Paul Nation's Four Strands

We need tons of constant exposure to the language we are trying to acquire, but we also need to expose ourselves to the literature about language acquisition (Krashen, etc.). I recently read an article by Paul Nation (found him via Steve Kaufmann) concerning his “Four Strands” of language learning/teaching that he recommends be balanced across any language teaching program. For reference, here are some of my notes that I jotted down while reading the article:

Reccomends one graded reader, with 95-98% coverage, every two weeks.

Swain's Output Hypothesis:

• Noticing Function: "Oh, I have holes here..."
• Hypothesis Testing Function: "Let's see if it is OK to say this..."
• Metalinguistic Function: Talking about the language contributes to learning it.

Language-focused Learning: deliberate teaching/learning. There are "tricks" and strategies that do speed things up.

Fluency Strand: practicing for speed. The material used for fluency practice should basically have no unfamiliar contents.

Four Strands In a Nutshell: Input, Output, Teaching, Fluency (speed)

Waring&Takaki: In 56 minutes of graded reader reading, 4 words were learnt well while 12 were learnt partially.