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themselves are the only constants in this long-term project, they must be
provided with the skills to manage the process. Clearly this need is especially
acute at moments of transition, but the training cannot be put off until
immediately before the transition is attempted. As with functional skills, the
ability and the willingness to manage one's own learning can be acquired
effectively only over time.
Learning a language is itself a very complex process, and the
management of this process is a task encompassing a very large domain.
Language teachers take for granted when we habitually speak of four modes of
language use: speaking, listening, writing, and reading. In traditional
approaches, each of these modes is cross-cut by lexical and grammatical
issues. At different moments, phonology, semantics(including pragmatics) pose
their own difficulties. As we come at the question from a functional perspective,
functions and proficiency enter the picture as well. Furthermore, there is also
the range of questions from day-to-day learning management, covering such
topics as what we might call "study skills," to the more long-range issues
concerning the learner's overall path and goals. This bewildering weave of
analysis cannot be transmitted quickly, yet at the same time, we have argued
throughout this document that things analytic should take a back seat to
function.
A reasonable question at this point might be: If there is too much to do,
how do we decide what to give up? The answer to this seeming dilemma falls
out from the developmental cognitive approach that we are advocating. In this
case, the answer is to train learners to do the part of the task on their own that is
most appropriate. For all of the reasons we have been discussing, the
functional approach early on in the learning process makes sense for
adolescent and late adolescent learners. As they reach the stage where it is
appropriate for them to be studying more independently, we gradually hand off
more of the most discrete learning tasks.
By the time students reach the advanced stage, they are typically at least
in their late teens. We are claiming that this is a time when their intellectual
development has, in theory at least, reached a level that allows them to operate
much more independently. This is also the time in the language acquisition
process when in-country study is most useful. Therefore, this is also the point at
learners are most in need of largely taking over the management of the learning
process. This is not to say that they can manage the particulars of the process,
but they certainly can and need to be aware of their general needs and how to
go about getting them met.
not continue their study beyond one or two years. This is a misreading of the intent of
these principles. Life-long study is not to be required, it is to be facilitated. Our programs
should work for, not against, the learners who do choose to go on for extended study.
The fact that most students do not choose to do so needs to be recognized as well; for
instance, in making sure that discussions are integrated into courses from the start, and not
left until the third or fourth years.
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