Abstract:

The purpose of the present study is threefold. First, it lays the ground for a theoretical underpinning of the synergies underlying Second Language Acquisition (SLA) processes and teaching practices (e.g. EFL), and identifies a number of theoretical problems facing teaching practitioners as a result of violating basic premises as set by T. Khun such as the “Law of Equilibrium”; the “Principle of Contrastivenenss” and “Paradigm shift. The second strand of the paper attempts to empirically demonstrate that if these principles are taken onto account, the performance of speakers of English as a second language in ‘focused and unfocused correction’ tasks in significantly modulated. The final strand takes stock of the first two and seeks to determine if the performance of speakers of Arabic as a second language is equally modulated by their knowledge of English. The implications of the overall results for current theories of SLA are discussed.

Keywords:

Second Language, Contrastivenenss, Paradigm shift.