7. On Routines and Patterns in Language Acquisition and Performance

In this chapter we will consider the role of prefabricated routines and patterns in first and second language acquisition and performance. The relationship of these "fixed and semi-fixed" expressions to the development of syntactic structure and their status in performance are issues that are both theoretically interesting and of practical importance in second language teaching.

In defining terms, we distinguish between routines and patterns. Prefabricated routines are simply memorized whole utterances or phrases, such as "How are you?" or "Where is your hotel?". A performer may use these without any knowledge at all of their internal structure. Entire lines from memorized dialogues qualify as prefabricated routines, as do expressions learned from foreign language books. Hakuta (1974) has noted that prefabricated patterns are distinct from routines. These are partly "creative" and partly memorized wholes; they consist of sentence frames with an open "slot" for a word or a phrase, such as "That's a _____" (pen, knife, banana), or Lyon's (1969) example, "Down with ______". Lyons called such constructions "phrase and sentence schemata", and defined them as "utterances that are grammatically unstructured or only partially structured, but which can yet be combined in sentences according to productive rules" (pp. 177-178). Audio-lingual pattern practice is based on the use of prefabricated patterns.

The issue we will be dealing with here is the relationship of routines and patterns to language acquisition, namely, whether routines and patterns play a direct role in the creative construction process. We can distinguish three different positions with regard to this question:

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