Most people would agree that learning a second language in a natural acquisition contexto or “on the street” is not the same as learning it in the classroom. Many believe that learning “on the street” is more effective.The traditional instruction environment is one where the language is being taught to a group of second or foreign language learners. In this case, the focus is on the language itself, rather than on information which is carried by the language. The teacher´s goal is to see to it that the students learn the vocabulary and grammatical rules of the target language. The goal of learners in such courses is often to pass an examination rather than to use the language for daily communicative interaction. Communicative instruction environments also involve learners whose goal is learning the language itself, but the style of instruction places an emphasis on interaction, conversation, and language use, rather than on learning about the language. The topics which are discussed in the communicative instruction environment are often topics of general interest to the learner. In these classes, the focus is not selected on the basis of teaching a specific feature of the language, but on teaching learners to use the language in a variety of contexts. Students´ success in these courses is measured in terms of their ability to “get things done” in the second language, rather than on their accuracy in using certain grammatical features.

(How Languages Are Learned, Oxford University Press, 1998)