Focus on Form: Past and Present
Focus on Form: Past and Present (Plenary Speech, September 23, 2016) at the 35 th Second Language Research Forum Teachers College, Columbia University By Dr. Rod Ellis University of Auckland and Shanghai International Studies University Abstract Focus-on form (FonF) was a term introduced by Michael Long to refer to an approach to teaching where learners’ attention is attracted to linguistic forms as they engage in the attempt to communicate. It contrasts with an approach that Long called “Focus-on-forms” where specific linguistic forms are taught directly and explicitly. However, there is perhaps no construct in SLA that has proved so malleable and shifted in meaning so much. I will begin by considering how Long’s original definition of it has stretched over time and then offer my own definition of the construct, arguing that the term might best be applied to specific kinds of ‘activities’ or ‘procedures’ rather than to an ‘approach’. I will then go on to prese...