Here are suggested answers to the Think About It items in this chapter of the Online Learning Center website.

1. Savignon’s 1972 study was the first empirical study to demonstrate that L2 communication skills are not a result of habit formation. Briefly summarize the results of this study and explain how this research constitutes a blow to ALM.



Teacher’s Note: Response should include the following point(s):


• Savignon’s research showed that drills do not help learners develop communicative competence.
• The study shows that one learns how to communicative by practicing communication that involves the negotiation of meaning.

2. Instructors sometimes become frustrated when there is a communication breakdown in the classroom. They sometimes feel the breakdown may be due to inadequate teaching. However, as noted by Lee and VanPatten, communication breakdowns are normal in second language contexts. Explain why instructors should not shoulder the responsibility for communication breakdowns in the classroom. How might instructors use these breakdowns as opportunities for language learning?



Teacher’s Note: Response should include the following point(s):


• Shouldering the burden of learning would perpetuate the Atlas Complex.
• When there is a communication breakdown and teachers and students are pushed to negotiate meaning, input becomes more comprehensible. Thus, communication breakdowns, when they are approached appropriately, leads to the generation of more comprehensible input.

3. In a communicative drill, learners receive new information that they did not know before the activity. However, as Lee and VanPatten point out, this does not necessarily mean that negotiation of meaning is taking place. Explain why true communication may not be taking place when learners engage in communicative drills.



Teacher’s Note: Response should include the following point(s):


• Communicative drills tend to only simulate real conversation.
• Real communication often does not happen in communicative drills because learners tend not to be pushed to express, interpret or negotiate meaning.
• In a communicative drill, once an answer is given, learners merely move on to the next question.