: purpose, production,
and pesonalization.
• For example, use you.

52. The solution?
• Well, not “the” solution, but one way to
address the situation: purpose, production,
and pesonalization.
• For example, use you.
• Use human nature.

53. ‘Cathy’s Cards’

55. Now you try!
1. Use pics on your phone (if available).
2. When finished, make notes about ‘ancillary’
talk.

56. planting lexical seeds

58. Principle 8: The opportunity to interact
in the L2 is central to developing L2
proficiency

59. Thanks! See you next time!
Slides and homework will be online!
ronmartinez@ufpr.br
www.drronmartinez.com