Another gem from Krashen’s Foreign Language Education – The Easy Way:
,,,there is good evidence that “rival hypotheses”, other hypotheses concerning the development of language and literacy, are not correct. The “instruction hypothesis” claims that we acquire by first learning rules and vocabulary items consciously, and then “practicing” them until they become “automatic”. There are several reasons to doubt that the instruction hypothesis is correct. First, the system of grammar, vocabulary, etc. that needs to be acquired is too complex to be learned consciously. Second, there are many cases of people who have developed high levels of proficiency in both second language and literacy without instruction. Third, studies show that the effect of grammar teaching is very limited. Gains after direct teaching are short-term, and appear only on tests in which students are focused on form (Krashen, 1992, 1993a)…. (p.7)
This is one of those paragraphs that make me wish that this small powerhouse of a book didn’t go out of print. Especially, this sentence:
…the system of grammar, vocabulary, etc. that needs to be acquired is too complex to be learned consciously….
Links on this site in support of that last sentence are:
https://benslavic.com/blog/2011/03/25/trains/
https://benslavic.com/blog/2010/09/17/our-part-is-simply-to-relax/
[note: all blog entries about this book are published here with permission of the author]