The Function Of Output In Foreign Language Learning

Viewed from the information-processing theory, language learning is a dynamic three-phase process consisting of input, central processing and output. Input is a prerequisite for language development, which serves learning in two ways: it provides language material for the second stage, and it stimulates motivation to learn by triggering the learner's noticing of the gap between what he has already learned and what he still needs to learn. At the central processing stage, the input data is processed via operations such as analysis, pattern matching and synthesis, which will then be anchored to the relevant established cognitive structure through integration. And finally, the processed language is tried out during output, which will be modified towards the target language norm according to internal and br external feedback. Through each of these three-stage cycles, learners' language proficiency is pushed to the next level of development.The significance of the present study of output is fourfold. In the first place, much work has been focused on one end of the whole language learning process, i.e., input, while output, which is at the other end, has received comparatively less notice. Our knowledge of language learning cannot be comprehensive unless more attention is given to the much-ignored aspects of it. In the second place, comprehension and generation are two stages of language learning and language use, which take different strategies to reach different goals. During comprehension the learner's attention is concentrated on semantic processing of language data in order to extract its meaning. So comprehension is meaning-oriented. However, generation is syntax-oriented which sets out from the intended meaning and works towards the syntactic means that can represent the meaning appropriately. Besides, language generation is a much more complex hierarchical processing which involves a series of subtasks, such as lexical retrieval, activation of articu!atorv patterns, selection of phrases and syntactic structures, and observance of pragmatic conventions. A high-level of comprehension competence does not entail production proficiency, because during comprehension, besides syntactic cues, learners have various other strategies available, such as semantic patterns, context clues, schematic knowledge and general cognitive skills. All of these strategies might enable learners to obtain meaning successfully without scratching the underlying syntactic system, which, however, is vital for interlanguage development. In the third place, the insufficiency of input for successful language learning is not only proved by the above conceptual distinction between comprehension and generation, but is also substantiated by Swain's (1985) research of Canadian French immersion program, which revealed that 7 years of content instruction in the target language had failed to cultivate learners' native-like production proficiency, though their comprehension level equals that of native speakers'. Swain attributed this result to the lack of two-way communicative interaction and "pushed~' output in classroom learning context. This indicates that although input is valuable for language learning, it cannot replace the role of output, which is fundamental to the cultivation of production proficiency. In the fourth place, the instruction and learning strategies used by both teachers and learners in China deprive learners of opportunities of using language in a creative way. And the result is that after years of language learning, though learners can understand written material quite well. they cannot manipulate language for communication in eitherivoral or written mode.The rationale of the functions of output comes from theories in psychology, linguistics and educational science. These are 'v~'gotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development, Piaget's learning theory, the noticing theory and notions of declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, competence and performance. The core of these theoretical underpinnings is that...