What are exposure and focus on form?

Across the centuries people have studied how foreign languages are learnt. Many experts now believe that one main way we learn a foreign language is by exposure to it, i.e. by hearing and/or reading it all around us and without studying it. They say we then pick it up automatically, i.e. learn it without realising. This, of course, is the main way in which children learn their first language (the language they learn as a baby).

Experts also say that to learn a foreign language, particularly as adults, exposure to language is not enough. We also need to focus our attention on the form of the foreign language, i.e. notice how it is pronounced and written, and how its grammar and vocabulary are formed and used. They say that to learn language we also need to use language to interact.

Key concepts

Have you learnt English more successfully from formal study or just by picking it up?

Research has identified three main ways in which we learn a foreign language. Firstly, experts talk of us acquiring language, or language acquisition. This means the same as picking up language. They say that to learn a foreign language successfully we need lots of exposure to it and that we learn from being surrounded by language. We need to hear and read language which is rich in variety, interesting to us and just difficult enough for us, i.e. just beyond our level, but not too difficult. Acquisition then takes place over a period of time without our realising that we are learning. We listen to and read items of language many times before we begin to use them (silent period), unconsciously working out (calculating/deducing) their meaning and form.