Communication is not about trying to say the same word or grammar concept a number of times over and over in class. Communication is about sharing ideas. It is about focusing on the people with whom we are communicating.
Communication is not about teaching lists of words. It is about learning about the other person and about telling them about ourselves. It is about moving to higher and higher levels of human trust and interaction while sharing ideas with others. Communication is about love.
In schools we often forget that all we have to do is communicate with our kids in the TL. If we do that in the way described above, our students will learn the language, and without the castor oil.
Communication is the standard. It’s the process, and the desired outcome. Why is everybody so caught up in the other stuff? Because it’s school. Bless our hearts – we’ve forgotten why we are doing our jobs.
Why didn’t Krashen warn us about this? His 2009 proclamation that TPRS is “the closest thing” that aligns with his research out there, gave us a false read. The truth is, most storytelling teachers align with the textbook, not the standard, now. What a drag.