The teachability hypothesis is Manfred Pienemann's proposal that second-language instruction is effective only when it is compatible with a learner's current stage within a fixed hierarchy of acquisition stages. It holds that instruction can promote acquisition of a given grammatical feature only once a learner is developmentally ready to acquire that feature through natural, unguided use, so that recognizing which stage a learner has reached lets a teacher predict and classify the errors that learner is likely to make.
Facts
Core ClaimThe Teachability Hypothesis was produced by Manfred Pienemann, extracted from his Processibility model. It proposes that learners will acquire a second language feature if what is being taught is relatively close to their stage in language development. 1 FAQs
Can a teacher speed up a second-language learner by teaching a structure from a later stage?
No. Instruction helps only when it targets the stage a learner is ready to reach next.
Not by skipping ahead. The teachability hypothesis holds that learners move through a set sequence of stages for certain language features, and that instruction is effective only when the learner's interlanguage is close to the step of acquiring that structure. Pienemann argued that instruction cannot make a learner skip a stage. A learner classified at stage 2 for a feature will not benefit from instruction aimed at stage 4 learners, while a learner at stage 3 may benefit from it, because that learner is ready.
Sources
1. Teachability Hypothesis (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
The Teachability Hypothesis was produced by Manfred Pienemann. It was originally extracted from Pienemann's Processibility model. It proposes that learners will acquire a second language (L2) features if what is being taught is relatively close to their stage in language development.
Description section
Pienemann (1984) emphasizes that teachability of L2 structures have psychological constraints are universally shared.
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