the writer of this thesis has to try consistently to distinguish between contexts
and context-dependent variables as this thesis is above all concerned with
institutionalised foreign language learning defined by Strevens as:
"The process which takes place when a Ieamer sets out to learn a language
other than his primary language (mother tongue or native language) given the
mediation of a teacher and within a deliberately organized framework of
instruction." (Strevens, 1978: 179)
In other words, with a context where contact with the target language is very
limited and where the learner is trying to learn the language in a very artificial
situation, remote from any real-life context. This learner is therefore 'quite
different from the Iearnerwho is living in the country where the target language
is spoken and even more significantly different from the pupil in the
mother-tongue lesson' (Hornsey, 1981: 10).
Learning a language in a formal context is thus distinguished from 'picking up' a
language without formal instruction but by informal and unorganized means
such as acquiring a language in the country and from 'enhanced acquisition'
that is acquiring a language in the country while at the same time receiving
formal instruction in that same language:
"In environments where informal language development plays a significant
part, it is possible to regard the formal classroom as supplemental,
complementary, facilitating and consolidating." (Van Lier, 1988: 20)
12