The Penta Pie

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• The Penta Pie
• for nutritious SLA activities
• Gerard Westhoff
• The ECML (GRAZ)
• 5 8 April 2006

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Processing CONTENT
Receptive
Processing FORM
STRATEGIC ACTIVITIES
Productive
OUPUT Production
Applying RULES
Combining CHUNKS
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Limitations of input alone

• Ceiling
• Tarzan talk (pidginization)
• Less growth productive skill than expected
  ---

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Advantages of focus on form

• Faster progress
• No ceiling
• But
• Not without rich input
• Given rules are not used
• focus on grammar -gt speech inhibition
  ---

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Advantages of output production

• Increases fluency
• Learners discover their deficits
• Enhances form awareness
• Knowledge becomes more complete through
  corrective feedback by communication partner
  ---

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Chunks (formulaic speech)ready made,
unanalysed units of more than one word

• Closed
• Guten Tag
• Je vous en prie
• I wish I knew
• Open
• Ich wüßte gern,
• Sauriez-vous me dire, .
• is believed to have been .

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Being exposed to input (i1)

• Abundant
• Just above actual proficiency level (i 1)
• Lifelike
• Informative (Contains something that is
  interesting to know)
• Rich diversity of
• reading/listening/looking
• interest/age, etc.
• register

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Processing content

• Content-oriented
• Lifelike
• Functional/informative (results in some sort of
  product)
• Task based (functional embedded in realistic
  task)

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Processing form

• Content first (from fluency to accuracy and not
  reversed)
• Dont make it out to be a problem
• Content-oriented
• Let them create their own grammar
• Reward can do (not knowing why in the first
  place)

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Output production

• Message before form
• Reinforcement and feedback ditto
• There should be a genuine reason to produce
  language
• Learners should be free in their choice of
  linguistic means
• Connection to the learners own reality

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Receptive strategies

• Inform about
• what
• how
• when
• Practice
• Awareness raising

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Productive strategies

• Elicit, reinforce and reward
• simplifying
• avoiding
• copying
• questioning
• Use of the target language in the classroom

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SLA is helped by

• A functional linguistic activity necessary to
  complete a realistic task like
• solving a problem
• making a decision
• giving advice
• organizing an event, etc
• The product of the task is principally open
• The impact of the learning activity can be
  influenced by the product specifications

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Criteria for learning activities (FLIRT)

• Functional (serves a purpose, leads to something)
• Lifelike / Current
• Informative (contains information the learner
  would like to know)
• Rich variety
• Reading / listening / watching
• Interest / age / etc.
• Register / type of language
• Tempting (i.e. in the zone of proximal
  development)