by Keith Challenger. (ELCA and Rangsit University) Adult second language learning has been working hard for a generation with communicative techniques to bring students to the level of fluency. We have tended to attribute any shortfall to not enough speaking practice. This paper is suggesting the opposite: that early speaking is the very reason adults fail to become fluent, further there is a tendency for existing curriculums to undervalue listening skills. Information is given about a program using the natural approach method to teach Thai language, which demonstrates the ideas suggested can be successfully applied. The paper is drawn from research which was originally prepared for a Master of Applied Linguistics dissertation at Macquarie University, Sydney in 1998.

THE SUCCESS OF SILENCE (MS Word 97 doc format, 156 kb)