Does practice make perfect? It all depends...

Abstract

This article distils key insights from second language acquisition research for practising language teachers who are not intimately familiar with the field. The focus is on practice by language learners and starts from the obvious assumption that teachers would readily agree that learners need to practise what they are taught in order to acquire it. However, it is less obvious why practice is important, what actually happens during practice, what aspects of language to practise, how best to design opportunities for practice and how to determine the best timing. Focusing specifically on the acquisition of grammatical structure, this article presents theoretically-based answers to these questions, drawn from relevant strands in the broader area of second language learning research. Ideas are presented from a historical perspective to illuminate their origins and interconnectedness. Key concepts elaborated include: the different roles of practising receptive versus productive skills; the key importance of practising in the context of interactive communicative activities and tasks; the roles of corrective feedback, prompts and priming in these contexts, as well as the optimal timing for practice in the light of research on development in language learning.