Learners build an autonomous mental grammar that develops in zig-zag, U-shaped patterns along common sequences that teaching can’t reorder. Instruction speeds the rate, not the route, so a synthetic coursebook syllabus that presents items in the teacher’s order ‘guarantees’ learners won’t learn what they’re taught.
Jordan’s summary of the cognitive view
- Interlanguage (Corder 1967; Selinker 1972) has its own organising principles.
- Developmental sequences (e.g., negation, questions; Pienemann’s processability).
- Explicit instruction is constrained by the learner’s stage.
- Two approaches: A holistic, talking in English (TBLT: needs analysis → tasks → scaffolding) vs B synthetic, talking about English (coursebook PPP).
- Evidence for TBLT: Bryfonski & McKay (2017) meta-analysis.
Counterpoints (comments)
Adults ask metalinguistic questions, which gives coursebooks face validity; textbooks can serve as models for tasks; board-exam contexts demand textbook grammar.
DELTA framing (Claude)
“Rate not route” is the standard summary (Long 1983; Ellis 2008). Note the nuance: instruction can affect accuracy and speed and possibly ultimate attainment; Spada & Tomita (2010) and Norris & Ortega (2000) show durable effects of explicit instruction.
Connections
Teach grammar in processability order (Pienemann) · Errors are often developmental, not L1 transfer · Long’s TBLT as the alternative to coursebook PPP