On the Nature and Function of Language Rules in Language Teaching

This article examines claims made for the monitor model with regard to the function of grammar as mechanisms which control the quality of the learner's language production under certain conditions. An experiment is reported in which subjects were asked to perform a language task which required the use of the indefinite article. After the task, subjects, including children and adults, were asked to explain their performance. Their verbal explanations were assumed to represent their knowledge. The adequacy of these conscious rules was compared to the subjects' performance. As expected, no relationship was found for good and bad and quality of the learners' performance on the task. The second portion of the paper attempts to explain these results in light of what is known about language learning in particular, learning from a cognitive viewpoint, and the nature of language. Lastly, it is suggested that do have a function, but not as monitors.