El Laboratorio de idiomas como recurso para la adquisición de la gramática mental de una lengua extranjera

Abstract

«...second language teachers should concentrate on practical language goals...A realistic and achievable goal...is that students will be able to...comprehend most of the times...the messages received from a native speaker and to communicate their ideas comprehensibly most of the times to a native speaker. The goal is to be able to communicate functionally, not to become bilingual...» (Chastain 1988: 356) The aim of this anide is offering the results of an empyrical study which shows howa determined use of the language laboratory can improve the pupils'linguistic competence. The point of departure is the Idea that the teaching of a foreign language excessively based on explicit grammatical knowledge does not develop communicative competence in learners. Itis also considered that thelack ofacoustic conditioning of classrooms at the moment of developing oral comprehension using a cassette playermay damage the learners' sense ofautoefficacy. The results of this study with university students confirm that the use of the laboratory for the development of oral comprehension Is a very useful resource for the implicit acquisition of linguistic competence.